I’m not really a fan of the website. I try to explain why and i draw up a mockup on what i would personally change.
Look at the websites:
https://www.darktable.org/ - Logo, name and explanation what it is. Its great. I know instantly what i can expect. The site is 1,41MB and everything is there instantly.
Krita | Digital Painting. Creative Freedom. - Smaller Logo in the Navigation-Bar, explanation what it is. I know instantly what i can expect. The site is 1,37MB and everything is there instantly.
https://www.gimp.org/ - Big Logo and Name, description there. I know what i can expect. Website a 1,45MB despite quite some pictures.
https://element.io/ - Logo in navbar, no name, but i instantly know what to expect. Messaging. Bigger, 2,9MB, but still loading fast.
https://www.notion.so/ - Logo and name clearly visible in navbar, no instant description, its with reading further down, but its there. Nothing flashy to distract. 14,95MB all loaded (WTF?) but it still loads instantly.
https://obsidian.md/ - Logo and name clearly visible in navbar, instant description what it does and a little bit how it does. Just 1,76MB and works perfectly.
https://affine.pro/ - No logo, name reasonable big in navbar, navbar is not that big, instant description what it wants to be. 3,5MB, but loads really fast
https://anytype.io/ - No logo, just a name in navbar, navbar is tiny, a weird moving year 2000 banner on top. Not really info there what it is or does besides “It works like your brain”. 4,36MB and still it loads awfully slow, especially compared to the 15MB notion-behemoth.
So, if i visit the website what i get is:
Why is it loading? Is it using flash?
What is this moving banner on top? Thats oldscool…
Its owned by anyone. (Yeah, sure, might be open source? But whos the team?)
Okay, picture, with everything?
Oh god, it force-stop the scrolling - leave page
It works like my brain (Yeah, read that before, but… okay, stuff is connected?)
Objects are connected (what exactly is an object?)
Play with object (uhuh?)
→ ah first info, i see what it can do? Will do? Oh, there is tiny text below the picture.
More info! No storage and upload limits. Nice. Server where? How does it finance?
Wait, no server? Just local? So this both means no sync between devices? Damn.
Its private. I hope so, if its without sync.
Ah, Open Source. Maybe?
Some quotes.
Register (no mention, that you will get no confirmation e-mail, you will just get an invitation to a video-call where you just can listen without your cam on and you can ask stuff afterwards and after THAT you get a Code for account-creation)
Infotime! Free and open, nice.
Some links.
why is privacy policy a pdf and not a site?
I showed the website to friends and and asked what they think about AnyType without giving them more information about it, these are the actual quotes from some:
“What does it do? What is it for? Who is creating this?”
“Its some kind of personal assistant? However, the website is not particularly well designed in the sense of being visually appealing and crisply informative. And I find the font choice (size, type, etc.) so terrible that I have to mention that again :p”
“I don’t quite understand what AnyType is supposed to do. The website, although flashy, has surprisingly little info. Is it supposed to be an online IDE?”
The website is flashy and pretty no-descriptive. I removed all CSS to look at the written content without getting distracted(has someone done this before launching? Serious question). Where is the info its using IPFS? There is so much missing.
I don’t want to be rude and i hope it is received as constructive criticism, but i think the website is a big problem for the project and is holding everything back. I think if someone ist just reading on anywhere about the project without much explanation they will leave the website pretty fast. And i hope its understandable what i mean, otherwise feel free to ask
This is harsh but good feedback. I agree that there are a lot of things that need to be better organized when it comes to communication from AnyType. Maybe right now there is stuff with more priority and we’ll get some changes with the public launch.
Hello, thanks everyone for your feedback and especially @natrius for taking the time to collect opinions and re-imagine how we can improve our landing page
Looking at the feedback (and combining it with what we’ve seen/read elsewhere), there are two main issues at hand: one is the content of the website and the other is the design. I’ll share with you below where we stand with each aspect - not to defend, but hopefully to give some insight that we’re aware of these issues and are invested in fixing them, but we’re not quite there yet.
Regarding content, we all agree that the content needs to be improved to elucidate what Anytype does/is. A lot of this comes down to the fact that there’s the big vision we’re working toward, and there’s the current artefact, which is an alpha-stage software. Finding the balance between the two and correctly setting expectations while targeting our ideal audience has not been easy, but we’re getting there with some internal work on messaging that we hope can encompass both.
Regarding design, the current aesthetic tends to incite strong reactions - both positive and negative. While beauty might be in the eye of the beholder, when thinking about the next version we agree that the design should feel consistent with our brand and the in-product experience. We’re working on that too
What to expect next:
There’s a very small update coming in the next couple of weeks which will have more concrete messaging, use cases, and total removal of gtags/cookies.
There’s a larger new website design project underway as well. It won’t be super soon - probably looking at a couple months from here - but your feedback is well noted and we hope that the next version will address several of the issues you raise.
exactly. well personally I love the current design. it strikes a mysterious vibe at first sight that requires the user to explore to find out more but granted I’m a curious person and don’t mind looking around especially when I’m looking for something.
But on the other hand I’ve shown the website to some of my friends and although they were impressed by its design, they were somewhat confused as to what purpose does anytype serve.
Maybe that’s just me but I think at this current stage which is the alpha stage, this version of the website is quite a good fit because in my opinion right now Anytype isn’t trying to actively attract new users and certainly is not advertising itself but rather forging its path, adding features and ironing out the experience. It’s for those enthusiasts that are looking for something different and unique and well, for those target demographic if you ask me, it’s quite suited.
But as it is mentioned, I agree that it will need an overhaul with a more clear message with the brand identity at the middle of it to be a lot more self explanatory to new users if Anytype wants to open its door to everyone and I’m sure it has crossed your mind and is part of your vision.
I actually like the website very much. I love the colors, the layout, and those line borders especially. (It reminds me of constellations as well as the graph view, now that I think about it.) I thought it was very elegant and was a bit disappointed that the design language didn’t carry over the app’s UI. Though the UI is neat, too, and I understand that it needs to prioritize flexibility over aesthetics.
I do agree that the website needs to include more info. Some suggestions that I have in mind:
Clarify first and foremost that Anytype is an app/software that works like a second brain. I know it’s there already, but you need to scroll/read a bit to get there. I think this one needs to be on top because it builds context. When I first came across the website, I already read a bit of info on reddit so knowing what kind of tool it is, I didn’t find any of the website copies vague or confusing.
Also, in graphic design language, type refers to font (as in typography). That was my first thought when I saw the name. It doesn’t help that the logo mark/icon is an A, so it’s worth establishing what Anytype isn’t (a typography tool) and what it represents for the brand (object types).
An About page that details the origin of the app. One of the founders is from Russia, right? I thought that would make a good story to show the app’s commitment to privacy, not to mention, it builds trust. It could also introduce the team behind Anytype + its base country. (I only read Berlin in the newsletter.)
Inclusion of more photos and videos of the UI. (I ended up going to YouTube for this.)
Link to Anytype’s docs. (I like to have a thorough read at tutorials before exploring an app, so I think this one is worth sharing even to non-users. I didn’t get to see this until I joined Alpha.)
A clear statement regarding the app’s monetization plans in the future. (I’ve read the FAQs, but my thoughts were… will that be enough? What happens if I invest my time in it and it suddenly hides something important behind a huge paywall? Other competing apps have a history of pleasing sponsors before users.)
A feature list. What it has now, what it’s aiming for its public release, how plugins can expand its potential (if you’re going that route)…
For what it’s worth, I like that Anytype is taking its time crafting features and listening to the community. I get the impression that it’s trying to address notetakers’ pain points while challenging people’s standards, so at this point, I am not bothered by the lack of refinements in website/marketing. I just hope these comments will be addressed in future updates, as these things are important to me as an app user.
I like the design and visuals of the site, but the difficulties of accessing ‘about’ type information and a download link (I know it’s not there, but that’s not stopping folk looking for it!) means that it’s hard to know what it is and how to get it. That’s a barrier to entry.
The website is going to be super important for a product that makes websites. To coalesce everyone’s feedback on the website, can we get a shared spreadsheet or feature tracker going with options for assigning importance and voting? Maybe this exists already?
Btw, I love Anytype’s site design. It convinced me to sign up for alpha testing! I’m actually shocked to hear someone dislikes the aesthetic. But, I just stumbled across Affine, and their site’s lack of mystery seems like a potential advantage for an open-source project. It does seem unusual for an open-source project to be so secretive.
Hey @Pup welcome to the Community and thanks for sharing your thoughts!
No doubt about that, we’re currently revamping the website! While mystique can be attractive, we aim to describe our project with as little ambiguity as possible.
Regarding voting for and prioritization of features; stay tuned, it’s coming soon. Meanwhile, check out our Feature Roadmap.
As far as open-source; around the time of our public launch we’ll publish our code so it can be proven and checked for vulnerabilities.
A bit later in the year we’ll make our API available to build extensions/plugins etc, but before that, it’s critical for us and future collaborators to have a solid and reliable MVP.
