Quixby needs our opinions ...

[The Duke]

Lately I have talked with Austin from Quixby He has been a long time reader of our site and has now reached out for out input.

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He is part of a startup called Quixby.com which is a Kayak.com for computer hardware. You essentially can you us to pick computer parts for a custom build with compatibility checking done for you (select a processor, it only shows you motherboards that work with that motherboard in the following list and etc). We also price aggregate from TigerDirect, Amazon and Newegg.

He was wondering if we had any thoughts on areas that could be improved upon, since it is mainly a 100% custom build website.

So lets hear those thoughts/ideas. All are welcome, but please keep the comments civil. Constructive criticism is great though

[BoT]

page speed could be better but is acceptable
i don't like the immediate login request but i am glad that it is not required for checkout
although it is not a checkout, the cart should be located on the top right instead of bottom left
the advanced filter could be better. i like how at newegg you can choose from different categories of sub filter even though i think even there it's is not enough sometimes

otherwise a good idea. i like that you get multiple checkout options with price comparison and it shows parts availability. plus it actually drops it all into the cart wherever you check out, big plus.

would also be nice if the tool could consider sales, re-certified and open box items.

[revisionzero]

Hey BoT,

Im part of the Quixby.com team, just wanted to say thanks for the input right off the bat. We definitely want to increase page speed dramatically, were about to begin a rewrite of the front-end to remove page loads entirely, and speed up requests dramatically in the process.

On the login page that pops up, thats there just as a warning per sey, and we are going to make the "Continue without Login" more obvious, as we definitely dont want to make a user feel forced.

Could you explain why you think the cart should be in the Top Right, would help with visibility definitely, but any input on this would help greatly come our rewrite that I mentioned =)

The advanced filter currently is in place to test the backend functionality and ensure there are no kinks to workout, come the rewrite, we are revamping the filter UI and options present to be one of the more robust filters available on any retailer website.

Finally, currently pricing is live, so any sales should be accounted for, and we show rebate information on the Part Dropdown if its available. Adding in a used/re-certified item DB would be really helpful for some I imagine, Ill look into it.

Thanks a bunch for your feedback, really appreciate it!

[Neuromancer]

Checked it out in Opera and my cursor is going nuts even when on other tabs. (after I clcik +thermal paste and move to another tab the tab is jumping and the windows loading circle appears with it)

Aside from that, I only looked for a couple of minutes (did not make it all the way through the options), but the organization list defaults to name ascending even though your list options start with cheapest.

I would either move "name ascending" option, to be the first choice, or make the default "cheapest" since that is the first on your list anyway.

In fact cheapest might need a rename. Take a look at etailer sites. No one says "cheapest" or "priciest" instead they use things like "Price-Ascending" or "Price-Lowest first"

Cheap has a negative connotation attached to it. Pricey does as well IMHO, as a long time system builder, "pricey" is something I avoid as the word implies you are purchasing a gilded lily. Which is not necessarily true with computer parts. There is a dramatic increase in cost for that last 5% performance increase, but its not just costing more because of a pretty package (usually).

Overall its a good idea, and would really benefit from a "tips before building" article. Not the normal excessively wordy stuff.. actually have two. A short article that covers the basics, and antoehr that goes into detail.

For instance.

Are you building this PC for gaming, workstation, typical desktop usage, facebook and email only PC, etc etc. Have a short article that covers where a CPU matters the most (IE whats he difference between an AMD sempron 145 and a Intel 3930K despite the $500 cost difference) , when a discrete GPU is necessary or variances in IGPs (gaming and/or GPGPU), high speed RAM vs quantity (2x4GB 1866 or 4x4GB 1333), and HDD vs SSD.

I personally beleive if this a first build a quality case, monitor and peripherals are most important and probably will consume half the cost of the PC. The reason is that standards do not change drastically and these devices can be reused for future builds.

[revisionzero]

Checked it out in Opera and my cursor is going nuts even when on other tabs. (after I clcik +thermal paste and move to another tab the tab is jumping and the windows loading circle appears with it)

Aside from that, I only looked for a couple of minutes (did not make it all the way through the options), but the organization list defaults to name ascending even though your list options start with cheapest.

I would either move "name ascending" option, to be the first choice, or make the default "cheapest" since that is the first on your list anyway.

In fact cheapest might need a rename. Take a look at etailer sites. No one says "cheapest" or "priciest" instead they use things like "Price-Ascending" or "Price-Lowest first"

Cheap has a negative connotation attached to it. Pricey does as well IMHO, as a long time system builder, "pricey" is something I avoid as the word implies you are purchasing a gilded lily. Which is not necessarily true with computer parts. There is a dramatic increase in cost for that last 5% performance increase, but its not just costing more because of a pretty package (usually).

Overall its a good idea, and would really benefit from a "tips before building" article. Not the normal excessively wordy stuff.. actually have two. A short article that covers the basics, and antoehr that goes into detail.

For instance.

Are you building this PC for gaming, workstation, typical desktop usage, facebook and email only PC, etc etc. Have a short article that covers where a CPU matters the most (IE whats he difference between an AMD sempron 145 and a Intel 3930K despite the $500 cost difference) , when a discrete GPU is necessary or variances in IGPs (gaming and/or GPGPU), high speed RAM vs quantity (2x4GB 1866 or 4x4GB 1333), and HDD vs SSD.

I personally beleive if this a first build a quality case, monitor and peripherals are most important and probably will consume half the cost of the PC. The reason is that standards do not change drastically and these devices can be reused for future builds.

Thanks for the feedback, Ill have to look into Opera and see whats going on. Your suggestions on the sorting options is great, we will rename/re-order them soon to make it more convenient, as your points about cheapest, pricey, and the order are all valid. We are working on documentation to help someone completely new enter the experience for sure, as it really needs to guide users a bit more instead of having them dive right in!