Constructive criticism: the visual aesthetic of the site is so busted that I (and I expect many people) would never register to try the software. Some ideas for improvement which are specifically calibrated to match your case (not rules for sites in general, obviously):<p>- Most of all, radically simplify. For now, I think it's better to just explain what it is and put forward a simple call to action (create your account and get started!) All of the accoutrements of a "professional website", the images with overlaid text (test tubes because it's scientific, for example) are distracting and too difficult to execute. Put all that energy into the app and market later.<p>- The cloud tile background is random and totally dominating. The first thing I do when I visit is cycle my eyes around the strange margins full of clouds, because they're the brightest thing on the page.<p>- The color palette is nuts. Pick 3 colors that you've seen together on other sites and stick to them.<p>- Add a little more padding to all of the various boxes you're using. In almost every case, the edge of the box is way too close to the text.<p>- Swap out the squirrel clip art for a word mark. Pick one of these fonts you like and write the name of the app in it:<p><a href="http://www.google.com/webfonts" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/webfonts</a><p>- Add a wrapper to the whole website if you want a margin around the fixed-width background. It looks really strange not to have consistent margins, especially with the intense background.
"Password must contain only letters, numbers, and underscores"<p>Could you fix that please? There is no reason to restrict what a password may contain.
Back when I was preparing for the GRE (in the early 90's), I found two things to be very useful for increasing vocabulary.<p>1) Anu Garg's "A Word A Day" (wordsmith.org), back then it was just a daily email subscription that emailed out an advanced vocabulary word. One per day, simple and effective back in th'day when people received a volume of email that was actually consumable in one day.<p>2) A buddy passed on to me a huge stack of index cards each one containing a turgid vocabulary word that you would never use in real life but that would be common on the GRE or in a George Will essay.<p>I recall that when I took the GRE, there were a couple of words that I would not have known if I had not prepared with the cards and at least one that was on a word a day. A few words is enough to seriously boost your GRE score and totally worth the small investment in time (a few minutes everyday for ~6 months).
Do you have a mobile app or a mobile-optimized interface? If so, you should mention it on the front page. I use Anki for studying vocabulary, and for reviewing I use the iPhone app exclusively. I only use the web interface for managing my lists. If you want to make a few bucks, you'll have no problem getting your users to cough up money for a mobile app, because of how handy it is to review in odd moments.<p>(I just checked Anki in the app store, and it's priced at $25 [1]. For the record, I paid less than that when I bought it, but I would have gladly paid $25.)<p>Also, make sure you test and advertise your support for non-ASCII characters and non-English dictionaries.<p>[1] <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ankisrs/id373493387?mt=8" rel="nofollow">http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ankisrs/id373493387?mt=8</a>
First thought on the website is that you really need a design. An average user will automatically feel troubled with the overall looks of the site.<p>Best example is a known war between iOS and Android. Even if the latter has more functionality most users are still appealed by the simplicity and the aesthetic of the former.<p>With a fresh coat of paint and some more organization, you will have an amazing little site!
Love the idea, but the word definitions are lacking.<p>From the top 100 list, churlish is defined as having the qualities of a serf or peasant. This is correct, but in common usage it generally means 'surly'. Knowing the latter definition makes the word far more useful.<p>Similarly, epiphany (appearance of the divine) is almost always used (if you're not discussing the holiday or Christian mythology) to mean 'a sudden understanding'.<p>There are probably others, these were just on the first page.
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Password must contain only letters, numbers, and underscores
'IQ' already means something in this realm. Re-using it is a very bad idea.<p>Having to click 'next word' after each word gets old fast, and seriously slows down your studying.<p>This doesn't offer any way to learn the words, only to remember them. An SRS is only half of the solution for learning new things. You need a learning module for when they encounter new words.
I am not a native english speaker and in my english class, the teacher always had us write one sentence using the new word we had to learn. This way we built our own context and understanding of the word. Maybe that could help in learning the words.
Are you tied into one of the online dictionaries via api? I had similar idea before social networking. I can see how this could take off.<p>If not already, make it searchable by school, class, and textbook.<p>Good luck.
The page doesn't seem to render properly here (Firefox 5 and Chromium 12 tested).<p>In case it helps: <a href="http://i.imgur.com/xvEZE.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/xvEZE.png</a>
Suggestion: show the visitor what the app does, give an example without requiring the visitor to do anything. Don't require account creation straight away.
very nice idea. people can come up with some very cool public lists, like the <a href="http://wordstash.com/lists/167-100-words-you-should-know" rel="nofollow">http://wordstash.com/lists/167-100-words-you-should-know</a><p>just for fun here's a sentence with 11 of those words: my fatuous and vacuous chicanery in pecuniary jejune only serve to inculcate me the quotidian need to abrogate the belie of ego--my circumlocutious lexicon aside.
You've got it wrong, you don't read to learn vocab, you learn vocab to supplement reading experience.<p>A bookmarklet that acts as mouse over dictionary, added with a system that saves the whole context (and its distinguishing look) of whatever user is reading on browser, combined with a repetitive learning aid (like one you have as flashcard) is the right approach to assistive vocab learning.