Creating original and appealing travel content is a hard task. There are loads of eTourism sites out there, offering more or less the same menu of travel reports, destination guides, online communities and so on. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just a bit boring - and we want to be entertained.
This is why I was so excited to bump into The Budget Traveller's Guide to Sleeping in Airports. This funky website is dedicated to one of the biggest nightmares of almost every backpacker, who has to spend a few hours on a deserted airport because he/she can't afford a hotel room. Will the seats be comfortable enough? Will the security guides be sympathetic? Are there any showers around, or am I destined to be smelly for the next 12 hours? - The website answers these questions and others as if they were important as the peace process in the Middle East. The writing is practical, the design is minimal and the idea is absolutely fantastic.
Now that's eTourism creativity!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Couch Surfing - Home page inspection
If you haven't tried the Couch Surfing project yet, then it's about time you did. Ever wanted to experience a country "like the locals"? If so, try this site before your next trip. It's a travel-networking website, where people from around the globe open their homes for international tourists. No, it's not JUST about free accommodation - it's also (or mainly) about cultural exchanges and responsible tourism. Anyway, this post is not about how great this project is (and it is great and highly important), but rather on its home page's usability.
As we all know, the home page is the most important page of any site. It has to be clear, easy to use and attractive - three attributes that don't always live well one with another. CouchSurfing.com's home page has a few nice elements - and a long list of problems. I made a quick and partial inspection and came back with the following points, numbered as appear on the screen shot above:
1. What does the 500,000 number stand for? Is it the total number of registered users in the site? Or maybe the number of visits the site had since it went online? In the statistics section we can learn that there are 581,767 "couch surfers", so I guess the number relates to that. Still, it's ambiguous. It makes the user think without a good reason, and users don't like to think that much.
2. This "Welcome" link takes the user back to the home page. Why not just call it "Home"? And who needs it on the home page anyway?
3. This is a very good introduction to the site's essence. Short, clear and well positioned.
4. What does the "New Couch Surfers" link mean? I thought it's a page with the most recent members, but apparently it's a search page. Why not simply calling it "search for couch surfers"?
5. The link asks "Is it safe?", but instead of giving an answer it transfers the user to the FAQ page. While experienced users will understand where they are within a second, others will simply get lost.
6. That's a good location for the search drop-box. It could be better with an "advanced search" option right below, for users who know exactly which kind of a couch surfer they are looking for.
7. Statistics on the home page is normally a sign for credibility and reputation. Use them if the numbers are impressive, as in this case (well done CS!).
8. Who needs the "Some Random Couch Surfers" section when the user has the "Users Online" on the right? If the purpose is to randomly browse profiles, why providing two (big) areas that meet the same requirement?
9. The font here is too small for such an important link as "Language".
10. This section looks and feels more like a sponsored links area than of a "Latest News" box. Users might skip it because of that.
Did you find anything else on that home page, good or bad? Drop a line.
As we all know, the home page is the most important page of any site. It has to be clear, easy to use and attractive - three attributes that don't always live well one with another. CouchSurfing.com's home page has a few nice elements - and a long list of problems. I made a quick and partial inspection and came back with the following points, numbered as appear on the screen shot above:
1. What does the 500,000 number stand for? Is it the total number of registered users in the site? Or maybe the number of visits the site had since it went online? In the statistics section we can learn that there are 581,767 "couch surfers", so I guess the number relates to that. Still, it's ambiguous. It makes the user think without a good reason, and users don't like to think that much.
2. This "Welcome" link takes the user back to the home page. Why not just call it "Home"? And who needs it on the home page anyway?
3. This is a very good introduction to the site's essence. Short, clear and well positioned.
4. What does the "New Couch Surfers" link mean? I thought it's a page with the most recent members, but apparently it's a search page. Why not simply calling it "search for couch surfers"?
5. The link asks "Is it safe?", but instead of giving an answer it transfers the user to the FAQ page. While experienced users will understand where they are within a second, others will simply get lost.
6. That's a good location for the search drop-box. It could be better with an "advanced search" option right below, for users who know exactly which kind of a couch surfer they are looking for.
7. Statistics on the home page is normally a sign for credibility and reputation. Use them if the numbers are impressive, as in this case (well done CS!).
8. Who needs the "Some Random Couch Surfers" section when the user has the "Users Online" on the right? If the purpose is to randomly browse profiles, why providing two (big) areas that meet the same requirement?
9. The font here is too small for such an important link as "Language".
10. This section looks and feels more like a sponsored links area than of a "Latest News" box. Users might skip it because of that.
Did you find anything else on that home page, good or bad? Drop a line.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The hotels you should never book (censored)
Check this entertaining MSNBC.com photographic project, focusing on bad hotels worldwide. The site's users basically sent pics from worst hotel stays, and the result is funny, surprising, sometimes familiar - but never informative. The hotels' names are gone, so we - as tourism consumers - can't learn a thing from this project.
It's disappointing to see how the conservative media (or web 1.0) sometimes weakens user generated content. MSNBC.com's staff should have given their users more freedom of expression, without feeling too scared of being sued by a cheap motel in Mexico. They should have taken an example from Trip Advisor or Virtual Tourist, where you can actually learn which hotels not to book or which restaurant is a tourist trap.
And you know what? if eTourism sites will be 100% web 2.0, with negative reviews and full exposures, there is a good chance that crappie hotels and other tourism businesses will do more to improve their services.
It's disappointing to see how the conservative media (or web 1.0) sometimes weakens user generated content. MSNBC.com's staff should have given their users more freedom of expression, without feeling too scared of being sued by a cheap motel in Mexico. They should have taken an example from Trip Advisor or Virtual Tourist, where you can actually learn which hotels not to book or which restaurant is a tourist trap.
And you know what? if eTourism sites will be 100% web 2.0, with negative reviews and full exposures, there is a good chance that crappie hotels and other tourism businesses will do more to improve their services.
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