In your opinion, which of these two index pages would be best?

AARRRGH

Hello,

I would appreciate your opinions on this.

We (as in, my employer) are considering changing our index page from -

http://www.staff.ie

to -

http://www.staff.ie/jobs.html

If you were going to a job website, which one would you prefer?

http://www.staff.ie/jobs.html has all the options as the original index page, except it displays all the recent job adverts as well.

But maybe it might be confusing for some visitors...?

Any opinions??

Thank you very much

DonkeyStyle \o/

If a cookie was set to remember what categories I last chose from the drop-down lists, then this would be a nice time-saving feature.
I wouldn't bother looking down the list with all those other categories included... too many items that are irrelevant that I'd have to skip over = pain in the arse.
So maybe show that /jobs.html page if the user has a cookie set... otherwise use the first page.

And while you're at it, how about adding subtle shading to every second line of results, just to make it easier for the eye to scan across.

trishw78

mmm it's a though one but I'd go with the second option
as option 1 is more of a search engine look to it...
Where as option 2 still has the search engine plus its got the most latest jobs on offer...

AARRRGH

Thank you both for the excellent feedback. We will have a think about your suggestions and hopefully make some good improvements.

I have one other request if you don't mind.

When looking at a job, for example - http://www.staff.ie/jobs/1133.html

Notice we don't use the full width of the screen.

Do you think we should use the full width and make the text bigger?

Or should we leave it the way it is?

Thanks again

DonkeyStyle \o/

dublindude wrote:

Do you think we should use the full width and make the text bigger?

No... you'll read a lot of articles that say it's easier for people to read more narrow columns than to read across the full width of a page... and don't forget some people use huge resolutions (personally I'm using 1680x1050, so that text wrapped in a 100% table would be nasty to read).
You could make use of the extra space by moving the logo and contact details to one side of the main text column... but there's not much need really.
I think the text size looks fine, although it could use a bit more contrast vs the white background... so a slightly darker text colour could be the answer if you've had people commenting that the text is hard to read.

AARRRGH

Thanks

No one has actually commented on the text being hard to read/the formatting being strange - I'm just being a perfectionist

Thank you for your opinions.

daymobrew

Just to add more votes, I prefer the second page: http://www.staff.ie/jobs.html

It gives people an idea of what jobs are available and for those who visit the site/page frequently, they can see recent updates.
I think that it may also help people thing of search terms that they wouldn't think of if presented with a 'blank' page (like the http://www.staff.ie one).

Seth Brundle

i preser the staff.html page.
However, if possible set up the homepage with a simialr thought (but not copying!!) to nixers.com where the homepage has both the form as well as text options.

GoneShootin

I prefer the 1st page actually. Perhaps with a little more content, but I prefer a clean design on a homepage for searching. You dont see google giving you results when you first load it up

tammy

I prefer the first page also. Much cleaner, no redundant(to me at least) information. As somebody mentioned setting cookies and showing new relavant jobs on each visit would be v.nice. I agree with previous poster that the text could be cleaner also. Looks good though.

axer

id say go cookie - its nice not to be hit with that big list when you first get to the website but after that its the list that is wanted straight away.

AARRRGH

Thank you everyone for you opinions.

The cookie idea is very interesting. I will have a look into it and see what I can do.

Thanks again!

Steve

beller b

Personally I would prefer the original staff.ie ... The second seem like a lot of browsing is required where as on the orignal you go straight to what you want...

seamus

I would say
For new visitors, the first page. For logged in users, the second page.