People Aggregator is a new open social networking service from Marc Canter and the folks at BroadBand Mechanics. In essence it’s an open source MySpace built on open data. Not only can you create your own open online social network, the people within it will be able to easily get their information in and out.
It seems really interesting. However the overview page the and more noticeably the actual application are so poorly designed they’re actually a significant barrier to use.
There are broken links, graphics that look clickable and aren’t, un-styled and low contrast text all over the place—and don’t get me started on the general aesthetic. I could go on. For a long time.
(The orange on blue text literally gives me a headache.)
For a company who’s trying to connect people, and an idea with lots of merit, it’s surprising and saddening that they’ve done so little to make their information clear, accessible and usable. The message is lost and this most certainly is an example of failure in design.
This is horrible. Must be designed by a programmer :-)
>> and don’t get me started on the general aesthetic >>
but it’s so, so — what do the kids call it — my space ‘esque ;)
Hey Bryan - As bad as MySpace is, this really, really takes the cake. And what’s so frustrating about it is that when I read about it <a href=”http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/peopleaggregato.php” rel=”nofollow”>on Richard McManus’ site</a> it seemed really cool.
Then I get there and find an information design nightmare with major usability and readability problems and it’s ugly as homemade sin to boot. I’d go as far to say that because of its poor design it’s really not even ready for public consumption on any level. If they can succeed with that I’ll be totally amazed.
One word… craptacular.
I know I should really try to say something else but it’s just what I think when I look at those pages.
Did you folks even look at the source code? It is really clean and well put together.
It almost sounds like you are criticizing an automobile because you don’t like the color.
Jerry - It’s been awhile since I looked at it, and true I didn’t look at the code. Still, I don’t see how good code has anything at all to do with ease of use.
No this was more like criticizing an automobile because it didn’t have a steering wheel.
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Response: The idea of a social network aside from the trendy myspace and facebook is a good idea. I’m just not sure that this site fulfills the role. I agree with the idea that they should clarify the information page.