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Have yet to use the mobile apps, but kudos to the Craigslist team for making their website one of the best mobile experiences out there. Loads quickly, easy to

Have yet to use the mobile apps, but kudos to the Craigslist team for making their website one of the best mobile experiences out there. Loads quickly, easy to navigate, and isn't missing features compared to desktop. Certainly doesn't have the look we expect from a modern website but there's a level of usability we can all aspire to.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
CL desktop works pretty damn good on mobile if you don't mind pinching and zooming.
pkamb 7y ago
Strongly disagree that Craigslist should be held up as an example of a usable website. The Web 1.0 look is fine. But if you use CL a lot you'll know how bad the UX is, especially on mobile, especially compared to mobile-first camera-focused apps. I can think of 5-10 incredibly annoying non-standard Craigslist UX elements off the top of my head.
- sillysaurusx 7y ago
  You didn’t actually mention any specific criticisms.
  - rtpg 7y ago
    - there aren't great ways for people to offer multiple items apart from making one listing with all the stuff (And having to update all the time) - You have to do the whole "negotiate payment mechansim and shipping" thing every time. They could easily provide a sort of flow for when an agreement has happened - On the buyer side you gotta basically just go in and delete your listing when it's done There's an alternate universe in craigslist where you could somehow signal "I have a potential buyer" to put the thing in hold, and a single-button finalisation step when its done. Similarly, sellers could be able to register certain info to just plop it into a message. I understand that the existing UX (mainly e-mail forwarding) makes this hard. But... well maybe they can change their UX
    - Nextgrid 7y ago
      These are valid issues but I think they aren't a big deal. Every other platform I've seen that tries to be "smart" and offer these features ends up overdoing it and making it way too complicated & time consuming to post an ad for the first time. CL in contrast is easy & understandable. You post an ad, post a price, and done. No "profile" or "account" to manage, etc.
      - cglace 7y ago
        After using letgo to buy and sell I will never use craigslist again. Night and day in terms of usability.
- tomcooks 7y ago
  > I can think of 5-10 incredibly annoying non-standard Craigslist UX elements off the top of my head. Yes?
  - pkamb 7y ago
    Here's a quick one (of many). In every dropdown menu you've ever used, the currently selected item pops up in the center of the control. The other items are arranged above and below the currently selected item. https://i.imgur.com/H7Mrs6B.png https://i.imgur.com/H7Mrs6B.png Craigslist's view selector instead lays out the items below the control. "List" is always placed within the control, despite not being active. To select "List" you need to click what should be the currently selected item. https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png Completely unnatural experience and still trips me up every time I use it.
    - happytoexplain 7y ago
      This is subjective, and also wrong. It's wrong because I use dropdowns all the time that always extend the entire list downward. I just double checked gmail and feedly for my own sanity. It's subjective because there is an advantage to static positioning: it allows the mind to develop a map of where each item is in non-relativistic terms, so selecting a given value is always the same two clicks.
      - pkamb 7y ago
        Feedly and Gmail drop the entire menu down below the control. You're right, those kind of custom menus work fine. Note that the currently selected item is still always shown within the custom control. https://i.imgur.com/kd83CAK.png https://i.imgur.com/kd83CAK.png Craigslist positions the first item of the static list within the control, forcing you to awkwardly select the control itself to select the first item. I have to think about it literally every time I use that drop down. https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png
- RosanaAnaDana 7y ago
  The Craigslist UX is FAR superior than almost any other mobile UX. I use craigslist literally every day, and I praise its mobile design. If I could disagree with you on your assessment any more strongly, I would.
zelly 7y ago
I find craigslist's fast loading pages to be problematic. I think their website would be improved by rewriting it entirely in JavaScript, transpiling the JavaScript to JavaScript, requiring the JavaScript to render, re-implementing the entire UI in JavaScript including hyperlinks, then running JavaScript on the server to generate HTML, sending the HTML to the browser, also sending the JavaScript bundle with megabytes of hipster fonts and random people's github repos to insert spaces in a string and stuff, then finally re-rendering the client's page after the multi-megabyte JavaScript bundle finishes downloading. Now that is the nice modern user experience I have come to demand as a user in 2019.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- ec109685 7y ago
  Don’t forget breaking the back button miserably and ensuring there are no URL’s that can be copied and pasted.
  - giancarlostoro 7y ago
    Also to spam about using cookies and ask for the location data every single time you visit. Ah the ultimate Single Page Abomination (as I jokingly call it even though I do my own at work but everything has its place). Course Svelte is what might be the game changer in this regard.
    - Nextgrid 7y ago
      You forgot notification permissions.
      - giancarlostoro 7y ago
        I really wish I could tell the browser to default those to "Nope" for me.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

CL desktop works pretty damn good on mobile if you don't mind pinching and zooming.

pkamb 7y ago

Strongly disagree that Craigslist should be held up as an example of a usable website. The Web 1.0 look is fine. But if you use CL a lot you'll know how bad the UX is, especially on mobile, especially compared to mobile-first camera-focused apps. I can think of 5-10 incredibly annoying non-standard Craigslist UX elements off the top of my head.

sillysaurusx 7y ago
You didn’t actually mention any specific criticisms.
- rtpg 7y ago
  - there aren't great ways for people to offer multiple items apart from making one listing with all the stuff (And having to update all the time) - You have to do the whole "negotiate payment mechansim and shipping" thing every time. They could easily provide a sort of flow for when an agreement has happened - On the buyer side you gotta basically just go in and delete your listing when it's done There's an alternate universe in craigslist where you could somehow signal "I have a potential buyer" to put the thing in hold, and a single-button finalisation step when its done. Similarly, sellers could be able to register certain info to just plop it into a message. I understand that the existing UX (mainly e-mail forwarding) makes this hard. But... well maybe they can change their UX
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    These are valid issues but I think they aren't a big deal. Every other platform I've seen that tries to be "smart" and offer these features ends up overdoing it and making it way too complicated & time consuming to post an ad for the first time. CL in contrast is easy & understandable. You post an ad, post a price, and done. No "profile" or "account" to manage, etc.
    - cglace 7y ago
      After using letgo to buy and sell I will never use craigslist again. Night and day in terms of usability.
tomcooks 7y ago
> I can think of 5-10 incredibly annoying non-standard Craigslist UX elements off the top of my head. Yes?
- pkamb 7y ago
  Here's a quick one (of many). In every dropdown menu you've ever used, the currently selected item pops up in the center of the control. The other items are arranged above and below the currently selected item. https://i.imgur.com/H7Mrs6B.png https://i.imgur.com/H7Mrs6B.png Craigslist's view selector instead lays out the items below the control. "List" is always placed within the control, despite not being active. To select "List" you need to click what should be the currently selected item. https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png Completely unnatural experience and still trips me up every time I use it.
  - happytoexplain 7y ago
    This is subjective, and also wrong. It's wrong because I use dropdowns all the time that always extend the entire list downward. I just double checked gmail and feedly for my own sanity. It's subjective because there is an advantage to static positioning: it allows the mind to develop a map of where each item is in non-relativistic terms, so selecting a given value is always the same two clicks.
    - pkamb 7y ago
      Feedly and Gmail drop the entire menu down below the control. You're right, those kind of custom menus work fine. Note that the currently selected item is still always shown within the custom control. https://i.imgur.com/kd83CAK.png https://i.imgur.com/kd83CAK.png Craigslist positions the first item of the static list within the control, forcing you to awkwardly select the control itself to select the first item. I have to think about it literally every time I use that drop down. https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png https://i.imgur.com/UPlljil.png
RosanaAnaDana 7y ago
The Craigslist UX is FAR superior than almost any other mobile UX. I use craigslist literally every day, and I praise its mobile design. If I could disagree with you on your assessment any more strongly, I would.

zelly 7y ago

I find craigslist's fast loading pages to be problematic. I think their website would be improved by rewriting it entirely in JavaScript, transpiling the JavaScript to JavaScript, requiring the JavaScript to render, re-implementing the entire UI in JavaScript including hyperlinks, then running JavaScript on the server to generate HTML, sending the HTML to the browser, also sending the JavaScript bundle with megabytes of hipster fonts and random people's github repos to insert spaces in a string and stuff, then finally re-rendering the client's page after the multi-megabyte JavaScript bundle finishes downloading. Now that is the nice modern user experience I have come to demand as a user in 2019.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ec109685 7y ago
Don’t forget breaking the back button miserably and ensuring there are no URL’s that can be copied and pasted.
- giancarlostoro 7y ago
  Also to spam about using cookies and ask for the location data every single time you visit. Ah the ultimate Single Page Abomination (as I jokingly call it even though I do my own at work but everything has its place). Course Svelte is what might be the game changer in this regard.
  - Nextgrid 7y ago
    You forgot notification permissions.
    - giancarlostoro 7y ago
      I really wish I could tell the browser to default those to "Nope" for me.