Improved & Improving UrbanMelt.com. Please critique overall design, usability, & feature set

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Improved & Improving UrbanMelt.com. Please critique overall design, usability, & feature set

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UrbanMelt

posts: 20

Aug 22, 2008 1:15 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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UrbanMelt.com

Here is our ever-evolving local business community...so far.

What we`ve done : What you will see is a product of a one-man (my partner), 8 month effort of switching the former site from Java to Ruby on Rails and adding a few more features. New features include: custom CMS for articles/blog/page creation, coupons, Google maps, fresh design, new logo, etc.

What we know : There are still some bugs and issues, and we are currently working on fixing them slowly. We have not released any public announcements or anything. We are definitely waiting until our issues are under control.

So, while critiquing, please bear in mind that this is not a finished product, and we have invited our current members and some other friends to help us test.

Goals : Moving forward, we are looking to create an extremely useful and extensive site where local businesses and their customers can interact on a more human level. At the same time, our community and their feedback for new ideas will be what seperates us from other social networks and local search engines.

Revenue Generation : Advertising and/or premium offsite services beyond free feature set.

We`ve received valuable feedback in the past. We genuinely appreciate you taking the time to help us improve.

Thank you,

-------------------------

Emil Wisch
Community Servant & CoCreator
UrbanMelt.com
emil [at] urbanmelt.com
Twitter: urbanmelt

Videography

posts: 672

Aug 22, 2008 3:18 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I like the colors and the navigation, except...

There`s no "About Us" page nor any subhead on the home page that summarizes the purpose of the site in ten words or less.

In the terms of service, under "You agree to NOT use the Service to: ", items 1 & 2 needs a space between them.

You have a baloon saying: "Need some help?Need Help?"... Isn`t that redundant?

-------------------------

Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

CraigL

posts: 9051

Aug 22, 2008 4:58 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Woah....is THIS cool...! I have only two gripes, the one being that it definitely would hep to have an "About" page, that explains the concept of the site. You could use most of what you have in your intro content, above. Not much more, just make it fit as a general introduction to the site.

The other is only that I think the "size" is too large. I`m using a 19" high-res LCD panel, and had to do a lot of scrolling. So I can only wonder at how frustrating it`ll be for people on a 17" monitor, with regular resolution.

But the overall design is very cool...! It`s DIFFERENT!

....finally!

Obviously, the next big problem is going to be getting more participants, and that`s a marketing issue. I think if people can "at a glance" see the whole front page, and also immediately grasp the "why should I join this," that`ll go a long way toward the marketing plan.

I know there`s the temptation to put all your highlighted businesses on the front page, and have people scroll down. That works for Amazon, where everyone knows it`s a book store. But in your case, I`d much rather have a "Want to see more?" button, which lays out a new page of thumbnails.

You could call it a "Browse the Site" area, and take people from a couple of highlights on the home page, right to that browse section. They then would expect to have to scroll, and can choose if they want to expend the effort. They`ll do so AFTER they`ve become intrigued by the overall concept of the whole site.

UrbanMelt

posts: 20

Aug 22, 2008 5:20 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Steve,

We miss the simplest stuff sometimes. That`s why we`re acting very carefully this time around. In the Terms of Use, we`re going to go back and simplify a lot. The help thing was obviously a careless error. Will keep these notes for next build. Really, really appreciate the feedback.

Craig,

:) :) :) We have a talented web designer as a contact who made short work of stylizing the site for us. I wonder if you remember what the site looked like prior. Big difference in design. Also used great crowdsourcing site, crowdSPRING.com, for the logo design. There, Graham Smith of ImJustCreative.com won the award. Sorry if that seemed spammy, but I have no interest in either of those businesses. :)

Thanks for the constructive critique and the positive reinforcement.

STEVE & CRAIG,

Which web browser did you use to view the site???

Thanks,

-------------------------

Emil Wisch
Community Servant & CoCreator
UrbanMelt.com
emil [at] urbanmelt.com
Twitter: urbanmelt

Videography

posts: 672

Aug 22, 2008 8:23 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Latest Firefox.

-------------------------

Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

CraigL

posts: 9051

Aug 23, 2008 3:35 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Firefox 1.x
:-) Yah yah....I have 2.x, and will install it eventually. I prefer using Win98SE, which won`t support 3.x.

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Aug 23, 2008 5:52 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hmm... I found an about us page (way at the bottom of the web page).

In addition to the comments above....... Your FAQ page - put a line break between the "Q" question and "A" answer. It will be easier to read.

It seems there are more and more of this type of site - networking sites. Where businesses and/or people can list their services/information and interact with other users/members. So, I think it is important to communicate why your site is the one to use (or why use it in addition to other networking sites).

What are the features that benefit the business? Is there click through traffic? Are keyword text links allowed? ... etc.

With all the networking sites out there now, it is hard for a business (that already has an online presence) to choose which ones to use. After all, this is another web page that the business owner will need to maintain / visit / or monitor.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

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