Comments on: "It's simple - reeeaal simple."

"It's simple - reeeaal simple."

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 12 May 2007 10:59:51 -0800

Sputtr is a front-end for searching a variety of popular sites, of course dipped in some Web 2.0 sauce.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:05:25 -0800

No AskMetaFilter?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:24:01 -0800

Well that's overdone.

By: ericb

ericb — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:32:51 -0800

"A refreshingly clean way to search the things that matter the most." There are indeed "refreshingly clean" ways to gargle, douche and wash your hair. Search? meh.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:34:04 -0800

wow, that's hideous.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:35:23 -0800

Excellent! Thanks so much!

By: grobstein

grobstein — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:38:25 -0800

This has got to be some kind of joke. Did you see their blog post where they touted their listing as an honorable mention to a "Top 100 Alternative Search Engines" list? Yes, top 100, and yes, after they finished the list they went back and added 32 more, and yes Sputtr was one of the 32, and yes it was number 32.

By: neustile

neustile — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:42:02 -0800

I'm so glad these guys fixed my biggest problem with web search -- the small text entry box. I always have trouble finding it on google.

By: scottreynen

scottreynen — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:44:13 -0800

Wow, I spend all day every day online and I don't think I've ever seen so much design for so little functionality before.

By: selfnoise

selfnoise — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:48:45 -0800

Blegh. Just use Mycroft....

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:49:08 -0800

How is this different from my browser's (FireFox's) search box?* So far as I care to tell, I can add each of those searches to it no problem. *Aside from not having a MeFi option...

By: gwint

gwint — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:49:26 -0800

In case the search box isn't quite large enough for you, I've whipped up another version.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:54:31 -0800

gwint: Please add garish colors and a three step "instruction" set that doesn't actually tell you to click any of the buttons.

By: neustile

neustile — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:03:38 -0800

gwint, do you want some intros to VCs? I think you've got the right stuff. Just title the page "search community" and you're all set, should be good for a 3 on 1.

By: bhouston

bhouston — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:29:00 -0800

that sucks, no offense.

By: spiderskull

spiderskull — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:40:14 -0800

gwint, that is just the right size. Thank you. My only feature request would be fading text. I don't really care what it says, just as long as it fades in and out.

By: hifiparasol

hifiparasol — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:55:38 -0800

Very convenient. Thanks.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sat, 12 May 2007 13:30:39 -0800

Dear Adobe, On behalf of the internet community I implore you to immediately release a patch for all versions of Photoshop that eliminates the Rounded Rectangle feature. If you can also find a way to auto-detect any attempt to create a striped background and reformat the user's hard drive, that's great too. Rounded rectangles are killing the internet. Only one design company can save it. (It would've been two companies but you already bought the other one.) I hope that whole CS3 thing is going well for you. Say hi to Framemaker when you get a chance. Much love, chrominance.

By: chrominance

chrominance — Sat, 12 May 2007 13:37:17 -0800

On a slightly more serious note: NO, this is not simple. Any search engine that requires a three-step explanation is not simple. What are all those buttons for? Considering that the search bar already has a Google button on it, and that hovering over the other buttons changes "Search" to "Search [site]", you'd think that you click on a button to change the search parameters. But no—clicking a button executes the search. Of course, when the search field is empty, all this does is send you to the site in question. Which turns Sputtr into a list of links and not a search engine. Considering the trivial amount of Javascript code it would take to block people from using the buttons until someone filled out the search field, I can only assume the current functionality is either severe laziness or a complete lack of usability testing. The method for searching is so ass-backwards that I actually tried to drag-and-drop the buttons onto the search bar, thinking "oh, maybe those geniuses are just sooo Web 2.0 that they don't have time for any click that doesn't also involve a drag." But no, it's just that the search method is ass-backwards. This site is so full of FAIL.

By: Rhomboid

Rhomboid — Sat, 12 May 2007 14:17:38 -0800

mrquery.com has been doing this (without the web 2.0 spooge) for some time.

By: furtive

furtive — Sat, 12 May 2007 14:26:38 -0800

Bah, popurls.com, that's the shit and features metafilter.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Sat, 12 May 2007 16:55:12 -0800

Has anyone read the JavaScript, by the way? It's pretty ugly. Not a whole lot of room for expansion. And what happens when the number of buttons exceeds the window? Doesn't it become harder then? By the way, for those of you who think this website makes your life easier, I seriously ask you to do a quick google search (or, if you insist, sputtr search) for "firefox smart keywords".

By: Artaud

Artaud — Sat, 12 May 2007 17:49:51 -0800

Gwint... that's a nice effort but the 'search Google' button is too small.

By: churl

churl — Sat, 12 May 2007 18:05:56 -0800

187; Considering that the search bar already has a Google button on it, and that hovering over the other buttons changes "Search" to "Search [site]", you'd think that you click on a button to change the search parameters... The method for searching is so ass-backwards that I actually tried to drag-and-drop the buttons onto the search bar

It didn't outright infuriate me, but that was exactly my experience with it. I think it would be a useful site and the idea behind the straightforward interface is good -- it just fails in the execution. They need a notifylist for "I will totally use it, guys! Just email me when it works right!" I would sign up.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Sat, 12 May 2007 18:57:28 -0800

it's a solution without a problem. I hope they're proud.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sat, 12 May 2007 21:44:52 -0800

Yeah, I totally can't see where their audience is.

By: rmm

rmm — Sat, 12 May 2007 22:48:17 -0800

"This site is so full of FAIL" - I've got to start using that. Sigh... so many real problems online to fix, and somehow this was *not* one of them.

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sat, 12 May 2007 23:08:53 -0800

Shouldn't someone tell them about the typo in their monikr?

By: fredosan

fredosan — Mon, 14 May 2007 10:15:24 -0800

"it's a solution without a problem. I hope they're proud." – pmbuko No more calls, we have a winner!

By: Caviar

Caviar — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:28:13 -0800

Remember when sites that collect information from users had privacy policies?