Touristr adds travel blogging
14th of October 2007 by conor
I've watched Touristr develop over the course of 2007 from a fundamentally useful travel site to one that can compete on a global stage with ease. They have tweaked many parts of the site with this new release and lightweight travel blogging is the main new feature.
The motivation behind Touristr was very simple: find out what a place really has to offer using stories and adventures from other travellers. In the original launch, this was very much built around the idea of users adding flags on Google Maps. In the revamped site, they have pre-added thousands of flags for places of interest so you can just add your stories around that location/attraction.
The big change to the front page is interesting. Many social sites jam-pack the landing page with eye-candy and links in an attempt to show you just how exciting the site really is. I tend to find this incredibly distracting and it makes it harder to find what I need. The other extreme is the Google search bar. It looks like Touristr is taking this approach. Whilst I like the simple look, I think they do need to add a much bigger About link for new visitors.
Their mascot TR is a very smart idea as it changes costumes with each country you are looking at. They have gone with a lighthearted stereotype approach which only the truly anal will find offensive. TR adds a very strong branding to the overall site.
A search for Paris on the home page brings up a Google Map with some flags on it, lots of text links and a lovely set of pictures. One small nit; the map does not auto-center and auto-zoom to Paris which I would expect. Oh ok, I could have meant Paris Texas.
Below the map is a set of filtering icons. This is one of those forehead slapping features which overcomes one of my biggest search engine annoyances: Is it AND or &? Can I use and or must it be AND?. The filters make complete sense.
I clicked on the Eat filter and the list of results was refined. Amongst them I spotted Au Petit Riche where a group of us ate during Le Web 3 last December. Clicking on that provided an accurate description of it plus a text box where you could immediately add your own story and your own pictures. Others can indicate whether your story was interesting or not and add comments. Very slick and very simple.
You can also Rate, Save and Recommend a destination. Of course there are RSS feeds for every destination too so you can keep an eye on new stories for places and venues you like. Every user has an RSS feed so your friends can follow your stories and pictures as you travel.
Of all the travel sites I've tried recently (and I've tried a LOT!), Touristr is the one which fits best into my way of working. Instead of the usual 4000 reviews of a Marriott in New York, I hope it becomes a source of unique information for the intelligent and inquisitive traveller. They have some major features coming which I'm looking forward to trying out since they'll make travelling even easier again.
Comment posted by TouristR
at 10/25/2007 5:59:51 AM
[] Per saperne di più un ottima recensione su Blognation []
Comment posted by Jan Blanchard
at 10/15/2007 4:58:56 AM
Thank you for this comprehensive review. You're making a good point about the home page. Showing the right amount of information and content to give directions to users and in the same time keeping it simple is a real art!
Since our initial release in private beta, we've been adding and removing things constantly from the home page. We'll be adding screencasts soon and we'll definitely consider more about TouristR info.