Please review my site - Easy Tree

They have: 14 posts

Joined: Jan 2009

I have created a new site that lets web designers and developers download free software that I created yesterday. What do you think of the design, presentation, information, and possibly (if you have time) the software.

http://easytree.danedesigns.com

thanks

greg's picture

He has: 1,581 posts

Joined: Nov 2005

It doesn't work for me - "Page not found"

Perhaps you have just set the nameservers and the site still needs time to propagate?

They have: 14 posts

Joined: Jan 2009

It's working for me, so yeah, it's probably still propagating.

decibel.places's picture

He has: 1,494 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

This feels more like an academic assignment than a real-life app.

It looks like something that may have been developed by Tim Berners-Lee - basic content with basic style.

When I need to organize lots of categories I use Drupal + Taxonomy which does a whole lot more than the Easy Tree

I suspected you are using some Drupal code, and I became even more suspicious when http://www.danedesigns.com/tree/admin/index.php/user yields the login form - but upon examining your files, well, your code is pretty slim, that's meant as a compliment.

On your demo, the Display Modes and "<< Go back to tree view." don't do much and perhaps display when they are not valid options.

You also reveal "copy and paste code" to include the tree view, but little explanation on how to use it. Eventually I was able to plug it into the correct place in yojur filesystem: http://www.danedesigns.com/tree/displays/displaytree.php

An interesting project, intellectually. Maybe it can be developed further into something really usable.

greg's picture

He has: 1,581 posts

Joined: Nov 2005

Ok, I can access it now..

I can only presume the main software works better than the demo, but the demo should work 100% too.
I would be put off by anything if the presentation or demo can't even work or function correctly, especially with something as simple as this with pretty much only one function and purpose!

The site design and layout is "ok". It's clean, although clinical too.
It serves a purpose but it has no love. Clearly there hasn't been any time or passion spent developing the colours or layout, and this can have an impact on people's immediate impression of your product.

I know simple is often better (see Google's website) but there is also such a thing as too little.

DOWNLOAD:
The entire download page is this:

Download: Easy Tree V1

For what system? Are you telling me it runs on all versions of every OS every made? Surely not?
Could do with some more info in there.

What's the point of the login feature if it runs locally in my browser?
Surely I can trust myself (although, I wouldn't bank on that..)
The only thing I can think of is it makes my data secure. But if it's local, then accessing the data would be simple.
Or, is it installed on a remote MYSQL DB?
I don't really know, as the site doesn't really explain any of this.

Sometimes you need to organize lots of data on a category-subcategory basis

Hmm, but is this really a solution to that?
I need to come to your site, download some software from a company I never heard of, login when I want to use it...
Surely a word processor or spreadsheet does just the same thing?

I'm not trying to simply put down your software, but I truly don't see an advantage to using it within any real-life requirement, nor do I see any possible improvement/advantage over the many other software I already have that could do this.

Perhaps you need to think of more features, but make sure they are good features and not just anything to be able to state "NEW FEATURE ADDED".
Something people want/need will use, something useful that will give an advantage over spreadsheets and word processors that currently do the same thing as your software.

It's definitely something you can work on, and improve to a standard that would make people interested in using it.

Good luck

They have: 14 posts

Joined: Jan 2009

I guess one of the failures on my part was to explain everything clearly on the site. The software is meant to be used in a web-based environment and should only be installed on a web server. Its purpose is to make it easier to organize a navigation system on a website. I changed a few things in the wording to make this more clear, but I know I will need to make some diagrams or charts to really show what it does.

Drupal does do probably everything that Easy Tree does, but the point is, if a web designer only wants the tree navigational aspect of Drupal, they are going to have to download the entire package and sift through everything to understand what to do. Easy Tree has a core function. Drupal is bloated. I tried to convey the simplistic and straightforward nature of hte program with the design of the site and administration panel. If you noticed, there are no images. It is pure HTML and CSS.

I will admit that this project is kind of abstract right now, but I plan to make it more user friendly and applicable over time. For now, you probably have to be pretty experienced in web architecture to understand and use it. Thanks for your comments and your patience in actually using the software! I appreciate it.

They have: 9 posts

Joined: Mar 2009

Site is designed to be simple but the color combination is not very good. When I say not very good means your website is targeted towards IT people and the colors should be sober or of the same shade. Again this is my personal view as a user on your site. Also the demo tab should be the next page with the diagrams and steps on one single page. The concept behind the site is good and could go much farther with couple of changes. Good luck.

They have: 14 posts

Joined: Jan 2009

I have made a lot of changes to the site's wording and the application itself.

I just wanted to show the power of the application. This is the demo default web site that comes right out of the box:

http://www.danedesigns.com/easytree/pages/76.php?pagepen=76

Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.