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Show HN: Designing Web Applications

nathanbarry.com

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Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#41

Post by Agustus »

I edited your site to solve the issues and uploaded to imgur. (The matrix is from CrazyEgg, but take the idea). http://imgur.com/slYOb

Here is my walkthrough of the site:

1. Great, exactly what I am looking for: book on designing web applications.

2. Oooh look, Facebook, Freshbooks, and MailChimp use this, wait, no they do not. This is graphically implied by their logos and using an established user experience location, not happy about being tricked.

3. Jump to packages: $200! Good day, sir.

4. Wait, it cannot be that expensive, scroll down some more and find the book. Now I am worried about what I am purchasing as the person trying to sell this does not understand basic concepts of web design, tricked me, and wants a ton of money.

5. Head back to Hacker News to determine if anyone knows who Nathan Barry is and if he is a reputable person.

Place your layout of prices in a pricing, side by side. The scrolling down through the site is not helpful in making me feel better about purchasing a design book when one does not employ basic pricing structure layouts see this site for examples (http://bit.ly/lVPfr4). You could skip to a pricing matrix, then scroll down further to see more of it.

Recognizing that you are trying to present the highest price first to drive higher revenue, you need to reverse the order in the case of a scroll driven price change. Get the user to the first option, the book, then the user will see that there is more content on the page (scroll bar, images / graphics below book option). This teaches the user that there is more below each price mark and you would drive futher sales when a user sees the added benefit for each item.

Another item would be to have a try the book and buy more option later. This could be done in a constant contact format.

Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#42

Post by nathanbarry »

Vivtek wrote: post #15
nathanbarry wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another good thought. Having three packages I wasn't sure how to place it. But I do need to add something in.

Why not three buttons reiterating the prices, one next to the other?

I think I'll do that along with a quick comparison between the packages so people can see the difference at a glance. Thanks!

Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#43

Post by Draiken »

Irregardless wrote: post #35

My questions as someone learning web development and always searching for new (quality) resources: Who are you? And why should I pay you $200? > Previously I led the software design team at a local startup, but in the last year I have been working independently designing and developing my own apps. After seeing the $200 price tag, I expected to read something along the lines of "My web apps have been used by over X m…

I agree, $200 is way too much to pay for content from a person I've never heard of, and couldn't find any easy reference in the page. With that kind of money you can get a lot of good content in a lot of places.

I just don't see the differential that would make me spend that much money on this.

No known clients, no big companies in the past. It makes me hesitant to even consider buying this.

Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#44

Post by nathanbarry »

Irregardless wrote: post #35

My questions as someone learning web development and always searching for new (quality) resources: Who are you? And why should I pay you $200? > Previously I led the software design team at a local startup, but in the last year I have been working independently designing and developing my own apps. After seeing the $200 price tag, I expected to read something along the lines of "My web apps have been used by over X m…

The worst thing is to have people not buy, but have no idea what kept them from making the purchase. So thank you for the feedback!

I'm not someone super famous, but I have designed a lot of software applications used by companies ranging from Johnson & Johnson to Hobby Lobby. But they were clients of the company I used to work for (have since left), since I now work on my own I can't call them my clients.

Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#45

Post by newbie12 »

Agustus wrote: post #41

I edited your site to solve the issues and uploaded to imgur. (The matrix is from CrazyEgg, but take the idea). http://imgur.com/slYOb Here is my walkthrough of the site: 1. Great, exactly what I am looking for: book on designing web applications. 2. Oooh look, Facebook, Freshbooks, and MailChimp use this, wait, no they do not. This is graphically implied by their logos and using an established user experience locati…

I had the same reaction to the Facebook, Freshbooks, and MailChimp logo placement. Struck me as a little shady. The book sample is excellent though, and I'm considering the $199 package, primarily for the web app .psd.

Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#48

Post by ckluis »

nathanbarry wrote: post #9
ckluis wrote: post #8

When I see pages I like, I frequently view source just to see how it was put together. Is there a reason you went with all the CSS in the head instead of in an external file?

Because I wanted it to stay separate from the rest of the WordPress theme on my site. That also makes it more portable if I need to setup the landing page on another domain (if traffic cripples my main site). Since it is just a single page site, I didn't feel the need to do separate files. I should add that I didn't code it. Got too busy with the book launch so I hired it out.

Thanks.

For what its worth there is 1 theory for SEO that the code to text ratio on webpages (not apps obviously) may play an extremely minor part in ranking. If you served the css from a cdn the page would be faster (rank higher) & better optimized (rank higher).

I can't say it will make a difference, but it might.

Re: Show HN: Designing Web Applications

#50

Post by Morst »

nathanbarry wrote: post #9
ckluis wrote: post #8

When I see pages I like, I frequently view source just to see how it was put together. Is there a reason you went with all the CSS in the head instead of in an external file?

Because I wanted it to stay separate from the rest of the WordPress theme on my site. That also makes it more portable if I need to setup the landing page on another domain (if traffic cripples my main site). Since it is just a single page site, I didn't feel the need to do separate files. I should add that I didn't code it. Got too busy with the book launch so I hired it out.

Also speeds up the page. Just one HTTP request, instead of two.
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