Ask HN: Review my startup, JobKaster.com

Hey Paul,

Site is looking good, however when I typed San Francisco into the search bar I couldn't get it to relocate the map. Tried hitting enter, and clicking find me just took me to my current location. Is there a way to view cities that you're not in right now?

Also is there a possible list view sorted by distance instead of map view?

Cheers, Daniel

Hey Paul,

TL;DR - Front page could be snazzier, alert the user more clearly, log things

I'm browsing from chrome on a desktop (I'm not sure if the site also has a mobile version) -- and I've got a few comments:

I see you guys are using bootstrap. I think, however, that there are a lot more nice-looking bootstrapped site layouts however. If you look around here, a lot of the launching pads and site layouts are incredibly simple, but the simplicity, along with some fancy fonts, and well sectioned contents, make them nice to look at (though a bit cookie cutter).

A bit more on the design of the front page -- I realize header bars are a little boring and over done, but you guys probably want one. and having login be a dropdown would definitely save you some space up there.

Getting an account should be something in Bold print, not just under there, sort of hiding. The tag line to the right on the navbar you have there, should really go under or near your logo, since that's one of the first places that people look when they go to a website (top left -- theres some research on this, but I am too lazy to go find it)

Also, That navbar as a whole is kind of placed awkwardly in the middle of the page... I think you would do well to expand it to the whole page, or something.

As far as the area with the map, this bootstrap template (http://twitter.github.io/bootstrap/examples/carousel.html) could help a bunch. Not that you have to use the carousel, but I think you would benefit from putting that map on some sort of blurred out picture of people working or something (which could even be carouseling), and next to it (like you have now) you can put a "Look for jobs now!" tag line with the search bar, and put the results there, etc.

I think the ideal place to put things like a huge sign up button would be under the results (or maybe in it's own row right under), and that's where you can also put the "Looking for employees"/"employer?" button also, which will take them to the info/pricing page.

The bottom part with the three columns of information goes wwell with the example templates bootstrap has on their site, as well as a bunch of landing pages that are out there: https://www.gathercontent.com/ (example from bootstrap, you can find a bunch of pages like this/better on HN, as you already know -- just search "Show HN:" or something)

Basically, your site is just a tad too plain for my tastes at the moment, given how awesome what you're doing is -- and how big it could get.

As far as functionality, I'm in Austin, TX, and searching didn't quite work. You guys probably have a handle on that, but what I want to say about it is that when things DON'T work out, and no jobs are found, or it doesn't know where you are (which you should take care of, like if I'm not sharing my location, it should maybe default to somewhere, or ask me?), a non-intrusive modal (which might be an oxymoron... just maybe at least over the map, letting me know nothing was found, rather than the head turn to the right side of the page.

Just had a thought -- What if you overlaid the results, and maybe even the search onto the map? You could get space for a bigger map, have search on the top, results at left (I would prefer left, since that's where people's eyes tend to drag over) -- and dim anything that isn't in focus/use?

This is all in my opinion, most of it isn't even about functionality, but if you're looking for places to go, get the design devs to at least think about these changes, I think they'd add a level of polish that your site would benefit from...

It's true that it's the functionality that matters, but I think some style and a little UI changes would do wonders

Also, I'm not sure you've thought of this -- but log EVERYTHING, in the most inexpensive way possible. If your site takes off (and by takes off, I mean over 10 users), logging things like how long people connect, where they...

Jobs in this region:

  - KFC Team member
  - Pizza Hut General Manager

Focus on the quality/variety of jobs as much as the quantity, and introduce filters. Of course it's entirely possible that low end jobs are your main target market (jobs are more interchangeable and commuting really hurts low-paid employees' income) but at the very least, I'd want to be able to filter by broad category and career level, even if only to show me there's nothing likely to interest me.

Dude. DEBUG is True right now. If you didn't code this, tell the person who did that DEBUG is currently True so he/she can change that.

Also, why did your devs create the entire django project in a single django app? I bet that's difficult to keep track of.