As decent-looking and somewhat eye-pleasing the current design of the FlipSquare homepage is, it could always use a few usability enhancements to make things a bit easier on you, the user. That's why I took the time today to come up with a few interface updates to do just that. Click on the image to a full preview of what's in store for everyone this upcoming Friday.

FlipSquare's new header ...

Here's a quick rundown of what's going on:

  1. First things first, the current bug reporting message will be replaced with the latest article on our blog. Since our blog isn't the landing page, we'd like to direct as much traffic from our users as possible so everybody is in-the-know when it comes to updates.
  2. I've added a nice little quick-search box at the very top of the screen. This will allow you to do a fast keyword search from anywhere in the site. You will be able to save this search and publish it as an RSS feed on the search results page just like you can with an advanced search.
  3. Older listings will tend to get lost in the void as they approach their expiration date. To give them a bit more exposure before it's too late, we thought it'd be a great idea to add a quick link to display listings that will expire within 24 hours. This option will be available within any category we currently have. To note, there will be many more categories in the future as we gain popularity.

A few look-and-feel updates have been given to the mini-profile widget:

  1. First off, the 'inbox' link has been renamed to 'messenger'; seemed more appropriate.
  2. New messages & bids are displayed inline next to their respective links. They are color-coded to be easily discernable.
  3. The credit counter looks a bit more integrated into the current design now.
  4. AJAX-based message polling has been removed. It just seemed a bit bloated to me and added unnecessary overhead to the system. If you get a new message, it's obvious enough when you move to a different page. You also get an email notification if you have that feature activated. Besides, how often would you get messaged to necessitate such a feature?

These along with MANY other bug fixes and feature enhancements can be expected this upcoming Friday. If you want to stay up to date on bug fixes and such, we encourage you to subscribe to our issue tracking service provided by Lighthouse.

Stay tuned!