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Snap.com: Homepage Critique

I love coming across a new site to see some company try something completely different than what we are used to seeing and that’s the feeling I get when I visit the latest search engine to hit the web, Snap.

They have taken a different approach with regards to search engine box placement by vertically centering it in the browser, although I’m not exactly sure it is centered on my monitor. This is pretty cool for users with smaller resolutions, but at larger resolutions the amount of screen real estate not being used at the top of the screen is a bit daunting. It wouldn’t chase me away from the site, but I think it’s just a design choice that works better at smaller resolutions than larger ones which is becoming pretty rare now.

To me its obvious that they want you to use the search box only because the rest of the links on the site blend in with the background and use a 9px font. I’m not sure if they were attempting to go minimal, but that shouldn’t include using the smallest sized font you could find (even smaller than this site!) containing very important information for users who aren’t familiar with your service.

In this case I think the site was designed for the “Web 2.0″ crowd because it’s possible we take the time to explore a page thoroughly when we come across something new. However, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that an everyday user is just going to use the search box without questioning why the site is better than Google or how to really use the search results.

There is more than enough room to include a box with a snippet of information and links that encourages users to explore the site to get a better feel for how Snap works. After some time they can remove the box and achieve the minimalist effect they are currently aiming for without effecting traffic one way or another.

With all of that said from an aesthetic standpoint I really like the look of the site and it’s choice of colors and fonts (ignoring the impossibly small links) and look forward to exploring the site a bit further. I would love to give a more detailed writeup on Snap out the door by Friday going over how the search engine actually works if you should even bother moving away from the Goog.

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Published by Scrivs on May 17, 2006 in Design Critiques • Did you like it? Subscribe! Or Submit it to Blogosphere News!

16 people says things!

  1. As far as search engines go, Snap is a waste of space. It’s so slow and bloated, it renders itself practically useless. I don’t need a search engine to load in big images for the results, just give me the damn information! The “Why Snap is Better” page seems to gloss over the fact that if you want to go toe-to-toe with the best contender, you need to at least do as well as they do with the basic tasks. I would rather see a strong and fast search engine, then bloat-ware complete with Javascript scroll bar. Not even in the same ballpark man :D

    By Jason Santa Maria on May 17, 2006 10:34 am

  2. Haha, well it looks like you summed up my writeup for Monday. Thanks a bunch Stan (his nickname), looks like I will have to take the day off then. Any thoughts on going with the vertical-center design though?

    By Scrivs on May 17, 2006 10:39 am

  3. Blah. It doesn’t even matter. It could be the best design in the world (and it is far from it) and it would still be slow as hell.

    Why is the oh-so-profound tagline so big, and, as you pointed out, the actual functional links at the bottom so small? This is just information thrown on a page. Don’t even bother reading the blog entries… grammar is a lost cause. Sorry, not trying to flame up here, I just can’t sit by if this is going to be highlighted as a good design/site.

    I need some coffee. Take the day off ;)

    By Jason Santa Maria on May 17, 2006 10:45 am

  4. I hear ya man, we all know pretty doesn’t equate to good design. I read an entry yesterday and they had more errors than I usually do and if that’s the case you know your site is in trouble.

    I see idealab is behind the site and it seems like nothing more than a clumsy side experiment for them, but now all this talk just means I really have nothing to write about on Friday.

    When I asked you about the vertically centered design I meant in general, not applied to their slow site since I agree that you can have the coolest design, but it doesn’t mean a donkey’s two balls if it doesn’t perform.

    By Scrivs on May 17, 2006 10:49 am

  5. I don’t know, I think they’re doing some pretty cool stuff. Scrolling is not nearly as responsive as I’d like, but I like the fact that you can use your arrow keys to go through the list of results, with the preview pane updating as you go along. Hopefully they can optimize things so it is more responsive.

    I don’t really see what’s wrong with minimizing the links at the bottom. A big search box is pretty self-explanitory, and they’ve even put a big tagline “The other way to Search” just in case you didn’t catch on. If you are interested in more, it’s not that hard to find the links at the bottom of the page, since there’s nothing else to see.

    By Jennifer Grucza on May 17, 2006 1:19 pm

  6. I definately like the idea of a vertical-centered website. Though, I don’t like (at all) how Snap pulled it off.

    By the way, I like your “new” website. Wisdump is a pretty good name.

    By Alexander Kinnunen on May 17, 2006 1:20 pm

  7. True a big search box is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s what happens after the search box that might confuse a lot of people.

    By Scrivs on May 17, 2006 1:33 pm

  8. “…it’s not that hard to find the links at the bottom of the page, since there’s nothing else to see.”

    That’s just it, in the search engine space even “not that hard” is too hard. Especially when you are going up against something like Google. It wouldn’t be that bad if the small links were the greatest offender.

    By Jason Santa Maria on May 17, 2006 1:44 pm

  9. You say that it needs using at a smaller resolution however, I am sitting here in an 800px wide browser (I always surf 800px wide) and the links and the word search just go off the side. I dont even get the “show top news headlines” link. The way they have done it there isnt even a scroll bar so I can see what is going on over there.

    By Eddie Sowden on May 17, 2006 2:41 pm

  10. Hmm, that’s even worse then now isn’t it Eddie. I will have to play with it at different resolutions to see how it really works out. I guess I assumed that since it scaled with my browser window it was purely liquid, but maybe they have a min-width stuck in there somewhere.

    By Scrivs on May 17, 2006 2:50 pm

  11. Darn, and I came here to post what Eddie already said.

    By JC on May 17, 2006 4:33 pm

  12. Jason Santa Maria said exactly what I was thinking, “Snap is a waste of space. It’s so slow and bloated, it renders itself practically useless. I don’t need a search engine to load in big images for the results, just give me the damn information!”

    By Jon Henshaw on May 18, 2006 11:29 am

  13. I look at Snap as a nice ‘tech demo’ of the shape of things to come in the not-so-distant future. Right now it feels slow, bloated and there’s design flaws that Jason already mentioned.

    It’s not at all a contender to Google, not even close. I liked playing with it but before I’d use this as my primary search engine a LOT will have to change ;)

    By Marco on May 18, 2006 11:30 am

  14. Not exactly a Google killer is it?

    By kenobi on May 18, 2006 7:54 pm

  15. [...] A couple of days ago when I posted my tiny design critique of Snap’s homepage Jason Santa Maria almost wrote today’s review for me. [...]

    By Snap.com Review » Wisdump on May 19, 2006 3:54 pm

  16. [...] Read Full Post: Snap.com - Homepage Critique Posted by jason Filed in Snap Site [...]

    By Snaplist » Blog Archive » Wisdump: Snap.com - Homepage Critique on May 25, 2006 1:45 am

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