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Trying to make stock analysis easy to use


mysteryleo

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I created a new website with some friends about trading systems and stock analysis. We're designer N00bs.

 

Trader Bots

 

I spent a suprisingly long time reworking the header, and the littlest things can make a world of difference. I wonder what else I should improve to make it more usable.

 

Also, is the color scheme to drab?

 

Lastly, do you get it? The concept I'm trying to convey might be a little opaque, so I'm not sure if I'm conveying the value proposition of the website very well. What would you impove?

 

Thoughts?

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Well no one else here has tackled this so far, so here is my humble opinion, and I am not even going to mention the validation issues or the mix of inline and linked CSS.

 

To me your site does not look professional. Besides not understanding what it's about, although I do have a vague idea about the stock market, there is no specific information on your site explaining what you do. That's fine if your clients already know what they want, but for someone who is looking for information and who happens on your site, it would be take a look, don't understand and leave.

 

From a design point of view:

You are using a lot of the same size fonts so none of the points you want to stress or advertise are standing out.

Your

is the same size as the "We are still under development".

They are also no clickable links to explain or expand on each feature.

The header logo is very small and amateurish and your whole site lacks colour.

In fact the only thing that really stands out are the Google ads on the right hand side because there is some change in colour and font.

I am not a fan of Facebook at the best of times, but you are linking to a social networking site on which you have very few "friends" - One look at that and I would certainly not take the advice from your site about investing my hard earned money, especially with the huge disclaimer at the bottom of every page. Said disclaimer should be written much smaller and be a link to a separate page from the footer with all the legalese.

 

Sorry to be so disheartening, I am sure you are very good at what you do, unfortunately your website does not translate it.

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Your criticism is well put.

 

The inline/linked css I'm still playing around with until the look and feel solidify. Then its all going linked for the most part. I'm not very concerned about validation issues. Should i be?

 

The professional thing is a huge problem. My gf says the same thing, and you're right. i'm not sure how to fix that. Tweak by tweak :(

 

I'll keep working on make the site easy to understand. I have a friend who's like you. I use him as a measure. Until he gets it, my work is not finished.

 

The color thing is tough for me. I'm terrible with colors. Black and gray I always looks decent (think black and white photograph). When I put color, I do such a terrible job it looks awful. I'll work on that.

 

The facebook point you brought up is very interesting.

 

Anyways, thanks for your help. Looks like a lot of work to still tackle.

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I guess you are on a budget or you would be hiring a professional, so here are a couple of links to point you in the right direction.

Remove spaces from the links:

 

ww w.logomaker.c om/

This site will create a logo for you based on your choice of symbol and text.

 

ww w.getfreewebdesigns.c om/

Template based site with loads of web designs, to give you an idea of colour schemes. You can also download the templates and use them for free.

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I wouldn't worry too much about the color scheme. Black and gray is professional, and I think there is a lot more to focus on here. First of all, who is your target market? If it is someone like me who understands an average amount about stocks, you need to do a much better job of explaining your site. The About Us section is just not cutting it. I'm also not sure about the Facebook and Google ads, it may be detracting from your image of authority.

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Yeah, I might kill the Google ads. They're doing awfully. The Facebook is starting to pick up. I guess people are starting to understand the value of the site.

 

What do you guys consider "a few" fans?

 

I'm wondering where the psychological line is.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just had a round of usability studies. Turns out our last design was pretty bad. Amazing what you learn by watching your users.

 

After a lot of work, and design reviews, we think we have something much cleaner, easier to use, and easier to understand.

 

See our new design:

Trader Bots

 

Do you have any advice on anything else we can improve?

 

Our main questions are

1) What is confusing?

2) What features are missing that a user might want?

3) What can we improve in general

 

Let us know what you think.

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  • 3 months later...

One of our design friends gave us some quick tips and ideas.

 

Implemented most of them, and the homepage looks a lot more professional.

 

Trader Bots

 

Would love some thoughts on what else we can improve on.

 

Also, does anyone know of any websites that have a really usable homepage.

 

Preferably, something that operates under the Freemium or Subscription business model, but we're interested in looking at examples of anything that isn't a blog.

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Much more professional looking site, and I did not have a problem with slow loading. Now I understand what it is about and how to use it.

Just one comment, I would get rid of the scroll bar on the top, it has no use.

 

We still need to get our marketing message correct to the users. What is our value add, and make that clear, but it is getting there.

 

You're very insightful. We track the performance of all our features, and that feature gets very little use. What do you think of using it for announcements?

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No because it would break up the 2 sets of navigation which are clearly visible.

 

I would put announcements above "Get Stock Predictions" in the same size box and add some height to the "Enter a stock symbol" box, so that with the extra box on the right, the "Open Free Account" would align with the bottom of the left hand side which it does not do at the moment. The "Enter a stock symbol" box could do with some height anyway as the Analyze button is jammed up against the input box.

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No because it would break up the 2 sets of navigation which are clearly visible.

 

I would put announcements above "Get Stock Predictions" in the same size box and add some height to the "Enter a stock symbol" box, so that with the extra box on the right, the "Open Free Account" would align with the bottom of the left hand side which it does not do at the moment. The "Enter a stock symbol" box could do with some height anyway as the Analyze button is jammed up against the input box.

 

What browser are you using? Is anyone else seeing the misalignment?

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