Craigslist, the popular classified advertisements website, has long withstood demands of making changes to its interface design. Until quite recently, the website’s design comprised of drab hyperlinks and little else. But now, the website has finally taken a step forth and recently added a photo grid view to allow visual browsing.
The photo grid view is currently available with a limited number of categories and allows user to view photos, along with the links, so that they can get a better idea of what a particular listing is about. Moreover, the visual tweak will also allow the users to quickly find the listings of their interest.
However, there is still a lot more that the users want Craigslist to do. Even with the new visual browsing option, the website is terribly dull and barely has any overall visual appeal, an element which has become somewhat of an essential feature for top websites.
When Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, was asked as to why his company was so adamant on keeping with the drab, text-only interface, he responded by saying, “We’re a community driven site, and innovate in response to that.”
Thankfully, the company has taken a tiny step forth from that stand. However, the decision to implement the photo grid view may not be in response to the customer’s demands. Rather, there is an overwhelming evidence that Craigslist has been pissed off about other third-parties linking up to its listings and putting a creative spin on it to attract users.
In the past, the company has sent off cease-and-desist letters to dozens of such companies. Perhaps it was about time Newmark realized that he needs to improve his website rather than telling others not to innovate, if he wishes to sustain and continually grow the user base.
The photo grid feature is currently available only in U.S. and Canada though it is hoped that the company may introduce it to users in other regions sometime soon.
Source: Twitter
Courtesy: TechCrunch
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