user experience

The CircleMe Android app just gets better and better!

/ CircleMe Team / Leave a comment

While we do not announce all our new product releases (e.g., so far in 2014 we had 15 releases for our Android app alone), we thought to mention at least some of the key innovations we brought to our Android app addicts in the last weeks. Together, these improvements and added features really make it for a top-notch mobile experience focused on all your interests.

To play with the new version of the app, go to GOOGLE PLAY now.

NAVIGATION SIMPLIFICATION

As we heard your feedback and your requests for simplification, we applied some key changes to the navigation structure. As a clear example, we allow now to access SEARCH and CALENDAR by a simple right or left swipe (you can access SEARCH from the Profile section and Calendar from the Discover section).

Screenshot_2014-12-02-17-39-52

 

Furthermore, we have simplified the Discovery section, which now splits just in two areas: ALL and PEOPLE. Not to worry though, if you want to access the PLANTS section, you just have to click on the overflow-menu on the top right of the screen.

Screenshot_2014-12-02-17-16-13Screenshot_2014-12-02-17-40-29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRIENDLY TUTORIAL

As you access the app for the first time, we will welcome you with a tutorial which triggers itself only when there is something new to learn about the app. The tutorial consists of several tips showing just once per specific feature and which can be dismissed by a simple tap on the ‘GOT IT’ button.

Screenshot_2014-12-02-17-22-10Screenshot_2014-12-02-17-40-13

TRUSTING OTHER CIRCLERS

Next time you visit the Discover People section, you will be impressed by our little (but key) improvement to allow you to quickly decide who to TRUST on CircleMe. You will find the blue button visible on each user card, next to some key information about that user. If you know the person, or just think the user could be a good person to trust for his/her tastes, one simple click will connect you two. Make that BLUE button become GREEN: give it a try now!

 

Screenshot_2014-12-02-18-14-55

ADAPTIVE NAVIGATION BAR

You asked to get as much area of the screen dedicated to content as possible, and we did that for you! Of course. 🙂 Now, as you keep scrolling down in your Updates and Discover feeds, our navigation bar will ‘understand’ you have a priority (content!) and will get out of the way. How you get it back, you ask? Well, simple, scroll up and… ta-ta, hello again navigation bar! 

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OVERALL IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

Lots of tweaks were done to the code to speed up the starting of the app as well as loading times for content in all the different sections of the application. To achieve this we have done some coding improvements, and we use a bit more cache memory, but still careful about not taking too much of your device memory filled up.

There are at least another 10 features and improvement projects for the past 8-12 weeks we are not mentioning here, but which you’ll be able to appreciate as soon as you get back on the app.

We look forward to having you use CircleMe more and more, and for you to keeping on sending us feedback at support [at] circleme.com so we can continue to develop the best interest-based platform people want and enjoy.

To get the new version of the Android app, go now on Google Play.

Enjoy the Circling!

#bewhatyoulike

 

 

We’ve Got (User)Tips for You!

/ CircleMe Team / Leave a comment

In the last months our team is paying extra attention to user-experience and friendliness of our service. We want you to enjoy CircleMe as much as possible, and as quickly as possible. The quicker you do that, the quicker you can keep up to date on all your passions in life!

For this reason, with our most recent release, we have launched a new feature to provide User Tips to all new users accessing our web app. It’s sort of a welcome process, where we show you (from time to time) a specific tip related to how you can use the product, just while you are discovering it.

You will discover these tips as you go. For example, as you access the site, we give you a little welcome, like this one:

Screen Shot 2014-10-21 at 10.05.53

Then, we let you enjoy the navigation immediately, and every once in a while, we show you a little friendly tip, depending on where you are and what you are doing. If you land on our Discover section, we might show you this tip:

Screen Shot 2014-10-21 at 09.58.17

If you did not use yet our powerful SEARCH to discover your favourite interest, we just show you where it’s located:

Screen Shot 2014-10-21 at 09.58.41Haven’t you figure out how to Like or mark as a ToDo something you see in the Updates feed and you find interesting? No sweat! Here is our tip to you:

Screen Shot 2014-10-21 at 09.56.53

Haven’t you noticed yet our powerful Category Chooser, to focus on just one type of interests (e.g., Music, Books, Movies & TV Series, etc…)? Well, that is why you need our tip below:

Screen Shot 2014-10-21 at 09.57.40

OK, we know you got the point! We hope you’ll enjoy the tips, and they will make you appreciate all that CircleMe has to offer. Ready to click on “GOT IT” for each one of the tips? Go on the site and let us know if they have been helpful: www.circleme.com/updates

After you try the User Tips, please let us know how was your experience! You can always send us feedback to support [at] circleme.com. We would be delighted to hear from you, please!

#bewhatyoulike, always!

The “checked card”: keeping the tab on what you read

/ CircleMe Team / Leave a comment

For some time now you have been asking for features to improve the user-experience related with managing the quasi-infinite content we distribute on the site (we now publish more than 50,000 new content posts per month, related to any interest you can imagine).

From today, you have one more nifty feature to do that: we will show on your Updates feed all the articles that you have already read, so that you can visually see what’s left to read. Nothing too fancy: just a classy shading and a check mark.

Article already checked on CircleMe

Card already checked by a user on CircleMe

Our team has been using the feature for few days, and it seems to make quite a difference, without being visually too “loud”. We hope you will appreciate this new added feature. As usual, we love to hear your feedback, so just let us know (by writing to us at support at circleme dot com, tweeting us @circleme or commenting on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CircleMeTeam).

Enjoy the ‘checked card’ feature now!

#bewhatyoulike