Cash Award: 5 Feedback/Reviews Awarded $5 Each. No Awards Remaining.
Highly-scalable sequence alignment tools through cloud computing.
Target Audience: Computational Biologists and Geeks.
Website URL: https://www.seqcentral.com/
Feedback sought:
- Visit api.seqcentral.com/index.php/api and scan the page. Explain why it is easy or difficult to find information.
- Login via api.seqcentral.com/index.php/login using the credentials on the page. Start at the “Databases” page. Is it clear that you can navigate from one resource (e.g., Database, Collaboration, Job) to the next by just clicking?
- Go the Search page and select one of the executables. Is it clear what you’re supposed to do on the submission page?
- Now go to www.seqcentral.com and create a free account. Navigate around the site.
- Do you like the “www.seqcentral.com” website better or worse than “api.seqcentral.com“? Why or why not?
About SeqCentral:
SeqCentral, LLC, aims to provide and harness the high-performance computational power of the cloud as a usable, collaborative, online service to all members of the computational genomics community.
We believe that your data is your data and that the abundance of digital genetic information from next-generation sequencing machines requires next-generation computational infrastructure, interfaces, insight, and innovation.
With access to the cloud through SeqCentral, LLC, you as a researcher can easily collaborate and continue your own research without having to be concerned with the computational complexities involved in creating the highly-scalable, highly-reliable, highly-distributed software necessary for large-scale genetic sequence search.
We want you to focus on your own science and not computer science.
Cash Award: 5 Feedback/Reviews Awarded $5 Each. No Awards Remaining.
•Visit api.seqcentral.com/index.php/api and scan the page. Explain why it is easy or difficult to find information.
Being a developer myself (mostly work on Ruby on Rails), I think you have done a fairly good job of orginizing information. I can see the time and effort it took you to put together the page. Very informative, very detailed. I think, the most important aspect of this page is how you have examples shown for a variety of call scenarios. Do you have any external sites implementing this already? If so, listing them might be helpful.
•Login via api.seqcentral.com/index.php/login using the credentials on the page. Start at the “Databases†page. Is it clear that you can navigate from one resource (e.g., Database, Collaboration, Job) to the next by just clicking?
Yes. I think it is fairly a common practice these days to have your navigation laid out on top like you have. There was no confusion. I intuitively clicked from one link to the other.
•Go the Search page and select one of the executables. Is it clear what you’re supposed to do on the submission page?
No it’s not. I think, on top, you need to provide clear instructions as to how Query and Target interact (provide some minimal examples also). Moreover, you have a lot of options in “Advanced Search” with no help available for any of them.
•Now go to http://www.seqcentral.com and create a free account. Navigate around the site.
Account created.
On the “Create Your Account” page, I suggest keeping the check box to “I agree..” and “Create your account” at the bottom of second column underneath other fields. For a few seconds I could not find the create account button. Or, you can re-orgnainze the fields and have them evenly distributed between two columns. My personal preference would be to include everything in one column, including the Credit Card entry part (or ask credit card details on the next page). Signup process was fairly simple – like the one-page sign up. After I logged in, it would be helpful to see some “Get Started” and “How To” articles. I strongly recommend creating a detailed FAQ or Help section. Other than that, an overall clean design and clutter-free interface. Good color-combinations.
•Do you like the “www.seqcentral.com†website better or worse than “api.seqcentral.com“? Why or why not?
Considering the section above the fold, I definitely like the “www.seqcentral.com†better than “api.seqcentral.com“. The “sign in ” and “Create Your Account” buttons look more professional, as opposed to a rather distractiing red link that does not go with the overall flow of the site. On both pages, I recommend replacing the image in the middle with a more meaningful one. The content is too small to read for most people. Why don’t you include a smaller but more blown-up version to make it more meaningful? It really is a prime real estate on your site. I suggest take a look at this “Anatomy of a Landing Page” for better ideas: https://www.formstack.com/the-anatomy-of-a-perfect-landing-page
The “below the fold” part seems to be completely different between two pages. I prefer the ‘more professional’ and ‘more informative’ presentation of http://www.seqcentral.com.
• When I went to the website above, I found it to be very busy and hard to find anything on this page. There is just too much information here to try and find what you want. Most people when they are looking for something specific will only spend a couple of minutes looking and will just move on if it can’t be found. I also found it very hard to focus with the summary section, was not in a format that information could be found easy
• Not really sure I understood the question, but if you are talking about when I am in database, I can see the names of the databases that I have and I can clink on them and share the details and share with collaboration. I can also hit the jobs button and I can also share details and share with collaboration. I just am not sure that is clear for everyone. I just started to play with the site and got to the information needed
• For me, I did not find it clear on what I was supposed to do next. I started to play around and was able to figure it out.
• I was not able to open up a free account. Explorer kept blocking this website due to security certificate errors and possible virus. I did look at the site and thought that the website looked cleaner and easy to find what you would be looking for
• Just from what I could see, I like the seqcentral.com website better. I think that the website is not so cluttered and a person would be able to find what they are looking for in the short amount of time that a website is viewed looking for specific information
$5 awarded to phellman.
$5 awarded to mikib.
The site is quite clean.
There is inconsistency with font size especially Terms of Service.
The icons are missing on front page and all the subsequent page. When I click quick tour, the page is too crowded and it is very difficult to find close button.
Login has to be in sequence rather than two sided section.
I loved the design of search except there is too much gap between sections. When user sees the page for first time, he should be able to see all the sections. You can hide / display sections.
There is error while loading collaboration users.
The title on page should always match the text that user clicks. For example on database page the title should state databse and not datasets to maintain consistency with text. This is standard used while developing site.
Thanks for your detailed feedback.
I have personally not used Ruby on Rails, but several friends have. I’ll take a look at their site and hopefully gain some better ideas on how to layout the API documentation.
The UI issue on the signup page is an artifact of the page layout where I am trying to keep everything as high on the page as possible. I’ll need to rework this page as it will be important to not deter users from signing up.
Your comments on the Search page are also helpful, but I will caveat this with the fact that this particular webapp is highly domain-specific. Even so, a help page would be…err… helpful.
Lastly, the home page needs to be updated as you have noticed. With the upcoming API being a central focus, I’ll need to change the emphasis.
Thanks again for taking the time to review the site.
-Jeremy
Thanks for the feedback.
The API page has changed a couple of times, but it’s still a work in progress. A key component as you may know is that the API information to be displayed is very technical and the people who use the API will be expecting more substance than style. At the same time, you’ve pointed out that I currently have way too little style.
And thanks for pointing out the IE issue with https://seqcentral.com. This issue keeps popping up because the SSL certificate is for “www.seqcentral.com”. I’ll try to remedy this today.
-Jeremy
Thanks for taking the time to review the multiple pages.
The details that you have noticed appear to have been overlooked in the process of updating the flow of the site as a whole. I’ll be sure to make these modifications you suggested before making the development site “live”.
Thanks
-Jeremy
a) I visited api.seqcentral.com/index.php/api and i thought it was relatively easy to find information for the people who are detail oriented in the genetic field, but i would suggest to use more colorful layout so that it will make it more apealing.
b)I logged in api.seqcentral.com/index.php/login using the credentials on the page and found that it was easy to navigate from one resource to another for the people targeted in this field, but i guess not a lot of information was available for them to use in their research.
c)I went to the search page and selected one of the executable and found it having an abundance of search material for users to benefit from it and it’s clear that you’re supposed to put in data specific to the genetic field in the submission page.
d) I went to the site http://www.seqcentral.com and created a free account and navigated through the site, but was curious why upon creating a free account a credit card information was needed to log in the account and i was wondering if this information made people reluctant to create a free account.I found it easier to use then the api.seqcentral.com and the subjects and material seemed to be better arranged and easier to obtain and enter data that are useful for the people in the genetics field.
It seems like I’m the only one, but I was actually pretty confused by the homepage. I’m not a geneticist, so maybe I’m just not familiar with the lingo, but I don’t understand terms like “instances” and “subresources.” What does all that mean? Are these terms specific to cloud computing? I have no experience with cloud, and if I was new to it, I would be lost on this homepage. And then what’s the deal with the long, long threads of code farther down the page? I apologize if this is just industry terminology that I’m not familiar with.
When I logged in, the images on the screen I got were way too small to be of any use. I couldn’t even read the print. I’m not sure if those were just part of the design or meant to be functional. However, it was quite clear that I could navigate using the toolbar at the upper right of the page. I clicked on some of the links and liked how Databases and Collaborations were set up–very clear and easy to understand. However, when I clicked Search, I got an error message that froze up my computer for a few minutes! So I wasn’t even able to select an executable.
Before I left, I checked out some of your informational pages such as Mission Statement, Corporate Info, and News & PR and liked what I saw. These looked very professional and well written.
Next, I went to http://www.seqcentral.com to sign up for an account. My first thought was that the layout for this homepage was much, much better than the layout at api.seqcentral.com/index.php/api. I really like how it explains what the site is used for in a clear, straightforward manner and follows that with an introductory tour. If I were new to this, that would be exactly what I’d want to see. However, I was a little disappointed that the account sign-up was all the way at the bottom of the page.
I created an account, though, like one user above, the immediate demand for credit card information was somewhat off-putting. As soon as I signed in, I immediately liked the setup quite a bit more than I liked the setup at api.seqcentral.com. The layout at http://www.seqcentral.com looks clean, professional, easy to navigate, and very useful. If I were a geneticist, I can imagine that I would prefer http://www.seqcentral.com.
By the way, your tag line, “focus on your science and leave the setup and tuning to us,” is a little long. (I’m a copywriter, so I notice these things.) For more impact, I’d shorten it. You might try “focus on your science and leave the rest to us.”
* Visit api.seqcentral.com/index.php/api and scan the page. Explain why it is easy or difficult to find information.
The information was easy to find but it was too much information.
Instead of filling up the page with the data, I would suggest drop down menus with titles. The Excel spreadsheet (format) is kind of old too. I would go with a more upbeat type format, still utilize spreadsheets but without the line details column and rows.
* Login via api.seqcentral.com/index.php/login using the credentials on the page. Start at the “Databases†page. Is it clear that you can navigate from one resource (e.g., Database, Collaboration, Job) to the next by just clicking?
The database page is clear and does have easy navigation, but again, in my opinion , I would go for the drop down menu for each different segment of information. Less clutter on the page, easy on the eyes, and users can easily identify information.
* Go the Search page and select one of the executable. Is it clear what you’re supposed to do on the submission page?
This page is very clear, easy to navigate, however, once I got to the excutables, I had to search to figure out how to get to the Query (Nucleotide) which was “blastn” I would enable a suggestive image, to let clients know they are active links and they need to be selected to move into the query.
* Now go to http://www.seqcentral.com and create a free account. Navigate around the site.
* Do you like the “www.seqcentral.com†website better or worse than “api.seqcentral.com“? Why or why not?
I like the Seqcentral website much better. Compared to the api site, this site looks like a website ready for use, not a technical page of information.
I would like to see the mission statement at the top instead of the bottom. If I am a visitor to the site, my first questions are: what is that you do, why you do what you do, and how your business could help me. Chances are, I ended up at this site via a link, you have got 20 seconds to impress me or show me what you know before I move on to the next link. People want information fast, first impression is a killer. Thanks!
•Visit api.seqcentral.com/index.php/api and scan the page. Explain why it is easy or difficult to find information.
I think it is very easy to understand and navigate. I think you did a good job. It has a nice layout and looks professional.
•Login via api.seqcentral.com/index.php/login using the credentials on the page. Start at the “Databases†page. Is it clear that you can navigate from one resource (e.g., Database, Collaboration, Job) to the next by just clicking?
I found it easy to understand and easy to navigate. You go from one page to another just by clicking. Again, I like the layout.
•Go the Search page and select one of the executables. Is it clear what you’re supposed to do on the submission page?
This part got a little confusing. It’s not clear on what your suppose to do. I think it needs to have clearer instructions. I think you should have a FaQ on your site for normally asked questions such as why if I am signing up for a free account, is it asking for credit card information, etc.
•Now go to http://www.seqcentral.com and create a free account. Navigate around the site.
It was easy to create an account. I was a little worried about it wanting credit card information. It stated a free account but when it asks for credit card information that could turn people away. People might feel like they were given false information.
•Do you like the “www.seqcentral.com†website better or worse than “api.seqcentral.com“? Why or why not?
I like the seqcentral.com much better. It looks more professional and earier to navigate which is very helpful.
$5 awarded to greatfeedback4u.
$5 awarded to websavvy.
$5 awarded to wadekay.
Thanks for taking the time.
I wholeheartedly agree that the site can be improved visually. Do you have any more concrete thoughts on improvements than “more colors”? Being a tool to help scientists, there are some different approaches and UI elements that are better suited than those that might be found elsewhere.
It’s interesting to hear your thoughts on the signup page. This is not a free service, but there is a trial period. Since the trial period is free, perhaps the inclusion of the CC details is a bit misleading and a deterrent as you’ve pointed out.
If you happen to come up with any more concrete thoughts, I’d be happy to hear them.
-Jeremy
Thanks for the wide range of feedback.
The API page certainly needs more work. One of the key aspects is balancing the examples (the long code snippets) with the documentation. One of the common approaches to development today is to start with an example that is similar to the task that you want to accomplish, and then modify the example to match exactly what you want. Hence, the abundance of examples on the page.
Your thoughts on the signup and home pages are echoed by others, so this will certainly be improved in the near future.
Lastly, I’ll take a look at the internal pages again. A lot of improvements have been made internally, but are not quite ready to be shown publicly. However, locking the browser is not a good impression to make.
-Jeremy
Thanks for the comments.
Since I agree with you on nearly every point, I don’t have much to add.
The one part that is interesting to hear is the concept of dropdowns over the spreadsheet. One item of note is that spreadsheets are certainly not the best all around choice, but for some applications, they are ideal. A big issue with genetic data is that there is simply a lot of it. And the current focus of SeqCentral is to enable a scientist to perform the search rather than the visualization of the data. That being said, I think I need to take a few more pointers from Zencoder in order to better display the data.
Thanks for the feedback
-Jeremy
Thanks for the feedback.
A lot of your points have been echoed by others already.
If you could, can you give more specific reasons why you “like” the site/pages? A more detailed response can greatly help me understand which elements I should focus on.
Thanks
-Jeremy