4 ms·

Ask HN: Please review my web-app - Shopialize.com

adityakothadiya 18y ago
Hi HN, I've been working on http://shopialize.com http://shopialize.com application in the part-time since quite some time now. I'd really appreciate your feedback, critique comments, suggestions to improve, or new ideas to take this to the next level. I'm not explaining what, why, and how aspects of this web-application here because I want to see how much of it is clear from the website itself. So please visit http://shopialize.com http://shopialize.com, explore different pages and let me know what's your first impression. I understand that there are many social components that need to be developed for the viral distribution of this application like Facebook, OpenSocial and iPhone apps. But first I wanted to release the core idea and learn what exactly people want, so that I can continue building this application from their feedback. Believe me, this is just the beginning - so please - pour in your thoughts and ideas about how you want to improve the social shopping experience on the web. You can also email me at aditya@shopialize.com. Thanks, Aditya
- jfarmer 18y ago
  What differentiates this from all the other social shopping sites out there?
  - adityakothadiya 18y ago
    Shopialize primarily focuses on sharing "post-shopping" updates quickly and frequently like micro-blogging way. Other social shopping networks primarily focus on "pre-shopping social bookmarking" and "wishlist creation" aspects. It doesn't tell if your friends or community members are really buying those items or just recommending it. Also, I'm not trying to build another social shopping network. I'm looking more towards Twitter+FriendFeed integration. Twitter may-not provide better shopping related feature-set. Similarly, FriendFeed may not add all social-shopping services like Kaboodle, ThisNext, Kirtsy, etc., which I'm planning to add soon. These are primary reasons. Hope this answers your question.
    - daveambrose 18y ago
      It's more of a communications medium or vehicle, correct? The idea is compelling when you extend an API considering the giants of ecommerce tend to close off their reviews, recs or community posts on their sites. We should talk more offline as I've been working on something that could mesh well with your app throughout the entire shopping experience (pre, during and post checkout).
      - adityakothadiya 18y ago
        Yes! Exactly, it's geared more towards communication aspect rather than just bookmarking aspect. Yes, API is definitely way to go, so that people can build awesome apps that I haven't even thought of yet. I'm interested to talk to you offline. Email me at aditya.kothadiya@gmail.com. Looking forward to talk to you.
    - cottsak 18y ago
      i like the clean css and layout i like the simple approach to pushing data to the page. obviously i notice many Getting Real concepts well implemented here. is this a rails app?
      - adityakothadiya 18y ago
        Thanks for the kind words! No, it's not a rails app. It's a PHP app.
      - lesterbuck 18y ago
        I like the layout, too, but only after I enabled Javascript using NoScript in Firefox. My first impression was a jumble of overlapped markup over half the page. I hope you can work on progressive enhancement for low end browsers, mobile, screen readers, etc.
- mcxx 18y ago
  Small things I really like about your site: 1) "share the love" icons; 2) ability to log in using my twitter account (you should make it more visible, missed it the first time); 3) the way updates are formulated: <user> <action> <status> (particulary "user replied to another_user" is so much better than Twitter's); 4) rocks!/sucks! reviews Good luck to you and many satisfied users!
  - adityakothadiya 18y ago
    I'm glad you liked it :)
- prawn 18y ago
  Only had time to take a quick look, but I think the design is too "done by a programmer". Not much consistency bar size for the front page icons. Padding and borders is inconsistent too. There would have to be some very glowing press or recommendations for me to come across this in the wild and sign up. Then again, I don't buy things often enough to be in your probable target market. Best of luck though!
- cschwarm 18y ago
  Notes from a copywriting point of view: (1) Switch the first two paragraphs: Nobody cares what shopialize.com is, but what problems it solves. (2) Remove the passive voice of the second paragraph. Suggestion: "Tell your friends about new products and the best deals in town. Discover opportunities your friends have found. Review products and ask your friends before you buy." (3) Remove "or login using Twitter" from the first action box. Move it to the "Register" page. Three options are confusing. To be honest, I don't like the Sign Up Form on the front page. I'd remove it, distribute "Use Shopialize to..." on two columns, and repeat the action box "Take the tour or ...". I'd also add a box with testimonials (or a small list of the latest entries), and then show the last box. I'd also animate the slideshow. I'm also wondering why you have no second password field to catch typos? Did I miss something? Note that English is not my first language so correct the above suggestion if necessary.
  - adityakothadiya 18y ago
    All suggestions are valid, so I'll think about which changes will make sense or not. Thanks for your inputs.
vaksel 18y ago
you should really think about changing the name. You are pretty much killing your word of mouth referrals since everyone will go to shopalize.com
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  Thanks for the suggestion. I'll ponder over it. I tried buying that domain before, but the deal didn't go through. I'll try to find a catchy and easy name.
  - jonny_noog 18y ago
    If someone's already got shopalize.com, then something close would probably be just as good. And don't sweat it if you can't get the exact domain name you want. You can always be creative and get close with a couple of extra letters (e.g. backpackit.com or campfirenow.com). http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch13_Name_Hook.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch13_Name_Hook.php
  - dw0rm 18y ago
    what do you think of shopalizer.com its not taken
    - ddemchuk 18y ago
      +1 to that idea
    - adityakothadiya 18y ago
      thanks for the suggestion! Ok, I bought that now.
      - dw0rm 18y ago
        Good luck with your app :)
  - pclark 18y ago
    how about "shopnsoc(k)"?
paul7986 18y ago
I would suggest sucking in Twitters and or features Twitters where people said I just bought this or this was on sale ....could be on the frontpage and you would not have to sign up and the visitor would be viewing deals possibly with links left by those on Twitter. good luck!
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  Sure, will figure out some ways to integrate it seamlessly with Twitter.
ajaypopat 18y ago
Where is your target market? If it's the US, then I'd suggest using American names in the images/collateral so that the target audience can connect with the message.
latortuga 18y ago
On the Tour page, there's a typo in one of your screenshots: "What product or service you want to review?"
huhtenberg 18y ago
Ease off on neuro-linguistic programming techniques. They are really annoying and make the page look needlessly busy.
- fiaz 18y ago
  I second this statement. When I first saw the site, I was instantly annoyed by the bold faced type in the intro paragraph. I think it's worded fine, but the presentation of it threw me off.
  - adityakothadiya 18y ago
    Sorry for the ignorance, but I didn't really get what "neuro-linguistic programming" is. Tried searching, but didn't get useful information. Can someone explain this to me? About bold-faced font, ok, voice heard, and I'll make necessary changes.
shiranaihito 18y ago
Maybe you could replace "FREE" with "free"? That word in uppercase is often a bad sign.
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  Ok. Suggestion accepted.
jamesbritt 18y ago
People who surf with NoScript will see a remarkably fugly site. Unusable. Avoid gratuitous scripting; use it to improve a good experience, not as a requirement for any experience at all.

Hi HN, I've been working on http://shopialize.com http://shopialize.com application in the part-time since quite some time now. I'd really appreciate your feedback, critique comments, suggestions to improve, or new ideas to take this to the next level. I'm not explaining what, why, and how aspects of this web-application here because I want to see how much of it is clear from the website itself. So please visit http://shopialize.com http://shopialize.com, explore different pages and let me know what's your first impression. I understand that there are many social components that need to be developed for the viral distribution of this application like Facebook, OpenSocial and iPhone apps. But first I wanted to release the core idea and learn what exactly people want, so that I can continue building this application from their feedback. Believe me, this is just the beginning - so please - pour in your thoughts and ideas about how you want to improve the social shopping experience on the web. You can also email me at aditya@shopialize.com. Thanks, Aditya

jfarmer 18y ago
What differentiates this from all the other social shopping sites out there?
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  Shopialize primarily focuses on sharing "post-shopping" updates quickly and frequently like micro-blogging way. Other social shopping networks primarily focus on "pre-shopping social bookmarking" and "wishlist creation" aspects. It doesn't tell if your friends or community members are really buying those items or just recommending it. Also, I'm not trying to build another social shopping network. I'm looking more towards Twitter+FriendFeed integration. Twitter may-not provide better shopping related feature-set. Similarly, FriendFeed may not add all social-shopping services like Kaboodle, ThisNext, Kirtsy, etc., which I'm planning to add soon. These are primary reasons. Hope this answers your question.
  - daveambrose 18y ago
    It's more of a communications medium or vehicle, correct? The idea is compelling when you extend an API considering the giants of ecommerce tend to close off their reviews, recs or community posts on their sites. We should talk more offline as I've been working on something that could mesh well with your app throughout the entire shopping experience (pre, during and post checkout).
    - adityakothadiya 18y ago
      Yes! Exactly, it's geared more towards communication aspect rather than just bookmarking aspect. Yes, API is definitely way to go, so that people can build awesome apps that I haven't even thought of yet. I'm interested to talk to you offline. Email me at aditya.kothadiya@gmail.com. Looking forward to talk to you.
  - cottsak 18y ago
    i like the clean css and layout i like the simple approach to pushing data to the page. obviously i notice many Getting Real concepts well implemented here. is this a rails app?
    - adityakothadiya 18y ago
      Thanks for the kind words! No, it's not a rails app. It's a PHP app.
    - lesterbuck 18y ago
      I like the layout, too, but only after I enabled Javascript using NoScript in Firefox. My first impression was a jumble of overlapped markup over half the page. I hope you can work on progressive enhancement for low end browsers, mobile, screen readers, etc.
mcxx 18y ago
Small things I really like about your site: 1) "share the love" icons; 2) ability to log in using my twitter account (you should make it more visible, missed it the first time); 3) the way updates are formulated: <user> <action> <status> (particulary "user replied to another_user" is so much better than Twitter's); 4) rocks!/sucks! reviews Good luck to you and many satisfied users!
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  I'm glad you liked it :)
prawn 18y ago
Only had time to take a quick look, but I think the design is too "done by a programmer". Not much consistency bar size for the front page icons. Padding and borders is inconsistent too. There would have to be some very glowing press or recommendations for me to come across this in the wild and sign up. Then again, I don't buy things often enough to be in your probable target market. Best of luck though!
cschwarm 18y ago
Notes from a copywriting point of view: (1) Switch the first two paragraphs: Nobody cares what shopialize.com is, but what problems it solves. (2) Remove the passive voice of the second paragraph. Suggestion: "Tell your friends about new products and the best deals in town. Discover opportunities your friends have found. Review products and ask your friends before you buy." (3) Remove "or login using Twitter" from the first action box. Move it to the "Register" page. Three options are confusing. To be honest, I don't like the Sign Up Form on the front page. I'd remove it, distribute "Use Shopialize to..." on two columns, and repeat the action box "Take the tour or ...". I'd also add a box with testimonials (or a small list of the latest entries), and then show the last box. I'd also animate the slideshow. I'm also wondering why you have no second password field to catch typos? Did I miss something? Note that English is not my first language so correct the above suggestion if necessary.
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  All suggestions are valid, so I'll think about which changes will make sense or not. Thanks for your inputs.

vaksel 18y ago

you should really think about changing the name. You are pretty much killing your word of mouth referrals since everyone will go to shopalize.com

adityakothadiya 18y ago
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll ponder over it. I tried buying that domain before, but the deal didn't go through. I'll try to find a catchy and easy name.
- jonny_noog 18y ago
  If someone's already got shopalize.com, then something close would probably be just as good. And don't sweat it if you can't get the exact domain name you want. You can always be creative and get close with a couple of extra letters (e.g. backpackit.com or campfirenow.com). http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch13_Name_Hook.php http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch13_Name_Hook.php
- dw0rm 18y ago
  what do you think of shopalizer.com its not taken
  - ddemchuk 18y ago
    +1 to that idea
  - adityakothadiya 18y ago
    thanks for the suggestion! Ok, I bought that now.
    - dw0rm 18y ago
      Good luck with your app :)
- pclark 18y ago
  how about "shopnsoc(k)"?

paul7986 18y ago

I would suggest sucking in Twitters and or features Twitters where people said I just bought this or this was on sale ....could be on the frontpage and you would not have to sign up and the visitor would be viewing deals possibly with links left by those on Twitter. good luck!

adityakothadiya 18y ago
Sure, will figure out some ways to integrate it seamlessly with Twitter.

ajaypopat 18y ago

Where is your target market? If it's the US, then I'd suggest using American names in the images/collateral so that the target audience can connect with the message.

latortuga 18y ago

On the Tour page, there's a typo in one of your screenshots: "What product or service you want to review?"

huhtenberg 18y ago

Ease off on neuro-linguistic programming techniques. They are really annoying and make the page look needlessly busy.

fiaz 18y ago
I second this statement. When I first saw the site, I was instantly annoyed by the bold faced type in the intro paragraph. I think it's worded fine, but the presentation of it threw me off.
- adityakothadiya 18y ago
  Sorry for the ignorance, but I didn't really get what "neuro-linguistic programming" is. Tried searching, but didn't get useful information. Can someone explain this to me? About bold-faced font, ok, voice heard, and I'll make necessary changes.

shiranaihito 18y ago

Maybe you could replace "FREE" with "free"? That word in uppercase is often a bad sign.

adityakothadiya 18y ago
Ok. Suggestion accepted.

jamesbritt 18y ago

People who surf with NoScript will see a remarkably fugly site. Unusable. Avoid gratuitous scripting; use it to improve a good experience, not as a requirement for any experience at all.