Debato - update blog 6 - External feedback

Repository

https://github.com/samvanemelen/debato

introduction

The content of Debato is close to complete and fundamentals are working. The platform is capable of hosting discussions, interacting with other users, performing common transactions and following others. What's left is improving user's experience, convenience and actual use. To improve user's experience and convenience I appealed to some freelancers online who had no experience with Debato yet to give their feedback.

External feedback

So as a developer you often lose the overview of your project since you are working on every single detail and everything seems intuitive to you. Of course new users see this completely different so it is hard for me to judge aspects such as intuitiveness and clarity. To get new insights from unbiased and inexperienced users I decided to adventure into the world of fiverr.

I assume most people know the concept of fiverr, it is basically a platform where you can connect with freelancers of a wide range of services. In my quest for external feedback I browsed some of the offered packages until I found two who seemed interesting. For completeness, here are the links:

I Will Perform A Website Review
I Will Create Ui Ux Design And Prototype Using Adobe Xd

I decided to pick two aspects of reviewing, one from the viewpoint of a new user actually visiting and trying to use the website, and one from the viewpoint of a webdesigner giving the layout a makeover to his liking.

Website review

This review was done by an experienced webdesigner and the result is a 10 minute breakdown of his thoughts and here are the results.

Summary of his points if you don't want to watch the review:

• Simple design, easy to navigate
• Page title should be similar to description on the page
• Is the description catchy enough? organize? more connect and reward, users don't want to organize
• Ability to remove tags after searching for them would be nice
• Spacing is off when there are few discussions
• URL should be shorter, no folder paths
• Context area is too wide, some more padding would be nice.
• Offer to sign in/up in stead of comment button/follow/...
• It's not really clear what the arguments are, arguments for/against by other users.
• What's the point of the white box when expanding comments? Especially on phones this would be an issue
• About page, get right to the point, FAQ somewhere else, on the about page, clear direct info
• Language should be more simple, straight forward...
• Profile is very clear
• How do I follow? (suggest to sign in/up)

I can agree with his comments. I'm not sure if some just require knowledge about Debato or are actually hurdles? For example the points of clicking on arguments, it not being clear what the arguments are, or the white box expanding the comments, are these indeed things that are unclear to you as well?

Overall I found this a great 2nd opinion, 10$ well spent.

UI Design

Secondly I found a gig that would design website prototypes. I liked his previous work and style. He did not just fill in WordPress templates to sell to unknowing customers. So I contacted him to see for a specific task of creating mock-up designs based on the existing website. Eventually he did a small redesign for the front page for free and I must say I like
his design!

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The layout of the discussion cards is indeed an improvement and visual hierarchy is something he manages to do better and I need to work on.. Taking 'trending' and 'hot' out of the tabs and putting them into a separate column also looks neat to me.

Personally I think the green and the purple are a strange combination but what do you think of it?

Final thoughts

I would love to have your opinion on these feedbacks and I will go ahead and start implementing these suggestions. If you, as a more seasoned Steem user have some feedback to share, I'd love to hear it!

I'm furthermore trying to spread the word of debato and to get the platform started. If I get inspiration on other platforms such as reddit or twitter I will try to continue the discussion on debato for example. If you find yourself in an online debate, consider showing debato as an alternative that can earn you rewards by discussing.

Have a lovely day!

previous updates

• Debato - update blog 5
• Debato - update blog 4
• Debato - update blog 3
• Debato - update blog 2
• Debato - update blog 1
• Debato - introduction

written by @samve