My little Dating-Service

[Mania]

Hello,

I just put online today my view of a dating service. Now, I must warn you right from the start, it's in finnish (as in Finland, Europe). This might be a good thing too, because you can concentrate better on everything else than text & typos. :) The site is free and I tried to make it easy to use and fast. The main reason of doing the site was to get a decent reference into my CV.

What I'm hoping from you guys is feedback of:
- The overall feel to it
- Browser compatibility
- Colours
- Ease of use
etc.

And now I'll let you to it.

http://otamut.org/

[Mania]

Seriously.. anyone?

Please. :)

[KDLA]

- The overall feel to it: it doesn't "look" like a dating site. It looks like a personal site. It's not "slick" enough -- it just doesn't give me the impression of being "professional" and "legitimate."

- Browser compatibility: Works OK in IE6. The layout seems a little spread out on a high resolution screen.

- Colours: icky colors. Yellow is the color of "caution" - not a good color for a dating site, wishing to have someone's trust

- Ease of use: Can't comment - I'd have to understand the language to rate that.

Seems like a good start to a site. As stated before, it lacks that slick/professional look.

Good Luck -
KDLA

[therichmonkey]

KDLA is right. it does not look like a dating site. It looks like you got one of those "myspace" clones.

even though KDLA talks about yellow being caution, it also means friendship which is probably where Mania was going.

How are you going to market the site?

[Mania]

Thank you guys for taking the time.

The thing is, I wanted to make it easy and bring out the content. I don't like to put any more stuff than there has to be. I picked some colours that I liked and thought were refreshing. I am no artist nor very talented with graphics so I just did the best I could to make it at least look 'ok'. I maybe heading more for a community-look than professional dating service. After all, it's all supposed to be fun and entertaining.

But I do agree with you, it could definately be more attractive and 'daty-like'. I will be bringing out more of the ads and their pictures as soon as there's more of them.

The most popular dating services here all cost something. I'm not going to invest any money on this, just spreading the word myself through different boards and spreading links, the usual stuff.

Most people just tell me it looks good and so on, so I appreciate it for finally giving me something to work on. Thanks again.

[KDLA]

You might look at other sites, and get ideas.
"Beg, borrow, or steal" - that's always been my design mantra. ;)

KDLA

[The Little Guy]

http://www.cupid.com/
http://passion.com/go/p220294.subdating_service_em
http://www.eharmony.com/
http://www.free-dating-service.info/

Those are a few you should look at.

Another suggestion, is that their are many languages, and Im not 100% sure if this is a dating site for one part of the world, or anyone and everyone, but... if it is, you should allow people to view the site in more than one language.

I don't like the pages text links, the yellow background color doesn't go to well.

For some color help, maybe this will be of service: http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

[tylivia]

I agree with all of the comments above. Colors do have a sub-conscious effect and invoke emotions. A great reference for the use of color inference and content is in a book entitled, "Color For Websites" by Molly E. Holzschlag. You can visit her site at www.molly.com She is the authority on web site color theory/psychology.

[Mania]

http://www.cupid.com/
http://passion.com/go/p220294.subdating_service_em
http://www.eharmony.com/
http://www.free-dating-service.info/

Those are a few you should look at.

Another suggestion, is that their are many languages, and Im not 100% sure if this is a dating site for one part of the world, or anyone and everyone, but... if it is, you should allow people to view the site in more than one language.

I don't like the pages text links, the yellow background color doesn't go to well.

For some color help, maybe this will be of service: http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html


Lemme check those links real fast...

- Cupid: Nice layout, simple. It looks professional but not really interesting. They went the easy way with colour, blue and white, which is a little dull way to go with a dating service, not exciting at all.
- Passion: The homepage is alive and sexy, very inviting. Yet the rest of the site is clumsy and 90's. Turned me back right away.
- eHarmony: See comments on Cupid. This looks even more like a corporate homepage, I got bored before I even got in.
- Free Dating service: Omg, way too much going on here. Got scared ****less and clicked away.

The page I have is intended only for finnish people, therefore only in one language. You guys have to remember also that while some colours are international, some aren't. You just couldn't make one site and expect it to work all over the world (unless of course you make it something like blue and white.. yawn).

Btw. are you using lcd or crt screens? I've noticed that on lcd the colour in my site is more towards orange and in crt more closely yellow. More people use lcd nowadays (at least here). It's been hard to find a colour mix to work on both sides nicely.

In conclusion, all I'm saying is that it's not always worthwhile to take that overused web-template, mix it with the common colours and steal the same ideas others have just to be 'in the safe'.

Good comments, keep em coming and we can argue some more. :D

[The Little Guy]

Mayb you should do something with the white background, and put a border around the main text.

[Mania]

It's been almost 4 months since I put up my little dating pages for the finnish people. There have been a few layout changes on the way and I think it's been going in the right direction, but obviously I still have a lot to learn and make better. Anyhow, regardless if you've seen the original version or not, take a look at the current one and give me some feedback. Thanks! http://otamut.org/