Ask HN: Review my "coming soon" page

by mhluongo • 16 years ago

3 21 16 years ago

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

We're building an academic network to provide academics with papers and people relevant to their research. Please let me know what you think.

chunkbot• 16 years ago

I really like the tag line ("The Internet was built for Universities. We're taking it back.").

The design sucks, but at least it's functional.

You should explain what the product does (ie. put some variation of the above text on the page?).

Also, maybe you should consider a "better" domain name...

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

Jumping on giving an explanation of the product. I was hoping to go for mysterious, but most people I've talked to think that's silly.

I don't love the design- we're still working on a logo- but is there anything in particular jumping out at you?

kingsidharth• 16 years ago

Build it then it will be more logical to ask for review. Ideas and Coming Soon pages are of no value.

_grrr2• 16 years ago

What do you want us to review?

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

I'm really interested in initial impressions - "the brown/blue is ugly", "like the copy, wish there was more explanation", etc.

_grrr2• 16 years ago

I think the browns is ugly and the fonts need some work.

Seems like a bit of a waste getting the HN community to review some colours and fonts though. If you told us a little more about the idea maybe we could give you feedback on that instead? I mean, the coming soon page is pretty insignificant with respects to the idea itself, no?

corp• 16 years ago

You should explain what the product does (or will do) so I have an incentive to be on your mailing list.

jscore• 16 years ago

How about: Review my "Ask HN: Review my "coming soon" page (scholr.ly)" post?

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

I'm new to (posting on) HN, so those responses are great, too.

terrellm2• 16 years ago

Pardon the unsolicited suggestion but you may want to reconsider your domain name.

I'm not sure how academics would be on misspelling "scholar" even if it's a clever URL hack. It's sort of like wearing a suit with sleeves too long and pant legs too short to your job at a fashion designer - it just doesn't fit in that context. That's just my opinion.

Also, there's another site at scholar.ly that has its own coming soon page.

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

I've reached out to the owner of scholar.ly, but he isn't interested in selling. This is an ongoing contention with us- do you think it'd be valuable, considering the time tradeoff, to survey grad students and test a few names?

terrellm2• 16 years ago

When I was in a similar situation a few months back, I chose to find another option rather than running the risk of confusion by my customers with me on the losing end.

While instinctive for many HN'ers, remembering to misspell and use .ly is an unnecessary burden for people like parents and non-tech friends. In my case, the average age of someone in my market is 50+ so I went with a .com.

A disclaimer is that I do invest some in domain names on the side. Unfortunately I hadn't bought this particular name years ago so had to pay $1500 for it.

rorymarinich2• 16 years ago

The font you use for your tag line is too silly — it doesn't make me feel particularly learned or wise or any of the things I associate with scholarliness. Ditto that wishy-washy blue color.

The "email-subscribe" widget is ugly and gray. The border is too thick on the "email" and the slightly rounded "subscribe" box feels like a parody of web 2.0.

"to get updates on our progress" should not be on a separate line from "subscribe" but in general it should not be there at all. Think of a more concise way to say what you want to say.

The "h" and the "r" in your logo font make me want to punch a baby even though said baby has done nothing wrong. I don't know what font that is but it makes me feel kind of like the bondage rape scene in Blue Velvet makes me feel.

"We're taking it back" should not be on a separate line from "The internet was built...", nor should it be in bold.

So inasmuch as "coming soon" pages go, you managed to incorporate all the things you're supposed to have while simultaneously making them all very unpleasant. But why is this posted here? Why does it matter? Is this an attempt to make us subscribe and build up your prelaunch audience? Or are you a designer trying to master the art of coming soon pages? Otherwise I don't know why you'd care enough to ask for a critique.

(Also: WAS the Internet built for universities? What does that even mean? Do you mean the old old Internet that started as a university project? Or do you mean 2005-era Facebook? I am so confused. Please explain.)

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

My buy in - I'm a developer trying to develop taste. I'm not sure if we're going to have a designer for this project, and the more aesthetic feedback I can get, the better (as I see it).

The wishy-washy blue is being a/b tested to settle a bet- usually we're a more scholastic brown. Working on your suggestions, thanks =)

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

(Also: the old old Internet. Any ideas on how to make that more clear?)

rorymarinich2• 16 years ago

I'm still confused myself; the Internet hasn't been restricted to university usage since the way-early 90s, right? What specific service are you providing? Without that I can't be more clear.

(If it's something you'd rather keep secret, I understand, but can't exactly help much. Or if you want to talk privately, send an email and I'll try to get back to you quickly.)

deutronium2• 16 years ago

The text "The internet was built for" is overlapped by "universities"

mhluongo8• 16 years ago

Is it? What browser/resolution are you using?

deutronium2• 16 years ago

Firefox 3.6.12 1366x768

Feel free to give me an e-mail if you want a screenshot too.

cancelbubble• 16 years ago

Horrible fonts. Horrible tagline.

I have no idea what you do, why would I want to get updates on your progress?

Ask HN: Review my "coming soon" page

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