New IMatch 5 Website ready

[Richard]

The only target is to make them download and install IMatch 5 - well, and to buy it

My bet would be that majority of those who give the Evaluation version a through test will buy a license. One of the most common  complaints about IMatch 3 was the user interface and I fear it turned some away. That is no longer the case so I expect more folks to become users. There are other things that add to my feeling that IMatch 5's public release is going to result a whole lot more attention than any prior IMatch release. Before I found IMatch I had spent six years looking at every DAM I could find. Now a number of those competitors have disappeared and I believe that IMatch 5 will be the cause of some more falling by the wayside.

[Mees Dekker]

Mario,

I think Emma represents your most important targetgroup (in sales numbers, that is). She is an enthousiast amateur photographer and there are millions of these (as opposed to the other types of users). I would therefore suggest that you put her first instead of last. In all 6 types of users, you underline in some way the fact that he/she is in some kind of business with pictures. In order to make some money with IMatch (what you certainly deserve), you need to hit the mass-market as well as the professional market. So target also on these people who are not in any "business" way involved in photography, but are nevertheless interested in organising collection(-s) such as scout-groups, football or any other sport, family websites, etc..

Opening sentence for Emma could be : "She is an (enthousiast) amateur photographer and a mother of three. She joined the local photo-club a couple of months ago". Delete the second sentence (She works part-time as a graphic artist for local businesses). Underline the fact that the batch-processor makes it very easy for her to make pictures presentable/usable for social media (like the local website and Facebook).

Secondly: on the home page you state that IMatch solves the problem of managing large collections of digital files. That could put a lot of potential customers off. They could think : "I'm only an amateur and I don't have a large collection. So I won't need or benefit from IMatch". The main point is that IMatch organises any (from very small to very large) collection of any digital files (photo's, scans, pdf, etc). And it organises from very simple ways (just dates, folders and renaming) to very complex ways (metadata all the way, scripts, categories, keywords, etc.).

Why do you need it? Exchange second and first paragraph. Again: quite a few people in your potential target group don't work in RAW, but are only interested in organising their pictures, not in RAW workflows.

How users work with IMatch. I would suggest to replace the words "It gives you a very good idea  ...." by "It provides you with an impression ....". Let them judge for themselves, don't boast.

Lastly: I know it will be a lot of work, but nevertheless. Would it be worthwhile to make your IMatch website multilangual? If you have any kind of analysis to which countries/languages IMatch is mostly sold, you could consider to translate the site into the most important languages. Again: this is mainly oriented towards the "enthousiast amateur photographer" and not all of these people are good at English. No wonder that Canon/Nikon (and the like) provide multilingual user interfaces.

[Kucera]

Hi, lovely stuff, the examples.
After reading about Paz, I can't help wishing that I had digi photos, GPS, GIS, and last but not least, iMatch to organize it all, when I started my biologist's career (way too far back now...). At least it is not too late to catch up with some of the photo organizing, thanks to the renaming and metadata editing features.
You can quote me on that! 

And for the typo department (Paz):
"The Viewer can display up to 16 files at simultaneously"  the 'at' should be dropped.

[BanjoTom]

User Emma, under "Keywords and Descriptions" has entitled a picture "Family Picknick at Ground Park" and also lists "picknick" as a keyword.   I don't think she is referring to the online image editor called "Picknick," so this seems to be a misspelling of the English word "picnic" -- which is spelled "picknick" in German, though . . .

[BanjoTom]

User Emma:

"After a short time all photos are processed and she can take the USB stick with here to print the images at the mall."

Should be ". . . take the USB stick with her to print . . . "

[BanjoTom]

User Mike:

If you are a professional photographer or an ambitioned amateur, this should give you some insight in how IMatch will help you with your workflow.

Suggestions: 
1. " . . . or an ambitious amateur . . . "
2. ". . . some insight into the many ways IMatch will help you . . . "

Then, under "Renaming and Distributing Files":

Mike reuses this project code in the Renamer to give each image an unique name.

Fixed: "Mike reuses this project code in the Renamer to give each image a unique name."

And, under Integrating Other Applications, you refer to "LR" -- this may be too basic for most professional photographers, but will ALL readers of the new IMatch 5 website know that LR=Lightroom?   

[Richard]

 

know that LR=Lightroom

Good point and I believe it is wise to avoid abbreviations and acronyms when writing for the general public.

[Mario]

I think Emma represents your most important targetgroup (in sales numbers, that is). She is an enthousiast amateur photographer and there are millions of these (as opposed to the other types of users). I would therefore suggest that you put her first instead of last. (...)

You have a point there. I think I will re-arrange the order and make some changes to Emma's story.

Secondly: on the home page you state that IMatch solves the problem of managing large collections of digital files. That could put a lot of potential customers off. They could think : "I'm only an amateur and I don't have a large collection. So I won't need or benefit from IMatch". The main point is that IMatch organises any (from very small to very large) collection of any digital files (photo's, scans, pdf, etc). And it organises from very simple ways (just dates, folders and renaming) to very complex ways (metadata all the way, scripts, categories, keywords, etc.).

Good point, too.

Lastly: [/i]I know it will be a lot of work, but nevertheless. Would it be worthwhile to make your IMatch website multilangual?

I could do a German version. But for all other languages I would need to buy translation services, and they are very expensive. Even when you use today's on-line translation services (I don't mean Google translate but one of the services where you upload your documents an it is then translated by some translator sitting wherever) you pay between 1,500 and 3,000 US$ for 10,000 words (depending on complexity etc.) The IMatch 5 section at photools.com has about 10,000 to 12,000 words. At that's just for one language!

No wonder that Canon/Nikon (and the like) provide multilingual user interfaces.

Yep. But these companies operate on different budgets 
I pay for computers, servers, tools, domains, certificates out of my own pockets. If I make enough molah from IMatch 5 I will first invest in tools and libraries to port it to 64-Bit (the scripting engine library for 64-Bit costs alone about 5 times as much as the 32-bit version, plus annual royalties). And when I make even more money, I will invest in translating the web site and maybe the resources. Until then, it's Google translate. Which produces at least a readable translation...

[Mario]

User Mike:
(...)

Thanks. All fixed.

[Mario]

Hi, lovely stuff, the examples.
After reading about Paz, I can't help wishing that I had digi photos, GPS, GIS, and last but not least, iMatch to organize it all, when I started my biologist's career (way too far back now...).

A certain biologist (the real Paz) was actually the reason for me making IMatch being able to handle large taxonomies in categories. And for the new category import feature introduced recently (because they maintain taxonomies in a simple tab-indented format).

During my research I found this site: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy which is a large (and free) on-line taxonomy database. They have massive amounts of data (> 400,000 entries) and still claim that they cover only 10% of the described species of life on the planet. Amazing!

[jch2103]

Some other suggested small fixes as of 12:01 PM -07:00 today:

Mike
"The Shooting" --> Better to say "The Shoot" or "Shooting"
"In preparation for a shooting," --> "In preparation for a shoot,"
"directly downloads files from the camera via the network link." This isn't clear; did you mean via a (USB) cable? Or did you assume Mike is using a wi-fi link from the camera?

Metadata templates
"a set of standard keywords etc. " --> "a set of standard keywords, etc."
Caption: "They can be used to fill in standard data and stationary," --> Unclear; what's 'stationary'?

Review and Culling
"During and after the shooting," --> "During and after the shoot,"
"e.g. picks make by his clients." --> "e.g., picks made by his clients."
"a camera dashboard and many other information displays as needed." --> "a camera dashboard and as many other information displays as needed."

Editing Metadata and Keywords
"This freely configurable panel that can display" --> "This freely configurable panel can display" or "This is a freely configurable panel that can display"
"In addition to standards like IPTC, EXIF, XMP, GPS, PSD, Office, MP3 IMatch" --> "In addition to standards like IPTC, EXIF, XMP, GPS, PSD, Office and MP3, IMatch"
"create sets of frequently used keywords in the thesaurus etc." --> "create sets of frequently used keywords in the thesaurus, etc."

Conclusion
"Only for editing he had to switch from IMatch to Photoshop and LR." --> "Only for editing has he had to switch from IMatch to Photoshop and LR. " or "Lightroom"

[jch2103]

Some other suggested small fixes as of 12:29 PM -07:00 today:

Emma

Files and Folders
"This makes finding images in Windows easier, and also tasks backups." --> "This makes finding images in Windows easier, and also simplifies backups."
Caption: "The optimal IMatch feature to find the best photos and to delete images not worth to keep." -->"This is the optimal IMatch feature to find the best photos and to delete images not worth keeping."
"IMatch stores the data she enters in the Metadata Panel to the database" --> "IMatch stores the data she enters in the Metadata Panel into the database"

GPS Coordinates
"This is great when the later uploads images to Facebook" --> "This is great when she later uploads images to Facebook"

Organizing Images with Categories
"The feature Emma likes most are categories. " --> "The feature Emma likes most is categories."

[jch2103]

Small fixes as of 12:45 PM -07:00 today:

Susan

Categories
"All images with motives of Arabia" --> I assume this should be "All images with motifs of Arabia" Likewise for the earlier usage.

The Timeline
"Susan and her team fill the corresponding metadata value" --> " Susan and her team fill in the corresponding metadata value"

Import and Export
"The CSV format produced in this example is ideal to export data" --> "The CSV format produced in this example is ideal for exporting data"


General comments:
"e.g." should always be followed by a comma, e.g., "e.g., "
"etc." should be preceded by a comma, e.g., "(long list of items), etc. "

[jch2103]

Small fixes as of 1:00 PM -07:00 today:

Paz

Annotations
"One feature of IMatch which uses used often by scientific users are Annotations." --> "One feature of IMatch used often by scientific users is Annotations."
"From here Pat can" --> "From here Paz can"

Exporting and Using Annotations
"The Batch Processor is able to render annotations to out images," --> "The Batch Processor is able to render annotations to output images," ?

Using Attribute Data
"Attribute data but can be utilized in many ways." --> "Attribute data can be utilized in many ways."
"Ideal for publishing or presentations." --> "This is ideal for publishing or presentations. "

Conclusion
"With a custom database built using Attributes they handle  whatever data they want to manage for each of their files." --> "With a custom database built using Attributes they handle whatever data they want to manage for each of their files." (Extra space)

[jch2103]

Small fixes as of 2:50 PM -07:00 today:

Paul

The Universal Thesaurus
"Since Paul often shoots similar motives," --> should be "motif"

"It us used most often" --> "It is used most often"

"he can now just pick them for the list he manages" --> "he can now just pick them from the list he manages"

"For quite a number of fruit and " --> "For quite a number of fruits and "

"The IMatch Thesaurus and it's synonym feature" --> "The IMatch Thesaurus and its synonym feature"

Conclusion
"He can work with the Viewer very similar to a classic light table," --> "He can work with the Viewer very much like a classic light table,"

[jch2103]

Small fixes as of 3:01 PM -07:00 today:

Claude

"over 10,000 metadata fields" --> elsewhere it's "over 12,000"

"Claude has direct access the the Universal Thesaurus" --> "Claude has direct access to the Universal Thesaurus"

[jch2103]

Doing a line-by-line review of the new website just reinforces what a powerful, flexible product Mario has developed!

[Richard]

"stationary" I too had wondered about the meaning but decided that the meaning must be as used in this sentence. 'Mike ordered stationary for his office.'

Doing a line-by-line review of the new website just reinforces what a powerful, flexible product Mario has developed!

Two words need more emphasis.  'what a powerful, flexible product Mario has developed

[aloney]

More screenshots on the main page.

[Mario]

Doing a line-by-line review of the new website just reinforces what a powerful, flexible product Mario has developed!

And also thank you very much for your review and feedback. I have today fixed the typos you found and incorporated your suggestions.

[Mario]

More screenshots on the main page.

You would add screen shots of which features?

I decided that landing page should look as clean as possible. One big screen shot at the top as an eye catches, then the necessary text. I tried with three screen shots but these made the page too "busy", and without adding more text to explain them, they're useless.

The general aim is that the visitor should quickly find the user profiles and click them. They all have plenty of screen shots, but also a context which explains what the visitor sees.

[Photon]

@Lightroom users: Why do you use IMatch in addition to LR? I do, and I know why. But why do you? I mean LR has keywords and shows metadata too.

• LR does not support most or all other non-image media and office files
• LR does not allow Drag&Drop to other applications
• LR does not allow sidecar files for ALL file extensions
• With LR you need a lot of free or payed add-ons for efficient work with metadata
• LR is not really convenient for file and directory management
• User interface of LR has less room for modification than IM
• I use LR only for editing selected RAW images from my big jpg, raw, png, video, office, ... file collection
• For minor image modifications of image files I do not need LR, but I use non-destructive and real-time-rendering presentation tools

Main reason: LR does not have the basic philosophy to support third-party non-Adobe tools. But IM has the build-in basic principle to support a lot of other tools (RAW converter, presentations tools, media viewers, image processing tools, command line tools, ...). A DAM (or database) without flexible interfaces would be a bad DAM (or database). In this context LR is not, but IM is a real DAM.

Regards, Martin

[Erik]

I like the website.  I like the feedback many have suggested.  But, from a marketing standpoint and to reinforce a point you made early on; people tend to look at web pages quickly and want to be sold quickly on something quickly.  They want something to the point.

I feel like what is there now has a lot of great information but perhaps too much...  I remember once that in a web design class that they generally recommend not making it so users have to scroll too much. 

That being said.  I wonder if you could collapse a lot of your content into subjects that would expand when a user clicks with the primary page being the text you have in white between the red lines and a nice large screen shot with the headings of each section visible, clickable, and expandable.  This would have the effect of making things look a bit "cleaner".  I'm not sure how easy that is.  I surely didn't do things like that 20 years ago when I was taking a web design course in college, but wikipedia routinely does something like this with their site (perhaps only on their mobile site).

Another item I suggest is somehow having an ability to use more of the screen space. On my 1920 pixel wide monitor, the page only takes up about half the width of my browser.  Couple that with the right column, and the page feels a little tight. 

I like the idea of Emma being first and I like the typical user idea in general.  Unfortunately, I can't see it when i first browse the page, but that is probably the one feature of your web page that is quite useful for what you are trying to do.  The amateur is useful up front not only because there are a lot of us out there, but we are probably also the most finicky.  The professionals will spend more time researching and learn about a software and realize that there is more than meets the eye.  The amateur and casual user is the one who needs to be grabbed in those 5 seconds.

Most users are going to be won by the fact that their organization and DAM is independent of their processing software.  Those who like the integration of LR aren't going to be easily won, but those who rely on more than just LR are there for the taking.  LR is probably one of the better DAM's when it comes to RAW processing + DAM, but your program is great because it allows me to easily use any RAW program, not just one.  The scriptability with IM is nice.  I wasn't even aware LR had scriptability, so if anything you make it upfront and out there.  MWG compliance is nice, and a developer who keeps the program inline with the state of the practice is useful.  At the least, a user can switch from LR to IM without missing a step and doesn't have to do much more.  There is little effort needed. 

Anyway, whatever happens, you've put a web page together that works.  I hope you sell lots of copies of IM, perhaps enough to allow you to make it your real full time job (not that you don't put full time into it already), but perhaps enough to quit your real job and maybe travel in the time that job "used" to require

-Erik

[Sorted]

"stationary" I too had wondered about the meaning but decided that the meaning must be as used in this sentence. 'Mike ordered stationary for his office.'

Shouldn't it be 'Mike ordered stationery for his office'? (Mnemonic: stationery has an 'e' as in envelope). Stationary, of course, means still, not moving.

[Mario]

Already fixed that a couple of days ago. Or did you find that today?

[Richard]

I am wondering if a Glossary Of Terms might be of benefit. If a reader sees a word like "Collections" s/he may wonder what that actually means in IMatch. Carrying this idea to the maximum would be links from words to the right location in Help.

During the six years I searched for an application that really suited me I downloaded and installed a lot of trial versions. I soon learned that many applications install well but do no uninstall well and left a lot of garbage on my HD. As a result I often spent hours reading before installing a trial version. I am probably the exception and the website has a good introduction to IMatch but some common words may leave a reader with questions about exactly what that word means in IMatch.

[Mario]

(You cannot link from a web site to a help file installed locally. )

I'm not sure, really. I've read a lot of current statistics recently about web site design, user interaction, visitor behavior etc.

Too much information, too many details actually drives visitors away from a web site! Catchy phrases, nice pictures, a cool USP in big bold letters and some 'trust-building' information is what visitors expect. Look at the web sites of competitors or the big software brands to see what I mean.

I doubt that a visitor who lends my web site his attention for a few seconds should be bombarded with too many details. This will be counterproductive, I suppose.
If somebody is interested enough to wonder about details like "Collection" (there is a light-weight explanation for collections in some of user profiles) he/she can download the help file to get all the info before installing - or better, download the demo version and see for him/herself.

[jch2103]

I don't know if this is at all valid, but it sounds interesting:

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/05/this-ai-tells-you-if-your-website-is-too-cluttered/

[Richard]

I found it interesting but it seemed to be aimed at sites with multiple products to sell. I like what I see at the IMatch 5 Website and it is not at all hard to follow.

[Mario]

Designing e-commerce web sites (which photools.com is not) has become a matter of a lot experimentation, research, science, and probably some dark magic as well over the past couple of years.

Sometimes even small changes can make a huge difference. Or just improving the time a web site requires to load. For example, Amazon did a study in 2006 where they found out that if the web site loads 100ms (1/10 of a second!) slower, they loose 1% of sales. In a more recent study, Walmart found out that if their web site loads 1 second faster, it generates 2% more in sales. That's called conversion rate in tech lingo. Here in Germany, web shops have a conversion rate between 1 and 3%: from 100 visitors 1 to 3 buy something.

Sometimes even something apparently trivial like the color or placement of the "Buy" button, or the information 'surrounding' it can have a huge impact on whether the visitor buys something - or spends his money elsewhere.

Whatever online shop you use, you are being tracked, analyzed and psychologically studied in order to generate an Internet experience which  makes it easier for you to part from your money. Whether it's ads you get served, or how you 'see' your favorite on-line shop is dynamically adjusted to match your our your 'groups' psychological profile.

Amazon can look very different for different users. And that's not only the "what you might be interested in" offers - sometimes different users get different prices at different times, or even a different look of the web site. That's called A/B test and the results of these tests tell the shop operator which way works better for which user groups.

That's all a bit over the top for my honest "Here is more software. Try it. If you like it, buy it" web site of course

[joel23]

@All:

If you have a quote for me, please post it here.

Something like:


"IMatch 5 is the best invention since sliced bread."
-- Mario M. Westphal (Author of IMatch)

Shouldn't be to long.
"I M A T C H  5 - Just Add Photos" or assets.
But most consumers don't know what assets are. IMVHO.

[herman]

I fully agree with Mario that texts on a website should be short.
If my memory serves me well you have only a couple of seconds to draw the attention of the visitor.
When the site has long texts, or is difficult to understand, people tend to click away.

Thinking about quotes.......
It should be simple, short, say everything in one line......
What about these:

Taking Digital Asset management to the next level.

Redefining Digital Asset Management.

[Mario]

Taking Digital Asset management to the next level.

Redefining Digital Asset Management.

This is the typical overpaid BWM-driving black-clothes wearing marketing people mumo-jumbo you get everywhere these days. Statements like "redefining X" "revolutionary", "next level" or (sigh!) "premium" make many people just sick

I try to stay away from such jargon and show people what they get from IMatch in simple words and pictschurs. Of course the web site is marketing, but of the informative kind, I hope.

And, yes. A web site has only about 5 seconds to grab the attention of a visitor. Based on fairly recent studies. That's why the eye catcher image and the USP are right on top, the landing page has only as little text as possible and the unusual comic book characters are used for the user examples. It's all to draw attention and to get the visitor to read more about IMatch.

[Mario]

Shouldn't be to long.
"I M A T C H  5 - Just Add Photos" or assets.
But most consumers don't know what assets are. IMVHO.

That statement sounds pretty negative: ...Just Photos. Can't IMatch 5 do anything else?
I use the "images and other digital files" for the USP and the intro text. This is much clearer and positive I guess.

[Richard]

Of course the web site is marketing, but of the informative kind, I hope.

I can't comment about the marketing aspect but I believe that it is certainly informative.

[joel23]

Shouldn't be to long.
"I M A T C H  5 - Just Add Photos" or assets.
But most consumers don't know what assets are. IMVHO.

That statement sounds pretty negative: ...Just Photos. Can't IMatch 5 do anything else?

A slogan is about to draw attention to a product/website, it should not be to descriptive. 
I don't think it's is negative and sure IMatch can more, but the user should find out him self. You can't sell all the advantages of an "eier_legende_woll_milch_sau" (swiss army knife) in a short slogan.

This "just" is not to understand as "can only" but as "only add your photos/assets, IMatch will take care of the rest".
But anyway. It's like with jokes: when a joke has to be explained, there is no.

[Richard]

IMatch 5 is something of a "swiss army knife" DAM. That could be made into a pretty good slogan.

[Sorted]

Mario, I am trying to look at your website dispassionately  and have several suggestions which I hope will not offend you. I say this because you have made it clear that you have given great thought to the current content and layout.

Just now I am unable to connect to your IM5 web site so cannot check and revise that which I have written below, so excuse any errors.

• I think there is too much text to read, there is only one screen shot, rather than several, and too many words and phrases in bold which tends to spoil the appearance of the text and serves little purpose. Since you now have an image which pops out when clicked why not have at least three more which illustrate features? These should be much smaller (i.e., thumbnails) than the main image in order to conserve space but IMatch is so much to do with photographs and graphics so why not utilise images? Much of your audience is in the business of images: that's what they will respond to.
• I'd be inclined to present all the salient features (time-line etc.) as captioned thumbnails ('pop outs', illustrating each), perhaps in a grid of three across and two down, or whatever looks/fits best. I believe all your main points need to be there, at a glance, at the top, preferably with thumbnails to click on. Use dot points for speed reading.
• Your 'IMatch 5 at a Glance' should be at the top and, perhaps, re-written for the purpose. You need to engage your prospective customers within seconds of opening your website. If you look at the use of images on your site you'll see that only one illustrates IM5 itself. Indeed, I think they occupy as much of the page as the screenshot. I'd be inclined, if at all possible, to replace the cartoon characters with small pictures of real, happy, people. Frankly, 'cartoon characters' don't seem to fit well here.
• Swap the first two paragraphs.
• Use lighter text and/or larger font
• Remove all/most bold text in paragraphs.
• Replace text on 'banner' 'Organize Your Stuff' with 'Get Organized!' I am not in favour of the word 'stuff' in this context.
• Lastly, I would simply delete all the following:
  
  "While developing IMatch, we used several user types for guidance. Each of these prototype users has a different job, works in a different environment and has different requirements for a digital asset management system."
  "Check out how these folks use IMatch. This will give you a very good idea of how you can use IMatch to solve your image and document management problems."
  and just retain the heading 'How users work with Imatch' or 'How typical users work with Imatch'

Well, I'm sure IM5 will be a great success come what may.

[Mario]

"While developing IMatch, we used several user types for guidance. Each of these prototype users has a different job, works in a different environment and has different requirements for a digital asset management system."
"Check out how these folks use IMatch. This will give you a very good idea of how you can use IMatch to solve your image and document management problems."
and just retain the heading 'How users work with Imatch' or 'How typical users work with Imatch'

That's the key part of the IMatch 5 web site!
Have you clicked on one of these sample users to see how they work with IMatch? Behind each user there are images, screen shots and descriptions of how these people use IMatch...

[jch2103]

Have you clicked on one of these sample users to see how they work with IMatch? Behind each user there are images, screen shots and descriptions of how these people use IMatch...

Just an observation: I didn't realize at first that the sample users were 'clickable', but I'm not sure if there's a way to make that more obvious. In any event, at this point we're all guessing about how a wide range of visitors with a wide range of interests will respond to the site. Mario will have more solid analytics data after the site goes live.

[Mario]

Well, it's in the text.
The icons react on the mouse when you hover over them.
The cursor changes to a "click" hand.
A red rectangle appears when you point with the mouse at one of the users.
A tooltip tells you "Click here to see how Emma is using IMatch".

I'm not sure how do "more"... maby put a "click" text and link under each of the short descriptions...

Since so many of you have commented on the users and the stories behind them, I think most intuitively clicked the images. It's a web thing.

[sinus]

IMatch 5 is something of a "swiss army knife" DAM. That could be made into a pretty good slogan.

I support this 

[jch2103]

Well, it's in the text.
The icons react on the mouse when you hover over them.
The cursor changes to a "click" hand.
A red rectangle appears when you point with the mouse at one of the users.
A tooltip tells you "Click here to see how Emma is using IMatch".

I'm not sure how do "more"... maby put a "click" text and link under each of the short descriptions...

Since so many of you have commented on the users and the stories behind them, I think most intuitively clicked the images. It's a web thing.

You're right of course about the icons reacting - my problem was that since I didn't realize at first that they were active icons, I didn't try clicking them... However, you may be right that most folks figure this out faster. Analytics should give you a good handle on click paths on the site.

[Richard]

When I go to a new website I look at the main page and if something fails to catch my attention, that is were the "5 seconds matter". However, once they have my attention I will look and read until something negative turns me off or I am sold. Just this morning I was searching for an item and hit sites that were nice looking but then had to hunt down long lists in a sidebar to find what I was looking for and did not find it on the first three sites in the time I alloted each.

Nothing of the above really applies to the New IMatch 5 Website. Folks looking for pictures of a dam will know in <5 sec. that they should move on. If they are looking for a DAM, Mario's first page should grab their attention in about 2 seconds and there is a lot that they can learn if they are as hesitant to download stuff like I am. What I don't know is how one can look at the hit results and learn anything. Say 98 out of 100 of the folks leave the site within 5 seconds. What does that really tell you? That the site is bad? Maybe 90 were looking for dam pictures.

If the site could somehow record how each visitor got there, then the statistics could mean a whole lot. For instance if How is: "Referred by a user" and 98% of them download. That would tell me that the site is doing exactly what it should. Maybe actual customers would be willing to check mark what brought them to the site. That could prove interesting. I believe that we the IMatch users can have a huge impact on sales. There is no better advertising than recommendations from satisfied users. Once IMatch 5 is out the door, I intend to email a lot of my friends and relatives and ask them to forward my email to anyone that might be interested in organizing their digital files. If I have 50 contacts in my address book and some forward as requested, how many people will see my email. Hundreds for sure but more likely thousands.

[jch2103]

...What I don't know is how one can look at the hit results and learn anything. Say 98 out of 100 of the folks leave the site within 5 seconds. What does that really tell you? That the site is bad? Maybe 90 were looking for dam pictures.

If the site could somehow record how each visitor got there, then the statistics could mean a whole lot. For instance if How is: "Referred by a user" and 98% of them download. That would tell me that the site is doing exactly what it should. Maybe actual customers would be willing to check mark what brought them to the site. That could prove interesting. I believe that we the IMatch users can have a huge impact on sales. There is no better advertising than recommendations from satisfied users. Once IMatch 5 is out the door, I intend to email a lot of my friends and relatives and ask them to forward my email to anyone that might be interested in organizing their digital files. If I have 50 contacts in my address book and some forward as requested, how many people will see my email. Hundreds for sure but more likely thousands.

Tools like Google Analytics can provide a surprising amount of information/insights even in the free version (though I suspect some of the best options are $$). For example, they can give you a flow report showing traffic into and through the site (e.g., https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2519986).

But I agree that there's no better advertising than recommendations from satisfied users, and the price to Mario is right ($0). All of us happy users will need to send out the word when the time comes.

[Sorted]

"While developing IMatch, we used several user types for guidance. Each of these prototype users has a different job, works in a different environment and has different requirements for a digital asset management system."
"Check out how these folks use IMatch. This will give you a very good idea of how you can use IMatch to solve your image and document management problems."
and just retain the heading 'How users work with Imatch' or 'How typical users work with Imatch'

That's the key part of the IMatch 5 web site!
Have you clicked on one of these sample users to see how they work with IMatch? Behind each user there are images, screen shots and descriptions of how these people use IMatch...

I wouldn't dispute that it is a key part but I think that it is unnecessarily verbose. Yes, I had clicked on the sample users and this is very good. I think that a simpler introduction to the section would be enough because it is only when visitors click on the characters, which they surely will, that they will become informed.

However, as I wrote before, I think it will be a success anyway.

[Richard]

Four down, two to go. 

Susan

The Batch Processor Susan uses the Batch Processor to export images with the library logo and text in different sizes and formats. The Batch Processor has access all the metadata and Attributes available in their database, which enables her to add captions and descriptions to each exported file. Images produced that way are ideal for publishing, catalogs and web site usage.

The Batch Processor has access to all the metadata

Paz

Category Formulas Such queries can be performed ad-hoc as needed, but also made persistent using the unique category formula system implemented IMatch. You can create a new category from such a query which contains the query as a formula. The new category will be fully dynamic, evaluating the formula every time it is viewed or used. When Paz writes new documents, the category will automatically reflect this.

formula system implemented in IMatch ?
formula system implemented by IMatch ?

Annotations One feature of IMatch which uses used often by scientific users is Annotations. Annotations are vector-based shapes and objects which can be added to any file managed by IMatch. Annotations are stored in the database and are non-destructive – they don't modify the original image or file.

One feature of IMatch used often by scientific users is Annotations.

Annotations can be added on multiple layers, which can individually turned on or off. This makes it easy to arrange different levels of information, and to decide what to show and when.

which can be individually

The Annotation collections in the Collection View  allow s Paz to keep track of which files have which annotations.

Attribute data is displayed and edited in IMatch in the Attribute Panel. This panel has been designed to work similar to popular spreadsheet applications and so most users find it intuitive to use:

I believe "similar" (adjective) should be "similarly" (Adverb) which would mean "in a similar way"

spreadsheet applications and so most users find it intuitive to use

spreadsheet applications so most users find it intuitive to use
  spreadsheet applications and most users find it intuitive to use

The Attribute Panel (click for a larger view)

"click for a larger view" applies to most, if not all, screen shots yet this fact is rarely mentioned.  Maybe the first screen shot in each narrative should say "click on screen shots for a larger view. Some don't get larger but all I have checked do change. Maybe all should become larger.

Attributes can be displayed inside IMatch in each thumbnail and in the Viewer and Slide Show features.

I am not sure what you mean to convey but it reads poorly.

Attributes inside IMatch can be displayed  in each thumbnail and in the Viewer and Slide Show features.

It seems to me that Paz would also manage communications by: e-mail, MS Word, text, PDF, etc. and associate them with images. Maybe even link to URLs.

[Mario]

Tools like Google Analytics can provide a surprising amount of information/insights even in the free version (though I suspect some of the best options are $$). For example, they can give you a flow report showing traffic into and through the site (e.g., https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2519986).

Unless you include Google analytics in your site (or the competing products from Adobe or others) the efficiency of the analytics is very limited. Adding support for these trackers will allow Google to track my users, to follow them over the web. I don't like the general idea of users being tracked all over the web. For example, you don't see ads in this community or on my web site. And I don't use tracking cookies myself, don't automatically inform Facebook or other networks about you visiting my site.

But I think to get exposure for photools.com I might need to do all this, sooner or later. A large amount of traffic is driven by Google, Facebook and Twitter to websites like mine. If I don't include their tracker include files which allow them to follow and analyze you, they move my web site deep down into their suggestion lists and search results - basically a punishment for not helping them to track your visitors or users movements over the web.

If you use nice tools like Ghostery you see how many tracking cookies, social network trackers, advertisement network trackers etc. are triggered whenever you surf on popular sites. I sometimes see more than 10 advertisement networks, Google analytics, Adobe and others trying to track my web usage. I really don't like this, but I may be forced to in order to drive more traffic and thus potential users to my web site.

[Mario]

Four down, two to go. 

Thanks, Richard. I have already implemented your changes.

I've also reworded the intro for the user types today (paragraph above the user table).

[Mario]

(Probably) final version of the IMatch 5 web site now on-line:

http://www.photools.com/im5/

(password see above).

I've added a slider to show some more screen shots without using up more space.
Some rewording.
Made it clear that the user profiles can be clicked by adding buttons. This also looses up the side a bit.

Added the user testimonials some of you have thankfully provided. @All: If you have to say something quotable about IMatch, with your name under it, please post to this thread. User testimonials build trust.