Wordoid.com is a webapp that helps you come up with a catchy name for your product, company or domain.
It makes up new words that are unlikely to appear in a dictionary.
It knows how to create words in several languages: English, Spanish, French and Italian at the moment.
It is even able to create words in imaginary "languages", constructed by blending two or more real languages together.
Good stuff. Had a quick play and definitely would use it to brainstorm ideas.
One really horrible usability point: when I enter a custom pattern on the right, I can't click enter to submit the form, but instead I have to go across the screen, up, and click the small Go button. Either do it live with AJAX or just add a proper form to refresh the page.
Yes, that's what I meant by a "proper form" but clearly it wasn't phrased with any level of eloquence.
To build on that: having the form split up is a bad idea. The sidebar serves no purpose really and I recommend all the form functions be collected at the top and bottom of the results.
I'd also rename the Go button to something more sensible like "Search" or "Find". Go has very few good use cases, and even then it's dubious.
Along these lines, I would also recommend a graphical button for the go/search/find. Large, bright and tactile or 3-D (within reason). Make it clear "this is what you push" after filling out the form. Make it inviting.
I really like this idea. I spent several minutes looking through the suggestions and bookmarked it for later.
Also, if someone's entering something in the text input, "random wordoids" is not the choice they want. You should probably have a radio list of choices, and select another one when they type something in the box.
And I'll point out that it's spelled "scarce". It's not obvious what that column means even without having to decipher bad spelling.
I like it... combining English words with a foreign language seems to make for some really interesting combinations.
Seems to be very quick as well which is great. Would be cool if it would check .com .net and .org variants as I wouldn't settle on a name unless all three were available (+ .co.uk as I'm in the UK!).
On another note, while I was playing with it, the name 'effection' came up and effection.com was showing as available. I went to my preferred registrar to buy* and it's actually registered. effection.com was originally registered back in 1999! So you may need to check out your domain look up code.
*no offence to you, but I work for a registrar by day and get staff rates!
Wordoid.com checks domain availability by querying a DNS server. This is not completely accurate, since some domains don't have DNS records. The right way is to query a whois server. That's tough, because i don't know of any whois servers that would allow me send bulk queries.
Woah, my last name appeared on the second page of results.
I found the distinction between "order" and "buy" unclear, although the color coding helps somewhat. Perhaps "backorder" (what Go Daddy uses) would be clearer? An option to only show available domains could be useful as well. Maybe an option to specify lengths?
I like it. It wasn't immediately obvious to me what some of the features did though - the search button and the unique/common graph next to it for example. I'm also a little disapointed it won't generate names in Klingon - after all, it offers to! :)
Very nice, I've been looking for something like this that actually works and isn't trivial. I got some really nice results.
First (nitpick point): You've got a misspelling in the page: scarse instead of "scarce" underneath the bars that show frequency.
The UI on the right is a bit confusing and busy. I suggest removing all the text around each of the options. I might then put them at the top of the screen with the "go" button. Move the descriptive text to a little popup (more info/?/help/whatever) link next to each of the options and shove all the text in there. Something like:
My gut feeling is that most people are not going to read the text right away and they are just going to play with it and see what happens. This is why I suggest a clean UI so they can easily play, and give them ways to discover what the options do. You don't want to put speed bumps in front of users and force them to comprehend everything out of the gate.
Another usability point: I got stuck once I typed a pattern in. I tried to delete the pattern (to go back to random mode), but the site kept using the pattern. I then realized that instead of deleting the pattern, I had to change the dropdown menu to be "Create random wordroids". This leaves the text in the pattern box but does revert to the random setting. I would re-work this with some ajax or something so that it's not so confusing.
Yeah, I was a fan of http://domainpigeon.com/ for a while, but that got a bit too restricted for me (as it became more commercial), not to mention a bit unwieldy to browse through. Bookmarked!
The interface is weird. The form fields are on the right and the submit button is at the top left, so you have to move your mouse across the screen for each query.
I'd examine relocating the buttons, or adding more to the top. I tended to just use the Go button over and over, instead of moving the cursor down to the Next button.
I looked for a domain, found one I liked, and clicked "Buy". You sent me to godaddy, who I don't use. I opened up a new tab and bought it with namecheap.
A suggestion: give me a price comparison between multiple registrars, and let me click through to any. That way you get the commission even if I don't use godaddy.
I've found on my site (a different, but similar one) that it is hard to get paid for referring domain name buying traffic. Only a few of the registrars is reliable, and with Godaddy you get the large majority of the traffic.
NameCheap, for example, doesn't have an affiliate program (last time I looked).
This is seriously cool. Great idea. Interface is a bit odd and should use some tweaking, but it didn't take me long to figure out. The look is alright otherwise, and I like the name.
One thing: The purpose of the site appears to be slightly confusing at first. Is this a site specifically for finding a domain name? Does it have a broader purpose? I don't know...
One more point: While it is trying to figure out if a result is unique/scarce/common/rare/..., it says "Searching..." underneath. Wouldn't something like "Analyzing..." be more relevant?
The 'Pattern' option on the side of the page is confusing. When you type in a pattern, it isn't apparent that you should click the 'Go' button at the top left of the page. Furthermore, when you type in a pattern and click 'Go', the default is to produce random Wordoids, not Wordoids containing the pattern.
The pagination at the bottom of the list doesn't give any indication of how many Wordoids were generated, which would be nice. Also, as others here have pointed out, the distinction between 'order' and 'buy' is unclear.
Move the search box to a more prominent position, either to the top of right column or above the domain name list. Like someone else said, move the "Go" button next to the search box so there's a smooth transition.
I'd remove the box from the main page that lets the user specify "Ends with..." or "Begins with" and instead, once they've searched, give them the option to narrow down the search results (ie only show the ends with/begins options on search result pages).
Don't show domains that people have to buy. You won't get many people to click them and it adds clutter to the results.
Put more results on the page, as it facilitates easier browsing.
In the search results, you don't need a column for the wordoid and another for the domain name. Choose one or the other. I would choose the one that ends with ".com", as it will immediately be clear to new visitors to the site. If you go the other route and just display the word, put up a small notice saying "All words are .com" or something to that effect.
You could also make the list of domains links and have the links point to GoDaddy. (Again, less clutter).
I'm not sure how much the 'Common', 'Scarse', 'Unique' labels help visitors. Consider removing it.
Add an option to filter by length, as a lot of people seek out short names.
I like the site and wish you the best of luck. I created Domain Pigeon, which is very similar to this. If you ever want to chat about ideas or monetization numbers, you can find my contact info in my profile.
78 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 149 ms ] threadIt makes up new words that are unlikely to appear in a dictionary. It knows how to create words in several languages: English, Spanish, French and Italian at the moment. It is even able to create words in imaginary "languages", constructed by blending two or more real languages together.
I would appreciate your feedback!
One really horrible usability point: when I enter a custom pattern on the right, I can't click enter to submit the form, but instead I have to go across the screen, up, and click the small Go button. Either do it live with AJAX or just add a proper form to refresh the page.
To build on that: having the form split up is a bad idea. The sidebar serves no purpose really and I recommend all the form functions be collected at the top and bottom of the results.
I'd also rename the Go button to something more sensible like "Search" or "Find". Go has very few good use cases, and even then it's dubious.
I really like this idea. I spent several minutes looking through the suggestions and bookmarked it for later.
And I'll point out that it's spelled "scarce". It's not obvious what that column means even without having to decipher bad spelling.
Seems to be very quick as well which is great. Would be cool if it would check .com .net and .org variants as I wouldn't settle on a name unless all three were available (+ .co.uk as I'm in the UK!).
On another note, while I was playing with it, the name 'effection' came up and effection.com was showing as available. I went to my preferred registrar to buy* and it's actually registered. effection.com was originally registered back in 1999! So you may need to check out your domain look up code.
*no offence to you, but I work for a registrar by day and get staff rates!
Unfortunately, it was kidding.
I found the distinction between "order" and "buy" unclear, although the color coding helps somewhat. Perhaps "backorder" (what Go Daddy uses) would be clearer? An option to only show available domains could be useful as well. Maybe an option to specify lengths?
The results are nice.
First (nitpick point): You've got a misspelling in the page: scarse instead of "scarce" underneath the bars that show frequency.
The UI on the right is a bit confusing and busy. I suggest removing all the text around each of the options. I might then put them at the top of the screen with the "go" button. Move the descriptive text to a little popup (more info/?/help/whatever) link next to each of the options and shove all the text in there. Something like:
Languagae (more info): []English []Spanish []French []Italian
is going to be nice and clean.
My gut feeling is that most people are not going to read the text right away and they are just going to play with it and see what happens. This is why I suggest a clean UI so they can easily play, and give them ways to discover what the options do. You don't want to put speed bumps in front of users and force them to comprehend everything out of the gate.
Another usability point: I got stuck once I typed a pattern in. I tried to delete the pattern (to go back to random mode), but the site kept using the pattern. I then realized that instead of deleting the pattern, I had to change the dropdown menu to be "Create random wordroids". This leaves the text in the pattern box but does revert to the random setting. I would re-work this with some ajax or something so that it's not so confusing.
Move the right column to the left I think.
I looked for a domain, found one I liked, and clicked "Buy". You sent me to godaddy, who I don't use. I opened up a new tab and bought it with namecheap.
A suggestion: give me a price comparison between multiple registrars, and let me click through to any. That way you get the commission even if I don't use godaddy.
He talked this year at meshU in Toronto, maybe Wordoid could get some ideas from his experiences?
http://www.slideshare.net/cmercier/how-i-founded-bootstrappe...
NameCheap, for example, doesn't have an affiliate program (last time I looked).
Or make a step in the shadow of the darkside and use socialhistory.js to determine the visitor's registrar
One thing: The purpose of the site appears to be slightly confusing at first. Is this a site specifically for finding a domain name? Does it have a broader purpose? I don't know...
The pagination at the bottom of the list doesn't give any indication of how many Wordoids were generated, which would be nice. Also, as others here have pointed out, the distinction between 'order' and 'buy' is unclear.
Wordoid is incredibly useful, great job!
Move the search box to a more prominent position, either to the top of right column or above the domain name list. Like someone else said, move the "Go" button next to the search box so there's a smooth transition.
I'd remove the box from the main page that lets the user specify "Ends with..." or "Begins with" and instead, once they've searched, give them the option to narrow down the search results (ie only show the ends with/begins options on search result pages).
Don't show domains that people have to buy. You won't get many people to click them and it adds clutter to the results.
Put more results on the page, as it facilitates easier browsing.
In the search results, you don't need a column for the wordoid and another for the domain name. Choose one or the other. I would choose the one that ends with ".com", as it will immediately be clear to new visitors to the site. If you go the other route and just display the word, put up a small notice saying "All words are .com" or something to that effect.
You could also make the list of domains links and have the links point to GoDaddy. (Again, less clutter).
I'm not sure how much the 'Common', 'Scarse', 'Unique' labels help visitors. Consider removing it.
Add an option to filter by length, as a lot of people seek out short names.
I like the site and wish you the best of luck. I created Domain Pigeon, which is very similar to this. If you ever want to chat about ideas or monetization numbers, you can find my contact info in my profile.
Would be interesting to hear whether you use a purely linguistic approach or some statistical information about "natural" frequencies as well.