4 ms·

Craigslist Redesign? Hiring UI Designer

15 points by tilt 15y ago

sohn 15y ago
Hey that's great. Let's convert it into another shitty 2.0 site where design matters more than content
- ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
  They won't. Craigslist has to be minimal due to it's culture, massive traffic, and user expectations. So no shiny buttons everywhere or glossy logos. Things will probably just be re-arranged.
- ForrestN 15y ago
  I don't understand. Why would improving the UX necessitate the quality of content going down?
- kingmanaz 15y ago
  Exactly. Craigslist, like softpanorama or drudgereport, is refreshing in that it doesn't attempt to look like a 19th century circus flyer. If only the web were rendered more like a generic latex article. No rivers, proper kerning, ligatures, optimal paragraph width, and - in general - respect for the traditional art of typesetting. Instead, the web looks like a menagerie of cereal box art.
  - reneherse 15y ago
    "19th Century circus flyer". What a great way to summarize some of the kitschy looks out there, and the first thing to make me laugh out loud all day! Compelling, tasteful, unique design is incredibly difficult. Some of this has to do with the tools we have available...
awolf 15y ago
If they are going to do a complete redesign I wish they would also offer an API for developers. Currently, all third party apps built around craigslist are dependent upon parsing the raw HTML of the listing pages. A re-design is likely to break all of that.
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  That pretty much flies in the face of CL's stated intent. It's for humans, transacting wth humans, locally. This is addressed in a few different aspects in the CL TOU: http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use
rguzman 15y ago
i'm on the minority, but i find that the craigslist UI is pretty good. all the "flows" work pretty well and are well explained. i hope that doesn't change and that all they do is make the site easier to read.
- _delirium 15y ago
  I agree, but I think some of that might boil down to different priorities, rather than design per se. EBay hasn't slowly turned into the rather annoying mess it is because of incompetent design, but imo mostly because of aggressive monetization, which hands non-negotiable constraints to their designers. Craigslist just doesn't care about monetizing beyond their comfortable income level, so there's less push from management to compromise the design. As a result, it might be possible for them to create a "Web 2.0" looking site without pulling in the bad aspects of other sites, because the bad aspects are due to the aggressive monetization rather than to the Web-2.0-ness.
hbz 15y ago
I would think any sufficiently senior UI/design person hasn't touched C/C++ in a while.
bizodo 15y ago
I think airbnb needs to either raise the money to buy them or merge. If Craigslist worked like airbnb the world would b a better place.
huhtenberg 15y ago
> Recognizable, fast-loading, but outdated as hell website Wait. What? No webfonts or gradients? No parallax scrolling? NO FACEBOOK LIKE BUTTONS? Damn that's old.
- ForrestN 15y ago
  Who said they want to add those things? The website hasn't been changed in a long time, and it does resemble designs more common several years ago. I think there are lots of ways an update could worsen craig's list, but there are also a lot of ways an update could make it better.
  - huhtenberg 15y ago
    Current design works great, and it is beautiful in its straight-to-the-point, bs-free nature. The term redesign generally refers to a major overhaul, including the ux and the visuals. The term is loaded with commitment to change things, and this is what I am afraid of - a change for the sake of change.
mminer 15y ago
Smashing Magazine ran an article in 2009 exploring a Craigslist redesign. The author focuses on improving aspects like the login process, account management, nagation, and visual appeal. It's an interesting read from a UX designer who has considered the usability aspects of the site and suggests more than style tweaks. While I appreciate Craigslist's uncompromising text-heavy approach, the ease of use sometimes leaves much to be desired. http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/11/redesigning-craigslist-with-focus-on-usability/ http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/11/redesigning-...
jessib 15y ago
I don't have a big problem with Craigslist's design so the redesign isn't that important to me. Plus, I've been using ezLooker to browse it and it feels better already. Don't need all the glitter to make Craigslist cool.

15 points by tilt 15y ago

sohn 15y ago

Hey that's great. Let's convert it into another shitty 2.0 site where design matters more than content

ChrisNorstrom 15y ago
They won't. Craigslist has to be minimal due to it's culture, massive traffic, and user expectations. So no shiny buttons everywhere or glossy logos. Things will probably just be re-arranged.
ForrestN 15y ago
I don't understand. Why would improving the UX necessitate the quality of content going down?
kingmanaz 15y ago
Exactly. Craigslist, like softpanorama or drudgereport, is refreshing in that it doesn't attempt to look like a 19th century circus flyer. If only the web were rendered more like a generic latex article. No rivers, proper kerning, ligatures, optimal paragraph width, and - in general - respect for the traditional art of typesetting. Instead, the web looks like a menagerie of cereal box art.
- reneherse 15y ago
  "19th Century circus flyer". What a great way to summarize some of the kitschy looks out there, and the first thing to make me laugh out loud all day! Compelling, tasteful, unique design is incredibly difficult. Some of this has to do with the tools we have available...

awolf 15y ago

If they are going to do a complete redesign I wish they would also offer an API for developers. Currently, all third party apps built around craigslist are dependent upon parsing the raw HTML of the listing pages. A re-design is likely to break all of that.

dredmorbius 15y ago
That pretty much flies in the face of CL's stated intent. It's for humans, transacting wth humans, locally. This is addressed in a few different aspects in the CL TOU: http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use

rguzman 15y ago

i'm on the minority, but i find that the craigslist UI is pretty good. all the "flows" work pretty well and are well explained. i hope that doesn't change and that all they do is make the site easier to read.

_delirium 15y ago
I agree, but I think some of that might boil down to different priorities, rather than design per se. EBay hasn't slowly turned into the rather annoying mess it is because of incompetent design, but imo mostly because of aggressive monetization, which hands non-negotiable constraints to their designers. Craigslist just doesn't care about monetizing beyond their comfortable income level, so there's less push from management to compromise the design. As a result, it might be possible for them to create a "Web 2.0" looking site without pulling in the bad aspects of other sites, because the bad aspects are due to the aggressive monetization rather than to the Web-2.0-ness.

hbz 15y ago

I would think any sufficiently senior UI/design person hasn't touched C/C++ in a while.

bizodo 15y ago

I think airbnb needs to either raise the money to buy them or merge. If Craigslist worked like airbnb the world would b a better place.

huhtenberg 15y ago

> Recognizable, fast-loading, but outdated as hell website Wait. What? No webfonts or gradients? No parallax scrolling? NO FACEBOOK LIKE BUTTONS? Damn that's old.

ForrestN 15y ago
Who said they want to add those things? The website hasn't been changed in a long time, and it does resemble designs more common several years ago. I think there are lots of ways an update could worsen craig's list, but there are also a lot of ways an update could make it better.
- huhtenberg 15y ago
  Current design works great, and it is beautiful in its straight-to-the-point, bs-free nature. The term redesign generally refers to a major overhaul, including the ux and the visuals. The term is loaded with commitment to change things, and this is what I am afraid of - a change for the sake of change.

mminer 15y ago

Smashing Magazine ran an article in 2009 exploring a Craigslist redesign. The author focuses on improving aspects like the login process, account management, nagation, and visual appeal. It's an interesting read from a UX designer who has considered the usability aspects of the site and suggests more than style tweaks. While I appreciate Craigslist's uncompromising text-heavy approach, the ease of use sometimes leaves much to be desired. http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/11/redesigning-craigslist-with-focus-on-usability/ http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/11/redesigning-...

jessib 15y ago

I don't have a big problem with Craigslist's design so the redesign isn't that important to me. Plus, I've been using ezLooker to browse it and it feels better already. Don't need all the glitter to make Craigslist cool.