Critique of my wesbite

C

ciaphuas

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 25, 2010
Messages
84
Here is my social networking site for college students ala Facebook 2007 (but more campus/event oriented).

I'll love any constructive critiques and if you have an .edu address you can check out more than the FrontPage :)

www.thiscollege.com
 
What does your site do that facebook doesn't? (other than having a much, much smaller network)
 
It's more that the site does things a little differently. The Stream filters everything that is happening on campus (with the option just to show you and your friends). The events can be searched by location and gives a google maps view of where the party, intramural, social event is happening. Thirdly it is only for college students, so the exclusivity as well as keeping things between you and your friends is a plus. Also you can draw on each other wall (more a novelty but is very popular)

Theirs no ads, no pages with tons of corporations, it has less buttons. It is simple and focused...College students wanting their own space and to find stuff around campus.
 
If there are no ads, how will the site maintain itself?
 
Because I'm a nice guy :) ....well eventually it'll probably be an ad or two but not for some time
 
I've been messing with the idea by do a group style coupon for each campus...like pay 5 bucks and get 10 dollars of drinks at blah blah...as another way to raise money
 
Besides 'The Office' has taught me the first rule of silicon valley is the user experience that comes first...you never think of the money
 
I'm not sure how well Joomla! is going to expand if it takes off. You may also want to combine those css and js asset files from the templates/plugins you are using.

Other than that... your login box looks nice :)
 
The source and query strings kind of give it away.

Edit: Oh, there is also this: <meta name="generator" content="Joomla! 1.5 - Open Source Content Management" />
 
ciaphuas said:
anything you would change with the frontpage to make it more 'catchy'
Click to expand...

Well since none of us have access the 'front page' is the login screen, which tells us little (really nothing) about what the site is, who it's for, why I should care, etc.

Not sure I'm a fan of the pink/orange/blue logo against the teal, but that may just be me.
 
Just from the frontpage, or rather login/sign up it just seems unpolished to me. It's dark and uninviting.
 
I'm made some changes to the frontpage...and I'm about to publish a completely different template. What do you mean by dark and uninviting. [H]ardOcp has a dark template and it seems fine for me...and obviously you
 
While I applaud your efforts, I have to wonder if they are in vain. A FB clone script with a template offering nothing more and in fact less than the already popular networks simply isn't going to attract users.

It's a good experiment to play with and learn; but I don't forsee a community growing around it. Not trying to burst any bubbles, just being realistic.

That being said, it still looks too dark for something that's supposed to promote social communication, gatherings and networking.
 
I understand the uphill battle...but do you know theirs other social networking sites that are popular as well...Myspace, friendster, Hi5, etc...so it is possible. Second can you be more specific on the 'too dark' because I have no idea what is dark about the site....thanks
 
ciaphuas said:
I've been messing with the idea by do a group style coupon for each campus...like pay 5 bucks and get 10 dollars of drinks at blah blah...as another way to raise money
Click to expand...

I have no idea how that could work. Until you have a big user base, you're not going to get any companies to give you discounts like that.

Also, these are college kids we're talking about here; they're not going to pay 5 bucks. Even for discounted drinks.

ciaphuas said:
anything you would change with the frontpage to make it more 'catchy'
Click to expand...

Well for one your logo is way to small compared to the rest of the design elements. The wording for everything also seems a bit off. "College Social Networking" just seems like it's there for SEO, not to actually grab the viewers attention. In your bullet points, you mention it's exclusively for college students, then you refer to staying in touch with your "student body". What college student refers to their classmates as their "student body"? That sounds like it's for faculty, not students.

The 4 picture graphic feels out of place as well. Maybe make it one large image that fades/slides in new photos.

All around, the design needs to be tightened. There's too much dead space and frivolous design elements; such as the gradients and grain texture. It feels very dated to me.

webdes03 said:
Not sure I'm a fan of the pink/orange/blue logo against the teal, but that may just be me.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The logo looks like something I've seen before too. Did you design it yourself? Or use clipart of some sort? The faded / gradient on the logo makes it hard to read as well. A logo should be easily understood in any conditions, be it black and white, on the side of a building, a business card, or a website. The current logo would fail black and white, and I have serious misgivings about how well it would do in any other condition.

ciaphuas said:
I'm made some changes to the frontpage...and I'm about to publish a completely different template. What do you mean by dark and uninviting. [H]ardOcp has a dark template and it seems fine for me...and obviously you
Click to expand...

[H]|OCP isn't focused on college students specifically though, and with exception to the [H]forum, it is not particularly "social". Also, [H] was started 14 years ago, when web design was minimal and... ugly. Kyle built a brand for the [H], and it's taken him years and years. There have been sister sites to [H] that had much different color schemes and focuses... they ultimately failed.

I too don't understand the need for this site. If you're trying to be what facebook started as, why not emphasis that? Really sell the point that you're trying to be better then facebook in that regard. That you're going back to what FB used to be?

Take Diaspora for instance. They didn't like how FB was handling privacy and user's data, so they publicly denounced FB and said they're making something better, with stronger privacy control. That got them a really strong following.

Sorry if it sounds like we're shitting all over your parade. Consider it construction criticism. :)
 
You have given me the best feedback Nick and I appreciate it. It's nice to get an explanation to a comment and not just ...its dark or its not fb
 
The logo is to small, branding is everything and it is just to unnoticeable. Also, I agree that the photos look out of place, they just look like a quick ms paint job instead of something serious. Maybe try a javascript cycle thingy... I've used this jquery plugin before and it works quite nicely.
http://malsup.com/jquery/cycle/

Not really a fan of the color scheme either, gray on gray just seems kinda bland. Only saw the front page though, didn't feel like registering.
 
College student here. The only clue as to what your site does is on the front page
- EXCLUSIVELY FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS
MEET, FIND, AND HANG OUT WITH YOUR COLLEGE FRIENDS
FIND OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND YOUR CAMPUS
Click to expand...

Exclusivity means nothing to me; it just means that when I graduate I will no longer be able to use your service to keep in contact with anyone. Also, I already do those other things via Facebook and email. Why then should I sign up for your site, and convince my other friends (who are lazy, like me) to do the same? Like the other folks here have said, it's something to think about. You'll never get anywhere copying something that someone else has already done unless you make it significantly better (or have a massive marketing team).
 
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