Monday, 17 November 2008
user feedback
« Current bugs | Main | How to video »Thanks to Erin for taking the time to send us her thoughts on how to improve comotivate. Fantastic effort very much appreciated. I'll be responding soon to these fab ideas...
I really like comotivate so far. For me, it’s a gentle reminder of my goal which is just what I need. I love the idea of having a support system for achieving goals, especially personal ones that may not be the same as your friends. I’m not an expert in reviewing websites and everything that I’m saying is just from my experience as a user.
Video Tutorial
The first thing I’d love to see on comotivate is a video tutorial of someone setting a goal, searching and buddying up with someone, joining a team, and possibly using one of the Progress Tools. I think some of my confusion stems from that I don’t know how to fully utilize comotivate to help me meet my goals. It would give potential users a quick peek about why they should sign up with comotivate and why it’s so awesome!
The Buddy System and Teams
The Buddy System is great, but I’m a little confused about its relation to the being on a Team. I’m not really sure if I can have a buddy and being on a team or if the two are mutually exclusive. If they are mutually exclusive, the following comments may not have any merit since I am currently on a team as well.For the Buddy System you get to look at possibly buddies who are a match for you based the number of criteria you selected. From there you can decide to “buddy up” with that person. It would be helpful to be able to see the status of a buddy request. I have in “My Feed” that I sent a buddy request, but I have no idea what happened to it. Should I send another buddy request, should I find another buddy, or should I want because the buddy I’m trying to buddy with just hasn’t seen it yet? As I said, these points are all moot if you can only have a buddy or be on a team, but not both.If you can have one or the other, I’m slightly confused as to why that is. Some people may want the larger support system of a team, but want to share the more personal triumphs with a single buddy and share their general triumphs with the whole team.I’d also like to know more about buddies in general. Can I have more than one? How do I know if I’m paired with a buddy? Can I see his/her profile?
Deadline
One thing I noticed when I was searching for Teams and Buddies is that is lists the Deadline on the information list. Since it is one of the criteria you can choose to match on, it definitely should be listed. A year should be listed with it as well. I found myself looking at the dates and thinking a user has the same deadline as I do, but then I though perhaps they mean this year instead of next. Some of these goals are long term goals, so a date listed next to Buddies and Teams would be very helpful.
Progress Tools
One feature that I found today by reading through all of the FAQs (one reason a video intro/tutorial may be useful) was the Checklist. This is such a great idea! Making mini-goals always helps a larger goal seem more doable and you can immediately see yourself making progress towards something bigger, which is a great motivator. When I went to My Homepage to look for my Checklist, I couldn’t find it. I went to Amend My Goal and it was checked as an active and showing feature. I looked back at My Homepage and I realized that it is called Tasks on sidebar. This was confusing to me since I was looking specifically for a Checklist, but instead found Tasks. I realize the words mean the essentially same thing, but I think it would be better to choose one name to refer to the feature.Something I would really like to see in the Task/Checklist area is a simply button to add a task. I wouldn’t naturally go to Settings to add a task and the words Settings implies changing options that affects how the tools works or looks, not the content. I would also like to see the first Task in My Homepage. I know one of the goals of comotivate is to cut down on “browsing” and increase “doing.” By not showing the first un-completed task on the homepage, the user must click on Settings (once again, I feel it’s an odd word to use for its function) to find their first task. I think it would be better to incorporate the first task that needs to be completed on the user’s homepage.When choosing Progress Tools, I know you can choose up to two. Unfortunately, it seems that you can choose up to two only if one of them is the Countdown Clock. I’d really love to have the Progress Tools Zero to Hero and Checklist, but right now I have to choose one or the other and the Countdown Clock.
User Homepage
One thing I would like to see relating to the comotivate homepage is a different view if a user is logged in. If a user is logged in and goes to the comotivate homepage, there is no reason why he/she should see the taglines and instructions for signing up, he/she already has!Although it’s great to reduce browsing a site in order increase doing, I think it’d be worthwhile to think about a makeover of the user homepage and the site homepage when a user is logged in. I think it would be possible to combine both pages into one user homepage. I find myself constantly clicking between the two and I would love to have them on just one page. I have an idea in my head for one way it could work out. You seem to have a nice tabs and heading theme and I think you could really take advantage of that in a redesign.Along the lines of layout, I think it would be helpful to change the very top menu. Right now it says “My Homepage Logout.” I think it would be great if you included a link to the Help/FAQ section as well. So it would read “My Homepage Help/FAQ Logout” instead. This way answers to questions are close at hand and not at the bottom of the page in a very small font!
Very Small Things I Noticed
Today I read through all of the FAQs, which were very helpful, but it was a long read. I noticed something extremely small. You use the convention of putting a space after Q. The following questions don’t have a space after them, so they don’t look as uniform. Really, I can’t believe I told you that since it is so small, but it’s just something I noticed. Also, under the question, “What can I do from my homepage?” the response “Access your Team Area” is listed twice, also the bullet point with “Edit your details” has an extra space before it.Q.Why is comotivate so great?Q.What makes comotivate special?Q.What can I do on the site?Q.What can I do from the ‘Team New Buddies’ page?Q.How do I find buddies?Q.Can I have two or more of the same goals live at the same time?Q.How do I report abuse?Q.How can I invite my friends to comotivate?Q.How does the site differentiate users?Q.What is the role of the Team Owner?
I know I’ve written a lot and I’m sure you weren’t expecting this much, so if you even get to this point in the reading, thanks! I really do like the site and I think it’s a great idea! I only see the site getting better and more efficient.
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Thanks again Erin for sending this through. Here's my response:
1. Video tutorial/demo
The software has been downloaded and on my desktop for two weeks and I just haven't got round to filming yet! I've realised just how important it is now and will prioritise it!
2. Buddy status
Check your 'New Buddies' page to see the status of invites sent or received. You can send as many buddy up requests as you like to people who you think are well matched with you.
3. Buddies/Teams
You are classed as being in a team if you are buddied with one or more people. Teams can be 2 people or they can be 2,000 people! Everyone in a team is a buddy of their team mates. You can only belong to one team per goal but you can swap teams whenever you like. You can even enquire about joining another team without having to leave your original team first. We're working on a way of allowing buddies to see the profiles of other buddies in their team.
4. Deadline
We'll make sure we list a year on the goal deadline - thanks - we'd overlooked that!
5. Tasks/Checklist tool
We'll work on a way to make it clearer and preview more info - thanks!
6. change "settings"
I agree!
7. Tool selctions
I agree! It would be better to see more than one plus the countdown clock. We'll look at enhancing that - thanks!
8. Homepage
Are you referring to the user homepage or the site homepage? I'd love to see your ideas on layout and agree with your views.
9. Small things...
...make a big difference. Thanks so much I'll get these errors corrected.