- Strong, direct message within first view (he out right tells you, the visitor, what he wants)
- He takes you through his expanded 'executive summary'.
- This sequence: What, why, who, how. Many startups get this wrong and do Who, What Why, How.
- Nice CTA at the bottom
- A modern design
Things I think he didn't do so well:
- No close. Everytime I see these sorts of design, if I don't see a CTA or a close on each panel, I make a note of it.
- No close. Seriously. Even at the end, the CTA wasn't trying to close at all.
- Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag
- The site was designed for smaller screens. I don't think he expected screens with higher resolutions.
I would also say that if that page was any longer or any more information dense then it wouldn't work as a thing. It only works because there is so little content.
In general it depends what you're trying to sell. I've never actually purchased from one of these "flow" pages, but I have purchased a lot from more boring product pages like this:
The OP's sales page is definitely in fashion right now, in fact it looks like every current startup's page. But just because it is in fashion doesn't mean it is actually effective, and I've seen no evidence (and the OP supplies none) that it causes higher conversions than a "boring" sales page.
This 16y old boy builds a sweet website – good enough to reach #1 on this page – just to push his goal of a year in CA and you offer an introductory "… causes Chrome to lag". Come on, that's better stuff than I see from some 'professionals'.
The new style of sales page is not about flowing downwards - its about having one message (getting to school in the US), emphasise what the purchaser will gain, filter out those its not going to benefit, and be consistently repeating the message.
The kids page does this - it sells his sponsorship needs really well.
Everything else is noise.
I cannot point to any research but I am pretty sure that a sales page that
has focus, one message, filters out its non-target audience and clearly and simply repeats its message
is better
than unfocused, off message, vague sales pages.
Whether they flow downwards or not is of secondary order.
I'm inclined to agree with you. In fact I personally prefer the boring sites where most of the important content is presented on screen with minimal scrolling. However I also started building websites in the early 90s when bandwidth dictated design.
That all said, I want to take anything away from this guy, he's done a fantastic job and deserves recognition.
I must be getting old. Is the example "boring" page really out of style? I've always found that icon bullet point presentation to be great at conveying all of the up-front information I want in a compact and easily parsable way.
The Prey Project website (http://preyproject.com/), to me, is one of the best designed product pages I've seen. It uses the "boring" style, too..
I don't think OP's intent was to elicit a comparison of this young man's landing page with that of other established businesses, rather he chose a headline in order to bring attention (and HN upvotes) to Marek's request.
Webpages changes fashion with a rather steady rate.
Before this growing style, white "clean" pages with minimal content was in style and is still in favor. Before then, extremely detailed "photoshopped" pages with a bunch of flash was in style (and menus, menus, menus). Before then, geocity and frontpage style, with blinking animations and sound. Before then, Spreadsheet style and link tables.
I wonder what this style should be called. I do like the name "flow style".
You shouldn't blame the webdev for you using a slow browser. There are plenty of other browsers out there that are faster if you are concerned about speed.
He wants to be an exchange student in high school, but instead of doing it through a program like AFS or Rotary, he's arranging things himself and put up a website to find a family. With programs you don't get so much say as to where you go, often not even the country, much less the state. Since he's a techie, i'd imagine he wants to end up in Silicon Valley or near by. Seems like a smart tactic to me. That said, he probably needs a follow up page or something for folks who are serious about hosting, which includes what it's like and need to host him as a high school exchange student.
A host family does not pay for its student's tuition. A host family will, in exchange for monetary compensation, provide a student with a bed to sleep in, meals, and a means for transportation to and from school and school activities.
However, Marek's use of the word volunteer - "I'm looking for volunteer host family in California for the next school year." - leads me to believe he doesn't want to pay the host family for room and board. We could clear up the confusion by emailing Marek.
I think 90% of commenters here would benefit from making an effort to remove your heads from your own asses.
"Chrome bug?"
"sales pages"?
"incentives"?
Give the young guy the benefit of expressing exactly what he wants without any reservations. And share a few of his talents along the way.
I am sure he'll get to CA soon!
He's done a great job and presented his information quite well. As an adult and a father I'd say that I represent his target market perfectly and he succeeded in: a) impressing me with his ability and determination, b) delivering to me the kind of information I need to know and c) delivering to me a sense of his maturity.
Not only do I think he would be a great guest but I can see him being very successful with whatever career path he chooses.
So is it a better sales page than you? Yes indeed, information delivered.
Design aside, does something like this work? I notice he's starting with just an idea (he has no place, no visa) if he can find a family willing to take him in for a year is that the hardest part, or will it be difficult for him to also get a visa and a place in a school?
Why is everyone criticizing his website? He isn't here looking for a website review. He is here looking for a family to host him. Reading from Ireland here, if I lived in CA, it wouldn't be an issue.
He is the product, so he only needs to make one sale to succeed. Quantity of sales is a poor metric for high-priced goods.
For example, a Walmart needs to turnover the equivalent its entire inventory every week to be profitable; a Lamborghini dealership or Saks can be profitable selling one item a month.
But us Western European people think of everything at the right of Germany and Austria as "Eastern Europe" because of the Iron Curtain and all. I suppose it's culural.
There, Slovakia is classified as Eastern, East-Central more concretely.
The westernmost countries of Europe, Spain and Portugal, are not classified as Western by the UN. The CIA considers them Western Europe though, and Slovakia is Central Europe for them.
I have to say that the CIA classification makes a lot more sense to me, the UN one seems to take a perceived cultural/economic approach that's both fuzzy and stereotyped.
I'd say most geographical classifications aren't sensible, Slovakia (just like Poland) has an uncertain position in Central or Eastern Europe depending on where you are.
I was graduated from high school in Slovakia 2 years ago. In my town (about 45,000 inhabitants, 12th largest in Slovakia) there are 11 high schools (with 50-1000 students).
I was actually attending 8-year grammar school - a special school that merges elementary and high school, allowing me to finish my studies 1 year sooner than standard education. This was intended to be for "smarter" kids. (It isn't.) However in terms of quality I think it is similar to most of the high schools.
Out of about 11 classes I've taken every year, only 7 actually required some effort to get an A.
Some teachers did not even care about "cheating" on the exams - it was pretty common for me to solve all variants in 20 minutes and then distribute it in the class.
At the beginning of the school year, we got about 20 textbooks chosen by Ministry of Education. Half of them were never used, some were 15 years old. We paid only for few textbooks.
Students were bored, teachers were bored. Only few took their job seriously, only one was doing more than required.
During the classes like Biology, Geography, Chemistry, History and Slovak literature, the teacher dictated what we should write. During the next class, one was chosen and graded based on how good he/she memorized the notes.
The more students the school have, the more money it gets. Every school keeps as many students as possible. Even if they do not pass the entry test.
The last year was by far the most wasted year of my life. Student chooses 4 subjects from about 9 possible for the state exams. We were however still obliged to take 12 subjects. All teachers stopped teaching the other subjects, because it "was not required for our state exams" and "gave us time to learn the important subjects". They were simply lazy. Sometimes they didn't even attend the class.
Today I remember almost nothing except Maths and English.
On the other hand, free WiFi. And a lot of time for personal projects.
They are not. I am not from Slovakia, but Albania (a neighbor country) and I can say that the average public high-school in the US is not any better than most high-schools in south-eastern Europe.
But, graduating from an US high school gives you much higher chances to get accepted to a US college, and get a scholarship (if you have top grades).
Talking this from experience: I came in the US for my senior year of high school as an exchange student (lived with an american family), and then got a full academic scholarship from an american university.
I was taking mostly AP classes, but still found my self running circles around most students in sciences (math, physics, chemistry) etc, and I found generally much easier experience than my classes back in Albania (even with the language handicap I had at the time). But still, that year in the US was very valuable in learning language, culture, making life-long friends, and getting me into college with a full scholarship.
What sort of legal implications or liabilities would someone take on by hosting this person? For example, if the child got hurt or in a bad accident, would they have the legal obligation to pay for him? And would this child fall under the hosts' medical insurance, or would he have to pay for his own medical insurance?
"Exchange student" programs have existed for long time. Usually the exchange students are required to buy at least "catastrophic" health insurance, and they might have to pay the tuition for the high-school they attend (even if it is a public school, since their parents are not us citizens and haven't been paying taxes).
The family is required to provide food, shelter, and some basic transportation, but that's it.
Students are required to have some money aside for monthly expenses.
I never have heard bad stories from the family side (i.e. they end up with a bad students) as the students themselves are well filtered. Most horror stories I have heard is from the students, where they go to a family and then they find themselves they have to babysit or do other stuff they are not expecting to.
Hi Marek, a fellow Slovak from Presov here :). Great job on the website. I would suggest being more specific on what you actually expect from the family in the US. Do you want just a place to sleep or do you expect them to provide food, transportation, pay your study fee (if any) etc. Good luck!
Wow, neat idea and nice looking web page. One comment comes to mind: Think about applying to school and getting in first (that what I recommend, in fact). You will then find a place to stay even if you have to do it after you arrive in Cali for school. Sure, you might have to work out a temporary solution, such as crashing on a couch or short-term rental, but being on the ground and meeting people and seeing places will be best, IMHO. That's how I've done it and that's how thousands of students do it. I did it myself like that when I was a student and I've hosted multiple students in my home now that I am in a position to do that. Have fun and best wishes! Cheers :)
What is the incentive for a family to host this boy?
I understand the value that someone in his position gets from being able to live and study in California. But you have to give value to take value right?
The host family gets to help someone to have a better life, and has the opportunity to get to know a creative and optimistic young man from a foreign country.
Say what you want but I know people in their 30's that can't put something together this creative. I love the idea. Very creative. I hope he finds a family.
Can anyone with JS debugger experience (I am learning to fight the Chrome debugger now) tell me how to identify what is causing that terrible lag
Partly it would be nice to let the poor kid know, partly I want to know how to fix such issues as they inevitably crop up for me. (CPU measures seem not to point to anything useful)
(If the answer is take stuff away till it works, well, why have a debugger?)
I'm on my phone so all I can see is a jquery mobile-based site but, given some of the comments, I assume he's probably overloaded the scroll event. That event fires _a lot_ so if you load it up with too much logic or attach too many listeners, you get some nasty lag (think "New Twitter"). You're better off attaching a single listener that does some light action like setting a variable (`didScroll = true`) and an interval timer (every 50ms is fine) that checks that variable and performs some logic as a result.
John Resig wrote up an article about this very probably several years back. If curious, I can dig it up.
Just think about that for a few minutes. You're complaining about the hosting quality of a page that is being HN'd from a _kid in Slovakia who put up the page to try and appeal to Americans to host him as he studies in their country._
Can't the novelty of this new era persist for even a few years?
[+] [-] chewxy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nodata|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] UnoriginalGuy|13 years ago|reply
I would also say that if that page was any longer or any more information dense then it wouldn't work as a thing. It only works because there is so little content.
In general it depends what you're trying to sell. I've never actually purchased from one of these "flow" pages, but I have purchased a lot from more boring product pages like this:
http://www.linode.com/tour/
The OP's sales page is definitely in fashion right now, in fact it looks like every current startup's page. But just because it is in fashion doesn't mean it is actually effective, and I've seen no evidence (and the OP supplies none) that it causes higher conversions than a "boring" sales page.
[+] [-] georgraphics|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lifeisstillgood|13 years ago|reply
The kids page does this - it sells his sponsorship needs really well.
Everything else is noise.
I cannot point to any research but I am pretty sure that a sales page that
has focus, one message, filters out its non-target audience and clearly and simply repeats its message
is better
than unfocused, off message, vague sales pages.
Whether they flow downwards or not is of secondary order.
[+] [-] laumars|13 years ago|reply
That all said, I want to take anything away from this guy, he's done a fantastic job and deserves recognition.
[+] [-] goostavos|13 years ago|reply
The Prey Project website (http://preyproject.com/), to me, is one of the best designed product pages I've seen. It uses the "boring" style, too..
[+] [-] stephensikes|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] belorn|13 years ago|reply
Before this growing style, white "clean" pages with minimal content was in style and is still in favor. Before then, extremely detailed "photoshopped" pages with a bunch of flash was in style (and menus, menus, menus). Before then, geocity and frontpage style, with blinking animations and sound. Before then, Spreadsheet style and link tables.
I wonder what this style should be called. I do like the name "flow style".
[+] [-] cadab|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] optymizer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] natmaster|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jan_g|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rabble|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trueluk|13 years ago|reply
However, Marek's use of the word volunteer - "I'm looking for volunteer host family in California for the next school year." - leads me to believe he doesn't want to pay the host family for room and board. We could clear up the confusion by emailing Marek.
[+] [-] gesman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Codhisattva|13 years ago|reply
Not only do I think he would be a great guest but I can see him being very successful with whatever career path he chooses.
So is it a better sales page than you? Yes indeed, information delivered.
[+] [-] citricsquid|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AncoraImparo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peteretep|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] waitwhat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fl3tch|13 years ago|reply
If you become a yacht salesman, are you expected to sell one on the first day? Are you a failure because someone else sold a hundred hot dogs?
[+] [-] rprasad|13 years ago|reply
For example, a Walmart needs to turnover the equivalent its entire inventory every week to be profitable; a Lamborghini dealership or Saks can be profitable selling one item a month.
[+] [-] ianstallings|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrknmc|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] digitalengineer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] muyuu|13 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe#UN
There, Slovakia is classified as Eastern, East-Central more concretely.
The westernmost countries of Europe, Spain and Portugal, are not classified as Western by the UN. The CIA considers them Western Europe though, and Slovakia is Central Europe for them.
I have to say that the CIA classification makes a lot more sense to me, the UN one seems to take a perceived cultural/economic approach that's both fuzzy and stereotyped.
[+] [-] athesyn|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jurajmasar|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tonfa|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Equiet|13 years ago|reply
I was graduated from high school in Slovakia 2 years ago. In my town (about 45,000 inhabitants, 12th largest in Slovakia) there are 11 high schools (with 50-1000 students).
I was actually attending 8-year grammar school - a special school that merges elementary and high school, allowing me to finish my studies 1 year sooner than standard education. This was intended to be for "smarter" kids. (It isn't.) However in terms of quality I think it is similar to most of the high schools.
Out of about 11 classes I've taken every year, only 7 actually required some effort to get an A. Some teachers did not even care about "cheating" on the exams - it was pretty common for me to solve all variants in 20 minutes and then distribute it in the class. At the beginning of the school year, we got about 20 textbooks chosen by Ministry of Education. Half of them were never used, some were 15 years old. We paid only for few textbooks.
Students were bored, teachers were bored. Only few took their job seriously, only one was doing more than required.
During the classes like Biology, Geography, Chemistry, History and Slovak literature, the teacher dictated what we should write. During the next class, one was chosen and graded based on how good he/she memorized the notes.
The more students the school have, the more money it gets. Every school keeps as many students as possible. Even if they do not pass the entry test.
The last year was by far the most wasted year of my life. Student chooses 4 subjects from about 9 possible for the state exams. We were however still obliged to take 12 subjects. All teachers stopped teaching the other subjects, because it "was not required for our state exams" and "gave us time to learn the important subjects". They were simply lazy. Sometimes they didn't even attend the class.
Today I remember almost nothing except Maths and English.
On the other hand, free WiFi. And a lot of time for personal projects.
[+] [-] ardit33|13 years ago|reply
But, graduating from an US high school gives you much higher chances to get accepted to a US college, and get a scholarship (if you have top grades).
Talking this from experience: I came in the US for my senior year of high school as an exchange student (lived with an american family), and then got a full academic scholarship from an american university. I was taking mostly AP classes, but still found my self running circles around most students in sciences (math, physics, chemistry) etc, and I found generally much easier experience than my classes back in Albania (even with the language handicap I had at the time). But still, that year in the US was very valuable in learning language, culture, making life-long friends, and getting me into college with a full scholarship.
[+] [-] sazary|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PonyGumbo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] kjackson2012|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ardit33|13 years ago|reply
The family is required to provide food, shelter, and some basic transportation, but that's it. Students are required to have some money aside for monthly expenses.
I never have heard bad stories from the family side (i.e. they end up with a bad students) as the students themselves are well filtered. Most horror stories I have heard is from the students, where they go to a family and then they find themselves they have to babysit or do other stuff they are not expecting to.
[+] [-] jarospisak|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chris123|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zxcvvcxz|13 years ago|reply
I understand the value that someone in his position gets from being able to live and study in California. But you have to give value to take value right?
[+] [-] furyofantares|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sazary|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pla3rhat3r|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lifeisstillgood|13 years ago|reply
Partly it would be nice to let the poor kid know, partly I want to know how to fix such issues as they inevitably crop up for me. (CPU measures seem not to point to anything useful)
(If the answer is take stuff away till it works, well, why have a debugger?)
[+] [-] sisk|13 years ago|reply
John Resig wrote up an article about this very probably several years back. If curious, I can dig it up.
[+] [-] fratis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beefsack|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] conradfr|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] KirinDave|13 years ago|reply
Just think about that for a few minutes. You're complaining about the hosting quality of a page that is being HN'd from a _kid in Slovakia who put up the page to try and appeal to Americans to host him as he studies in their country._
Can't the novelty of this new era persist for even a few years?