Hey,

Got a developer working on an ajax based UI for a site I am making ...

Just wanted to get some general comments / review done from some of you techies and UI snobs.

http://www.offcampusworld.com/inner.php

Thanks -- all types of comments welcome, but constructive ones preferred.

3/7/2008 9:13:06 AM

It's not any better than doing a search on google

3/7/2008 9:14:23 AM

Right ... so how could that experience improve..

Just FYI ... This is not a complete database of info you see currently. Its from a test environment, with a super small subset of the total data.

3/7/2008 9:18:03 AM

1) where is the search box, where i can enter a name and find it on the map, instead of using the tree-nav on the right
2) the "view" link on the map-balloons doesn't do anything
3) the left and right scroll arrows on the left pane are way too small and too hard to see. And i'm not sure that a page-by-page scrolling action is any better than a vertical scrolling frame anyway.

Quote :

"skokiaan It's not any better than doing a search on google robster Right ... so how could that experience improve.. "

i commend you for trying, but you can't out-google Google.

[Edited on March 7, 2008 at 9:31 AM. Reason : .]

3/7/2008 9:29:57 AM

^ Thanks for the comments ...

1. - Search will be added later
2. - The "view" link in the balloon and on the left side will take you to a new window/tab with the details for the individual listing. At this point, I am focused on making the actual map interface as simple/user friendly as possible
3. - Pagination (next/prev) will be added as larger images soon.

"can't out-google Google"
-True, but the great thing is that google doesnt focus on niche areas. When you get a map together like this that ties in all things related to a college campus, I think it could be much more useful for students, especially freshman/new students trying to get an idea of where everything is around campus.

I would like to see it grow into a "campus map" replacement, to include listings as well as academic entities.

3/7/2008 10:07:47 AM

So, speaking of the "view" link:

Do you guys think it would be better to do a "listings details" page in a similar fashion to how the current "rate" link is done, where it opens a translucent cover for the page with a box in the middle showing all the details, or should it be done as a separate page that opens in a new tab/window??

3/7/2008 10:10:35 AM

The rating thing is kind of silly. shouldn't have to have a separate window to rate stuff. I like the main functionality though.

the links along the bottom could be organized/formatted better

3/7/2008 10:23:17 AM

What do you mean by a separate window ... like the popup box for the comments and rating?

I guess my thought behind it was that if I DO want to allow for comments, then a well formatted div within the same window would allow that to happen as opposed to ONLY giving a "rollover" rating image that you can click on within the main interface.

If you can think of a clean, easy way to do the rating/comments together, then Im all ears.

My main concern is that ratings without comments are pretty useless.

[Edited on March 7, 2008 at 10:50 AM. Reason : .]

3/7/2008 10:49:16 AM

i'm used to being able to pick your rating through the main interface (a la netflix) without having to click twice to enter a rating (too much work just to enter a rating imo)

for your site though, i think comments are a must. thats a crap load of value thats added to your site without you having to do much outside of the initial development work to allow comments. i would allow ratings in the main interface, then you could replace the "rate" link with a comments link. and of course link to/show the comments when you get the destination for the view link figured out (link newegg)

3/7/2008 11:02:33 AM

not a fan of serif sub-title's under a sans-serif title/logo

also the light blue does not work with the light orange (not legible) where the search university text is.

and your rate text button doesn't work...

i click rate, then, ok, then i get a dialog box, i click ok, then ok, and i'm in a loop until i hit cancel.


[Edited on March 7, 2008 at 11:11 AM. Reason : ,]

3/7/2008 11:07:26 AM

^ what browser are you using?

hmm ... my developer must be doing some things now... I definitely dont get that popup box though.

[Edited on March 7, 2008 at 12:32 PM. Reason : .]

3/7/2008 12:31:35 PM

Quote :

" i click rate, then, ok, then i get a dialog box, i click ok, then ok, and i'm in a loop until i hit cancel."

works for me

3/7/2008 1:10:52 PM

The menu on the right fucks up and goes off the page if you expand all the options.

There's also a listing for Darryl's which has been closed for years.

3/7/2008 1:55:56 PM

Visually it looks okay. very generic, very templatish.

There's nothing *wrong* in terms of huge flaws, but it just seems very blah.

My huge problem is (and i think everyone else is on the same line) there's absolutely no sense of what the site DOES. A new user should be able to grasp the value of the site in a matter of seconds and that is completely missing.

the user is starting with a blank slate, which is never a good idea. give them a starting point, let them feel like they are already involved as soon as the site loads.

You might want to try storyboarding the site, similar to a movie, to get a sense of how you think people will use it, versus how they actually do now. I *think* I get a sense of where you are trying to go, and if so I think it's an excellent idea, but it needs a LOT of thought put into the users you are targeting and the scenarios of use. That's going to make or break the plan.

3/7/2008 2:39:57 PM

^ yeah, about the overall design, the site has no character to it. Nothing about it - the colors, the header, the format - really "grabs" me.

concerning some more usability concerns. The tree-view on the right side needs to be thought about some more. Even if you stick with using the expanding tree, which i'm not sure you should, it needs to be reworked.
1) when you expand one node of the tree, the "ALL" option is already selected and therefore the map reloads and the left pane is updated. Clicking the top node of a tree is not an action that should trigger any actions other than except to expand that node. Just opening that node should not start updating the page - it should just show me what's underneath it. After clicking one or two, I didn't want to click any more because A) i wanted to page to stop moving, and B) the top-level nodes were hard to find because they keep moving around depending on which nodes are already expanded and the top-level ones are not easily distinguished from the lower level nodes.

Similarly, when I collapse a tree-node, all the information disappears. this is not normal tree functionality.

2) when you expand several nodes, the tree falls right off the bottom of the page. That could either be considered a bug in how the tree is implemented, or an indication that you shouldn't be using a tree at all.

3) when i select something, like Food, then manually zoom and move the map around to show different restaurants, the pane on the left doesn't update. Usually in these Google Maps applications, if you have a bunch of markers shown on the map, the corresponding list should reflect the markers that are currently shown on the map.


[Edited on March 7, 2008 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

3/7/2008 3:19:15 PM

^ Great point about the list showing only items currently in view. I had already sent that request in to the developer, so its in the pipe.

I did think about the tree notion a little bit when I was deciding how I thought people would use it. I guess my thoughts were that someone using the site would be looking for a particular type of thing, instead of 5 types of listings at the same time. So, the Option is there to allow the tree to be open in a few different sections at once, but I dont think that in most cases users would want to view Dorms, restaurants, local churches, and bookstores all at the same time.

Maybe I was wrong in those assumptions.

^^ I could definitely use some suggestions from people as to what you would like to see on the site right when you get there. What would draw you in to use it as a resource if you were, say, a freshman at a new college campus. What kinds of things could be done to give it some spark, or direction, whereas to catch a users attention.

This is, unfortunately, a super weak area for me, but I know there are some great minds here on tww, so I could really use some specific suggestions/solutions.

Thanks for the comments so far!

3/7/2008 4:04:31 PM

I think it would be well worth your time to go out to the brickyard one day and just ask people what kinds of things they WISH they knew the locations of around campus. Get an idea of:

a) what people want to find on local mapping services

and more importantly

b) what they CANT find when they look. This is the big failure of google maps local as well as the inverse problem of sites like citysearch. And its because neither approach uses real analytical data to connect venues to location.

it sounds like you have the shell for a good app, but you really need a lot of real data to understand what people want in order to get the right things in the right places

3/7/2008 4:10:17 PM