Lokus lets you explore and interact with local places and people using information provided by the community.
Target Audience: Students, professionals, mobile.
Website URL: www.lokusapp.com
Feedback sought:
1) Visit https://www.lokusapp.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
2) Try clicking the “Browse” and “Locate” buttons on the masthead.
3) Are you encouraged to sign up for a free account? If not, why?
4) How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like yelp.com?
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
About Lokus:
Lokus, a currently in an open-beta, Lokus allows anybody to contribute to a wiki-style, location based reference that offers reviews and information similiar to Yelp or Facebook Places.
Lokus, unlike its competitors, allows open contribution and editing of entries for Places, creating a collaborative community similiar to Wikipedia. Users can also submit guides, news articles, and create discussions about places.
1) What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not? My first impression is what is it? I was drawn to click the “What is Lokus?” in order to find out what the site is for.
2) Try clicking the “Browse†and “Locate†buttons on the masthead. I did but looks like I need to enter in a location.
3) Are you encouraged to sign up for a free account? If not, why? No, I am not encouraged to sign up. Even after clicking on the “What is Lokus?” link and reading the information provided, I am still unclear as to what it does exactly.
4) How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like yelp.com? I am confused as to how to use it correctly, it appears that it would more exact then a yelp.com if it uses the coordinates of the phone or laptop instead of just the zip code, but this would only be helpful if it tells you about locations of what you need comparable to where you are, however, what if I want to look for a place in a different area than where I am?
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have. I am confused about how the integrative part of this works as far as why it would be useful to hook it up to a social site like Facebook or why I would want to plan something from that site. A more comprehensive description should be available or maybe I am not the right demographic? I am a working professional but maybe it would be something more utilized by college students?
1) Visit https://www.lokusapp.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
My first impression is what is this site do? Then I went to search thing’s like it said it would do and it did not find no such a thing. And I am not to interested in it. It needs to have improving in the site. like options to say what I am searching for and stuff like that. Because when I first came to the site. I did not know what to search for.
2) Try clicking the “Browse†and “Locate†buttons on the masthead.
I did but I did not find anything I was searching for.
3) Are you encouraged to sign up for a free account? If not, why?Â
no i am not impressed to sign up, I can’t find anything when I search, why sign up?
4) How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like yelp.com?
I am very confused how to use this site. I thought it was for searching high schools and places! But i get nothing in the search result and i am not sure why? So I don’t want to sign up for something that I can’t find.Â
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have
This site need’s improving bad. I don’t mean to be to down on your site. but There need’s to be instructional or something and improve the site searching result and signing up for.
What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
This site does nothing for me at all. I would not even be drawn to click on any of the buttons except that you asked me to do so. Sorry.
2) Try clicking the “Browse†and “Locate†buttons on the masthead.
I tried the browse and nothing happened. The locate button brought up the city I had indicated but then did not follow through going anywhere after that. I had to go back.
Are you encouraged to sign up for a free account? If not, why?
I would not sign up for an account as there is nothing here to indicate why I should do so. If this is going to be like a Wikipedia, then it requires a lot more information to get people to be involved.Â
How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like yelp.com?
This site would require a lot more work to make it compatible with its competitors. It is not user friendly the way it sits now and it is difficult to tell where one is supposed to be going. It would seem that this is designed for a particular college? If this is, in fact, so, then this should be stated on the outset rather than having outsiders trying to navigate to get nowhere.
Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have
Not user friendly. Needs more explanation. Needs more life! I would not stay on this website for very long if it came up after a search, I have to admit. Sorry.
1) Visit https://www.lokusapp.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not?
I have no idea what I’m looking at. I’m bored 3 seconds in. The ad banner at the bottom is a big turn off. If this is a new site, the few dollars that banner may get you is going to kill 10 times as much business. The site is neat and organized, tight and efficient. I still don’t have a clue what’s going on here. The last thing I want to see on a landing page is a link that tells me what I should have known about the site when I got there (“What is Lokus”) Take the banner out and move the bottom up so you won’t have to scroll down.
2) Try clicking the “Browse†and “Locate†buttons on the masthead.
These buttons aren’t labeled, or designed to properly convey their function.
Locate: this page is trying to load and fails to do so after I gave it a full minute. a bar on top informs me that Lokus wants to know where I am. I really don’t feel like telling it…
Browse: A search bar opens up at the top, Lokus once again wants to know where I am, and the page fails to load. this time, there is no “loading” notice, it’s just blank. I’m using Firefox 3.6 but this just happened on IE as well.
Tried again, same response…
3) Are you encouraged to sign up for a free account? If not, why?
I still don’t even know what i’m doing here. Time to read the What is Lokus page. Okay, this actually sounds interesting. Why in the world you don’t have this on your landing page is a mystery to me. This is your selling point. This belongs in plain and immediate view to first time visitors. I glanced over your links and don’t think i’m interested. what I read in the “About” isn’t really what I’m seeing. There’s no fleshed out information, it’s just a telephone book with pictures.
4) How do you think the site compares to other similar sites/competitors like yelp.com?
Yelp is far more fleshed out. It seems like a busy hub, full of active users and packed with information. Your site is clean, but sparse. The lack of factual information/review text in the pages is telling of either a new company, or one that doesn’t rise to it’s self-expressed standards and identities. Yelps links are more compelling to click on, while yours are little tech icons that say nothing and literally do nothing as well. I see the text right there on the webpage to write a review or connect with people, and it gets me interested to participate. I don’t feel that here. Yelp feels more like a social hub, while your site feels like a map with some pictures of people on it.
5) Please share any additional feedback/comments you may have.
The home page links should display your site’s complete potential. Link sites with reviews, chatter, great pictures, etc. Show the reader what this place can really do, and for who.
You need a prominent mission statement on the homepage. The More Info-type page has an adequate statement, and that, or something a bit more personal, should be in plain sight along with the link to the rest of the current More Info-page.
The social aspect doesn’t seem fleshed out. Either cut it, or expand on it extensively. Elijah’s page is a mess. It’s just… wrecked. There are no profiles. A place to write a little blurb and that’s it. That’s fine, but what’s the point?
The convenient Feedback Tool is a nice touch.
Better accessibility to the website from each page would be appreciated.
The Blog link is too hidden, and the blog itself is pointless and even detrimental. you have one really old message and a technical entry which screams “we gave up a long time ago.” Get a regular blogger, or shut it down. Put the link somewhere easy to spot.
Hope This Helps
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