I am continuing to have issues with the "EXTREME" Marketplace. (Does "EXTREME" stand for "extremely hard to use unless you know specifically, exactly, what you are looking for"?)

Screen shot 1: Could someone please show me where the link is for "What's Hot"? Even a link for "Best Sellers" would work. Do I click on "Support"? Do I click on "Advanced Search"?
Every minute that I spend searching for a link (or trying to figure out how to work the site) is one less minute that I'm shopping.

Multiply 1 minute of trying to navigate by 1,714 people and you get 1,714 minutes. This means that users are spending over ONE day trying to figure out an unclear interface.
I know that testing the site before going live is rarely done here, but a little bit of usability testing would have helped.

The main question that everyone should be asking is: "Does the new marketplace layout help people find a product faster and easier?" Prove it. Do studies comparing the old version to the new version.

Or is it another case of "change the site for the sake of change" or "it's easier for the programmers to do it this way"?

Message edited on: 06/10/2004 14:33

Screen shot 2: This is what the Marketplace looks like if a person is not logged in (despite earlier responses from the admins that claim this has been fixed). If I am a visitor, I **WANT** to see thumbnails of the products. In fact, good thumbnails of items may cause visitors to become members. Or, worse, someone sees a product that could suit their needs, but since the site doesn't show thumbnails, they move on. Is this likely to happen? Should you even risk asking this question?

Hi JohnRender, Each of the sections now has sort options for Whats New, Whats Hot, Exclsuive and On-Sale. All cataegories but Whats New also supports sorting By Ranking and Warehoused products. You can select the Whats New link on the main MarketPlace page to display products released within the last 30 days. If you select the Whats Hot sort option from the Whats New page it will sort the last 30 days worth of products based on whats currently hot. You can also select the All link next to any of the category links in the MarketPlace and sort by Whats Hot. If you Select the All link next to the Poser category then select the Whats Hot it will sort all Poser based products based on whats currently hot. I tested the Visitor account and I see thumbnails in the MarketPlace without any problems. Any thumbnails that contain nudity will display the Content Advisor thumbnail. The Visitor profile has the Nudity flag set to On. I'm not sure why you dont see any thumbnails while on as Visitor. I'll notify the programmers so they can have a peek. I hope this helps you out. Clint

I just logged on on the spare computer and wasn't logged on and there were no thumbs either.

I just spoke with the programmers. They indicate that if you are logged in with your member profile and have thumbnails turned off. Then logout and go into the MP as Visitor you wont see the thumbnails. It carrys over that setting to the Visitor profile. If a member comes in without a profile and hits the MP as visitor they will see the thumbnails. I just tested and found this to be the case. FYI, Clint

I don't have thumbnails turned off on my profile, so this setting shouldn't be "carried over". Thumbs should show all the time, period... and in the case of nudity, the "adult content" eye should show. A site like this should NEVER, EVER show a link that says "Thumb Not Shown". This is an ART site: let's see what artists can do with their thumbnails. Text links are not artistic... nor do they sell a product. To be quite frank, "carrying over" settings from a previous login is a lazy solution. A visitor should NEVER inherit a cookie or settings from a previous member's login. What if I use a computer at the library, which has "carried over" the settings from a previous member? As a visitor, I don't see thumbnails because the previous member didn't?

Tried on another computer with IE 6 and Firefox 0.8 and also get "Thumb Not Shown."

I agree that the new marketplace design is much more difficult to comprehend at a glance. I wouldn't know what to look for had I not been there before in the past.. I even had trouble finding the new items the first time I saw this layout. I know my way around it just fine now, but I think it would seem very complicated to a first time user. The white background is kind of hard on the eyes too...