Please review KartMe | Hacker News Reader

Please review KartMe

kartme.com

26 pointsphil_KartMe28 comments

I found the design to be pretty confused, and I suspect that most visitors will leave immediately because of this. You need to communicate what the site is useful for, and how to start using it simply. For example, I wasn't sure whether to start by searching for an item, or clicking the 'Start KartMe' button on the right.

Maybe the design mirrors the fact that the site is trying to do quite a lot of stuff. It's a pretty impressive feat technology/coding-wise, but it might be worth tweaking the homepage (and maybe moving some stuff off it) to help ease the new-user experience.

Yeah, I've got to second this, really had no idea what the site did.

I agree, I really didn't know where to look/read to figure out where to start, or how to start

I am in this group as well. I lasted about 10 seconds and I probably have an idea of what it is but I don't know what you want me to do so I left. This is the type of site that needs a call to action for me to engage with it.

I clearly struggle to simplify the message. Thanks for encouraging me to focus on this.

Any ideas for what one thing i should ask users to do on the homepage?

Your description here makes sense, though I don't see a description on the actual website. Really had no idea what it was. Not sure what Kart Me means either at the moment. Looks nice otherwise. Cool design.

[KartMe is a] free service for easily organizing and sharing favorite books, restaurants, gadgets, recipes and more

Yeah, I would literally stick that text below the logo/search and above the three-steps description.

Adding now :)

Added.

I was able to figure out that's for storing things I like, but I don't know what the benefits of that are. Why do I want to use this service? The "Save time & money" section doesn't tell me anything that it seems like it should.

Agreed. What problem do I have that this is trying to solve? I poked around a little and did a couple searches, and I still don't know what it's trying to help me with.

Here's my 2c. Feels like information overload. If I click on 'Books to read' on the homepage, I'm expecting a list of books to read. Here's what I get:

* Picture of Phil with some unrelated stats.

* List of karts created by Phil, with the option to 'watch them all' (is that ever useful?)

* The list of books to read. Each entry has 8+ possible actions. The only useful visible info about each book is its title and a comment.

* Another unrelated list of 'most watched karts'.

* list of karts watched by Phil.

http://www.kartme.com/user/115/karts/47

I'm not sure new visitors would stay long enough to understand that page.

I would suggest you decide where the focus should be for each page and remove everything that is a distraction.

For instance,

* remove Phil's data from the left column (belongs to a profile page)

* remove the redundant title "Phil's Kart Books to read" from each entry in the list.

* remove or tone down the right column.

* show a summary extract for each book, show the price and option to track price (or automatically track price when 'karting')

* strip down possible actions for each entry to 3 or 4.

So helpful! Thanks!

I've enjoyed Hacker News the past year as I worked on KartMe, and now would greatly appreciate your thoughts on this free service for easily organizing and sharing favorite books, restaurants, gadgets, recipes and more. Thanks!

* What would get you to use KartMe every week?

* What would get you to tell a friend about KartMe today?

A faster server

I wasn't able to understand really quickly what KartMe is offering. That's my biggest hurdle to either using it or telling people.

What would get me to use it would be something that makes it easier, faster, or cooler than tweeting, blogging, or however else I might let people know about this stuff. (Not that I actually do any of those things while working 12h days at a startup.)

Also: name issues. When I see "Kart" i'm thinking "shopping cart" or "mariokart" -- what's the relationship between that and sharing gadgets or recipes? For me at least, you've got a gap right there. The "K" for "C" substitution also gives me "KMart" associations, which probably isn't want you're going for.

Good luck! Don't give up.

Thanks.

Maybe i should say: "The easiest way to create a shareable list of real world stuff"

Go for fewer words. "Share lists of real world stuff"

"Wishlist for the World" ?

I think your ideal tagline describes what you're doing and has a call to action.

Look at posterous -- currently "the dead simple place to post everything. just email us." Pretty wordy, there's really not much else to say about it. But it calls you to action.

Maybe you're "Share anything with your friends and save". Depends on where you want to take it.

You seriously need to take a look at minimalism. As all others have said, I couldn't understand what your site is about. But best of luck, it seems you have put a lot of effort on this. It looks nice too.

These guys sum it up nicely what I want to say. http://commandshift3.com/about.html

>>I was going to write a sentence about why this site exists, but when I asked, Darrell said "If it's not self-evident then fuck off." Feisty.

I didn't understand what the site was about. Seems like a wishlist of all items.

My first thought on going to the site: "WTF is a Kart?" Spent about 30 seconds looking around trying to figure it out and left.

I gotta say, the domain just makes me think of red turtle shells.

haha... yes indeed

funny. i definitely hear different allusions depending on the audience. i guess i'm not surprised no one here focused on "kart wheels"

My impression is that the site is like social bookmarking for real world items.

really well said!

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