Happy New Year, Happy New Booth
Update 12/30 @ 2:45 PST: D'oh! Requesting a mulligan on this one... there was a bug in the profile picture uploading that was causing all profile pictures to be blurry when viewed at the 175x175 pixel dimensions for booths. The fix for this is now online, so that next time you upload your profile picture (just visit your profile and click "Choose picture" next to your picture) you should get a crisp, snappy picture in your booth. Sorry about the trouble.
Original post follows...
By the time you read this, you've probably already gone through a minor shock when you clicked into a booth this morning and found things were not at all as you had left them. It's not your imagination! We've given a facelift to the booth page, retiring our original booth page that started showing signs of age after 18 months online.
So what's new about the booth page, and why did we change what we did? Here's the scoop.
Emphasis: You
One of the first things you'll probably notice when you wander into a booth is that gi-normous picture of the booth owner now peering at you from the left corner of the page. Why so big? Because Bonanzle has earned its reputation, from day one, as a marketplace of unique people. Yet our old booth page only dedicated about a few pixels to showing who ran the booth. The new booth page celebrates you with the full 175x175 pixels you deserve!
Of course, it may be a bit difficult to celebrate you when you're so blurrrry. To get this new picture size, we had to stretch the old pictures we had, so many of the new booth pictures are not as crisp as they ought to be. The fix: re-upload your profile picture. Preferably try to use a picture that is at least 175 pixels by 175 pixels.
Chat Grows Up
Continuing along the vein of emphasizing what Bonanzle has become known for, the foremost beneficiary of this update was the booth chat window. Not that we aren't proud of the last old chat window -- it was the first real time store chat easily available in the world of online marketplaces. But its features were admittedly lacking, and we're now dedicated to giving a more full featured chat experience that lets you buy & sell more efficiently.
Amongst the improvements: ability to call a seller into chat, ability to paste an item into chat (from the current booth only), more emoticons, larger font size, ability to private message users without clicking, and a couple other goodies you'll have to try to find out. Additional improvements we'd like to make in the near future: allow users to hear a sound when new message is sent (with easy disabling mechanism), ability to choose color for your user name, and ability for sellers to give buyers a cart discount on the fly. Stick around to see these features start to trickle in.
And a Whole Bunch More...
The rest of the changes are better experienced than described. The general goals we were after were to make the page feel "cleaner" (more space to breathe, less brown) and more intuitive (don't have to scroll through categories, don't have to click a link to search the booth, etc).
Another change is that the booth banner has gotten slightly bigger (725 pixels by 109 pixels now). You're welcome to upload a new booth banner to make full use of the space above the chat window. Otherwise we'll leave your existing banner and just center it above the chat window.
We hope you'll agree that, after the initial shock, the new booth is a quantum leap forward in terms of professionalism & usability over the previous booth page. As always, we'll be listening to your feedback and tweaking the page as we get your feedback.
We've started a forum thread for getting your feedback on the new page, feel free to leave your constructive ideas there.
And thanks for the great holiday season! We've seen some sizable increases in traffic and (especially) sales for each of the last few months. We're predicting a big year for 2010, thanks to your support.
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48 responses to Happy New Year, Happy New Booth
I’m definitely going to have to find a more flattering picture
All in all, the improvements are great. Keep u-p the good work!
I love the new Booth Page – it’s so much more professional looking.
Thanks!
Love new booth page!
Not bad, guys. Thanks.
Maybe it is your screen settings on your computer. I have 1024X768 . What is the size of your monitor? I have a 17" Samsung Syncmaster906BW
I love it! Sharper and cleaner looking to me anyway, thanks!
Oh, this is much better, in the over all appearance, much cleaner, less cluttered looking, I do have to agree the summon seller should be changed to something less demanding.
Maybe " Seller Quick Contact " or something along that line.
I’m still investigating, but I love what I see so far.
Sorry guys but it looks cheap…and make the buying environment seem less professional. I’m most concerned about the chat window area.
All is good. Great new look. Briefly, because I commented in the thread:
Love the new Categories column. Love the new Return and Shipping Policies as a link right on booth front page. Love seeing all the avatars in the new Who’s Here window.
Only question I had was, will we be able to change our booth view from Gallery to List view. But not exactly sure why I always change to List view, I think because it gives more detail like shipping costs??? Could be dead wrong.
I think these changes bring Bonanzle into line with all the other venues out there – I think this makes it more user friendly to SHOPPERS. It is very pleasing to look at. I like it. All we’ve got to do is think like a Switch Hitter in baseball, we’re just standing on the other side of the plate with Categories and such.
Like the changes and new look………
Will have to work on my Avatar as it’s out of focus now but that is minor upkeep……….
Changes will continue to bring Bonanzle to the forefront……
BTW, Bill, I’ve missed seeing your blog posts here. Don’t know about anyone else, but it always feels better hearing stuff directly from you. Everyone else is “Not the Momma!” like the little dinosaur guy used to say.
GREAT JOB ON THE CHANGES!! I THINK IT LOOKS GREAT!!!
I think it will be OK, with some tweeks…. Gonna really need to get used to it. It takes a little too much scrolling to get to my merchandise…Afraid people will think they got to the wrong page, looks like a really busy “About Me Page”…Also, For the Who’s here… While I realize that if I scroll over the Avatar, it will tell me, there is not a list of names, needs to be there, and the way people change Avatars, I really would like to know WHO is in my booth, and not just see pictures of “them”, at a glance. The chat box is Awfully big, and the page now seems overall “Top Heavy”… gotta work too hard to get to the activity of buying.
Avatar way tooooooooo big! Kinda slaps you in the face! I really liked it better the way it was. JMO
My brain is trying to see the booth as it WAS instead of how it IS. When that tug-of-war is over, I think I’ll like it!
Great JOB Bill! I LIKE IT!
Well, once again, your upgrades and changes are very welcome! Thanks for placing another foot forward toward great success in the online marketplace.
Reen
Well, I for one “LOVE IT”. And what is even better….no glitches! Great Job, Guys and Gals! and….
Right on. Happy New Year.
Love the new booth page!
Love the changes! I think it makes your booth look crisp and clean looking
It’s absolutely gorgeous! Nice work! And we thought you were just out skateboarding all this time
What a shock when I logged in! FANTASTIC new changes! I love it! Thanks Guys!
I absolutely Love the New Look! Super way to start the New Year. Thanks Boyz!!!!
Super! So Much more Professional Looking! Crisp & Clean!
Thanks Again For All You Do!
Happy New Year!
~ Patti
I am Impressed! Wonderful Job as always! Keep it coming!
Hi Happy New Year Boyz !!!!
I like the new look, cleaner and crisper, although I agree the avatar is way too big and I kind of liked the info column/categories on the right. Happy New Year!
So Far I like It
WOW I love the new changes Great job boys. Everyone have a safe and Happy New Year
I LOVE the changes overall.. These are GOOD changes for Bonanzle. GREAT job!
A couple of minor quibbles, and if they’ve been mentioned before, I missed them.
1 – When I click “sell” to list an item, I would prefer to not have the selling hints appear at the top of the page every time. This is fantastic for new users, but I don’t want to have to close this every time I want to list something. Can you add an option that will allow us to shut it off?
2 – Every time I list an item, the “Advanced Options” field is collapsed and I have to open / expand it manually. Before it was always open for me. Is this a permanent change? Or can this be set back to the way it was before? Adding those product attributes / Item Traits could easily be forgotten if it is always closed by default, and Google prefers having those item traits added.
Thanks again.. and Happy New Year
I am so excited about the many changes introduced in the last week! Bonanzle is becoming even easier to use. Thank you for the great support we get from the B-team!
Happy New Year to ALL
Happy New year ALL
As usual, nice work,,
Happy New Year to the entire crew at Bonanzle
My thanks
Jack
I think we are all going to have a Happy New Year. Ive sold 28 items in 13 transactions in Dec. I had 18 in late oct thru nov. Happy New Year everyone ;-) 2010 the year of Bonanzle.
Groooooovy….Happy New Year!
Oh I forgot. The Booth looks great that way, very organized. When I first went in it jumped a bit but then it set itself. ;-) Ive read some of the other suggestions. They are great too. Thanks Bill. Happy New Year. 163,6xx…growing by the minute.
Totally love it !!
I’ve only been here 2 days, but I love it. Thank you for all the warm welcomes, I will be sure to do the same to new Bonanzlers.
So far, soooooo cool! Think this is gonna’ be a good New Year here.
I am confuse right know but I will get the hang of it. I think its a great way to start the New Year. Happy New Year to everyone at Bonanzle
sounds good
Happy New Year guys, love the new look! Been away for a little while, and love coming back to start a New Year of selling on Bonanzle with a new booth look! Nice!
Just wanted to say happy new year to every one. hope yall stop by my new booth and see my few items. my product line will be expanding very soon. booth name is aaagems. hope to talk to some of ya live chat soon.
I have not been on the site since before Christmas, but I am unable to add or edit items. When I click on show booth as others see it, there is a large portion for chat before any personal information shows or any items for sale. Is this the way others of your booths look? I’ll have to say, I liked it much better before the changes. I had absolutely no problems setting up my booth or accessing it before.
I am really loving the new changes. Thanks
Best wishes to all the member,please visit us at www.b2c2u.com
I joined New Year’s Day with the resolution to open a booth. Voila!
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