Rooloo
Review by [user]Cierra[/user]
First Impressions
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When I first visit Rooloo, I see a colorful and whimsical logo, a small favicon, and a nice theme with easy navigation. I also see two header navigation links in the top left hand corner. I am immediately impressed by the clean theme and "fresh" feel of the site. Overall, Rooloo has done very well with first impressions.
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Excellent
Design Quality
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Rooloo is very simply designed, without a lot of clutter to get distracted by. Too often now a days I see search engines try to be something they are not, such as adding a lot of different themes and cluttering up the the search page. I like your theme and there is nothing that I would fix. To mix things up a bit, you could change your logo everyday like Google does.
Or, an idea I had is to allow users to choose their own logo, either from a logo database you make or allowing them to directly upload a logo to site themselves. This would allow users a more customization of their browsing experience and add a fun element to searching. You could also add animations to your main logo, such as making it spin on a mouse hover or popping out when someone clicks on it.
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Excellent
Staff Professionalism
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I am not sure who owns and operates the website currently, so I suggest you add a little about yourself, and any other staff running Rooloo on the "About" page. This will also give your site a more personal feel and atmosphere to it. You can even go as detailed as putting a real life picture of you and your fellow staff members, so that people can get to know you a little bit by face and name.You have your legal bases covered, such as the copyright in the lower left hand corner, which is good. Everything looks pretty tidy and clean also, try to keep that up. Since you have no advertisements on Rooloo, there are no annoying pop ups, browser redirects, or the like.Overall, Rooloo scores very well in this category.
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Good
Originality
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There are many search engines available currently. You have a lot of competition from bigger engines such as Google, Yahoo, Ask!, Bing. So, in order to gain attention and a steady user-base, you will definitely have to stand apart from the crowd. To help do this, try to do some brainstorming. Ask yourself the question: "What is going to make Rooloo different? Unique? Fun?". This should help prompt some ideas that you can later implement into Rooloo.
One thing I see that makes you unique so far is that you have zero advertisements on Rooloo, the email service, or Rooloo connect. This could be a great search engine for users who are looking for a smooth, advertisement free browsing experience. So far, you also do not have sponsored listings/links/keywords like Google does. Having no ads just exemplifies the reason people come to Rooloo, or any search engine for that matter; they want to find out information, quickly. Another thing that will make Rooloo unique is the logo idea that I mentioned above in design quality.
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Average
Site Structure
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Your site is easy to navigate, and everything is a short click away. The same goes with the email and Rooloo connect. I did notice that when searching for something, the search query often overlaps the Rooloo logo and header navigation links. Here is a screen grab of the issue:
http://awesomescreenshot.com/0844swow0c. Not a huge issue, but still needs to be fixed.
One suggestion I have is that when searching, have the two header navigation links ("email" and "connect") should go away. It is not necessary to have them there in my opinion. Someone who uses those two services will already have them bookmarked, in their favorites, etc. You have footer navigation links, which I like because they are out of the way and non-intrusive. The "About" page (link-http://connect.rooloo.in/about/) seems a little bare, try adding some more background information about Rooloo and it's history.
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Good
Grammar & Spelling
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You have no major grammar or spelling mistakes, good job with that. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, so I would still recommend you check your spelling by using a spell checker every time you post something on the site or make changes. I do suggest some changes on the Rooloo mail homepage, the changes are highlighted in bold:
"Don't have a Rooloo Mail? Sign up now"
"Forgot your password? Reset it"
I also have a suggestion for the Rooloo sign up page (link-http://email.rooloo.in/register.php), again highlighted in bold:
Also, on the sign up page, under the "birthday" field the drop down menu with "month" in it doesn't fully display, it only shows:
I would expand the menu to show the full word, it looks odd to have some of the word cut off.
There are also some mistakes on the "About" page:
"Rooloo is an Internet portal that incorporates a search engine and a directory of World Wide Web sites organized in a hierarchy of topic categories. As a directory, it provides both new and seasoned Web users the reassurance of a structured view of hundreds of thousands of Web sites and millions of Web pages. It includes a Rooloo Connect which a social networking solution and Rooloo mail, a mailing solution. It began its journey in the world of Internet on 23rd March 2015. "
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Very Poor
Final Remarks
Rooloo seems like a great search engine with a lot of potential. You are off to a good start with additional features, such as Rooloo email and Rooloo connect. Fix a few issues, and you should be good to go. Good luck with Rooloo Raees!
Note: The "Site Statistics" category have been omitted as it is not applicable to Rooloo. The category "Staff Professionalism", is also shorter because of this. :great:
Your Score
