Programmer Meet Designer -- Critique Needed

[kasrak]

Hey everyone. Yesterday, I finished a new site called Programmer Meet Designer. It's a website for programmers and web designers to find each other and work together. The site is at http://programmermeetdesigner.com

So, what do you guys think in terms of the look, the usability and the idea?

Thanks! :D

[Prine]

Nice, im also readying my site for launch.

The old version is here

www.boxbagz.com

new version in 1 more week! Just ironing out some of the bugs, and design issues!

[madwormer2]

To kasrak: the "no payment" question's a bit of a bugger. "We'll ban their account" isn't really much compensation. Also, you make it sound like you have some kind of legal department that can work on it "We will investigate your case" (maybe you have, I don't know ;)).

But, all in all it's a very good idea :p

To Prine: That's pretty much pure spam right there :queasy:

[kasrak]

Thanks for the feedback madwormer2
Well, I can't really compensate the user if the partner doesn't pay. I'm just one guy -- no legal department. However, nothing is ever "deleted", there's always a copy of everything. I think it really up to the user to decide if the partner they are going with is trustworthy. Also, they can come up with a "I'll do half the work, pay me half, then I'll do the 2nd half, pay me the rest" system. Do you have any suggestions to resolve this issue?

[madwormer2]

Include a disclaimer when they register to say that you ONLY provide the service as a meeting place.

Or something along those lines.

You have a utf8 encoding problem, when i entered the £ sign, it came out as £.

The comments have capital letters under by the poster, which doesn't really look right. I can see it's just some CSS that needs work though.

Could possibly add some additional features, such as a buddy list, which, when accepted, shows your buddys AND their email address, with both parties agreeing to the disclosure of information. That would come in very handy if there gets to be quite a few users on the site.

I'm also interested to see how the site handles a LOT of offers, as I do not see any categories, and the search does not cover things such as price.

All in all I still think it's a very good idea, and could become very useful, and I hope that you can use these points to improve on the website.

- Jason

[kasrak]

Wow.. thanks a ton Jason. Those are all great suggestions which I will implement over the next few days.

One question for you all though -- Jason said when he entered "£" it came out as "£". I noticed that this happened when it went into the database. When I changed the row in mysql and removed the  character, it works. Any idea how to fix this? Again, this is happening before or when the data is going in the database, not when it's coming out.

Thanks.

[madwormer2]

I can mimic the error here (put in £ and click submit);


<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><?php
echo utf8_encode(print_r($_POST,true));
?>
<form action="" method="post">
<input name="dave" type="text" /><input type="submit" />
</form>


It's something to do with utf8 encoding. Perhaps performing a utf8_decode() may help?

Actually, if you performed a replacement on it before it went into the database, it could be changed to &pound;

[kasrak]

Great, fixed it. I just utf8_decode'd all the data that comes out the database, seems to have fixed it. I also made the comment 'posted by' not uppercase =).

How's this as the disclaimer:

"Disclaimer: This site serves only as a meeting place for designers and programmers. The users of this site will be responsible for managing their jobs and payment."

I don't want to be too mean or scare of the people wanting to register. Does that sound scary or is it ok?

[kasrak]

Update:
I came up with a new look for the site today: http://kasrak.com/etc/pmd_newtemplate/index.html
What do you think? Is it better than the current one?

Thanks!

[vaaaska]

It's a website...perhaps it will work and people will use it. Good enough.

Designwise...ummm, no. Logo is horrible. Colors are...you need another color in there (my opinion). Layout and use of text is rather dull (hello CSS, I love you).

But you know...lately, every time people start talking about 'design' (meaning graphic design) it just ends up being a bad idea.

Do yourself a favor, if you really care about design, find a designer that can make this pop.

[kasrak]

Do yourself a favor, if you really care about design, find a designer that can make this pop.
I really honestly wish I could afford a designer. But I'm young and don't have any money. So I have to do pretty much everything myself for the time being.

[vaaaska]

Isn't that the point of your site?

I'd help (being both a designer and a PHP person), but I'm way too busy until...ugh...early next year to undertake another 'for fun' project.

[kasrak]

Alright, thanks anyways!

Well, I released the 2nd version of the site today ( http://programmermeetdesigner.com ) Three major new features:
- Friends list
- New skin
- Entrepreneurs and Content Writers can join too now =)

And bug fixes. So what do you guys think of the new version? Thanks! :D

[kasrak]

Logo update. Which do you like better?
1 -
http://kasrak.com/etc/logo_final2.png
or
2 -
http://kasrak.com/etc/logo_final3.png
or the current one

[madwormer2]

The second one.

Although I'd prefer one with a sheep in it.

[vaaaska]

Much better...I like the first one (because I don't like Web2.0 graphics). But I prefer the font in the second one. You need to pay attention to the character spacing as in both examples for instance the space between G and N in designer is not right.

You logo/icon/avatar is simple and stable. You might consider trying to give it a unique twist of some sort but you're in a better place with this.

I still think you need a third color to compliment the green. But, you might consider not using green and picking a different color combo altogether. Personally, I think I would try using a nice 'smart' blue as the primary color and then complimenting that (perhaps with a bright green).

;)

[kasrak]

Sorry, no sheep. =)
Some people said to make the programmer and designer different. How's this one:
http://kasrak.com/etc/logo_final4.png

[madwormer2]

Dude, a sheep would totally work. I'm just disappointed that you don't trust me...

;)

Anyway, I think that logo makes it almost say designers are girlies who wear pink! :p Well, that's how I interpret it. But that's sorta what I think as well... ;)

OMG SMILEYS! :D

[kasrak]

Yea..aren't designer girlies girls who wear pink? ;)
Well, let's see what the designers think. =)

[madwormer2]

Actually the only designer I know IS a girl. So, erm, yeh.

But she doesn't like wearing pink. Dunno if that counts...

[kasrak]

Sure it counts =). The pink just represents...stylishness.

[madwormer2]

Make the one on the left have a beard. THEN it's accurate.

[Drakla]

Make the one on the left have a beard. THEN it's accurate.
Hell yes! And they've got to be fat or incredibly thin and be really possessive about a cup with something stupid written on it.

[vaaaska]

The pink and blue don't work.

And I am a designer.

[kasrak]

Ok, so how's this one (it's my favourite):
http://programmermeetdesigner.com/template/logo.png
I've actually implemented it in the site already: http://programmermeetdesigner.com

[kasrak]

Ok, I got the messaging feature out the door today. Tell me what you think of it (login (programmermeetdesigner.com), click Inbox) And if you have time, send me a test message! (My username is kasrak).

Thanks!

[vaaaska]

The site got Digg'd.

As a designer though, I don't see any projects that look decent - unless I want to work purely for free. Ok, I found a couple worth a few thousand, but you then have the whole thing of getting to know a client via the web and I can tell you that if you want to do the 'right' job that ain't so easy or fun.

Good luck with it Kasrak. ;)

[kasrak]

Thanks.
I hope more designer-friendly listings show up soon =)

[kasrak]

Major Update! Last night, I finished release 3 of the site. Tons of new features, including:
* Sexy new skin (at least I think so)
* Skill level — filter out the jobs that are too hard/easy for you
* Now when you accept an offer, you can still see all the other offers
* Email updates: you can have "us" email you everyone a new message gets delivered to your inbox
* Fixed tagging system
* Better (read: works now) RSS feeds
* Multi-search: search for people looking for designers and entrepreneurs (example) at the same time.
* User search: find other users on the site
* A lot of bug fixes

Check it out (http://programmermeetdesigner.com) and tell me what you think!
Thanks.