uFollow – Find and Follow Your Favorite Authors Online

40 thoughts on “uFollow – Find and Follow Your Favorite Authors Online”

1. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?

   My first impressions of the site are good, nicely laid out. My attention first went to the featured channels. I like how it has pictures of the authors, makes it a little more personal.

   What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?

   ufollow is for keeping track of articles written by some of your favourite authors. It would be very useful for keeping up to date with articles and content that I am interested in.

   Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?

   I searched for ‘self employment’ and found some interesting articles but there were also some that I felt were not very related to what I was searching for.

   Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?

   The account creation was easy and straight forward although I felt that there should be clearer and more links to click on to take me to other pages on the site after the registration was completed.

   Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?

   I like how you can add certain articles to ‘my folder’ it makes it much easier to keep track of the things your interested in.I also like the frequent authors section when you follow a certain channel.

   Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?

   Overall I think it is a very well laid out site that offers a very useful service.

2. What is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
   It looks like one of those services that aggregates feeds from different blogs and content categories. I feel like the site wants me to jump right in and search for articles because the search box is prominently displayed in the upper left. However, what I actually did was scroll down to get a look at the rest of the home page. After that, I clicked on a channel (“Pets” since it was the first one) to see an example of how your site is set up.
   
   
   What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
   I think it’s pretty clear that uFollow enables users to follow their favorite authors, publications, and topics. It’s useful because it delivers content of interest to the user so that the user doesn’t have to search for it on a daily basis. It’s a timesaver. Would I want to use it? Well, I don’t really have any favorite online authors who I feel compelled to keep up with, nor are there any publications that I just have to read daily. There are certain topics that interest me, but I already have Google set up to comb the Web for those topics and deliver them to me, so I’m not sure I’d want to sign up for another service that does the same thing.
    
   Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
   I conducted two searches, one for an author I like and two for topics of interest. The results for the author were exactly what I expected–pages of blog posts and other articles she’d written. However, when I searched on a topic, I was disappointed. Searching without quotes returned a page of completely unrelated results. When I tried the search again with quotes, the results were marginally better. The third result mentioned my topic, and the seventh result was actually about my topic. But that still isn’t what I’d call a successful search. I tried one more search on a different topic, but the results weren’t much better. Without quotes, there were only four results on the first page that had to do with my topic. A search with quotes was much better, returning eight related results out of ten on the first page, although some of the eight were only loosely related. My feeling is that your search function works well for specific authors but not as well for general topics.
    
   After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
   It was very easy to create an account, and I really appreciated that I didn’t have to go through a confirmation process to use a free service. What do I want to do next? Start creating a stream, I guess. One thing that’s a little annoying, though, is that once I’m signed into my account, there isn’t an easy way to jump right into the search process. I clicked My Stream, My Shelf, and My Folder, and none of them brought me to a search box. Ultimately, I had to go back out to the home page.
    
   Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
   I started by following an author, which was easy enough to do. Next, I did a topical search and wanted to save that topic to my stream but couldn’t figure out how to do it. When I first created my account, each tab displayed how-to instructions, but as soon as I started creating feeds, the instructions disappeared and were nowhere to be found. That’s frustrating! You really need a help page that permanently displays this how-to info. My next step was to try following a channel. I was able to figure out how to do it, but I didn’t really like that the “follow author” option is on the left while the “follow channel” option is on the right. It’s a little confusing to a newbie.
    
   Ok, so now I have a problem. When I click on My Stream, there are so many articles in my channel that they completely crowd out articles by my author…Oh, I see. I have to go to My Shelf and select my author just to see what she’s written lately. I’d suggest you redesign the My Stream page a little so that it starts by displaying the latest entry from each of the user’s feeds. Then the user can scroll down to see the rest of the articles. Just a thought.
    
   My impression of the service as a way to consume online content…Well, as I said before, it seems to work very well if you want to follow a certain author. If you want to follow a channel, it looks to me like you’ll get a lot of pertinent results, but they’ll be very general. And I could be missing it, but I don’t see any way to follow a topic of your own selection. I think it would be more useful if the user could follow topics or filter each channel to return more specific results. As it is now, each channel provides a wealth of articles, but as I said, these are very broad topics. For instance, I chose “Movies” as a channel. But I’m not interested in half of the movie reviews that are turning up here. I’d love to be able to set a filter for “drama” or “independent” so that I’d get more results for the kinds of movies I like.
    
   Compared to other services…It’s hard to say because I think there are a lot of services out there that offer various following capabilities. I mean, even your basic Internet browser will allow you to set up feeds from sources that you like. And, as I mentioned earlier, Google News enables users to create topical feeds that can be emailed right to your inbox, and I have to say those topical feeds are very accurate, much more so than yours are. On the other hand, I’m not sure I know of a site that allows users to collect all these feeds together in one place. I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that exists, but I don’t think I’ve seen it myself. I want to be clear that I do think your site is useful, but I’m not sure if there are others out there offering the same service and/or doing it better.
    
   Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
   Sure. Let’s talk about the design of your site. Above the fold, your home page looks rather colorless. The blue and gray logo is very plain, and there’s not much color on the screen. I don’t think that’s going to be a dealbreaker for you, but I feel like it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more vibrance either.
    
   It’s clear that you want visitors to start using the search feature right away because you’ve made it quite large and placed it in the upper left corner, so it’s the first thing most people will see. However, when I land on a page for the first time, I don’t want to be confronted with a search box. Why would I start searching when I don’t even know what I’m supposed to be searching for? On the right, you explain what uFollow is. Your copy doesn’t really generate excitement, but at least it gets the point across concisely. I’d suggest moving this copy to the left and your search box to the right. That will encourage people to read the copy first so they’ll know what they’re supposed to be searching for!
    
   I like that you round out your home page with a sampling of channels, authors, and sources. It’s enough home page content to get the user interested without overwhelming him/her.
    
   When I click on a chennel, author, or source, I’m taken to a very nicely laid out page with a list of clickable articles and a neatly organized right column with pertinent info about the channel, author, etc. I was surprised that clicking on an article took me offsite. I had assumed that you would be hosting full feeds of the articles on your own site. If you’re not going to carry the full text of each article on uFollow, I’d suggest you make the articles open in a new window so that you don’t lose users who can’t be bothered to backarrow to uFollow after they’re done reading.
    
   Once I signed in, I liked the idea of a stream, a shelf, and a folder, although, as I said above, I could see that busy channels would easily crowd out other articles in the My Stream section. Otherwise, the layout of these pages is very good. It was, as I detailed above, pretty easy to figure out how to add and manage individual articles and full streams.
    
   Before I signed out, I stopped off at your About Us page, which also looked good. No real problems there.
    
   I didn’t see any other available pages.
    
   In conclusion, I think you have a nice site. The layout, for the most part, is very readable and intuitive. You could stand to add some color since your site is plain white except for the icons that accompany each article, but if you choose to leave it as it is, I don’t think it will turn people off or anything. The service you offer is valuable, though I’m not sure how many other sites are providing the same thing. I think there may be a few out there. My biggest concern about uFollow is that the topical searches aren’t always that accurate. I really think you need to work on improving those results. Also, I think you need to offer users a way to add topics to their streams. Right now, the channels themselves are rather too broad for most readers, I think, so it would be helpful to allow users to add filters or other search parameters to make their streams more specific.

3. ufollow is a great website for overall search one one destination or person, when i first went on the site i wanted to click the picture of the authors and bloggers because that was most intriguing about the site and i would come back to it for future searches and knowledge.

4.  Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?

   My first impression of this site is that it looks very complicated. I see 4 giant search boxes and a text description of the site that my eyes glaze over. The first place I click is the “Journalism” link under Featured Channels, because the image beside it catches my attention.

   What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?

   The site seems to allow me to search for articles from popular bloggers and store the articles in some sort of folder on the site. I personally would rather just search out a blog I was looking for with a search engine, and the thought of having to use yet another site to find a blog I want to read seems redundant and daunting.

   Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?

   I searched for Seth Godin and the Seth Godin blog only appears as the 5th result, which is ridiculous to me. My impression of the search function is that it’s not very good, and unnecessarily complicated. I only used the first search box in the search area of the home page, and I don’t understand why there would be a need for 4 different search boxes. The optional date parameter is helpful I suppose, but would it be better shown on a separate page where users can enter advanced search terms? The current design clutters up the home page, and it seems like most users would only need one search box.

   Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?

   First thing: I think there should be a “Create an Account” link at the top, instead of burying it on the “Login” page. I wasn’t expecting to find that there.

   After I entered my email address and password in the “Create a New Account” area, I was taken to a very confusing “Update Account” page. I thought I was still signing up for an account, but apparently not, as a warning message tells me that “This email address has already been taken”. Do I just enter my email address and password on the login page to create an account? And if so, why am I immediately directed to an unrelated page? I think the design of the account creation process is poor.

   The next place I clicked was “My Account”, which takes me to the page I’m already on. Very confusing.
    
   The next places I look are “My Stream”, “My Shelf” and “My Folder”. After reading through the descriptions on each page I’m still not sure what they’re about. “My Stream” and “My Folder” pages contain exactly the same text, but none of it is very useful. All 3 of these pages seems pointless and confusing.

   Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?

   I started on the Channels page, and clicked the “follow channel” link under one of the channels, although nothing showed up in my stream. That was confusing. I should also point out that the “follow channel” links are confusing: they are italicized and not bolded or underlined and don’t look like links to me.

   Next I went on a Channel page, and clicked “follow author”, which finally added content to my stream. My stream page feels very cluttered and confusing. There are so many entries that it seems daunting.

   I guess the main benefit of this page that may differentiate it from other services is that I can quickly share the blog articles via Facebook, Twitter or email (no Google+?). The text excerpts from the articles are hard to read though, and it would be more readable if the results had more breathing room and weren’t so close together.

   Is there a way to manage the results in my stream by date? Results from Tues 19 are mixed in with results from Mon 18, etc., which looks unorganized. I also find that the author links and blog site links above the excerpts are easy to overlook. Again, giving the results some space would make it much easier to see and appreciate the details. I also nearly overlooked the “next 10 articles” link at the bottom of the page. Bolded links would be greatly appreciated.

   And clicking over to the “My Shelf” page: what is the point of it exactly? It seems unnecessary. Also, on the My Shelf page, there is no heading that states what the page is. It just lists “Authors” and “Channels”, which is odd.

   Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?

   On the home page my eyes almost immediately glaze over the top half and land on the Featured Channels area, where there are actual images. The top half of the page just seems boring and full of complicated text boxes. I didn’t realize for several minutes that there is also a text box on the top right of the home page. Isn’t that redundant?

   The site description on the right side of the home page is very easy to overlook. The text is plain and is overshadowed by the giant search area to the left. I also just now saw that each “Featured” section on the home page contains its own search box. There are WAY too many search boxes on this site. Also on the home page, there is no content to indicate when the site was last updated. The home page feels static, which seems contrary to the site’s purpose. How about having a feed on the home page featuring recently published blog excerpts? It would make the site appear more current and up to date.

   The design of the Stream and Folder is somewhat difficult to learn at first, and in my opinion, the My Shelf page is unnecessary and should be removed. Also, the “Login”/”Logout” link at the top of the page would be easier to see if it was the last link in the list, instead of the “About Us” link. In its current location I barely see the Login/Logout link. I also think it would be helpful if all the links on the site were made to actually look like links, with bolded or underlined text, or anything to clearly differentiate them as links.

   Otherwise, the site has a decent concept, and the layout is mostly clean and well presented.  I wouldn’t find this site particularly helpful, but there may be an audience who would appreciate the value of it.
    

5.  

   Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?

   My first impression is that i can search lots of articles from the site. The first thing that caught my attention is the ‘search all articles’ title above the search engine. At first i feel like click the drop down menu beside the search engine, so I clicked the drop-down menu for choosing full text or title or author or source. 

   What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?

   It allow visitor to search for any categories of articles. It might be useful because it is one of the articles source for me to choose an articles. It’s always hard to find a suitable articles which suit our title and the one we search for. Maybe this site can provide me a better search result. Yes, i will want to try it. If i’m satisfy with the search result and the articles, i will always come back whenever i want to search for any articles and intro it to my friends as well.
   

   Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?

   I did found some relevant article that i searched. I’m able to find it as the search result contain many relevant blogs or sources. The search function is good and i have no comment on it. I notice that the search result displayed some source that is not relevant to my search, for example i search for advantage of i.t, it came out with advantage of other aspect. I suggest you avoid this as the visitor will find this not useful. When there is too much unrelevant search result, the user will find the site is not fulfilling their need and soon they will not visiting the site again. The search result is very important, if the search engine can’t find anything relevant to the title searched, i suggest you provide a service that help the user to search for it by telling the searcher that whenever you found the article that the user searched, your site will e-mail them or notify them through their email or account. This would bring a good service for the user and it will keep your relation with the users closer.
   

   Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?

   I can’t find the register button, so i click the log in and see the create account field. I suggest you provide a link for register at the homepage, as people do not know they have to click log in to register. After i register I not really know what to do at first. I click the home then i can start to search for articles. At here, i suggest you explain what is the purpose of registration or what user can get when they register as a member of your site. List the benefits of it, so that people know what is the difference between member and non-member. You can list it at the homepage. At here, i t

   Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?

   It allow me to up to date with the source content. I followed the author and i wondering how i will get update from the author. You can have some description on it. You should have a short description on the homepage about your site feature such as the my stream,my shelf. Make it short and clear. I don like that i click on the my stream then it display the description and it’s too long. i suggest you explain it in the homepage and when people click on the my stream it will directly display the service or feature instead of the description.
   

   Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?

   This is a good service, i suggest you connect your site with other social network to help you in marketing your service. I like your homepage as i’m clear about what i can do with your site when i first visit. You can add a slide show displaying how your site works or what feature you have. In the slide show you add a short description. You can include the my shelf and the my stream my folder explanation in it. It will look more professional and interesting. Also, you can list down the benefits o your site and why people should use your site at the homepage, it will make the visitor clear about what they can get and expect from your site when they first visit. You can display the most viewed articles or channels at the homepage. I suggest that you add a link for registration on the homepage. You can write it as ‘FREE to Join’. it could attract more members. when people sees free things, they will be more likely to try it.
    

6. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
   This is an interesting site. First impression was that I liked the organization of the site – it looked clean and I really liked the font. My only criticism is that there was an awful lot of information on the main page.  Pictures of the authors were clear and the site looked inviting – I would have wanted to see diverse picture of authors – they were all men (when I clicked off then back on I did see a picture of a woman author which made me feel better).   I first wanted to click on the picture of the Apple logo under the feature channel, since that brand is extremely popular now.  I decided to click on the Green feature channel, however that channel was not very interesting to me so I went back to the Apple channel.  I am familiar to the Apple brand and did not stay there long as no article captured my interest.
   What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
   uFollow seems like a place for the avid blogger and blog reader to organize their blog library hence the My Shelf feature – I would use this feature often. I would come back to this site often.
   Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
   The search function was useful. I did find the content I was looking for. Search function was clear and understandable.
   Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
   Creating a new account was very easy. I do not like many user entries since I am online so much – process was very straight forward. After registering, I went back to the Home page – then clicked on the About us link and really liked the information – I liked that the site offers the readers to contact them, I also liked that this site was affiliated with another site and was readily available to be linked to it (Hindawi site).
   Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
   I followed a couple of authors and was impressed with the organization on this site – it helps the user find what they are looking for. I do not know any other sites that offer this service ( which I like that it is free).
   Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
   I am an avid blog reader and read a lot online and this site seems very interesting for me.  Even though I liked the site very much, I found myself going back to the home page to re-organize myself – there was a lot on data on the main page.

7. Thanks for the comprehensive feedback.

   A quick question, if you can spare another few moments:

   If you don’t mind sharing, do you happen to remember what topics you were searching for and what you were hoping to find?

   Optimizing our search is something we are actively working on, and the advanced search is very new (yesterday) and still buggy, so any additional details about your results/lack thereof would be really helpful.

8. Thank you for your feedback, Theo.

9. Thank you Hashim. We’d love to hear more details about your experience if you’d care to share.

10. Thank you for your honest feedback Matthew. I’m sorry you had problems using the site, but at least your experience gives us a bunch of things we can try to improve.

    A couple follow up questions:

    I’d like to try and recreate your error with following a channel – do you happen to recall more specifically which page you were on at the time (home, browse all channels, etc) and which channel you tried to follow?

    With search results, we currently just return them chronologically, with no relevance hierarchy, hence Seth Godin showing up 5th. Am I correct in thinking you were expecting results ranked by relevancy?

    Thanks again for your time.

11. greatfeedback4u has been awarded.

12. matthewdort has been awarded.

13. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    My first impression was that what are all these drop down boxes for and what does this site do. I see that you have search all articles but I still have no clue as to why I need I look up artcles. My first instinct  was to click on the dog because the picture was so adorable but since I’m trying to get in better shape the the health title is ultimately what I clicked on. I must say that your description bos on the side is less than noticeable and I actually took a long look about your site becuase I look at that section.
    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    I see that your site allow users to follow authors and browse varoius channels. If I found that I was able to find a great sources, authors and articles I would find it suitable to use your site.
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I was able to quiclkly find articles using your search area. I really liked that I could put in multiple in searches and pull up all the information at  one time instead of having to do one at time. Having the ability to break down the result between title, author and source is really nice making it more tailored to each users needs. Being that a user will not know how to use your site off the bat after doing the intitial search it was nice to see taglines under each other. I must say that I’m really drawn in and love how easy it is to store a great article or follow an author of your liking. Even though I was able to find articles quickly I wish there was a way to break down the authors articles even further. For instance I’m liking the titles by Karen Ficarelli but shea has or two hundred articles to look at. I would like to see a break down of her articles without having to go back to the homepage and use the search bar. She might have articles titles I am no familiar with and I may miss out on something of hers.
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    When I iniatally see the login button I wasn’t sure if that was the button to click on being that login usually means that you aleady have an established account. I like that I quickly was registered and I was given a brief description of what able to come with your site and things I could do. I wold like to have seen something a little personalized in assuring that I was properlly signed in. A conformation or a my name, something that was totally clear. The sign up process was quick and easy so now I would just search articles that were of interst to me.
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    I like that able to quickly follow but when it clicked on my stream I given every article my that person which made me think if I was following multiple sources and or sources than it woud seem over whelming under the my stream page. I’m not sure how it compare to others but the fact that it is free and easy to use makes it a plus in my book.
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    Once I was logged in see the tabs my shelf and my stream. I was wondering is being that they have the same instruction infomration under each title. If I decided to not follow a particular source, blog and or author I don’t see how I would able to take that off. I would like to see an easier homepage setup at the top of the page. Your description of our site was is plain that I hardly notied it and would be easy tempted to leave your site without knowing what I would be missing. Also is there a way to see all the featured authers and sources like you can like with the channels?  I see that on the tab it say see all authors but once clicked on it does nothing at all. Being able to view them all at once will make a user more intruiged to do deeper in your site. I would also suggest moving some things around on the homepage. I like that you want to make it easier for users to quickly search for artcles but for those who are first timers to the site it’s a little confusing to jump right in. Plus your put the “good looking’ portion of the homepage at the bottom. I think you have great site I think that  I would just see a easier breakdown in the articles within specific searches.  

14. Sure. Glad to help.
     
    The author I searched for was Bella DePaulo. That returned all her recent blog posts and articles–good results.
     
    The first topic I searched for was Arcade Fire, with and without quotes. I was hoping to find news about the band, but a lot of results had nothing to do with them. Results were a little better with quotes.
     
    The second topic I searched for was figure skating, with and without quotes. I was hoping for articles about figure skaters and figure skating competitions and exhibitions. The results were better with quotes, but I found that a lot of articles were about local rinks with skating lessons or even other topics (i.e., ice hockey, roller skating) rather than about the sport of figure skating.

15. 
    Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?

    First impressions: Nice, simple website, I really like the mixture of writing and pictures to give the first page a good layout and make it attractive to users.
    The first place I want to click is the search all articles, this is for obvious reasons being big and in the middle of the page it’s simply where the eye is drawn to first.
    I first clicked on Twist as I wasn’t sure what to search in the search all articles, more wanted to just browse through the website to get a better idea of it.

    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    It looks like a nice idea of following authors that you find interesting, I can easily see how this would be useful, you can first serch for subjects that you find interesting and then get to know authors that way. But also due to the search authors section it looks like users can search for a specific author. I would use it for that as it would be a good website to browse, so many authors in the same place being the main appeal in it for me. This would therefore be great for people of all ages that enjoy reading or have an interest in authors mainly due to the amount of authors and reading material provided by your website.
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I normally read fashion articles by Kat Griffin, I simply searched her name on the homepage in the search bar mentioned before, clicked search and all her articles came up (all 2144 of them!). Very impressive yet simple searching system if users know the author they want to read, so first impressions are very good.

    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    I clicked login which took me straight to the create an account page, extremely simple again with it only needing an email address and a password. it then came up with a screen which tells me what I can do now I have an account. This includes following authors and sources so that they can be streamed. So now I want to make a long list of these to create a good streaming page, this will then have everything I want to read! This was a very simple sign up process, this is good as people won’t be put off at having to put lots of information into it.

    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    To do this I went back and searched for Kat Griffin, I then clicked on the follow author link which was clearly displayed under her picture. I then came up with her name in the authors section on the right hand side of the page. I feel the joining of authors, sources and channel is a good unique selling point for this website, it’s something that can continue to grow with the amount of content. The more content the better the experience of consuming online content would be. However due to the simplicity and how easy it was to follow the authors I like its a very efficient way of consumine online information and articles.

    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    An app of this would be great! I’m not sure if that already exists but to make the most of this website you could do a really nice app involving maybe some sort of feed on there. I would definately download that! The online negatives is that because the layout is trying to be simple it also makes the website a tad boring to look at, this could put some people off!
    Thanks and anymore questions just let me know!

16. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    My first impression was that it is well-designed, in that within 20 seconds, I knew what the site was about and how to use it. Initially, I scrolled down the screen to see my options before chosing to click on the Featured Channels (Science, specifically). I wanted to see how the site was formatted and how the layout works. My only suggestion would be to put the headline “About uFollow” in the box where it explains what uFollow is about (instead of just having it say uFollow) because it took me a few extra seconds to find the instructions on how to use the site. I do like having that on the homepage, however.
    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    uFollow allows you to create your own newspaper, so to speak. I think this is nice if you have a specific author you like to follow. Personally, I’m a big Tina Fey fan, so it would be nice to be able to have a site find anything she writes and have it brought to my attention. The only potential downside I could see is that I wouldn’t get new points of view without actively searching for them, unless the site has a related article feature (and potentially a feature that allows you to read opposite viewpoint articles if you wish to keep your reading well-rounded).
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I searched for Tina Fey with the qualifier of “Author” and three articles came up. Two were from the New Yorker which made me curious about the magazine, so I went back to the homepage and searched “New Yorker” with the qualifier “Source” and I received an error message. I tried searching for New Yorker with other qualifiers and they all came back with an error code. I like the search function, and I like how you can choose to read articles from certain sources and dates on the right hand side. The site’s search function seems like a great way to get information you want to read, and I like the format that presents the information.
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    I like how easy it is to create an account (no complicated process – and an immediate access to the site). The first thing I did was use the search function at the top, but it wasn’t specific enough, so I tried going back to the homepage to do a search. I searched “Tina Fey” and then clicked “The New Yorker” and added The New Yorker to “My Stream” (took me two attempts because the first time I clicked the square picture and it didn’t save – had to click the Add To My Stream instead). I wanted to add the blog “The Oatmeal” but couldn’t seem to be able to figure out how to make it come up in the search function.
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    I like the idea of creating a one-stop place to read new articles so I don’t have to remember to search for them (personalized newspaper). I tried searching for a few authors of newspaper articles and couldn’t find them so maybe the search function needs some flushing out. I don’t know of other similar services besides Facebook or Twitter (where you can “follow” certain articles or authors), but I really like the list format of articles. It would be nice to be able to “archive” articles so they disappear from your stream but are still available for viewing.
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    Great site! I’ll definitely be sharing it with the few avid readers I know!

17. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    To be honest, I was quite confused at first due to the lay-out. I thought the pictures/lay-out wasn’t catchy especially for young readers like me. But on the second-look, it’s well-organized. I wanted to click Science first.
    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    I think it helps saving time since I just have to click on this site and search for the articles I need. Of course, it’s a great help.
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I found topics about HIV/ AIDS but there are some irrelevant items. I thought the site works fast.
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    After I register, I wanted to start my research already. I think it would be better if options  such as pictures or names of authors were posted as soon as I created my account. The account creation was clear and brief.
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    I like the fact that there is time element in this site. Through this way, readers can easily determine if articles are up-to-date.
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    I can’t help but compare it to twitter:) It’s like following your favorite authors and their related articles. it has a good format and helpful.
     

18. tthau2010, thanks for your time and your thoughts. Social integration is definitely on our to do list!

19. Thanks for your feedback.

    It sounds like the Channels didn’t meet your expectations. Were the articles too general? Off topic?  

    We are looking at increasing the number of channels and making them smaller and more narrowly defined.

20. Thanks, Latasha, this is very helpful.

    To your point about narrowing down search results – we currently offer the ability to facet by date, source, and author without going back to the search box.

    Would you have found something like a tag cloud more useful?

21. Thanks real girl! re: Mobile – an app is something we are thinking about but have put on hold for now, as we can currently deliver most of the experience we want through our mobile website. Its definitely something to look for from us in the future, though.

22. Thanks for being true to your name, helpful! 

    Sorry you had that error with the source search – we had a bug for a minute there involving search terms that contained the word ‘or.’

    About ‘the oatmeal’ – our content is curated by hand to keep out spam, so there are many blogs that haven’t been added to the system yet. Although we are expanding the database as fast as we can, we definitely welcome suggestions for new content from our users.

23. Thank you for your helpful suggestions Kharen.

24. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    My first impression of this site is that it is very business oriented perhaps due to the selected images beside each source. The layout format is very clean and simple, yet I find that the brief introduction about ufollow could be a little more eye-catching. I was a little confused at first about seeing the search engine for the articles as I don’t know what the site is all about before reading the introduction. Addition of colours or different font type to emphasize the titles would be more helpful and interesting. I wanted to search for articles first as it is presented at the very top of the page, but I ended up clicking on “Browse all channels” as it seems more interesting. 

    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    uFollow is a place for people who enjoy reading to search and follow on their favourite authors and bloggers. It might be useful as it offers a search engine that can help people to find the information they need with ease. I’d want to use it for that as it will save me some time in searching for the relevant information. It will serve as a personal library where all the information are kept and grouped together.
    
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I personally like to read and follow on UFO topics. I find the search engine very handy and impressive as it presents all the related sources at one time. They are each introduced with a short summary and the authors are highlighted at the side. The contents are relevant and some are things that I might not even be exposed to if I were to use some other search engines. The information are condensed and gathered together for me. 
    
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    The first thing I’d like to do after registration is to search for my favourite topics and add to my 
    “follow author” list. The account creation process is very fast and simple. There’s no other unnecessary information that needs to be filled out.
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    This is a handy tool to consume online content. Similar to twitter, I can follow on some first-hand news revolving a topic or author. I am especially fond of the way that it shows the number of articles being published beside each author/ sources/ timeline as it dictates me on where to start first. This is similar to other search engine which allows us to sort by popularity, but here with a very exact number.
    
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    Overall I like the concept behind this website, but somehow the images associated with the subcategories didn’t attract me to click into them. Input of colors/ animation might be helpful and more entertaining. Since the website has a light background, my eyes are automatically drawn to the less interesting icons. I think it is important to add the eye candies to the site because as a blog reader, I’m expecting to focus on a lot of written information. If all I see is word after word, it will not keep me reading.

25. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    My first impression of this site is that it’s pretty bland, looks like a newspaper online or something, not anything I’d want to see on a daily basis when I’m online!  Looks pretty busy, like I have to figure out what to do.  The first thing I did was scroll up and down the site and noticed 5 search bars (why so many?).  I didn’t really know what to do, though I did notice the Google and Apple icons under featured channels, but that’s probably because I recognize those companies.  After looking around, I read the brief description about the site and actually chose the normal search bar in the top right corner and completed a search.
     
    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    To be honest, I actually really don’t know what the site is for even after reading the brief description on the home page, and that’s not a good thing!  I guess it could be useful to find content you’re looking for in blogs and news publications (that’s what I gathered from my search).  As for me, I was pretty disappointed in my first search inquiry.  On a normal day, I would have left the site alone if I’m having difficulty in the first 2 searches!  So, no I wouldn’t use it for the purpose I’m thinking.
     
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    Ok, so what I’m searching for is not coming up at all!  WOW, that’s frustrating!!  Granted, I’m usually online to make money, but there are thousands of blogs and sites about making money online and through 8 searches and about 25 pages, I see one blog/site that comes up that’s kind of close, but he’s talking about CashCrate!!
    I even used the weird looking multiple search section on the home page that came up with not even the one guy that showed up in the single search?!  I don’t know about this one guys, it seems something of value should have come up.  I did a search for, work at home, work from home, telecommuting, telecommuting jobs, make money online, make money blogs, ways to make money online, and work at home job sites, and I keep getting this one CashCrate guy and pages and pages of nothing relevant!!
    I wish I could search for individual bloggers, but I don’t know any.  As I mentioned before, I only read things about making income online, and I was sure I would see at least a page or 2 of these types of blogs, but I guess not.
    Another thing is, I say get rid of the multiple search box, it looks out of place and really don’t provide much value from what I gathered from it.  2 search boxes would suffice at the most, though I think you only need one; but if you must, just make it 2 search boxes.  At first I didn’t understand why you had the date section under the search boxes, but as I searched I did see why.  The dates of latest posts shows up, so I’m assuming they can search for post dates of whatever they’re looking for, that’s actually pretty cool!!
     
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    Creating an account was a breeze, very simple, about the only simple thing on the site!  Enter an email address and create a password and done!  After the account is created, there are a few instructions about starting a search and visiting channels, following blogs, and recommending blogs and sites to ufollow.  So when I clicked on My Account, I got a little lost, like it wanted me to sign up again.  Also, on that same confirmation page after signing up I see the same login/create account links, why is that there?
    I clicked the About Us section, it’s pretty brief, not saying a whole lot but to the point.  I actually noticed that after creating my account, I was in the My Stream section…lol, haven’t figured out what this means yet?!  But I figured out how to add to My Folder, pretty simple!!  Still stuck on this searching thing though, but now just playing around with the site.
    Alright, now what’s the purpose of My Shelf?  Seems like too much is going on here.  More clarity would make this site more doable!!
     
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    Now, I figured out how to follow an author.  The problem is, that link should be highlighted as a link like all the others, I skipped right over it and had to go back!!  The only reason I found it because I was moving the cursor around on the screen and it pointed to the black italicized words!!  So I clicked it and the author was added to My Stream.
    Went back to My Stream and saw the author there and a few posts, also saw the author in My Folder and My Shelf; again, what is My Shelf for?  Is that like a placeholder, but wouldn’t that be the same as the folder?  Honestly, the whole thing as far as streaming is not really different from any other blogger site I’ve seen, it’s all about the same.  The difference I see is more so with the folder and shelf, don’t see too much of that.  And the fact that most of the content within the site is boring mainstream content and not what I think the average blogger or internet user cares about!!
    The service is an excellent way to consume online content, but why gather the same mundane content the bigger sites are already putting out there?  Who’s looking for it outside of the main sources they’re already using?
     
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    The site is not a bad idea, it’s actually pretty darn good!!  Just looks like the layout wasn’t completely thought through, and what came out of it was stuff added where it shouldn’t be and over done (ex: multiple search toolbar thing).
    Speaking of the searching, seriously, you have to get some good content in there!  Just because the post came from New York Times doesn’t make it good!!  There are plenty of very good lesser known bloggers online with great content, stuff no one else has.  Maybe open up the site where people can add their blogs to be searched and read, that way they’ll come to you and they’ll get more exposure to their writings!!  Less work for you to go out and find the content, everyone is looking for more exposure!!
    Perk up the site a bit, it’s bare and basic with things all over the place!  Take off the My Shelf if it really has no purpose, highlight follow author, drop 5 search bars to 1 or 2, clean up the My Stream page and take out login/create account in that right column, also take it out of the ufollow description box.  You only need one login/create account link, you guys are overdoing it!  In My Account, make it a simple click through rather than logging in all over again!!
    Other than that, good concept!! Hope my insight helps!
     
     
    Thanx
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    

26. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    Personally, I like the design. I feel like a lot of sites tend to be too cluttered. There’s nothing wrong with a website that’s designed in clean lines. I liked the minimalist imaging as well, author pictures, cool avatars for sources. However I think that for a new site, there should be a clear indicatior of how to use it. There are text boxes at the top that kind of remind me of a library search engine but as a new user, how do I know what “sources” indicates? A magazine? A website? It’s pretty confusing. A brief review of the terminology of the site for new users would maybe be helpful. Being a feminist, I naturally clicked “Feministing” first. When the page loaded I was impressed! Clear headlines, a list of authors for a particular source, even an archive! I’m into it.
    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    I think that uFollow attempts to make following authors from various online sources  easy, and not only that makes other sources available to readers that perhaps wouldn’t otherwise be on the reader’s radar. I think that the possibility of cultivating new readership through the website is almost as important as being able to find authors one already read. I would use it more to find new people to read and explore different sources. I already have an RSS reader that keeps me  up to date with my favorite blogs, but this site could definitely open my eyes to bloggers I didn’t know about.

    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I tend to follow mostly crafting blogs. My favorite blogs weren’t found in the search. Specifically I searched for Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and then a general search for knitting. It was then that I realized that your site is more for periodicals than just blogging, something I had been confused about and something that could probably be addressed on your site for the casual reader. This site is not for general blogging but more for authors of magazines. The search was well organized though, with a list of authors and relevant sources. If I were interested more in politics or world news, I imagine that it would give me a whole slew of useful resources. Just for funsies, I searched for “healthcare” since I’m in nursing school and found a good amount of really interesting articles on that topic. I guess your site isnt really geared towards hobbyists, which is totally cool, I was just confused on the range of topics your sources cover.

    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    Creating an account was beyond easy. The first thing I did after registering was looking though the channels to add to my stream. It was then I had a second realization; it’s not that your site isn’t geared towards hobbyists. You have channels on food, pets, movies, etc. It’s just that there isn’t a wide variety of that kind of thing to choose from. Add a DIY channel with crafting sources! I think that you’ve seriously underestimated how much DIY life style and crafting could add to the readership of your site. But I digress. The account creation process was easy and fast, which is what I like to see. No email verification, which meant I could use my account immediately. That was nice.
    

    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    Your main contender is going to be RSS feeders. Most people who follow blogs or magazines online have them. What you’re offering is a chance to expand ones readership outside of what one normally reads, which is beyond cool. When you follow a source or a channel, there’s such a variety of topics that you’re naturally drawn to explore. For example, I followed the “food” channel and found not only recipes but articles on healthy eating (“The Unhealthiest foods you can eat right now”) that piqued my interest. I think this service is a great way to aggregate new information in a readable, well organized way. I’m pretty sure I’ll keep using it. Well done guys!
    

    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    I’d like to reiterate again that it can be confusing knowing what the site offers at first glance. Maybe a short tour would help. Also, please don’t underestimate the contribution of crafters and DIY enthusiasts. We are a huge community who are very socially and environmentally conscious and it would be great to see some representation of that on your site! Other than that, I’m really impressed with it. I like the simplicity of the design a lot; it makes it easy to navigate and poses minimal distraction.
    
    
    
    

27. helpful has been awarded.

28. Latasha has been awarded.

29. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?

    My first impression of this site was that it is used for keeping track of your favorite Authors and also being able to search for articles and topics. The statement on the upper right hand side really helped. I wanted to try the search bar on top under “Search all Articles”. I typed in “Food” and a list of articles came up which I found to be very helpful.

    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?

    As I explained above, its used for to follow Authors and search for articles. Yes I would use it.

    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?

    Since I couldn’t think of any Authors at the moment, I choose to use one that was on the page “Jason Fried”.  When I typed in his name a list of articles came up which had nothing to do with him. That was a bit confusing. I did nothing on the left of the screen, his picture and name was there along with “577 articles”.  Once I clicked on “577 Articles” it gave me a list of articles which he wrote.  I don’t understand why the search didn’t take me there. This lead me to believe that the search is only good for looking up articles and not Authors.

    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?

    I created an account and found it to be easy to do and understand which is nice. Once I created an account, it took me to “My Shelf” which explained to me about the Author search and why the search came up the way it did.  I still doesn’t make any sense to me.  A search of a Author should come up with articles by the Author not other Authors.  Most people will check out a site before signing up, so I am confused to why you explain the “Author Search” after signing up and not before.

    Once I signed up, I wanted to follow a Author and check out the other opinions such as “My Stream”, etc.I choose to follow “Jason Fried”.  I found “My shelf”, “My Stream”, and “My folder very useful.  Its nice and helpful to have my chosen articles and Author right there, just a click away.

    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?

    The site is well done, but I think it needs more color.  It looks plain.

    I think you should fix the “Author Search” in which I mentioned above.

    The “Author search” was explained once I signed up.  It would be better placed in the “About Us”.

    I think it would be a good idea if you had a “Q&A” page which answers common questions asked. When I first started looking at the site, I had questions which would have been nice to had answers with just one click away.

    I noticed that you have no “Social Site” links on your page such as “Twitter” and “Facebook”.  Being connect to those popular social sites would bring you in more customers.  I suggest that you connect to those sites.

     

30. Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?

    I am not sure why this question did not show up on my reply.

    I followed “Jason Fried” and I found it very easy.  “The Stream” was very easy to use and understand”. I like how the stream shows and saves all the articles by “Jason Fried”.  This is the only site I have seen of this nature, so I am unable to compare it to others.

31. What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    I think that uFollow attempts to make following authors from various online sources  easy, and not only that makes other sources available to readers that perhaps wouldn’t otherwise be on the reader’s radar. I think that the possibility of cultivating new readership through the website is almost as important as being able to find authors one already read. I would use it more to find new people to read and explore different sources. I already have an RSS reader that keeps me  up to date with my favorite blogs, but this site could definitely open my eyes to bloggers I didn’t know about.
    what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    My first impression of this site is that it’s pretty bland, looks like a newspaper online or something, not anything I’d want to see on a daily basis when I’m online!  Looks pretty busy, like I have to figure out what to do.  The first thing I did was scroll up and down the site and noticed 5 search bars (why so many?).  I didn’t really know what to do, though I did notice the Google and Apple icons under featured channels, but that’s probably because I recognize those companies.  After looking around, I read the brief description about the site and actually chose the normal search bar in the top right corner and completed a search.

32. taripres has been awarded.

33. •Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    
    First impression of the site is: static.  The boolean search boxes at the very top with the multiple phrase operators in the drop downs reminded me of Windows 98 — not a bad OS, but still … dated.  I might suggest upping the appearance of the boolean search boxes, or mabye playing with the white space a little bit so that it breaks up the static look of the search — try placing the colorful thumbnails in the ‘Features Channels’ section at the top, this way I can see what is important right off the bat. You cant always assume that people who come to the site already know what to look for — and I believe placing the search at the top assumes that.

    I was immediately drawn to the logo, and I was pleasently surprised when I clicked on it first.  It refreshes the ‘Featured Channels’ giving the appearance that they update in real-time (even though they may not) depending upon what has the most traffic.

    •What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?

    uFollow seems to be a great place to go for those who follow high profile blogs or very popular bloggers.  Content can be different, and I liked that you had this broken up into different genre’s.  It would obviously be useful for someone who knows who these bloggers are and wants access to thier content from one location.

    •Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?

    It is clear that you have a very powerful searching tool, and I REALLY like that!!  The searching itself, however, was a little confusing.  Do I search using the boolean search?  Do I search using the search box in the top right corner?  Where do I go?  Does the boolean search only search your site, or is it web-wide?  Is the search box in the top right only a site-wide search??  I was a bit confused.  Again, I was able to find who I was looking for, but it took more detective work than I would like.  Again, I might suggest revamping the boolean search tool and also make it clear what each search tool is searching on … site-wide or internet-wide.

    •Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?

    I created an account and that was easy enough, good job with the registration!  Simple, to the point, done.  The links, tho, were just a bit confusing.  What is the difference between ‘My Shelf’ and ‘My Folder’.  Possibly the labels are not clear enough, they might need a little more work so users dont have to click on each one, investigate, draw a concusion and then know the difference.  It should be just a bit more intuitive.

    •Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?

    I figured out how to ‘Follow’ the bloggers, but I think this should be WAY more clear!  Maybe with a highlighted button “Follow Me” instead of just a small link under thier picture — which seemed to blend in with the background.  This seems lost a little bit and because the ‘follow me’ aspect of the site is basically what the site was designed for, this should be WAY more prominent!

    •Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?

    I think that you guys did a great job with the site, however, there are some things I might suggest you rethink.  Fist, dont assume that people who visit the site know what they are looking for, and by placing the search right in front of your face the second the site loads, you assume that.  Also, try to look at it from an outside perspective, make the reason for the site clear — to follow your favorites and the corresponding RSS feed AND make them easier to find!!

34. Thank you Bauhaus for your feedback. We’re glad you liked the site, and we’ll try to spruce up our design to make the reading experience a bit more engaging.

35. Thanks Taripres, your insight was thorough and quite helpful. We are always researching new blogs and sources for our index and expanding into new topic areas — I hope next time you visit you’ll find our coverage much improved.

36. Thanks Rachel! We’ll definitely get to work adding some DIY and Crafts blogs to the system — we built our index by hand to keep out spam, so there are definitely a few topic areas we missed. We’re working hard to keep new, quality content flowing into the site. I hope next time you visit you’ll find more of the blogs you want to read.

37. Thanks very much for your comments Sierra. I’m sorry our search results were confusing, we are working on streamlining that whole process and making it much more user friendly.

    A brief note on why our results show up the way they do: although our service is intended as a tool for following authors, we felt the final goal of our users was still to consume an article, and that more recent articles are generally preferable to older articles. A general search on the site serves up all articles that include the search term requested, in chronological order. This means if you search for a name you will get articles by that person and articles that mention that person. You can limit the search by searching specifically by author, or by using the “frequent” links on the right-hand side of the results. 

    Again, thanks for your input.

38. Thank you Michelle!

    We completely agree that there are an overwhelming number of search functions on the home page and that the follow links on the site need to be clearer. We’re working on fixing up the home page and the next version will be much more user-friendly.

39. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first?
    Nice clean site. I was not overwhelmed with information but I could easily navigate the various features. My eye was drawn to the Feature Channels where I click open Gardening and then Google Blogs.
    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that?
    This website appears to be a tool where an individual my go to one site that will help to follow several favorite blogs posted on the net or even discover new lines of interest that may appeal to you. I would find this website useful for following several of my hobbies.
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?
    I search for several political figures that I like to follow. I was able to find each one without any problems with the exception of one. I was not sure if I had the correct spelling of that person’s name. Still overall, I thought the search engine was very easy to use. I am not sure how the problem if you don’t know the correct spelling.
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process?
    I wanted to start adding my favorite political personalities to my own account. The directions were very clear and easy to understand. In fact I planning to start using this site to help me keep track of articles and perhaps develop some new interest as well.
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not?
    Excellent tools to find authors. I particularly like the feature that showed the various newspapers across the world that feature one of my favorite political columnist. I also like the feature that let me type in subject areas. This provided me an opportunity to explore new authors about subjects I enjoy reading. This is the first site that I visited that offers these features. Usually I google search and then wade through the tons of information. This site helps me to narrow my focus and thus save me valuable time.
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?
    I am looking forward to using your website on a regular basis.

40. Visit https://www.ufollow.com – what is your first impression of this site? Where do you want to click first? Where did you click first? The first thing I clicked on was the Home button to make sure the page i was on was the home button. My first impression was wow, there is a little too much going on. The home page makes me thing what is this site again? maybe if it had a small introduction it would be less confuseing.

     

    What do you think uFollow does and why might it be useful? Would you want to use it for that? follows certain peolple or groups. i would use it to follow a group. it might be useful if i was into a artist that much.
    
    Search for bloggers or sources that you normally read. Were you able to find the content you were looking for? What are your impressions of the site’s search function?yes, it was fast and very effective at doing what it said it would do.
    Click “Login” or “Create an Account.” Create an account (feel free to use a pseudonym for testing purposes, no verification is required). After you register, what do you want to do next? What are your impressions of the account creation process? easy an affective. Not hard at all to start an account.
    Try “following” a few blogs or sources in your stream. What are your impressions of this service as a way to consume online content? What, if anything, does it offer that other similar services do not? To me it is like any other blog/following service.
    Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated! Is there anything else you’d care to share about uFollow?

Comments are closed.