November 21, 2007

Redfin has search options!?

While one wing of the Redfin office wrestles about changes to the home tours program the other wing of the office is up in arms over how we surface search options on the map page.

When we re-designed our website in April one of the changes we made was hiding the search options. The reasoning behind this controversial design was that since users spend most of their time navigating the map and only occasionally change the number of beds or square footage that they’re looking for, we should make the map as large as possible and move the search options to an overlay. The overlay then only appears when you give focus to the search input box or click a widget.

Initially to display the search overlay pictured above users would need to click the link ‘Filter Search’:

However, we heard occasional stories of users not knowing they could search on number of beds or price. So our next design was to include a drop down widget besides the search button. This is reminiscent of what many Windows applications do or what Facebook does.

But still we heard stories of users not knowing they could change their search options. With our next release we’re looking at combining both the link and drop down widget approachs by moving the drop down widget and changing the name on the link to hint at what it enables you to change:

Unfortunately a number of co-workers stormed into my office yesterday, criticized the design and called me names. If I were to pass you the Redfin Search Product Manager baton how would you solve this discoverability problem? Feedback welcome but Photoshop submissions preferred :). To sweeten the pot we’re offering $250 if we use your submission. However, if you have a winning submission the real question is, why haven’t you applied for our interaction designer position yet?

And with that I’m off to Whistler. Happy Thanksgiving!

July 18, 2007

Vote Early, Vote Often

Redfin has been futzing around with some new designs for the home page of our website and could use your help picking one out. Our goals are to get people searching and to explain how Redfin works.

We only get one shot at the explanation because returning visitors see a view of our map as they left it on their last visit. Many are so thunderstruck by Redfin’s search superpowers that they never realize we have to make a living buying and selling homes.

When we surveyed our customers about what they wanted to see on the home page 58% asked for an explanation of our commission refund, 47% for an overview of our company, and 45% for a step-by-step guide to the process. But you should just say what you want: even though this blog is by and for people at an absurd remove from reality, please don’t feel like you have to channel anyone normal. It never works.

Here are the choices, which you can click to enlarge:

1. Illustrated explanation of the buying process:

2. Photo illustration of the buying process:

3. Who we are, in paragraph form:

4. Who we are, in bullet form:

Tell us which one you like first, second, third and last; suggest modifications or an entirely new treatment. Thanks to Savan Kong, Jason Wu, Michael Young, Matt Goyer, Jeff Yee, Marc Singer, Dana Irming, Bryan Selner, Leo Shklovskii and many others for their input so far. And thanks to everybody else for your feedback now…

We’ll also post a link to Redfin Forums, too.

March 12, 2007

Is Your Neighborhood Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?

Moving to a new neighborhood and want to know how it compares to your current digs? Now you can! Today Redfin added community and school information links on every listing detail page, you even can do head-to-head comparisons. Currently available for Washington and California listings, we’ll add new markets as we expand so you’ll be able to check out those areas too.

Scroll down a bit and look for the above box on the left-hand side of the listing detail page, usually below the “Sales History” box. Note: clicking on the links will open another window, leaving your Redfin search intact on the original page.

I checked out my own Zip Code (98109 in the Queen Anne area of Seattle) and immediately homed in on education level and school test scores. I think I secretly wanted to know if my neighbors could hold their own on the new hot game show where “smart, educated” adults pit themselves against a handful of Golden State fifth-graders. I learned some fascinating conversation topics for my next cocktail party or playground chat with a neighborhood fifth-grader … I’ll crush them with my local knowledge.

A few things I learned about my area (which you can discover about your current or prospective one too!):

1. The median age is 36.28, not 9 (the average age of a fifth-grader).
2. Summer break comes at just the right time. July’s average high is 74 degrees!
3. The bachelor-of-arts crowd dominates at 31.2 percent, beating the fifth-graders at only 1.4 percent.
   
4. We’re under average for murders, but we must have easy-to-steal cars because the motor vehicle theft rate is more than 300 times the national average.
   
5. Earthquakes are the biggest weather risk - eek! A reminder for Seattleites to go to the mailbox and vote … tunnel, viaduct, both or neither?! sigh
   
6. Another cool thing you can do is compare cost of living, down to how much more or less your clothes will cost.
   
7. Out of 15,395 people, there are only 63 fifth-graders. Majority rules!

Warning: the comparison feature is addictive! I looked at a couple different cities I’ve lived in:

1. If I wanted to move back to Redondo Beach, Calif., I’d need to get an 11 percent raise to maintain my “Bud Light” lifestyle.
2. I could go back to Pullman, Wash. and get by with 37 percent less money (a round of drinks at the Coug on me!).

We also added open house information, when available. In the next couple months, they’ll be easier to find, but right now you will see the information under the house photo on the listing detail page.

Look for the above box under the listing’s main photo

An added bonus for you trivia hounds out there (real questions from Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader? - no cheating!):

1. Which U.S. border is longer - Canada or Mexico?
2. Name the ship the pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England to the Plymouth colony in America in 1620.
3. How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?
4. How many U.S. states border the Pacific Ocean?
5. If you mix equal amounts of red and yellow paint, what color do you get?

Stumped? Comment or shoot me an e-mail and I’ll give you a hint - cynthia.pang(at)redfin.com.

April 18, 2006

An F in Usability

Best Web posting on design this week is by the Great Dane Jakob Nielsen, who charted 232 people’s eye movements as they scanned a Web page, and discovered that they go across the top, then across again but lower, and then down the left side, describing an F on the page. Handy for Redfin as we figure out how to blast our home-shoppers with our demented money-saving propaganda. The article has thermal images super-imposed on a screen; it would be interesting to apply the same measurement to people’s perception of other phenomena, such as house photos.