useKit – Simple, Efficient, Personalized Collaboration

15 thoughts on “useKit – Simple, Efficient, Personalized Collaboration”

1. Feedback sought:

   Visit useKit.com without registering. Can you describe what useKit is about?

   UseKit appears to be a place to store anything while keeping my organization structure

   Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?

   Done.  I did understand the registration process.  After clicking the confirmation link, it said to Get Started I can paste a URL, type a text, or upload a file.

   Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.

   I entered the Usekit profile on StartupLift, and saved it.  I then clicked the button add context.  I typed in the word “usability” in the blank, but I don’t see a button to add or save.  The word just becomes grayed out.  I’m confused.  I don’t know what the right and left looking arrows are for.  I added the comment “Don’t understand” and clicked the comment button.

   Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?

   Before I share, I want to know how sharing a link via Usekit would improve efficiency?  Why can’t I used bit.ly or another URL shortener versus usekit?  I don’t know why Usekit would be better.

   What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?

   Usability – Well the User Interface is sorta “blah”.  I mean it’s just black and white and kind of boring.  Now if you had more colors buttons and it was more user friendly, then I might consider using UseKit, but as is, it is not impressive, and does not convince me that I need to use it over any other bookmark site.  I would need something more visually appealing to switch from my current social network.

   Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?

   No.  I can describe it in one sentence.  “Usekit is a way to save URL, text, and files.”  I don’t see it as simpler than using my social network, or any other site I have come across.  I would like to hear from the makers on why it is better or solves a problem so that I need to use it.

   Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?

   I would not use it “as is”  There would need to be a major overhaul on the website design and user interface.  No, I would not pay for the service at its current phase.  I don’t see why I would want to share via UseKit over facebook. 

   Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.
   Actionable suggestions:  I would first recommend incorporating more color into the User Interface to make it more visually appealing.
   Second, I would put a real how to video on the homepage.  I saw a What? Video describing UseKit, and a reason Why? But I didn’t feel like the How? Was complete or told me how to properly use it.  I would also recommend using a real human voice over in the video, versus a cold robotic voice.  Makes it more personable.
   I liked the icons on the homepage, they looked good.
   I wish you would state why UseKit is better or should be used over Facebook, or other social networks.
   I would not employ a monthly pricing fee.  Alternatively, you could strategically use ads in the sidebar of the personal storage area to get revenue.  You really want to see if people would use your product and get them hooked before even talking about the price.  I know I could find alternative ways of storing my favorite stuff on the “cloud” for free.

2. Visit useKit.com without registering. Can you describe what useKit is about?
   Your site allows people to track, store and share your personal information in a secure fashion.
   Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?
   Yes. It started off very simple with me typing in my email address and directions clearly explained to me that I would receive and for me to click on the link. Within a minute or two I clicked on the link provided in my email and proceeded to type in my name and password. Quick, fast and easy. Next it sent me right into the progrom where I could paste a url, type a text and upload a file.
   Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.
   I have a brand new computer with no document uploaded so I was unable to load anything. I even tried to upload some picture that I have from my desktop but I was unable to do so. I wound up typing a text and adding a description to it. I see that I could: add context, add a comment and share the text that I created.
   Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?
   I pressed the send button and I was immediately saw a box that said filter contacts. Since I don’t have any contacts loaded I wasn’t sure what to do with that feature. It aslo had to “<<  >>” placed at the bottom of the box. I pressed those and it did nothing so again I wasn’t sure what to so with those. Maybe I could have used those if I had contacts loaded but I’m not sure. I added an email address and a little message and I could see the email address I entered towards the top of the page. I sent to another email address I have and it got there really fast. I like how it had the message embedded in the email and that it also had a link to click on. One thing that I saw was, “He added the following message for you:” in the email. Why did it pick a gender for me, when there was no question in the sign up process that asked me about my gender?
   What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?
   It seems easy to use but there is alot of content on the page to decifer through. I also didn’t understand why getting started with user kit was on that page. It seems that’s what I should have came across fit on a separate page instead of putting it all together. The colors on the page seem very boring and mundane. There was nothing on the page that screamed I’m having fun adding context and sharing with those I choose to. Add some thick lines, clearly separated text boxes and more color.
   Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
   Sorry but I had to repeat myself but this is how I see your site, “Your site allows people to track, store and share your personal information in a secure fashion.” I didn’t see any special way to do those things but just by using your website. What I’m perplexed about is what sets your site apart from e-mail or me just storing my files on my computer or thumb drive? I think you need to drive it home to consumer as to why they shoud use your site and not just keeping uploading and sending files as they normally do.
   Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?
   I would use the site to upload, store and share content and no I would not pay the service.
   Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.
   I think you need to figure out how to grab people into your site because I must say that I didn’t feel the pull of why I need your site. It needs to visually appealling and easy to use.

3. Visit useKit.com without registering. Can you describe what useKit is about?

   It’s a digital library which provides you with personal organization and where you can share.

   Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?

   Yes.  The registration process is simple with only a few steps.  After typing in my e-mail address, I recieved an e-mail fast with a “private” link to finish my registration.  I really like the “private” link.  It makes me feel more secure with your service.

   Once I finished the registration process, I was able to take the next steps which were under “collect anything”, “Organize and share”, and “Collect from anywhere”.

   Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.

   I am confused about the process and the steps.  I have no idea what I was doing.  First I uploaded a file and it stated “error”, so I assumed that I didn’t do all the steps and that I may of done it wrong.  I then started over starting with the step “paste your url”.  I typed in a URL and a picture of the web page showed up in a small little box below.  I then typed in text in the “Title” and also in the “Description”.  Then I clicked “Save”, and it saved it on my page.  I have no idea where the “upload file” comes in.  I tried to upload a number of files and it kept saying “error” so I’m a little confused with the whole process.

   Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?

   I clicked “send” and typed in the e-mail address of a friend.  It came up “Error”. Then these two arrows came up in the box.  I clicked on both of them and nothing happened.  So again, I am very confused with this process.

   What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?

   I can’t really answer about the “usability” since I’m having problems with understanding how to do it.

   I think that when it comes up “Error”, there should be a box of some sort that pops up and explains why there is an error. 

   Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?

   Yes.  Usekit is a great idea.  It’s a digital library which provides you with personal organization.  You are able to share with others.  It is a secure site. The process steps are confusing. 

   Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?

   I think it’s a great idea and I would love to use it.  At this time, I am having problems with using it since the steps are confusing.  As for paying for it, I’m not sure.  I need to be able to figure out exactly how to use it and check it all out and all the things that it provides before I can say if I would be willing to pay for it.

   Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.

   I think it’s a great idea and a service that can be very handy.  I like that there is a “private link” in the e-mail.  It makes me feel more secure about using your service.   

   There are some things that I think needs to be changed like when a “error” pops up, a box should pop up stating why there is an “error”.

   There is no “FaQ” page.  I feel this page is very important.  It answers the most common questions asked and it’s very useful.  It’s nice to get answers from just a click away than to have to contact the service or company.

   I think there should be a “page” where clients can either make comments or tell their experiences with using your service.  It helps to see what other people who use your service is saying when deciding on using a new service.

   Overall, I think the site looks great.  It’s easy to navigate and I like the layout.  I think it would help if you make a few changes in which I mentioned above.

4. Can you describe what useKit is about?
   It appears to be a site for digital media storage.
    
   Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?
   I located the “No account yet?” link in the upper right corner of the homepage, and this led to a registration page.  I had no problem signing up, although I will say that I don’t like email verification requirements since I find that an unnecessary pain in the neck.
    
   Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.
   When I first signed into my account, I was a little overwhelmed with the interface.  It took a minute to really look around and figure out what was what.  However, I was able to upload a file with no trouble, and I also added a context and description for it.  Next, I added a web link along with a title, description, and context.  Again, I had no trouble.
    
   Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?
   I’m truly not sure how to do that.  I clicked the Send button, and an email form appeared, but when I typed in an email address, I got an error message that said, “Error while sharing content.”  Thinking that maybe I had to add the address to my contacts first, I selected the Contacts tab.  But once there, I didn’t see any way to add an email address.
    
   What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?
   I know you have a separate Help page, but I would’ve liked to see some instructions that were more accessible from my main account page, maybe in the form of rollover pop-ups.  The “Getting started with useKit” screenshot farther down the page didn’t look very useful.  Overall, the main account page just struck me as kind of “busy,” though I’m sure I’d get used to it with a little time.
    
   Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
   Sure.  It’s a digital media storage site that allows the user to upload, label, organize, and save web pages, text, photos, maps, and other electronic files and share them with friends.
    
   Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?
   I might use it (probably for bookmarking), but I wouldn’t pay for it.  To me, it’s too similar to existing social bookmarking and social networking sites that I can already use free of charge.  I understand part of the draw here is that you can both bookmark URLs and upload your own files, but that alone isn’t enough to entice me to pay for this.
    
   Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.
   I’m not sure I really understand your value proposition here.  The homepage suggests that useKit could help streamline the email process for attachments, reduce IT administration, and promote collaboration.  But I don’t really think I currently have a problem with any of those things.  To me, it seems just as easy to upload a file from my computer to my email account as it is to upload it from my computer to useKit.  Granted, I don’t have an email program that allows me to label attachments, but I can generally figure out what’s in an email just by looking at the subject line or doing a quick search for keywords in the email.  It occurs to me that your service might be aimed more at businesses than individuals, hence the mention of IT and collaboration.  If that’s the case, I would advise you to concentrate on adding more business-friendly features that would appeal to professionals.
    
   I also took a look at your Press, About, Blog, and Pricing pages.  All of them could use a proofreader for small grammatical errors.  In regard to the Press page, I was surprised that so many of the links to things like press releases and fact sheets were available only via download or PDF.  I’d suggest adding regular HTML pages with this info so that it’s more accessible.  The About page struck me as too brief.  On the other hand, I liked the Pricing page, which had a nice, clear comparison chart.  It also gave me confirmation that you are indeed aiming for business customers more than individuals, and again, I think useKit could be more successful if you branded it as mainly a business service.  The last page I read, the blog, was about what I would expect from a web start-up.
    
   One more thing: I noticed that useKit enables users to import bookmarks from Delicious.  I hope you’ll expand to include integration with other social bookmarking sites, too.  There are a lot out there that are just as popular as Delicious, if not more so.
    
    
    

5. $5 awarded to greatfeedback4u.

6. * Visit useKit.com without registering. Can you describe what useKit is about?
   It is a collaboration tool but I’m uncertain which type of collaboration. I would assume that it is to share documents and being able to update them even if other persons are working on the same file. Yet, there is not much information and only the last paragraph, with the clock at its left, makes me think this way.

   * Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?
   It is nice the video to know how the web works… but why do I have to copy the link to watch it? It would be more convenient to watch it right there although it is nice to have the option of watching it on youtube. I think that it would be easy to loose traffic that way. Maybe then they discover that this service is not what they are looking for and leave for good.

   This video should be available prior signing up. I do have questions about it though. I don’t have a link like the video shows so I can’t drag it to my favourites… I’m using FireFox under Windows 7 and that browser looks like safari.

   At the bottom I discover that it is at the very bottom and not on the top right area of the screen unlike the video.

   Everything works well but I would love to be able not only to create stickies but view them without having to leave the page I’m visiting

   * Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.

   It is easy enough and although sometimes it does get a slightly confusing but the tips when the cursor is over an icon do help.

   * Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?
   While I understand your need to do everything and make sure that it is OK, I don’t have any contacts to share this with and I don’t want to bother anyone just to do a test because I would have to be doing the same with every site I review. So let me apologise in advance but I think is asking too much for someone that it is not a professional tester and doesn’t have a team that would expect this kind of actions.

   * What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?
   As far as I can see, the site is clean and easy to navigate. For some reason, it must be a trend but for some reason the icons don’t have a text underneath to indicate what they do. I’m force to put the mouse over the icon to know what it does and sometimes icons are not so intuitive. I would be great if I didn’t have to hover the icon in case that I’m not sure what that links does.

   * Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
   An application to share links and files.
   It connects with popular services such as twitter or delicious
   Nice interface and easy to set up as well as quick
   Registering is very easy
   Mark your favourite pages, translate text without leaving the page, share, write reminders and more.

   * Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?
   To be honest, I rarely use this type of service as I already have other (desktop) software to do this, and I share something I use twitter and facebook (friends) or some other for business. So I don’t have any need of it.

   * Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.
   The site is nice and I give it a 10 for speed. It is really fast and the design is simple and nice. Yet, my only concern is that there are other applications already popular that do the job and this seems to be a mix of some of those. It is not hard to use but further videos and assistance, a faq or a forum to ask questions may do the trick. I did feel that I had to discover everything by myself.

   Furthermore, I can’t seem to find how to remove my details!

7. Visit useKit.com without registering. Can you describe what useKit is about?
   useKit is about storing personal information online and keeping it safe in an organized way.
   Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?
   The registration process was very simple. I saw there was a video to help new users understand how to proceed with organizing and sharing information, which is helpful so you know what to do.
   Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.
   I uploaded a simple picture and added a description to it. The process was very easy to complete, and I had no problems doing it.
   Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?
   Actually I don’t know of anyone who may be interested in this type of service, so I was not able to try out this process.
   What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?
   The usability of the site is pretty good, the site is simple to navigate and adding content to your page seems easy enough. i personally was unsure of what to add at first, because I don’t have the need for this type of product online. I just chose an idea off the top of my head to use.
   Although the intro video provided a simple overview of how to get started, I think it would have been easier to have the video posted on your site instead of a link to go to youtube. I also thought that your help section should have additional videos to demonstrate how to use your site step by step, so that there is no confusion.
   Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
   Good site to collect online data and share with others.
   While collecting information, you may add a description, notes, and other context to urls, pictures and sections of the webpages you are on and have it saved to your profile.
   New idea that has no comparable competition on any other sites.
   Simple registration and uploading process.
   Very useful tool to cut down on time for organizing and storing information at the click of a button.
   Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?
   I probably would not use it, because if there is anything I really want to store or share with someone I will send it to them directly. As far as paying for the service, I think that would only be relevant to someone who could use it.
   Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.
   I thought the site could use a more thorough introduction that could walk you through the entire process from beginning to end. I saw in the help section that there were other topics listed to help answer a few questions, but I didn’t believe it was cut and dry. The transition was not smooth enough between questions and answers.

8. Visit useKit.com without registering. Can you describe what useKit is about?
   UseKit is an internett service, where ou can upload, store and share your own files.
   Go back and register with useKit. Do you understand the registration process and what to do after?
   Registration process is easy to understand. After registration and confirmation you can get started uploading files.
   Upload a file, go and do some web clippings with our useKit bar and assign contexts to your items. Share your experience.
   I entered the code, upload a file and added a context. Saved everything.Works perfectly. Not sure what are left and right buttons under input filed. Saved song appears in the middle oc screen afterwards.
   Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?
   Sending uploaded files to two of my friends with bried note. I find no problems doing that. Nice and easy.
   What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?
   User interface is gray and white and boring. Use colours. But if it works for others it works for me, too. Not sure that i would like to change sending methods i use to switch here just for sharing.
   Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
   Technicaly very good experience. No troubles and no doubts. Not for sharing, for saving maybe and maybe for sharing in small groups. Not sure what are developers think to accomplish.
   Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?
   You gave me an idea how to share big files ( bigger than gmail can take it ) with someone. I am not sure that i am prepared to pay for such a service. Maybe a small amount.
   Please feel free to share any additional comments and feedbacks.

   
   First i would recommend more colors, more appealing look. Maybe also a real nice voice ( hot blonde voine J ) instead of that technical one. Try to charge no fee. Ssome ads are better solution for me.

9. $5 awarded to zeke2100.

10. $5 awarded to Latasha.

11. $5 awarded to Sierra12346.

12. $5 awarded to Nuria.

13. Hi Zeje2100
     
    Upload a file
    I assume, you have installed the toolbar from https://usekit.com/extensions.
    “Add Context” gives you the ad-hoc possibility to keep something together in a context. If you enter the word “usability” it should ask you: “create usability?”
    From know on you can store new entries with one single click in “usability”.
     
    Share something
    Sharing is different than a URL shortener. For exmaple you have the context “usability” with a link of https://startuplift.com stored. Now you can invite new people to the context in https://usekit.com/context and they see everything what is already stored and become notified of new entries. This reduces emails that you have to keep and binds context specific entries together.
     
    Usability and design
    You are right, we kept everything very simple and with reduces colors because we want to stay in the background and let you focusing on your content.
    But, I guess a bit more colorfulness wouldn’t harm.
     
    Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
    We see useKit more as a collaboration platform, that let you focus on content instead of people as most other platforms.
     
     
    Would you use it and what for? And would you pay for the service?
    We are currently in the progress of improving design and simplicity and don’t see us as competition against facebook and others. We want to put content and it’s context in the center and bind the communication to it.
     
    Thank you very much for your comments, they are very valuable.
    Sven, CEO of useKit

14. Possibly share something with a friend/co-worker. How was the process?
    You are right about the gender, meanwhile we changed our message to something more neutral.
     
    What do you think about the usability? What should we improve?
    You are right, we kept everything very simple and with reduces colors because we want to stay in the background and let you focusing on your content.
    But, I guess a bit more colorfulness wouldn’t harm.
     
    Could you describe useKit in 5 sentences? And how?
    Good comments, thank you. We see useKit more as a collaboration platform, that let you focus on content instead of people as most other platforms. We differ from email in the sense, that we do not directly communicate between people but rather store content on the platform and comment around those files, links, videos and more. If more people join the team, you can invite them and they have immediate access to everything.
     
    Thank you very much for your comments, we are working hard to make it more simple to use.
     
    Sven, CEO of useKit

15. Thank you very much.

    There is indeed an faq page, but apparently it should be easier to access it.

    https://usekit.com/faq

    Please let me know, if these errors still exist when you try to upload something.

    Best,
    Sven

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