Afternic = Worst Interface Ever
UPDATE: Afternic was very proactive and quick to fix the below issue. I have recently found some very nice domains to buy at Afternic and in fact I just started the escrow process to buy one of them just a few moments ago. Nice job Afternic on quickly correcting a problem.
Afternic just relaunched and so I decided to check it out and start searching for some domain names to buy. A recent press release announced a “new and improved user interface” so I was quite unhappy to see that whoever designed their interface somehow thinks that I do not want to see the entire domain name but rather just the first 14 characters of the domain name followed by “…” and then the TLD!
Here is what I see when I use their advanced search feature and put in the keyword “insurance”, exclude dashes, exclude numbers, and select only the .com TLD:
Absolutely unbelievable. Apparently out of all of the data that they choose to present they think that the least important thing for me to see in its entirety is the actual domain name! What is sad is that the rest of their interface actually looks quite nice and well laid out but just by choosing to only show the first 14 characters of the domain name makes their interface the absolute worst that I have ever seen.
If I am missing a setting somewhere that allows me to show more than just the first 14 characters then I apologize because I do not see one. However, even if there is a setting to show more than the first 14 characters it is still pretty sad that this is the default option.
I am unsure why they would choose to display their results this way. My guess would be that maybe they are hoping to entice click throughs to the domain name but probably it is just a clueless developer that doesn’t ever bother to use the interface to search (or even fake search) for domain names in the first place.
Either way, this is not a criticism of Afternic or Name Media as a company because I actually really respect both of them and love their domain name platforms BUT letting something like this make it to public release is very unfortunate. Hopefully, they will fix it soon as they are no doubt losing a lot of interest in their domains when even people like me that have 3 30″ monitors have to mouse over the domains one by one just to even see what the domains are as if there is not enough room on my screen to display the most important piece of information (the domain!).
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I agree totally….listing domains that way makes me not even want to use the system at all.
If the interface is not good anywhere I won’t use the system even if I miss deals. I prefer my sanity to clicking forward and backwards over and over and over. Screw that!
Joel…I’ve been a member for a while now and can say that the “new interface changes” didn’t really hit the “open” part of the website…just the top and bottom of the page.
From the looks of it, Afternic made massive updates to the “My Afternic” sections of their website. The verdict is still not in on all the updates they’ve made, but hopefully with some additional work from their development team they’ll get it to a point where it rivals domain resellers like Sedo.
All and all, regardless of new/old UI it needs to be fix! You should do a right up about Afternic’s new premium promotion feature…pretty sweet if it works.
Joel:
Many thanks for your comments.
The character limitation is actually a legacy Afternic problem – not related at all to the User Interface rebuild and relaunch.
That said, it doesn’t really matter how this limitation originated, as it is a less than desirable experience for both buyers and sellers of domains.
This is a known systemic limitation, and one that we will be correcting shortly. I will circle back to this blog as soon as I have a firm date this functionality is corrected.
We appreciate and in fact encourage all feedback – please keep it coming.
I can be reached anytime on my direct dial at 781 839 2812, or at plamson at namemedia.com.
All the best,
Pete
Hi Pete,
Thank you very much for taking time to respond. I appreciate your willingness to take a look at this and I look forward to visiting Afternic as soon as this is resolved. Once this issue is resolved then I can’t wait to start using the new interface as many of the things that I see besides this issue are very positive. Thanks again!
As soon as I have a live date for this fix, I will be back in touch.
for what it is worth, the new Afternic is already yielding results.
Rosary.com just sold for $78K.
All the best and good selling,
Pete
Joel:
Quick update on where we stand on this issue.
As of yesterday afternoon, the AfternicDLS character limitation has been expanded to 59 characters. This enhancement is now live.
We greatly appreciate any and all constructive criticism – your feedback makes us better by better enabling us to serve our valued customers in the manner thye most desire. I encourage you to continue sending along all suggestions – my contact information is above.
All the best and good selling,
Pete
Thank you very much for the quick fix!
Anytime.
Keep the feedback coming!