Jump to content
  • Welcome to AutoLanka

    :action-smiley-028: We found you speeding on AutoLanka Forums without any registration! If you want the best experience, please sign in. Safe driving! 

:::::::: Autolanka New Look 2015 ::::::::


MADZ

Recommended Posts

I kinda like the old site as well. Granted it looked so old but the feeling you get when you want to search for a car to buy was simple & great. Maybe it's only for some of the users/fans who had been using the site nearly 10 years or so.

BTW I saw another famous (kinda) car site trashing AL on Facebook for 'stealing' their design + graphics. Hope that's not the case.

All the best AL!

Typical isn't it, rather than approaching MADZ directly, taking to forums to bash autolanka. Was most probably a publicity stunt more than anything. I'm a member of that forum as well so I saw the posts.

If I'm not mistaken the guy then saw sense and approached MADZ directly and the matter of graphics and design has been resolved. Basically both parties use images from the same source ShutterStock so there seems to have been some overlap from what I gather.

But I was very annoyed with the whole approach. Its a commercial matter and should have been dealt in a professional way. Vehicle classifieds are a business. Its not something worthy of being discussed in a forum. If he actually wanted to complain he should have written to Auto Lanka, or phoned up the office and complained.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also found myself visiting less often with the new design. One of the biggest issues I found is there are too many call to actions. Earlier I was clicking either the 'Buy' button on top or just scroll through and click the forum headings on the top right. It was a simple enough setup with only a very few clicks to get where I want. What I feel is that there is too many options on the home page of the new design.

If you have Google Analytics or something similar, check the engagement of returning visitors. If there is a gradual significant drop in click through rates and increase of page abandonment, think you should do something to address it. What I feel is having too much click options on the home page is counter productive to users as well as for AL.

You can also try some A/B tests or multivariate tests to find a good balance. Also, try some heatmapping. That might help too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have Google Analytics or something similar, check the engagement of returning visitors. If there is a gradual significant drop in click through rates and increase of page abandonment, think you should do something to address it. What I feel is having too much click options on the home page is counter productive to users as well as for AL.

You can also try some A/B tests or multivariate tests to find a good balance. Also, try some heatmapping. That might help too.

Very good technological facts given to AL developers. Agree with what you say.

Having heard the same thing from many friends who are car lovers and also Auto Lanka daily visitors :) they happened to ignore visiting the site unlike before and complained me to post it on the forum too.

However, its NOT the technological enhancements but the visitor's point of view, the new design and pattern is not really impressing the viewers. I think its good to consider about it too.

Hopefully I point out such things just with the idea to keep improving AL with time because as a form this community has solved so many problems in the past and would like to see it grows.

Thanks.

Edited by Nishan.dj
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally I would agree with Nishan.dj, Sierra Charlie and Knight on one fact.

The classified site is the only place AL generates revenue and it is a place for average Sri Lankan car buyers/sellers, who are not too IT-savvy, but have basic IT competencies and not vehicle enthusiasts per se. So its good to have the classifieds simple and prominent. One reason why ###### is successful is because of its simplicity.

I believe Madz would have an idea about the number of car sale owners, buying and selling folks, small and medium-time car importers who use AL classifieds to tap an affluent market. The classifieds should be easy for those people to access I feel, since those are the people who actually keep Autolanka running for all of us idlers here :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, even I do not like the new layout and definitely not the classified section. It needs to have the simplicity of the previous one with a more up to date design.

I think the software behind the auto classifieds now is an out of the box product, but what is needed is a ground up re design of the layout and templates. Its just not intuitive or user friendly and the autolanka home page frankly looks a fairly amatuer job.

I'm speaking both as a long time user but also somebody who works in the industry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a bit of a different view about the new site. Just sharing my opinion here.

- I remember reading on this thread that the lack of the "buy" and "sell" buttons (like it was in the old site) is something bad. But if you really look at it, you can simply click on the "search" button which is identical to what the "buy" button did. Similarly, the "create ad" button in the new site is similar to what the "sell" button did. So this functionality is still there.

- The format of the ad is pretty much the same as the previous site. So there's nothing new to get used to there apart from the new details that have been included.

- The advanced and extended search filters (year, reg number, etc. etc) are optional. They can be left out blank if necessary, so this again makes the search kind of similar to the previous site (easy) in a way, but at the same time, giving some flexibility to a user who really wants to dig in to specifics. I really missed filtering ads based on the YOM and the price and the addition of those filters is just great!

MADZ, Here are some issues I noticed after just a couple of minutes of playing around:

- The "Advanced Options" link beneath the three radio buttons (beneath the Keyword Search text box), does nothing. It expands and collapses the three radio buttons alternatively. Not sure what the expected functionality is. (Just saw that this works fine in the search results page)

- In the home page, "Car", "Van", "Bus" etc. are correctly referred to as "Vehicle Type" whereas in the search results page (search-results.html), they are referred to in the "Body Style" dropdown list which is entirely misleading. Body Style is something totally different that comes under Vehicle Type. For example, if you select "Car" as the "Vehicle Type", you should get "Sedan", "Coupe", "Convertible" etc. for "Body Style".

- The "Any" dropdown list for the Price selection is redundant. It should be removed. When the user does not specify a price, "any" should be assumed.

- The measurement unit for "Engine Capacity" should be stated in the label as "Engine Capcity (cc)". Users can easily enter 1.0 to 1.8 and the results would go blank because the system searches based on Cubic Centimetres.

- The page refreshes when the "from" or "to" values are entered and tabbed out from the field. This is very irritating. The values should be submitted asynchronously (using AJAX maybe) so that the page doesn't keep refreshing when the user does the smallest refinement to the search parameters.

- Clicking the "Clear" button on the search results page throws a 404 error.

- If you enter a single quote in the "Registration No." field for example (yes, I was trying to break your database, lol ;)), the single quote characters are preceded by a backslash. I believe you guys do this to escape the single quote, but the end user shouldn't see this. In an ordinary scenario, no one would enter those characters, but just a cosmetic issue.

- Any reason why each model list has the make as an option? For example, if you select Mitsubishi as the "Make", and check the "Model" dropdown list, you see an option that reads "Mitsubishi". Similar for Toyota and Mazda. That's all I checked.

- When the browser window is restored to a smaller size, the pop up dialog shown when "Check Vin" is clicked (ad details page) can never be closed, because the close button goes under the top banner of the site. You need to scroll to the top of the page after the "Check Vin" dialog appears to re-create this. (Increasing the z-index of the div tag with ID "modal_mask" fixes this issue. It's currently set to 1 while the banner has a higher z-index)

Hope this helps you resolve these issues. Keep up the good work!

EDIT: The single quotes are preceded by a backslash and not a forward slash. My mistake.

Edited by Davy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not to pile it on MADZ, just as constructive criticism or purely for awareness -

a large volume of the lads at work visit AL just to browse through the classifieds and the response has been far from positive

Personally, i like the thought of being able to really narrow down listings based on specialized criteria but keeping it simple in terms of whats listed is clearly what everybody seems to like and even more so what makes them visit/browse

Oh & also, i tried to place my advert online again seeing as the old one expired - didn't get very far before i got an error screen :(

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same on our work place as well , I think the search option is too prominent in the home page , I guess too much work for the user. The buy option to view the most recent ads would be really welcomed. (Though as davy mentioned the same functionality can be get by an empty search . )

Highlighting the filtering feature on the home page , I think the site loses it's X-factor. When we had the buy button there was always chance to see something interesting on the adverts.

if someone wants to filter the ads they can do on the buy page . And Images looks distorted ?

My two cents :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi guys, I would like to thank for all of your comments and suggestions. We have implemented most of them.

Below I have listed few major ones..

- Show more information in Ad Listing Page (Tel.No, Descriptions ect..)

- Fixed bugs which we identified in keyword search module and maid it simple.

- Added 'Buy' & 'Sell' links in top navigation

- Enhanced performance in Ad Listing Page

Please give us your feedback after browsing the site.

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And Images looks distorted ?

I too noticed that, only on the search page. The photos taken by AL is ok. Overall the new site is better than its first launch with the add-ons and enhancements. But still its missing something, it’s not simple and attractive like the old one. Somehow I too miss the old site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear MADZ, what happened to that cool Auto Lanka android app? It's not working any more..I searched it in Google Play and app no more in existence there. Is any upgraded app coming up?

Edited by AbeysinghE
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dear MADZ, what happened to that cool Auto Lanka android app? It's not working any more..I searched it in Google Play and app no more in existence there. Is any upgraded app coming up?

Yep a new one will be coming up shortly.

I too noticed that, only on the search page. The photos taken by AL is ok. Overall the new site is better than its first launch with the add-ons and enhancements. But still its missing something, it’s not simple and attractive like the old one. Somehow I too miss the old site.

Thanks, we are working on the image issue on list page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guys can anyone help with me this. I rang A/L contact number and emailed them too. But no reply.

I created an adv on behalf of my boss. Its a prius. It doesn't appear on when we did a keyword search for "Prius". Car is listed in the site.

Also I wanted to put "Highest offer" but don't know how to do that.

EDIT - Finally someone answerd. And said they'll correct it. Said i've not updated the Category or something.

Edited by MkX
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As per this article here at http://www.dailymirror.lk/71873/price-of-land-and-vehicles-need-to-displayed-caa

When publishing advertisements in newspapers, films, TV, video, audio, broadcasting centres, internet or other print and electronic media, it is essential to state the prices according to the gazette notification of 07.01.2011.

This means the price negotiable option should go off?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A suggestion on the "make" dropdown.

Currently out of the first 6 options, only one has any vehicles listed:

Abarth, Acura,Alfa Romeo, Aprilia, Audi, Austin.

Can't you move the makes without any vehicles to the end of the list, or remove them from the drop down?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • MADZ unpinned this topic

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


AutoLanka Cars For Sale

Post Your Ad Free [Click Here]



×
×
  • Create New...