5 ms·

Ask HN: Rate my site.

8 points by eam 17y ago

eam 17y ago
Fellow HN readers, please review my college-based website. I've been working on it in my spare time. Forgive me if it doesn't look that great, but I am the sole programmer/designer for the site so I can't just focus in one thing. For the most part the basic functionality is there. All feedback is appreciated, thanks in advance!
- DarrenMills 17y ago
  As a designer I tried to ask myself the first few thoughts I had when I land on the page. The bar on the top that has all the logos initially feels like advertising space. Perhaps you might consider putting that underneath the search bar. Also add a little more emphasis to the search bar itself would help draw the eye. Perhaps something as simple as a border around it. Those are just my initial thoughts. Your choice in graphics is very sleek, and the over feel is very clean. I feel with a few simple changes you can push your bounce rate lower though practical design.
bugs 17y ago
I can't even tell what the site is for without looking at the top of my window and then I still don't really get it.
- eam 17y ago
  It's suppose to help college students find textbooks within their own school. For example at my campus I see many times on bulletin boards students selling their textbooks. It's a great thing, but visibility is limited. By posting on the site, other students can search and get in touch. They can just meet up on campus and exchange the textbook.
  - kaiserama 17y ago
    Wouldn't it make more sense to list those items rather than making a user search for something to find its not there? I'm not talking about listing everything, but like bugs said it's hard to figure out what the point of the site is. Anyway, this is meant only as an observation. Carry on!
  - bugs 17y ago
    I don't want you to have to explain that to me though I want the site to explain that to me when I visit it.
    - eam 17y ago
      Great point. I'm going to have to brain storm. I might do a video or something along those lines.
      - covercash 17y ago
        Or how about just a few words on the home page along the lines of "Buy and sell used text books on your local college campus"
theycallmemorty 17y ago
1) When I clicked in the 'Title, author or ISBN' box the text didn't go away. That's annoying. I'm using FF 3.5 by the way. 2) I didn't know what the site was for at first glance. The banner with the University logos... is it an ad? Are those logos special for some reason? I didn't really know. 3) I typed 'Artificial Intelligence' into the search box and clicked Find. It told me I wasn't logged in. On second glance it looks like it found 0 results and the 'not logged in' thing was tangential. If that's the case you should emphasize one over the other.
maximilian 17y ago
It didn't have any math textbooks I would want. Also in Safari the search field "ISBN..etc" text didn't go away upon clicking.
- eam 17y ago
  Right now there are only 41 books posted, so it is most likely that the book you're searching will not be found. This will hopefully change once more people start using the site.
NathanKP 17y ago
I can't search unless I log in? Sorry but I'm not the type of person to sign up for a site just to do a search. I would use Google instead. Try to go login free if you can. (Edit: This was a misunderstanding due to the way Bulldog Byte handles search terms for which there are no results.) In addition, just looking over the site I'm noticing numerous small glitches like buttons being cut off (up at the top of the "Learn More" page "Get in Touch" is cut off short in the latest version of Safari), and lack of space between a period at the end of a sentence and the first word of the next sentence. (Also on the same page.) These are small things but they make a huge difference in the presentation and overall feel of your site. I'd say that you have a little bit more work to do. Keep up the good work though.
- eam 17y ago
  You can search while not logged in, you just can't see the students contact information. Try doing a search for "math." And Thanks!
  - NathanKP 17y ago
    Ah, I see the source of my confusion. I searched for a specific book: "Blink Malcolm Gladwell" Bulldog Byte didn't find any results, yet it didn't tell me that there were no results. Instead it just showed the "You're Not Logged In" message, so I assumed that meant that I had to login to view the search results. You might want to add a message such as "No results found! Want to try again?"
    - eam 17y ago
      Hmmm... it should have said "Found 0 Results" right above where you see "You're Not Logged In." I'll try adding more emphasis on the next release.
      - NathanKP 17y ago
        I see it now that you mentioned it. The problem is that it is so small compared with that big yellow "Not Logged In" box. The yellow color grabs all the attention such that at first glance I don't even see that small text above. I would suggest that you make the text at least 20-30 pixels high and put the message below the "Not Logged In" box. That will make it much more obvious.
holdenc 17y ago
I need something cool or useful on the first page or I am gone. (Still not sure what it does)
joshu 17y ago
I like the idea a whole lot. I heart markets and marketplaces. - The point of the system should be crystal on first view. - I don't get the name at all. - I'd pick a specific uni or set of universities to bootstrap and learn from before going big across all schools. - I'd scrape the universities for required books somehow so I could know about books, even if I didn't have them available. - I'd allow searching by class (details in the previous step) - Facebook login?
- eam 17y ago
  Thanks Josh, it's an honor to know that you like the site idea. I named it after my school's mascot, the Bulldogs. You see, initially it was only intended for my school, but then one day I decided to go nationwide in order to grow faster. Of course, that didn't happen, at least not yet. Right now I'm hoping to implement many of your suggestions, but being the only person working and having little time in my hands is tough. I wish I could find some help!
  - towndrunk 17y ago
    Georgia bulldogs?
profgubler 17y ago
Quick recommendation on a way to make money, with this. If your site doesn't return a result for a book, why not query amazon or half.com and link to a listing on their site getting the potential affiliate fee.
- eam 17y ago
  I actually been contemplating this idea with Chegg, but I just don't have that much time to work on it at this point.
DTrejo 17y ago
Work on your word choice. This sounds pretty blah: "We're a college based community networking together for a common goal." Also you might want to reread the rest of the text on your about page and elsewhere; try to make it more concise and clear. Also make the column of text less wide (and thus more readable). Also, don't dilute your purpose too soon; focus on one major thing, books for example. Your about page suggested you are going in multiple directions at once. Do one thing and do it well.
- eam 17y ago
  You're completely right, I'm jut not the best writer. I am hoping to rewrite that section soon as a lot has change since the launch of the site. Do one thing and do it well. I agree, I had all these ideas (and continue to have) and thought it would be great to have them on the site. However, after reading an article, I believe it was from 37signals, I realized that I was doing too much and that I should keep it simple and focus on one thing for now. Since then I have stop rolling out any other features, other than the ones that are currently available.
jarsj 17y ago
Remove the radio buttons. Just focus on textbooks or cluster results and let user drill down if he's interested. Learn from Google.
jfarmer 17y ago
This was Chegg's original business model, and they hit on the right solution, IMO: textbook rentals.

8 points by eam 17y ago

eam 17y ago

Fellow HN readers, please review my college-based website. I've been working on it in my spare time. Forgive me if it doesn't look that great, but I am the sole programmer/designer for the site so I can't just focus in one thing. For the most part the basic functionality is there. All feedback is appreciated, thanks in advance!

DarrenMills 17y ago
As a designer I tried to ask myself the first few thoughts I had when I land on the page. The bar on the top that has all the logos initially feels like advertising space. Perhaps you might consider putting that underneath the search bar. Also add a little more emphasis to the search bar itself would help draw the eye. Perhaps something as simple as a border around it. Those are just my initial thoughts. Your choice in graphics is very sleek, and the over feel is very clean. I feel with a few simple changes you can push your bounce rate lower though practical design.

bugs 17y ago

I can't even tell what the site is for without looking at the top of my window and then I still don't really get it.

eam 17y ago
It's suppose to help college students find textbooks within their own school. For example at my campus I see many times on bulletin boards students selling their textbooks. It's a great thing, but visibility is limited. By posting on the site, other students can search and get in touch. They can just meet up on campus and exchange the textbook.
- kaiserama 17y ago
  Wouldn't it make more sense to list those items rather than making a user search for something to find its not there? I'm not talking about listing everything, but like bugs said it's hard to figure out what the point of the site is. Anyway, this is meant only as an observation. Carry on!
- bugs 17y ago
  I don't want you to have to explain that to me though I want the site to explain that to me when I visit it.
  - eam 17y ago
    Great point. I'm going to have to brain storm. I might do a video or something along those lines.
    - covercash 17y ago
      Or how about just a few words on the home page along the lines of "Buy and sell used text books on your local college campus"

theycallmemorty 17y ago

1) When I clicked in the 'Title, author or ISBN' box the text didn't go away. That's annoying. I'm using FF 3.5 by the way. 2) I didn't know what the site was for at first glance. The banner with the University logos... is it an ad? Are those logos special for some reason? I didn't really know. 3) I typed 'Artificial Intelligence' into the search box and clicked Find. It told me I wasn't logged in. On second glance it looks like it found 0 results and the 'not logged in' thing was tangential. If that's the case you should emphasize one over the other.

maximilian 17y ago

It didn't have any math textbooks I would want. Also in Safari the search field "ISBN..etc" text didn't go away upon clicking.

eam 17y ago
Right now there are only 41 books posted, so it is most likely that the book you're searching will not be found. This will hopefully change once more people start using the site.

NathanKP 17y ago

I can't search unless I log in? Sorry but I'm not the type of person to sign up for a site just to do a search. I would use Google instead. Try to go login free if you can. (Edit: This was a misunderstanding due to the way Bulldog Byte handles search terms for which there are no results.) In addition, just looking over the site I'm noticing numerous small glitches like buttons being cut off (up at the top of the "Learn More" page "Get in Touch" is cut off short in the latest version of Safari), and lack of space between a period at the end of a sentence and the first word of the next sentence. (Also on the same page.) These are small things but they make a huge difference in the presentation and overall feel of your site. I'd say that you have a little bit more work to do. Keep up the good work though.

eam 17y ago
You can search while not logged in, you just can't see the students contact information. Try doing a search for "math." And Thanks!
- NathanKP 17y ago
  Ah, I see the source of my confusion. I searched for a specific book: "Blink Malcolm Gladwell" Bulldog Byte didn't find any results, yet it didn't tell me that there were no results. Instead it just showed the "You're Not Logged In" message, so I assumed that meant that I had to login to view the search results. You might want to add a message such as "No results found! Want to try again?"
  - eam 17y ago
    Hmmm... it should have said "Found 0 Results" right above where you see "You're Not Logged In." I'll try adding more emphasis on the next release.
    - NathanKP 17y ago
      I see it now that you mentioned it. The problem is that it is so small compared with that big yellow "Not Logged In" box. The yellow color grabs all the attention such that at first glance I don't even see that small text above. I would suggest that you make the text at least 20-30 pixels high and put the message below the "Not Logged In" box. That will make it much more obvious.

holdenc 17y ago

I need something cool or useful on the first page or I am gone. (Still not sure what it does)

joshu 17y ago

I like the idea a whole lot. I heart markets and marketplaces. - The point of the system should be crystal on first view. - I don't get the name at all. - I'd pick a specific uni or set of universities to bootstrap and learn from before going big across all schools. - I'd scrape the universities for required books somehow so I could know about books, even if I didn't have them available. - I'd allow searching by class (details in the previous step) - Facebook login?

eam 17y ago
Thanks Josh, it's an honor to know that you like the site idea. I named it after my school's mascot, the Bulldogs. You see, initially it was only intended for my school, but then one day I decided to go nationwide in order to grow faster. Of course, that didn't happen, at least not yet. Right now I'm hoping to implement many of your suggestions, but being the only person working and having little time in my hands is tough. I wish I could find some help!
- towndrunk 17y ago
  Georgia bulldogs?

profgubler 17y ago

Quick recommendation on a way to make money, with this. If your site doesn't return a result for a book, why not query amazon or half.com and link to a listing on their site getting the potential affiliate fee.

eam 17y ago
I actually been contemplating this idea with Chegg, but I just don't have that much time to work on it at this point.

DTrejo 17y ago

Work on your word choice. This sounds pretty blah: "We're a college based community networking together for a common goal." Also you might want to reread the rest of the text on your about page and elsewhere; try to make it more concise and clear. Also make the column of text less wide (and thus more readable). Also, don't dilute your purpose too soon; focus on one major thing, books for example. Your about page suggested you are going in multiple directions at once. Do one thing and do it well.

eam 17y ago
You're completely right, I'm jut not the best writer. I am hoping to rewrite that section soon as a lot has change since the launch of the site. Do one thing and do it well. I agree, I had all these ideas (and continue to have) and thought it would be great to have them on the site. However, after reading an article, I believe it was from 37signals, I realized that I was doing too much and that I should keep it simple and focus on one thing for now. Since then I have stop rolling out any other features, other than the ones that are currently available.

jarsj 17y ago

Remove the radio buttons. Just focus on textbooks or cluster results and let user drill down if he's interested. Learn from Google.

jfarmer 17y ago

This was Chegg's original business model, and they hit on the right solution, IMO: textbook rentals.