seeking 20-second feedback on ourdoings.com front page
26 comments
On flickr, as on almost every photo-sharing site out there, you have to decide how to organize your photos into albums. When you have kids, some photos don't fit neatly into one or another album, and you spend too much time deciding. Letting the timestamps do the organizing for you is a big win for people who don't want to spend time organizing. No, it isn't groundbreaking technology, but it's worth bragging about to people who have photos to share but don't have time to organize them.
The email feature is great for keeping friends up-to-date with what you've been doing. When you email a link, there's a decision people have to make as to whether they should look now or later. With embedded thumbnails they can see at a glance how interesting your latest photos are to them. I use the feature to keep up with old friends and former coworkers, as well as family, and it's the feature that generates the most excitement.
There are sites out there that spam your friends after you invite them to see your private album, and sites that don't give you access to the full-size photos you've uploaded, so those features are worth mention. If the bulleted list distracts from the main distinguishing features, do you think I should just make "other features" a link to a separate page?
I'm definitely not trying to beat flickr at its own game. Still, I am trying to find the right niche. Parents like ourdoings.com when I show it to them, but I still haven't found the market where people's hair is on fire.
The email feature is great for keeping friends up-to-date with what you've been doing. When you email a link, there's a decision people have to make as to whether they should look now or later. With embedded thumbnails they can see at a glance how interesting your latest photos are to them. I use the feature to keep up with old friends and former coworkers, as well as family, and it's the feature that generates the most excitement.
There are sites out there that spam your friends after you invite them to see your private album, and sites that don't give you access to the full-size photos you've uploaded, so those features are worth mention. If the bulleted list distracts from the main distinguishing features, do you think I should just make "other features" a link to a separate page?
I'm definitely not trying to beat flickr at its own game. Still, I am trying to find the right niche. Parents like ourdoings.com when I show it to them, but I still haven't found the market where people's hair is on fire.
I don't mean to be harsh but the design of the site is sorely lacking. It looks like your design was trying for zen-like simplicity but instead just looks amateurish. There is much wrong with the design, and instead of posting a short novel on the subject I would recommend googling "basic design principles" or going into your local Barnes & Noble and finding the same.
Beyond that, I would also criticize your choice of domain name. It is good that you are using real words in your domain name, but the words "ourdoing" has nothing to do with photos, time or email, which I take it is the essence what you are offering. A domain like "bestphotoemail.com" would serve you better even if its not your brand name.
I do like your logo, conceptually at least. It needs work and should be more prominent.
Beyond that, I would also criticize your choice of domain name. It is good that you are using real words in your domain name, but the words "ourdoing" has nothing to do with photos, time or email, which I take it is the essence what you are offering. A domain like "bestphotoemail.com" would serve you better even if its not your brand name.
I do like your logo, conceptually at least. It needs work and should be more prominent.
Well there's nothing wrong with a simple design. As long as it helps get the user what they want. It's got that craigslist feel to it. I just think (s)he needs to improve the usability. As a user I wanna be uploading/sharing/viewing pics in as few steps as possible. I found the demo lacking and I had to log out of the demo, then go back "hosting plan" to sign up, then wait 20 mins for my email before I could start using the service. That being said, keep up the good work. As for your business model, I don't think I'm qualified to comment on that.
This is very useful feedback; I wish I could mod you up twice. I'll put it at the top of my list of gaining-new-customers features. Making existing customers happy is higher priority, though, and I have a few things on that list to get out of the way.
The site is most useful for photos that help tell a story, e.g. of travels, or of kids growing up. My private family site is on there, and chronicles our doings over the past several years. The name wouldn't fit the timeless artistic photos you find on webshots or flickr, but that's not what this site is for.
Glad you mostly like the logo. I might at some point make it more prominent on the front page. On people's sites within ourdoings.com, I plan on leaving it less prominent. I want them to feel ownership. Having my logo take the primo real estate of the upper left corner would not serve that purpose.
A novel about design might not serve me well, since I don't have enough design sense to tell what advice to accept/reject. If there's a basic, obvious principle or two I've violated, I might actually fix it if you tell me specifically. Design isn't likely to be my highest priority any time soon, though.
Glad you mostly like the logo. I might at some point make it more prominent on the front page. On people's sites within ourdoings.com, I plan on leaving it less prominent. I want them to feel ownership. Having my logo take the primo real estate of the upper left corner would not serve that purpose.
A novel about design might not serve me well, since I don't have enough design sense to tell what advice to accept/reject. If there's a basic, obvious principle or two I've violated, I might actually fix it if you tell me specifically. Design isn't likely to be my highest priority any time soon, though.
Hi, Answer: No, you are not there yet. Let me give you some advice. Forget ALL the features you have added. Don't pimp them on the front page. There is really only one unique thing about your site, and it is what you should concentrate on:
Timeline based albums.
Everybody things they are good at everything. There are two things you are not good at - copywriting and design. So long you do not learn that, you will continue to fail with that site. That's why people specialise, so they get good at something. For example:
"Your photos are _automatically_ organized by date."
What were you thinking? You think that "automatically" is important to most people looking at your site? No, it's not! That's a technical feature, it's not a dream of people. You are not conveying the correct impression.
Your title is "Amazingly simple photo sharing". Okay, first of all, "Amazing" has been overused and means nothing. "Simple", well everything is simple once you know how to use it. "Photo sharing". So the focus of your site is sharing? Like, you make the process of "sharing" very simple?
I did not read a single one of your features, because there are just too many, and you do not highlight the most important.
Back to the point - what I'm trying to say is just stick with pimping and developing a timeline based approach to storing albums. Make this your prime feature and design your site around it.
And by the way - you are NOT a designer. Go work in mcdonalds for 2 weeks, you'll make enough money to hire a romanian designer for $200 that will make you a great site.
Your site looks like it time travelled from 1998.
Timeline based albums.
Everybody things they are good at everything. There are two things you are not good at - copywriting and design. So long you do not learn that, you will continue to fail with that site. That's why people specialise, so they get good at something. For example:
"Your photos are _automatically_ organized by date."
What were you thinking? You think that "automatically" is important to most people looking at your site? No, it's not! That's a technical feature, it's not a dream of people. You are not conveying the correct impression.
Your title is "Amazingly simple photo sharing". Okay, first of all, "Amazing" has been overused and means nothing. "Simple", well everything is simple once you know how to use it. "Photo sharing". So the focus of your site is sharing? Like, you make the process of "sharing" very simple?
I did not read a single one of your features, because there are just too many, and you do not highlight the most important.
Back to the point - what I'm trying to say is just stick with pimping and developing a timeline based approach to storing albums. Make this your prime feature and design your site around it.
And by the way - you are NOT a designer. Go work in mcdonalds for 2 weeks, you'll make enough money to hire a romanian designer for $200 that will make you a great site.
Your site looks like it time travelled from 1998.
If you ever took a hundred kid photos and tried to organize them into albums on a non-automatic photo-sharing site, you'd understand why I emphasize "automatically."
I used to think "amazing" was useless marketingspeak until I saw reddit stories succeed or fail based on the word. Yes, simple is absolutely what I emphasize. Yes, the purpose is to share photos. It isn't a social networking site for photography enthusiasts like flickr, etc.; it's a simple way to share photos.
I realize I am not a designer. I'm poor enough at it that I might not recognize good design if I saw it, except in terms of usability. That aspect of the site will have to wait. Luckily, people seem to get a positive experience when attention is drawn to content they're interested in, and the current default style accomplishes that.
I used to think "amazing" was useless marketingspeak until I saw reddit stories succeed or fail based on the word. Yes, simple is absolutely what I emphasize. Yes, the purpose is to share photos. It isn't a social networking site for photography enthusiasts like flickr, etc.; it's a simple way to share photos.
I realize I am not a designer. I'm poor enough at it that I might not recognize good design if I saw it, except in terms of usability. That aspect of the site will have to wait. Luckily, people seem to get a positive experience when attention is drawn to content they're interested in, and the current default style accomplishes that.
You have something in your head, and you mould every feedback you get to fit in with that concept. First rule of interface design - if people are complaining, don't explain to them how what you have in your head is the best approach, change it so they figure it out.
You needed a lot of time to do a lot of nothing, and if you ever want succeed, you'll need to change that.
You needed a lot of time to do a lot of nothing, and if you ever want succeed, you'll need to change that.
Please note, maxklein, that your feedback is not the only feedback I'm receiving, and your "first" rule of interface design is what I'm doing.
The reason why I'm not changing the page in response to your particular feedback about emphasizing automatic is that it's not coming from a potential customer. Explaining to non-potential-customers why other people would value this feature is not a high priority. Potential customers (people with little free time) will recognize immediately why having something done for them is valuable.
This entire round of feedback is for one change made in response to Paul Buchheit's complaint last time. I've made other changes in response to customer feedback, but didn't ask for news.yc feedback on all of them.
The reason why I'm not changing the page in response to your particular feedback about emphasizing automatic is that it's not coming from a potential customer. Explaining to non-potential-customers why other people would value this feature is not a high priority. Potential customers (people with little free time) will recognize immediately why having something done for them is valuable.
This entire round of feedback is for one change made in response to Paul Buchheit's complaint last time. I've made other changes in response to customer feedback, but didn't ask for news.yc feedback on all of them.
You have a great idea, but you're doing so many things wrong, it's amazing. Look at your hosting plan. Totally obscure. You're adding uncertainty. So many little things here and there are wrong, but I see that you're the type of person who only takes advice if it is given with a bucket of sugar, so this is the last piece of advice I'll give you:
Do your thing, bro.
Do your thing, bro.
While your criticism could be valid, there's no reason to be a jerk. Communication skills are as important as the facts you are trying to convey.
This guy posted this site like 2 months ago, and refused to listen to reason back then. Sometimes you gotta pound sense into a man.
Each time I've made changes in response to news.yc feedback, though not necessarily yours.
I did mod your first comment up and did no downmodding, since I read sincere feedback and it's obvious you did at least look.
I did mod your first comment up and did no downmodding, since I read sincere feedback and it's obvious you did at least look.
I previously got feedback on my photo-sharing site overall. Feedback was (among other things) use less text but explain it better. Today I'd like a 20-second evaluation of my front page, with one simple question: After skimming it for about 20 seconds, do you know why someone would use it instead of another photo-sharing site? A simple 0 or 1 answer will do.
Well, I understand the differentiation, but I don't see the value-add for me.
But that's just my personal opinion.
But that's just my personal opinion.
Something that might make a difference for me is that I actually get to keep a bit of the money the site makes with advertisements. There's no way I'm going to pay someone to host my photos when I can do it myself and make some money at it.
If there's enough interest in your photos that you could make nontrivial money from ads near them, then you're not in my target market. Skilled artistic photographers are well-served by existing photo-sharing sites. This one is for photos whose value is in the story they tell.
I make trivial money from them. Enough for hosting and a bottle of wine now and then. But that sure beats paying someone to host them.
I expect few if any news.yc people are in the target market, but I want to wait and get more answers before I elaborate. I want answers based solely on what's seen on the page, not informed by comments here.
I guess what you need to figure out is how strong the network effects are for other photo sites. People seem to like the community aspect of flickr, for instance, and they lose that if they go to your site.
That said, yeah, there's probably a lot of people who don't put their photos on line yet who might go for something less 'cool'.
That said, yeah, there's probably a lot of people who don't put their photos on line yet who might go for something less 'cool'.
You're getting the idea. There are millions of people out there whose photos sit on their hard drive, never to see the light of day. The early-adopter types are well served by flickr, pbase, smugmug and others.
Duh. Link would help:
http://ourdoings.com/
http://ourdoings.com/
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And as another poster said, you shouldn't brag about stuff that's little more than basic functionality. Sorting by date is not a cutting-edge feature. Neither is not spamming the user's friends. Or "easy access to full size." Listing those sorts of things as features makes it look like you have so few real features that you had to stretch to fill out your list.
Finally, you need to figure out what your audience is. It's extremely unlikely that you're going to beat Flickr at their own game, so you need to find a niche they aren't serving well. Frankly, I'm having trouble seeing what that niche would be, but if you want to succeed you're going to have to find it.