Their simple search wizard is great but it ends there IMO.
1) There isn't a direct visual relationship between the "depart" / "return" fields and the date picker (i.e. I didn't see a standard dropdown or calendar icon or way to pick a date)
2) I didn't realize that the date picker widget is one calendar, spanning two months. I thought it was two calendars: one for depart, one for return.
Wondering: Am I the only one? Did they actually test this? Would a "traditional" design with two fields, each with a calendar icon / dropdown perform better? OR, maybe two fields and one calendar beside or beneath each?
I think our version works really nicely if you know how it behaves. So, the challenge to us is to make its behavior more obvious.
Hipmunk's calendar has changed quite a bit since we launched, and I haven't heard much complaining lately. Maybe we just scared everyone away.
What I did:
- Increased priority of "depart and return" calendar.
- Added "click or type below" to make instructions more clear.
- Added a small indicator beside mouse pointer (when hovering over a date) to indicate the current mode of the mouse pointer (two modes: you're either hovering and ready to click on a depart date OR you're hovering and ready to click on a return date).
- Subordinated the depart and return fields. Selecting from the date picker with a mouse should automatically fill these fields.
Why?
- I assume (maybe wrongly so, I am not sure) that the date picker is the most common / popular / usable way to enter in the dates.
- Compared to the current home page, I think this addresses my complaints (see earlier comment) in that it (1) significantly reduces the disparity between the date pickers and the fields, and (2) makes it more clear that the two calendars are in fact for the entry of both the depart and return dates (and not two separate calendars).