5 ms·

Please review KartMe

26 points by phil_KartMe 17y ago

phil_KartMe 17y ago
I've enjoyed Hacker News the past year as I worked on KartMe, and now would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this free service for easily organizing and sharing favorite books, restaurants, gadgets, recipes and more. Thanks! * What would get you to use KartMe every week? * What would get you to tell a friend about KartMe today?
- jupiter 17y ago
  A faster server
- nobody_nowhere 17y ago
  I wasn't able to understand really quickly what KartMe is offering. That's my biggest hurdle to either using it or telling people. What would get me to use it would be something that makes it easier, faster, or cooler than tweeting, blogging, or however else I might let people know about this stuff. (Not that I actually do any of those things while working 12h days at a startup.) Also: name issues. When I see "Kart" i'm thinking "shopping cart" or "mariokart" -- what's the relationship between that and sharing gadgets or recipes? For me at least, you've got a gap right there. The "K" for "C" substitution also gives me "KMart" associations, which probably isn't want you're going for. Good luck! Don't give up.
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    Thanks. Maybe i should say: "The easiest way to create a shareable list of real world stuff"
    - nobody_nowhere 17y ago
      Go for fewer words. "Share lists of real world stuff"
      - phil_KartMe 17y ago
        "Wishlist for the World" ?
        nobody_nowhere 17y ago
        I think your ideal tagline describes what you're doing and has a call to action. Look at posterous -- currently "the dead simple place to post everything. just email us." Pretty wordy, there's really not much else to say about it. But it calls you to action. Maybe you're "Share anything with your friends and save". Depends on where you want to take it.
aik 17y ago
Your description here makes sense, though I don't see a description on the actual website. Really had no idea what it was. Not sure what Kart Me means either at the moment. Looks nice otherwise. Cool design.
- ericwaller 17y ago
  [KartMe is a] free service for easily organizing and sharing favorite books, restaurants, gadgets, recipes and more Yeah, I would literally stick that text below the logo/search and above the three-steps description.
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    Adding now :)
    - phil_KartMe 17y ago
      Added.
- timdorr 17y ago
  I was able to figure out that's for storing things I like, but I don't know what the benefits of that are. Why do I want to use this service? The "Save time & money" section doesn't tell me anything that it seems like it should.
  - nollidge 17y ago
    Agreed. What problem do I have that this is trying to solve? I poked around a little and did a couple searches, and I still don't know what it's trying to help me with.
mol2103 17y ago
I didn't understand what the site was about. Seems like a wishlist of all items.
transmit101 17y ago
I found the design to be pretty confused, and I suspect that most visitors will leave immediately because of this. You need to communicate what the site is useful for, and how to start using it simply. For example, I wasn't sure whether to start by searching for an item, or clicking the 'Start KartMe' button on the right. Maybe the design mirrors the fact that the site is trying to do quite a lot of stuff. It's a pretty impressive feat technology/coding-wise, but it might be worth tweaking the homepage (and maybe moving some stuff off it) to help ease the new-user experience.
- ScottWhigham 17y ago
  I am in this group as well. I lasted about 10 seconds and I probably have an idea of what it is but I don't know what you want me to do so I left. This is the type of site that needs a call to action for me to engage with it.
- petesalty 17y ago
  Yeah, I've got to second this, really had no idea what the site did.
- mp3jeep01 17y ago
  I agree, I really didn't know where to look/read to figure out where to start, or how to start
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  I clearly struggle to simplify the message. Thanks for encouraging me to focus on this. Any ideas for what one thing i should ask users to do on the homepage?
drhodes 17y ago
My impression is that the site is like social bookmarking for real world items.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  really well said!
fizx 17y ago
I gotta say, the domain just makes me think of red turtle shells.
- releasedatez 17y ago
  haha... yes indeed
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    funny. i definitely hear different allusions depending on the audience. i guess i'm not surprised no one here focused on "kart wheels"
cedsav 17y ago
Here's my 2c. Feels like information overload. If I click on 'Books to read' on the homepage, I'm expecting a list of books to read. Here's what I get: * Picture of Phil with some unrelated stats. * List of karts created by Phil, with the option to 'watch them all' (is that ever useful?) * The list of books to read. Each entry has 8+ possible actions. The only useful visible info about each book is its title and a comment. * Another unrelated list of 'most watched karts'. * list of karts watched by Phil. http://www.kartme.com/user/115/karts/47 http://www.kartme.com/user/115/karts/47 I'm not sure new visitors would stay long enough to understand that page. I would suggest you decide where the focus should be for each page and remove everything that is a distraction. For instance, * remove Phil's data from the left column (belongs to a profile page) * remove the redundant title "Phil's Kart Books to read" from each entry in the list. * remove or tone down the right column. * show a summary extract for each book, show the price and option to track price (or automatically track price when 'karting') * strip down possible actions for each entry to 3 or 4.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  So helpful! Thanks!
aidenn0 17y ago
My first thought on going to the site: "WTF is a Kart?" Spent about 30 seconds looking around trying to figure it out and left.
saurabh 17y ago
You seriously need to take a look at minimalism. As all others have said, I couldn't understand what your site is about. But best of luck, it seems you have put a lot of effort on this. It looks nice too. These guys sum it up nicely what I want to say. http://commandshift3.com/about.html http://commandshift3.com/about.html >>I was going to write a sentence about why this site exists, but when I asked, Darrell said "If it's not self-evident then fuck off." Feisty.

26 points by phil_KartMe 17y ago

I've enjoyed Hacker News the past year as I worked on KartMe, and now would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this free service for easily organizing and sharing favorite books, restaurants, gadgets, recipes and more. Thanks! * What would get you to use KartMe every week? * What would get you to tell a friend about KartMe today?

jupiter 17y ago
A faster server
nobody_nowhere 17y ago
I wasn't able to understand really quickly what KartMe is offering. That's my biggest hurdle to either using it or telling people. What would get me to use it would be something that makes it easier, faster, or cooler than tweeting, blogging, or however else I might let people know about this stuff. (Not that I actually do any of those things while working 12h days at a startup.) Also: name issues. When I see "Kart" i'm thinking "shopping cart" or "mariokart" -- what's the relationship between that and sharing gadgets or recipes? For me at least, you've got a gap right there. The "K" for "C" substitution also gives me "KMart" associations, which probably isn't want you're going for. Good luck! Don't give up.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  Thanks. Maybe i should say: "The easiest way to create a shareable list of real world stuff"
  - nobody_nowhere 17y ago
    Go for fewer words. "Share lists of real world stuff"
    - phil_KartMe 17y ago
      "Wishlist for the World" ?
      - nobody_nowhere 17y ago
        I think your ideal tagline describes what you're doing and has a call to action. Look at posterous -- currently "the dead simple place to post everything. just email us." Pretty wordy, there's really not much else to say about it. But it calls you to action. Maybe you're "Share anything with your friends and save". Depends on where you want to take it.

aik 17y ago

Your description here makes sense, though I don't see a description on the actual website. Really had no idea what it was. Not sure what Kart Me means either at the moment. Looks nice otherwise. Cool design.

ericwaller 17y ago
[KartMe is a] free service for easily organizing and sharing favorite books, restaurants, gadgets, recipes and more Yeah, I would literally stick that text below the logo/search and above the three-steps description.
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  Adding now :)
  - phil_KartMe 17y ago
    Added.
timdorr 17y ago
I was able to figure out that's for storing things I like, but I don't know what the benefits of that are. Why do I want to use this service? The "Save time & money" section doesn't tell me anything that it seems like it should.
- nollidge 17y ago
  Agreed. What problem do I have that this is trying to solve? I poked around a little and did a couple searches, and I still don't know what it's trying to help me with.

mol2103 17y ago

I didn't understand what the site was about. Seems like a wishlist of all items.

transmit101 17y ago

I found the design to be pretty confused, and I suspect that most visitors will leave immediately because of this. You need to communicate what the site is useful for, and how to start using it simply. For example, I wasn't sure whether to start by searching for an item, or clicking the 'Start KartMe' button on the right. Maybe the design mirrors the fact that the site is trying to do quite a lot of stuff. It's a pretty impressive feat technology/coding-wise, but it might be worth tweaking the homepage (and maybe moving some stuff off it) to help ease the new-user experience.

ScottWhigham 17y ago
I am in this group as well. I lasted about 10 seconds and I probably have an idea of what it is but I don't know what you want me to do so I left. This is the type of site that needs a call to action for me to engage with it.
petesalty 17y ago
Yeah, I've got to second this, really had no idea what the site did.
mp3jeep01 17y ago
I agree, I really didn't know where to look/read to figure out where to start, or how to start
phil_KartMe 17y ago
I clearly struggle to simplify the message. Thanks for encouraging me to focus on this. Any ideas for what one thing i should ask users to do on the homepage?

drhodes 17y ago

My impression is that the site is like social bookmarking for real world items.

phil_KartMe 17y ago
really well said!

fizx 17y ago

I gotta say, the domain just makes me think of red turtle shells.

releasedatez 17y ago
haha... yes indeed
- phil_KartMe 17y ago
  funny. i definitely hear different allusions depending on the audience. i guess i'm not surprised no one here focused on "kart wheels"

cedsav 17y ago

Here's my 2c. Feels like information overload. If I click on 'Books to read' on the homepage, I'm expecting a list of books to read. Here's what I get: * Picture of Phil with some unrelated stats. * List of karts created by Phil, with the option to 'watch them all' (is that ever useful?) * The list of books to read. Each entry has 8+ possible actions. The only useful visible info about each book is its title and a comment. * Another unrelated list of 'most watched karts'. * list of karts watched by Phil. http://www.kartme.com/user/115/karts/47 http://www.kartme.com/user/115/karts/47 I'm not sure new visitors would stay long enough to understand that page. I would suggest you decide where the focus should be for each page and remove everything that is a distraction. For instance, * remove Phil's data from the left column (belongs to a profile page) * remove the redundant title "Phil's Kart Books to read" from each entry in the list. * remove or tone down the right column. * show a summary extract for each book, show the price and option to track price (or automatically track price when 'karting') * strip down possible actions for each entry to 3 or 4.

phil_KartMe 17y ago
So helpful! Thanks!

aidenn0 17y ago

My first thought on going to the site: "WTF is a Kart?" Spent about 30 seconds looking around trying to figure it out and left.

saurabh 17y ago

You seriously need to take a look at minimalism. As all others have said, I couldn't understand what your site is about. But best of luck, it seems you have put a lot of effort on this. It looks nice too. These guys sum it up nicely what I want to say. http://commandshift3.com/about.html http://commandshift3.com/about.html >>I was going to write a sentence about why this site exists, but when I asked, Darrell said "If it's not self-evident then fuck off." Feisty.