Auto Lanka Need A Major Revamp

[saraprobe]

I guess compared to some of the free sites in SL and being a site that charges $$$ , Autolanka need a major revamp and quite frankly Autolanka is no where near some of the good sites, for example H*T ADS!

what do you guys think,

Edited June 23, 2010 by saraprobe

[xXx]

Saraprobe thank you for bringing this up. As members of this comunity i'm sure our comments/feedback will be greatly appriciated.

Yeah, maybe the classified section could be redesigned to be a bit attractive, but it is also functioning at the moment. And would be cool if there could be a section to sell spare parts ...etc separately, maybe like a section to start Garage sale threads like a "Marketplace" section. Or a classified listing option at a lesser price for spare parts.

Spot on ShanX. Clasifieds are the main income generator for this website and my openion is it is underrepresented. If a full scale revamp is timeconsuming it is high time to atlese give a facelift just for the clasified section.

[SeanD]

A less cluttered front page, removal or updating of the highly outdated news and photo section, and removing the hacked sections would work. I wouldn't be comfortable using a site with security holes if that meant my own comp can get infected. Classified ads by companies I don't really see an issue. I didn't know Madz is abroad, but in all fairness, if he is unable to do this himself then I would suggest he delegate it to someone else.

[RACERSEDGE]

just 3 words OLD IS GOLD.. we like it d way it is...mmmm

[Az]

I think the website is functional, and serves its purpose well. Especially the forums (specially compared to the archived Old AL forum).

My only suggestion, and I've been meaning to say this for a while, would be to update the home page, and perhaps make it a little less "busy." The news updates are mostly outdated, and theres a pictures section a little below the forum box on the left, advertising pics from drag racing dated 2005! For some reason, there's also a ton of spam boxes on the middle lower section of the page (I tried this with different browsers so I don't think it's just my computer":

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How did this bit of spam get into the home page? I think the site is developed using ASP. May be the home page is pulling in stuff for that particular section off another site and it is publishing spam now, or else this is caused by a script injection attack or the machines hosting AL being hacked into, and the home page has been changed. Either way, it is serious. None of us regular visitors to AL scroll down to that section, but it indeed looks ugly. Thanks saraprobe & Sean for bringing this up.

[MasterDon]

Dude... we are just the 'tenants' in this forum... you have to talk to the movers and the shakers. If your suggestion has any merit, we are certain it will be done. Stop cribbing like the SL opposition about everything... Its so gay! If you know what I mean. If this forum is not 'funky' enough for you, I am sure there are many others out there who are funky enough for you taste.

thats a bit harsh innit machan...afterall the gentleman did raise some valid problems with the main site.

[roadhog]

I logged in after a long time, I think AL needs a revamp.

1. The AL classifieds can be sorted by Price quoted and by type i.e. saloon hatchback etc.

2. The unwanted classied can be removed (specially the once with fancy prices!!)

3. specific Brand events can be organised with agents etc?

will think of more and post next week

[SeanD]

Looks like the Spam stuff has been removed. However, it would be nice to have a word from the site admin here as to whether any other change is going to take place. Every news article is now more than 1 year old, with the photo section, as I said before, announcing pictures that are over 5 years old. If most of us are here only for the forums, it might be good to just eliminate the stuff on the front page, and link to them only through the forums.

[seejaylk]

I think AL needs a revamp..., it should be a functional revamp not a fancy addons.

At the moment i think site working very well and very stable. only problem is registration procedure, i guess that was fixed as well..

i have few suggestions

1. More user friendly and attractive home page layout with AJAX integration (current layout is bit messy )

i think it may better if we can allocate more space to New Ads and New Forum Post.

Main menu should re organized with more functionalities, then users can reach to information more easily

2. Ads Search facility should add more advance filters

3. Add more functions to "My Account" page with a some kind of advance photo album feature (I know it needs more Space)

4. AJAX integrated Photo Gallery to better speed and user friendliness

Thanks...

[shanX]

2. The unwanted classied can be removed (specially the once with fancy prices!!)

Why? If the owner pays it's his money and it's his car

[Sifaan]

I don't see much issues with the current site as well. I know that its not using any standards (W3C and SEO etc.) but its simple and fast which is important. I do like to see some additional filters in the buy page though (price, vehicle type, model etc.)

when I was searching for a car, I would certainly have appreciated better search/filter... e.g. to only see 406 D9/passat/S40, petrol, automatic, first / 2nd owner, imported brand new cars within my budget

of course, as I was searching for fairly slow moving models, it didn't matter too much that I had to call all the ads to check ; but imagine with more popular models like corolla or sunny...?

[Nishan.dj]

My opinion is something like this.

1. The web site works fine and as most of users commented, it serves as it is supposed and I can't see any limitations in server processing time.

2. Its got so many information. The databases will be larger when more information comes. Therefore It is not important only to see the front end. What is important is that optimizing the processing speeds of the web site. for instance this may be little slow comparing other sites. (Currently we don't feel so) .. So it is great to look at the back end and front end as well.

3. I believe that any newcomer can understand the navigation, search and filtering in the web site including the forum. Lots of web sites in WWW follow this theory. Therefore in case if anyone want to redesign this it must be a more user friendly and easy to understand.

4. It is also better to consider the expansion of the business area of the web site than just focusing on redesign because already we have a good solution. What exactly need is to expand the limitations. Such as posting a video of a vehicle so that the buyers can watch them. For the forum Its really good to have a chat engine attached. A simple one. Something like gtalk. A windows application can also be introduced.

Anyhow there are things that we can think. Anyone who administer this web site think that this is good idea and like to implement I am pleased to help. Thank you.

[Sifaan]

3. I believe that any newcomer can understand the navigation, search and filtering in the web site including the forum. Lots of web sites in WWW follow this theory. Therefore in case if anyone want to redesign this it must be a more user friendly and easy to understand.

Actually forum is easy to figure out for someone familiar with similar forum structures... for a total newcomer I don't know if it's the easiest way.

when it comes to finding information, a wiki based approach is much more userfriendly... e.g. same/similar questions get repeated because either the search is not powerful enough to track things down and/or users don't know how to use the search effectively.

for the car sales section, yes there are lots of local websites that are similar or worse (I know some sites you can't even see when the ad was placed, and you call the number and they say the car was sold 3 months ago!). AL you cannot filter by fuel or transmission type even. you can use petrol or auto in the keyword search, but that only works if the advertiser used those terms in the first place (and spelled them correctly!)

some of the good features I have seen (but not all in 1 place)

- filter by location (e.g. I really am not interested in a car for sale in Kurunegala, unless it's a rarer car)

- by transmission / fuel

- by registered/unregistered (but didn't find a site that could show me registered cars that were imported brand new)

- price filter

I guess it boils down to how people search for cars... e.g. some people say "I'm looking for a Auto 121 below Rs. XXX" or "I'm looking for a petrol manual 406 D9 with low mileage", etc. and how well the site supports that requirement

[Sifaan]

3. I believe that any newcomer can understand the navigation, search and filtering in the web site including the forum. Lots of web sites in WWW follow this theory. Therefore in case if anyone want to redesign this it must be a more user friendly and easy to understand.

Anyhow there are things that we can think. Anyone who administer this web site think that this is good idea and like to implement I am pleased to help. Thank you.

Another feature I would really like to see (if it already exists, please tell me where to find it) is the ability to go to the last unread post (unread by me, that is!) in a thread.

[MasterDon]

Another feature I would really like to see (if it already exists, please tell me where to find it) is the ability to go to the last unread post (unread by me, that is!) in a thread.

click the little red square thingy on the left side of the topic.

[Sifaan]

click the little red square thingy on the left side of the topic.

Thanks... I checked it out and wondered, how come I never saw it before.. and realized that it was because AL wasn't logging me in automatically (I sort of knew that because I have to login to reply, but didn't connect it to not seeing a link to latest posts)

[CruiserFan]

I guess compared to some of the free sites in SL and being a site that charges $$$ , Autolanka need a major revamp and quite frankly Autolanka is no where near some of the good sites, for example H*T ADS!

what do you guys think,

AutoLanka is Simple, Fast, Standardized, User Friendly and mostly all functions work!

I don't think any changes required.... This site should continue as it is....