Since we're about to change some aspects of the front page (www.skritter.com) we were wondering if anyone had specific feedback about how we could make the landing site more user friendly.

Was the demo video at all helpful/interesting? (And of particular interest to Nick and I, has anyone noticed the explosions?)

Did anyone actually look at the slides on the lower part of the page? ("Never make flashcards again.")

Was creating an account too difficult?

As someone who has used Skritter, is there anything we're leaving off the front page that should be put up? (perhaps we should emphasize something we hadn't thought to mention?)

Did you try it before signing up?

And perhaps you have some thoughts I in response to questions I didn't think to ask.

I think the demo video is good, apart that you don't really know when you first get on the site that it's a demo video. I'd put it a bit down in the page, and start the homepage introducing Skritter with a short text, rather than the 1 2 3 list you have now on the left of the video.
As for the slides, I don't really think they add that much, but hey, that's just me.

P.S.: I noticed the explosions...very nice...

the demo i think is quite good, even if it isn't something i am paying attention to nowadays....what i would like to have is a direct login....as I am not always loggin in from the same computer i would appreciate a direct login...at the moment i always have to go through three to four links until i am actually logged in...

If you're not going to be logged into a Clickpass provider before you start using Skritter, you can use a username/password login, which is only one link away from the front page and should be faster.

Because of the way secure authentication and https works with App Engine, we can't put the username/password login on the front page. It has to be on its own page so it can be on the https-enabled domain of skrit.appspot.com.

I went straight to the demo and tried it out. Then signed up and started studying - didn't notice anything else on the front page. Had a bit of trouble signing up to ClickPass at first, but worked on the second attempt.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts everyone. Elie, Nick and I were talking about your suggestion to move the demo down the page a bit and instead have some explanatory text up on the top. That's actually something we toyed with when we were first designing the page and we may give that a try in the next design iteration.

I did notice the explosions, actually-- they're cool, but since they're not in the actual application, I'm not so sure that they're necessary. Similarly, I'm not sure what purpose the slideshow serves-- it's like the five second version of the FAQ (as performed by bunnies). The information density to the left of the flash demo is a little much-- maybe a tad more white space between the list and the "free" text, and then again between that and the clickpass button?

I'm also on the fence about the positioning of the "Try it" button. On the one hand, people watching the video are likely to want to try it. On the other, I wonder if there are people who read the stuff on the left before getting distracted.

I do like that the list uses characters.

I concur that the Clickpass login takes too many clicks; can you use a "remember me" cookie? It seems like mine expires pretty frequently (although, this could be just the way it seems; I routinely switch between four browsers or so)

Never noticed the bottom part of the front screen. At 1280x800 laptop resolution the top part looks like the whole page.

Only relevant when checking from a different computer or not logged in.
It would be handy to see 'updates' or version number info on the front page. I enjoyed using skritter but have stopped until custom lists are available, so I would like to see at a quick glance to see whats new, or if its been updated without logging in.

The demo 'shakes around' too much for my liking.

Great tool, keep up the good work :)

I've just switched around the password/Clickpass login columns, since it seems that for most users, using a password is just easier. We'll do some more work on the login page in the future to de-emphasize Clickpass.

eleraama, we don't have control over how long Clickpass keeps you logged in. Browser switching will definitely cramp your style there, though; Clickpass is best if you either always log into your email, for example, before coming to Skritter, or if you're usually on the same browser/computer. (Or if you really don't want to make a password).

Andrew2, we'll think about putting blog updates on the front page. You can check the blog instead, or subscribe to our blog feed. Custom word lists aren't quite available, but whenever App Engine calms down enough for us to be able to update, you'll be able to put in your own words to study all the same (just not share them).