SITE REVIEW: BlinkBits.com- the collective wisdom of all man

Hello,

I've just released a new site called BlinkBits.com from PHPBB.

Imagine the collective wisdom of ALL mankind on hurricane katrina... Thats BlinkBits!

Blink Bits was founded on the premise that if we provide people with the tools necessary to consolidate, read, edit, comment on, discuss and share information the resulting information will be superior.

Blink Bits is where people Start Blinks on topics that are of interest to them to:
* Stay Informed with continuously updated content from millions of sources.
* Save time with News, Pics, Videos and more - ALL in 1 PLACE
* Discover hard to find info plus get expert analysis & multiple viewpoints.
* Express their views by openly adding, editing and discussing their Blink topic.
* Meet People Interested in their Blink topic.
* Become the Recognized Authority on their Blink topic.
* Share and syndicate their Blink.

New - Visit the BlinkBits Feed Center to get an RSS Feed on Any Topic

Here are a few example Blinks:
The site is an open content resource dedicated to athletes, celebrities, politicians and more (like Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, Derek Jeter and George W. Bush). I receive real-time news, info and pictures from thousands of news sources, bloggers and fans and rely on visitors to openly add, edit and rate the news.

I'd consider the site an alpha version. The site was created using PHPBB and many of its mods including fetchall, topics anywhere, rss, ratings, caching...

I would love to get input on design, functionality, optimization plus any opinions on what I can do to execute on the promise of open content for my next major release. Plus let me know what you think I can do to encourage more member posts...

tks a ton in advance.

Larry
BlinkBits.com:[fade][/fade]

At first glance, the site looks quite crowded. After looking over the content of the site, most of it is necessary. I like the "left status bar"... but I'd make it a bit smaller. I would try to add about 5-10% more whitespace on the page. The whitespace would be used to help group things and separate the different areas of the page.

I found the <select> navigation annoying as well... additionally, it doesn't look the best... it is functional though

My recommendation would be removing the "new bits" from the main page and making the category navigation a larger section of that page I'd then make another page that had the "new bits" on it, and make the "new bits" another link off the main page.

Is it your template?

first of all your site take quite long to load, i like your layout and template but actually i would suggest that you put the "Find Blinks and Bits" to the top instead of center because it would be more noticable and look more standard.

Thanks a ton for the tips... keep them coming..

I agree it is too crowded... also somewhat uninviting... I need to give people the reason to add posts and comments on the stroeis plus add their own.

Desertland... A quick follow-up question on the select box... are you referring to the center select box or the top right select box? Also, what would you put in its place?

larry
BlinkBits - What news will be in 10 Years Today!

I don't like the select boxes either. You would be better off with a nav bar with dropdowns when you hover over the main category or when you click the main category.

I also agree with the crowded look. Not really sure how to fix it though.

I do like the color scheme. Very soothing to the eye and not obtrusive.

Thanks a ton grinch... do you have an example site with scroll over nav bars that you particularly like?

http://www.usmc.mil

The nav bar dropsdown when you hover over the category. It is written in java. I don't necessarily like the way the'rs looks but it at least shows you what I am talking about.

Here is one I do like and it was under review.
http://www.dynamicz.org/

I've removed a bunch of info from the homepage and from the actual personality pages to make it more user friendly... I've also changed some grey backgrounds to white... still working on the nav bar. Let me know what you think now... tks.

Larry

I lilke this alot better. Throw in a nice nav bar and you're good to go.

Thanks crew... I've heard some complaints about the select boxes but I am at a loss for another way to provide 1 click navigation to 425 pages which in the next release will grow to 1,500. Any thoughts?

The site's layout is fine. I think you may help your SEO a bit if you change you title tag, and add "Celebrity" or "NFL"...to your actual title tag.

Other than that, the only thing I'd change is your "jump to" drop-downs. Instead of spacing your main categories out, with all the names in between, perhaps just including the categories like "Musicians", "Actors" and so forth in the drop down menu instead....when the user clicks, use your imagination on how to display the names....plenty of options.

pretty nice.
sort of confusing tho, there is ALOT of stuff going on inside. maybe tone down the amount of content a little bit so its not so overwelming

I like the name of the site. It is different and cannot be mistaken for a generic named site.

My website (details below) is known as yumgo.

Like your site, the name doesn't immediately conjure up images of the site content. If I it where called tophomepage it may well be self explanatory but can easily be confused with besthomepage or thehomepage upon recall.

A unique sounding website name means you stand out from the crowd and hopefully develope more of a branded site.

I really like the colour theme on your site but agree there can be improvements made to the navigation.

For those that are interested my website Yumgo, can be found here //link removed
//mod edit: please don't spam in other ppl's threads

Hello Everybody,

I really appreciate the comments and as you can tell I've been incorporating your suggestions. Tks. Here is a top-level concept I plan to implement over next few days to help get some more members and bits. I'd love some input.

a. When people register they get a personal Blink just like Angelina Jolie.
b. When they post a bit they can post it to a Blink ie Angelina Jolie, their bit or actually assign it to both.
c. I will list all personal blinks on the home page so people can find their blinks.

In essence every member will get their own blog/blink which will be populated by any posts/bits they add.

What do you think?

Crash