lost.ie website critique

KJF

I have just relaunched http://www.lost.ie and would be grateful for some feedback.

Thanks,

KJF.

EL_Loco

doesn't fit on 1024x768 with address bar and tabs in firefox.

other than that, nice and clear, 2 big buttons, plain enough to see how to use it.

maybe a filter by county would be helpful? something to help drill down by area.

best of luck with it.

KJF

EL_Loco wrote: »

doesn't fit on 1024x768 with address bar and tabs in firefox.

other than that, nice and clear, 2 big buttons, plain enough to see how to use it.

maybe a filter by county would be helpful? something to help drill down by area.

best of luck with it.

Seems fine to me. Are you talking about width or length that doesn't fit?

tricky D

Make the text a darker grey. There's not enough contrast there readability-wise for users with vision issues. Also for the I found something button.

Categories don't make it above the fold and you have enough room for them to do that.

You're taking user details so get a Privacy Policy. Also suggest legal mumbo jumbo and an address for trust.

Epic Tissue

When searching something you should be able to filter between lost and found, otherwise its stupid.

Example: Looking for a ring that has been found rather than other lost rings.

ps can't wait for the next season of Lost

Tim M-U

Excellent Website!:)

I really like the website, How did you get the search work?

Webmonkey

I actually quite like the huge buttons and search box for some strange reason. I hate google's new one.

Good work.

KJF

Thanks guys, some really useful advice. I've already made some small changes based on suggestions.

The big search box and buttons were a design decision I mulled over for quite a while. It can be a little bit in your face but with the nature of the site I wanted something easy to use and blindingly obvious. Something I thought even my mother could use

How did you get the search work?

Which part of the search do you mean? The search results or the search box?

Tim M-U

both:pac:

KJF

Tim M-U wrote: »

both:pac:

The search box itself is just a background image applied to the input box with some padding and a left float so the submit image joins up.

The search results are returned from some pretty generic database queries.
I considered some full text search options but like solr and sphinx but the search terms are too short and generic to justify using those solutions.

nice1franko

Good work fella. Best of luck with it.

The item location bit isn't great...

Maybe something like the myhome.ie drilldown for county/town and then a combo box (i.e. can pick from the list or enter your own value) for last known location, would be good.

I could cobble somethin like that together fairly quickly if you want.

KJF

nice1franko wrote: »

Good work fella. Best of luck with it.

The item location bit isn't great...

Maybe something like the myhome.ie drilldown for county/town and then a combo box (i.e. can pick from the list or enter your own value) for last known location, would be good.

I could cobble somethin like that together fairly quickly if you want.

I agree nice1franko. It's one particular area I have earmarked to make some improvements upon. The one problem I ran into in the past with other sites with location features is that the geocoding databases for towns and cities in Ireland is not free (unlike other countries). geonames.org have a database but it relies on user submitted contributions and is far from complete.

ocallagh

I like the big buttons but I hate the big logo! It just takes up too much space. It takes away from the effect of the big buttons. The content area/search result area (which itself could be increased to 800px from 630) is about 500 pixels down the page and after the 3rd result you have to start srcolling.

I would reduce the height of the logo by 50%.

I would also move the global nav (home/about us) into the footer as for 99% of your customers these links won't serve a purpose - they are just taking up space.

Also, increase contrast of results text as tricky D said.

GoneShootin

Tagline is terrible. "don't be a loser" ? Comes across as condescending.

I like the idea though.

- Item text is difficult to read
- Logo too big
- Buttons need to stand out more (particularly the "i found something") button
- Location of item needs to be highlighted

Call Me Jimmy

Definitely needs more contrast. I know myself that sometimes I come up with a theme and I get very stubborn about it, but you have to keep coming back to the fact that people should never struggle to see anything, no matter how much you like the subtlety of it.

It looks nice overall, just needs a bit more practicality.

KJF

Thanks again guys. Seems like there is a consensus on the contrast and logo size issue so I'll be changing that.

What are peoples opinion on the tag line "Don't be a loser". I myself don't see a problem with it but some people seem to think its condecending. Opinions?

Call Me Jimmy

I don't necessarily see it as condescending, I just don't think it works frankly. This is because to be a loser is never associated with losing items.
If you could think of one occasion where someone lost an item, and their friend referred to them as a loser because of it, it might work. But imo it doesn't.

Call Me Jimmy

Actually I'm not sure, it is catchy...

Goodshape

KJF wrote: »

What are peoples opinion on the tag line "Don't be a loser"

I definitely hate it.


There's no visual difference between this lost page, and this found page. I thought the orange background on the button meant 'ON'.. i.e. the page I was looking at... but that doesn't seem to be the case. Unless I'm missing something, the URL of the page is the only indication as to which page I'm looking at.

It's an alright idea and quite a nice overall look to it, but functionally I'm getting a bit lost. Feels like it's not quite 'there' yet. Categories are tucked away at the bottom and look insignificant. Is there a way to limit the search/results by location?


There's a (small) screenshot of lost.ie here -> http://www.tinktank.ie/work <- which seems to show points on a map and a selection of categories in the sidebar. While it's not as stylish as the current offering, it seems more useful and straigtforward.

ScumLord

Not gone on the tag line either. Other than that the only thing I can think of is putting in some joke items so that when some numpty (like me) does a search for virginity something funny comes up rather than just no item.

KJF

Goodshape wrote: »

I definitely hate it.


There's no visual difference between this lost page, and this found page. I thought the orange background on the button meant 'ON'.. i.e. the page I was looking at... but that doesn't seem to be the case. Unless I'm missing something, the URL of the page is the only indication as to which page I'm looking at.

It's an alright idea and quite a nice overall look to it, but functionally I'm getting a bit lost. Feels like it's not quite 'there' yet. Categories are tucked away at the bottom and look insignificant. Is there a way to limit the search/results by location?


There's a (small) screenshot of lost.ie here -> http://www.tinktank.ie/work <- which seems to show points on a map and a selection of categories in the sidebar. While it's not as stylish as the current offering, it seems more useful and straigtforward.

Thanks for the feedback. Some good suggestions there. I'll be looking into changing some things around this evening.

KJF

ScumLord wrote: »

Not gone on the tag line either. Other than that the only thing I can think of is putting in some joke items so that when some numpty (like me) does a search for virginity something funny comes up rather than just no item.

That's quite a good idea. So far I've had "virginity", "marbles", "dignity"...

Epic Tissue

I see you're using the feedback thing from http://getsatisfaction.com/. Lots of sites are using that. Is it worth the money?

vanGogh

Really like the website layout ... very good usability ... just one click to see/get results. Wouldn't be too concerned about filtering by area/county unless lots of records were being returned. Maybe if > 10 records returned you could suggest an advanced filter.

Not gone on the logo name ... 'Don't be a loser' seems a bit threatening especially when maybe someone who has lost a family pet is posting their details on the site. Maybe something more hopeful/optomistic would be better!

KJF

Epic Tissue wrote: »

I see you're using the feedback thing from http://getsatisfaction.com/. Lots of sites are using that. Is it worth the money?

I'm actually using their free plan, so has not cost me anything yet, just experimenting at the moment.
It was a choice between that and uservoice. I think the getsatisfaction interface is a little nicer though. Might go with the paid plan if it proves to be worthwhile.

aidan_walsh

KJF wrote: »

That's quite a good idea. So far I've had "virginity", "marbles", "dignity"...

Set up an Amazon Referral link for someone searching for Lost DVDs

Epic Tissue

KJF wrote: »

I'm actually using their free plan, so has not cost me anything yet, just experimenting at the moment.
It was a choice between that and uservoice. I think the getsatisfaction interface is a little nicer though. Might go with the paid plan if it proves to be worthwhile.

Oh cool, didn't realise they had a free plan!

wylo

KJF wrote: »

Thanks again guys. Seems like there is a consensus on the contrast and logo size issue so I'll be changing that.

What are peoples opinion on the tag line "Don't be a loser". I myself don't see a problem with it but some people seem to think its condecending. Opinions?

I really dont like it to be honest, Its annoying , I cant get my head around why though. Its not condescending but it just doesn't flow with the idea of the site. Especially if your after losing something the last thing you wanna read is "Dont be a loser". Maybe that is condescending I dont know.
As others mentioned, the giant green banner ruins the neatness of the site. The logo and tagline(if it said something else) look well but the green is too vast and in your face.

Other than that its a fantastic looking site, and nice idea too.

KJF

wylo wrote: »

I really dont like it to be honest, Its annoying , I cant get my head around why though. Its not condescending but it just doesn't flow with the idea of the site. Especially if your after losing something the last thing you wanna read is "Dont be a loser". Maybe that is condescending I dont know.
As others mentioned, the giant green banner ruins the neatness of the site. The logo and tagline(if it said something else) look well but the green is too vast and in your face.

Other than that its a fantastic looking site, and nice idea too.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll be doing some work over the weekend to change things around based on feedback here. So to everyone who's replied to this thread, thanks again. It's much appreciated.

tricky D

Psychologically, 'don't be a loser' is a negative reinforcement, which is a Bad Thing(tm) especially when person is already in a negative frame of mind. It can also make it to the brain as 'do be a loser' as neurolinguistically programming-wise the 'not' can get downgraded. Find a better way to approach this. Find... seems like a good word - pity you didn't register lostfound.ie or some variation.