2008AUG041007
SpicyElephant: My experiences on a one month startup
Some observations:
Firstly congratulations on getting the idea from zero to launch in one month. Even if the thing fails you have invested only 1+ resources building. I tried this yesterday, registered and had a play around. Impressions:
- name: 2 words, elephant that never forgets but why spicy? longer to type
- registration: faultless
- no favicon: with tabbed browsers favicons make it easy to find
- demo: no video demonstration OR quick visual demonstration from front page to show canned demo how app is better
- clean urls: yes, but where is clean url on say popular? ~ spicyelephant.com/decks?direction=ASC&order=popul...
- feedback: google group (good) no twitter, blog. Would have thought a twitter account and blog was a good idea for features and latest new decks?
- loading: no check for javascript block
- layout: readability reduced by lots of text. cull text.
- New deck: there is no easy way to create new deck once registed (ie: need a big easy to find button for people with really big thumbs so they do not have to hunt for it). Link to create deck should be off front page. When user is logged in "Make new deck" should be at the front page not just spicyelephant.com/profile
Now most of these are pretty trivial. The app works. What about marketing and getting feedback from users to improve? The only real things I'd suggest would be:
- add "make new deck" to front page easier to find
- add a demo walk through with story with pictures and text showing how the app is better
- add blog and twitter support (more feedback & data push).
One feature request I'd really like to see is a widget I could add to a third party site linking back which allows other companies to create information, test and show users results.
When I tried to add some feedback to the site failed. The comments refer to specific comments at ~ news.ycombinator.com/item?id=265821 and to the story at ~ news.ycombinator.com/item?id=265452
some time later ...
"... thanks a lot mate! I've upgraded you (login:bootload) to premium as a gesture of the thanks ..."
Aw gee you didn't have to. But I'll see how I can make use of it. One idea I've had is could you use the flash cards as a sort of measurable help system? Anyway thanks. Keep up the features.
next >>>
2008AUG041007
SpicyElephant: My experiences on a one month startup
Some observations:
Firstly congratulations on getting the idea from zero to launch in one month. Even if the thing fails you have invested only 1+ resources building. I tried this yesterday, registered and had a play around. Impressions:
- name: 2 words, elephant that never forgets but why spicy? longer to type
- registration: faultless
- no favicon: with tabbed browsers favicons make it easy to find
- demo: no video demonstration OR quick visual demonstration from front page to show canned demo how app is better
- clean urls: yes, but where is clean url on say popular? ~ spicyelephant.com/decks?direction=ASC&order=popul...
- feedback: google group (good) no twitter, blog. Would have thought a twitter account and blog was a good idea for features and latest new decks?
- loading: no check for javascript block
- layout: readability reduced by lots of text. cull text.
- New deck: there is no easy way to create new deck once registed (ie: need a big easy to find button for people with really big thumbs so they do not have to hunt for it). Link to create deck should be off front page. When user is logged in "Make new deck" should be at the front page not just spicyelephant.com/profile
Now most of these are pretty trivial. The app works. What about marketing and getting feedback from users to improve? The only real things I'd suggest would be:
- add "make new deck" to front page easier to find
- add a demo walk through with story with pictures and text showing how the app is better
- add blog and twitter support (more feedback & data push).
One feature request I'd really like to see is a widget I could add to a third party site linking back which allows other companies to create information, test and show users results.
When I tried to add some feedback to the site failed. The comments refer to specific comments at ~ news.ycombinator.com/item?id=265821 and to the story at ~ news.ycombinator.com/item?id=265452
some time later ...
"... thanks a lot mate! I've upgraded you (login:bootload) to premium as a gesture of the thanks ..."
Aw gee you didn't have to. But I'll see how I can make use of it. One idea I've had is could you use the flash cards as a sort of measurable help system? Anyway thanks. Keep up the features.
next >>>