Development work beginning on Drop.com.au site.

[Ken]

Hey all,

Over the next few months, Ant and I will be studiously working to make overall improvements to the interface of Drop.com.au (registrar side) and will be looking for your thoughts on ways that we can do just this.

So if there's ways you'd like to see us either improve or even perhaps innovate, please let us know. We really enjoy making our projects functional and useful to our customers so any feedback is really welcomed, especially when we have dedicated time allocated to doing just that.

 

[Oz.]

Couple of suggestions to start:

Non auto renew domains:
Being able to bulk renew (non auto renew domains) in a single invoice without needing to email support to do it. eg. Paste a list of domains in a textfield and click "Renew".

Auto renew domains:
At the start of a particular month (or something like that) it would be good if you could automatically create an invoice for all auto-renew domains (due to expire in that month). This would allow you to renew all auto renews in the single invoice for the month ahead.

Both these save on number of invoices generated, and thus save on book keeping time.

 

[ant]

Couple of suggestions to start:

Non auto renew domains:
Being able to bulk renew (non auto renew domains) in a single invoice without needing to email support to do it. eg. Paste a list of domains in a textfield and click "Renew".

Auto renew domains:
At the start of a particular month (or something like that) it would be good if you could automatically create an invoice for all auto-renew domains (due to expire in that month). This would allow you to renew all auto renews in the single invoice for the month ahead.

Both these save on number of invoices generated, and thus save on book keeping time.

Thanks these are exactly the types of suggestions we are looking for. The lack of renew functionality in our current software is a big driver for the re-development.

The first idea of pasting a list of domains is great and we plan to provide a "bulk domain" search box at the top of all our domain management pages to make bulk changing of name servers, renewals or just viewing batches of domains easier.

The second idea would work well with the monthly summary of expiry dates we currently send out. Perhaps we will place a link to the "auto renew" invoice in the same email. How far in advance of the domains expiry date do you think would be appropriate? As we can renew up to 90 days in to the future with .au domains.

 

[DavidL]

One thing - can you automatically send an email when a domain has been transferred in from an other registrar.

I've done a few online CORs (which are very good btw) and one holdup is checking whether the domain's made it across to start the process.

 

[WG2010]

Here's one.

I use the site in compact mode and when I click to expand an individual one, I have to click back on the compact mode link instead of being able to click on the same listing and have it collapse back on itself.

No big deal, just a little annoying having to move the mouse back and forth.

 

[ant]

Here's one.

I use the site in compact mode and when I click to expand an individual one, I have to click back on the compact mode link instead of being able to click on the same listing and have it collapse back on itself.

No big deal, just a little annoying having to move the mouse back and forth.

Hey yeah that was bothering me too, so Ken fixed it a few days ago when we re-introduced the hidden bids.

 

[ant]

One thing - can you automatically send an email when a domain has been transferred in from an other registrar.

I've done a few online CORs (which are very good btw) and one holdup is checking whether the domain's made it across to start the process.

We will revamp the transfer complete process to use the POLL messages, so the completed transfer will be detected in 5 minutes and I will add an email alert to the process too.

On this subject we also plan to introduce a button to allow clients to approve outbound transfers bypassing the normal 3 day wait.

 

[Ken]

Hey yeah that was bothering me too, so Ken fixed it a few days ago when we re-introduced the hidden bids.

Lol... Ant would have bashed me if I didn't put that feature in.

 

[Oz.]

How far in advance of the domains expiry date do you think would be appropriate? As we can renew up to 90 days in to the future with .au domains.

For me, the start (1st) of the month with only the auto renew domains that would expire that particular month.
But I guess you could make that a setting/option.

 

[ant]

For me, the start (1st) of the month with only the auto renew domains that would expire that particular month.
But I guess you could make that a setting/option.

One months domains sounds good.

Right now I am thinking we will send the email with the summary and create the invoice 5-7 days before the end of the month, with a due date of the 1st of the month. This will give you some time to pay and for the renewals to be completed in advance of the actual expiry date.

I have found that adding extra settings generally frustrates users, so if we can agree on something sensible which a majority of users don't mind then I'll be pleased.

 

[davids]

Lol... Ant would have bashed me if I didn't put that feature in.

Haha, as soon as I saw this thread that was going to be the only thing I was going to suggest... glad it's been done, I'm one of those OCD people who have to constantly collapse them after viewing them =P

 

[WG2010]

Haha, as soon as I saw this thread that was going to be the only thing I was going to suggest... glad it's been done, I'm one of those OCD people who have to constantly collapse them after viewing them =P

Likewise, happy it's been fixed!

 

[Ken]

On this subject we also plan to introduce a button to allow clients to approve outbound transfers bypassing the normal 3 day wait.

To be truthful, this one feature has caused a great deal of discussion in the company. It's quite hard to convince people that allowing your customers to more easily transfer their domains away is a good feature for your product.

Ant and I have counter argued that if you need to hold domains hostage for an extra 3 days, then you're doing something fundamentally wrong as a registrar.

 

[FirstPageResults]

Ant and I have counter argued that if you need to hold domains hostage for an extra 3 days, then you're doing something fundamentally wrong as a registrar.

that's a good stance

 

[Oz.]

create the invoice 5-7 days before the end of the month

The end of the prior month? Makes sense to me. Sounds good.

This will give you some time to pay and for the renewals to be completed in advance of the actual expiry date.

As the domains are auto-renew I would assume the invoice would be automatically billed/paid if you don't pay it yourself (within a certain time frame) as I believe the current auto renew invoices are. (but I may be wrong)

 

[Ken]

As the domains are auto-renew I would assume the invoice would be automatically billed/paid if you don't pay it yourself (within a certain time frame) as I believe the current auto renew invoices are. (but I may be wrong)

I believe you are correct, with regard to the auto charging. The notable exclusions however would be:

• Customers who prefer to pay by EFT.
• Customers who have a card on file, but not sufficient funds.
• In the new site it will also be possible to not have a card on file and pay manually, or pay by Paypal/Google Checkout.

In the case where there is no card on file or it fails to bill and there's not sufficient account credit to cover the entire invoice, auto payment will fail, and an email will be sent, with follow ups by the CSR department.

 

[Ken]

Preview of new homepage theme.

Here's a screenshot of our new page theme for your critiques:

 

[Ken]

Also on iPhone.

Landscape:

Portrait:

 

[WG2010]

Is it possible to keep the menu on the right as it is now? I don't mean to get all OCD again but when Wikipedia moved the search bar from the left to the top right, I was tempted to smash things.

 

[Ken]

I'm not sure. Current web design practice commonly places menus on the left hand sides. Most of the complaints we get with the current design originate from having a right-hand-side menu system, which genuinely annoys most people.

I understand that most people don't like change, but sometimes the change is for the better. What do you think?