Looking for honest feedback on our iPhone app website - critiques?

[Hejog]

Happy to send promo codes to any good/thoughtful feedback regarding our app and what we hope to do.

Here's our website (complete with tour, video, etc) http://broadersheet.com

Essentially broadersheet is a newspaper that learns what news you're interested in based on what articles you do and don't read. Love NYTimes but hate their coverage of Barack Obama? No problem.

It caches all the articles offline too.

All thoughts much appreciated - people are loving the guardian app, how do we compare?

 

[tico24]

The image of the iphone doesn't blend with the background.

The itunes link opens in the same window - consider opening in a new window so that I don't lose my place on your site.

You have no privacy policy. If its under construction, don't link to it, it'll make you look silly.

I'd seriously consider a contact form over email addresses on a website

There are a few grammatical errors all over the place ("Broadersheet Press PackYou can download...")

Why are you using bit.ly links all over the place? It'll look much smarter if you use proper links. You can still track buttonclicks with something like google analytics.

hope this helps.

 

[Gokunama]

The small download is great! I'd rather have that the default rather than having to press the 'text only' view button each time I go to an article.

 

[tico24]

Wait. Did you want website critique or app reviews?

 

[ksmith80209]

Regarding the app (vs. the site...): Very interesting idea - like TiVo but for RSS. Does it sync with Google Reader?

 

[MadGoat]

Why would I use this over google reader web site for free, or mobilerss for a buck cheaper or the oodles of other news readers that are cheaper?

 

[KidPub]

I like it

Overall I like the way the application flows and the way you are organizing information about each news item. For example, the 'additional coverage' button is very nice...I assume that coverage is displayed only from sources you have selected?

Suggesting a source seems a bit awkward, it looks as though one has to wait for the developer to add the source to the application rather than allowing for input of an RSS feed directly.

How are links within an item handled? Jump to Safari?

Perry

 

[Daremo]

I think the App looks great. I would certainly use this on a daily basis. The web site works for me too.

 

[Hejog]

The image of the iphone doesn't blend with the background.

Strange, I can't decide if the video should be flash or quicktime.

The itunes link opens in the same window - consider opening in a new window so that I don't lose my place on your site.

Fixed!

You have no privacy policy. If its under construction, don't link to it, it'll make you look silly.

Will remove link temporarily

I'd seriously consider a contact form over email addresses on a website

will do!

There are a few grammatical errors all over the place ("Broadersheet Press PackYou can download...")

will crack open the grammar dictionary

Why are you using bit.ly links all over the place? It'll look much smarter if you use proper links. You can still track buttonclicks with something like google analytics.
hope this helps.

Mainly so when we tweet we can track the same buying link. I'll remove the bit.ly links on our site.

The small download is great! I'd rather have that the default rather than having to press the 'text only' view button each time I go to an article.

We're going to make that a default option in next version hopefully

Wait. Did you want website critique or app reviews?

Ideally of website, to see if people think we're onto something.

Regarding the app (vs. the site...): Very interesting idea - like TiVo but for RSS. Does it sync with Google Reader?

Not presently. We're trying to keep it as news news rather than editorial. So what do I need to know *today*?

Why would I use this over google reader web site for free, or mobilerss for a buck cheaper or the oodles of other news readers that are cheaper?

An RSS list is exactly that - a list. With Broadersheet we can recommend additional blogs or journalists you might not have heard of but will enjoy. Similarly we can remove news articles when they're duplicated or we detect you're not interested in them.

Overall I like the way the application flows and the way you are organizing information about each news item. For example, the 'additional coverage' button is very nice...I assume that coverage is displayed only from sources you have selected?

Suggesting a source seems a bit awkward, it looks as though one has to wait for the developer to add the source to the application rather than allowing for input of an RSS feed directly.

How are links within an item handled? Jump to Safari?

Perry

Links are handled in browser. We've got browser controls on the toolbar (we're making it clearer next version)

We're working on a nicer suggest a source flow.

I think the App looks great. I would certainly use this on a daily basis. The web site works for me too.

thanks!

 

[tico24]

Strange, I can't decide if the video should be flash or quicktime.

Always quicktime.
Flash doesn't work on the iphone (the device you're trying to sell your product on!)

 

[Hejog]

we switch to quicktime if the reader is on iPhone

 

[KidPub]

Follow-up

I've been using the Fluent news reader but was very interested in how Broadersheet compared. I bought the app yesterday and have used it three or four times since.

I like Broadersheet a lot. Here are a few of the features that appeal to me that I didn't necessarily know about from reading the web site:

• The refresh button on the Date screen lets me do a quick check to see if there's breaking news that has happened either while I've been reading news or while the phone was asleep. Does the list auto-refresh periodically while inside the app? If it doesn't hat'd be a useful feature.
  
• I -love- being able to see a list of news sorted by source. It'd be greet if I could see just a list of my sources, perhaps with an indication of the number of news items available, and be able to expand a source from the list. With a lot of sources it can take a while to get to the bottom of the Source page.
  
• Ditto with the Topic page, a list of topics that I could expand individually to see the stories under each would be ideal.
  
• Topics on the Topics page are sorted alphabetically right now. Might be nice to use the reader's history to display topics in order of interest. For example, I read a lot of Business and Science/Tech stories...they should be at the top of that screen.
  
• The 'reformat for iPhone' button is wonderful! Any way to make that the default view?
  
• Integration with Instapaper might be a nice feature, or Evernote, or both.

Overall I think this is a very good way to read news, and I ended up deleting Fluent. I'm curious to see how well it learns my reading habits and reacts to them. You might want to package a 'lite' version so that folks can get a feel for Broadersheet's advantages. Five dollars puts you at the pricier end of the news reader spectrum, and in the app economy price is often a deciding factor.

Perry