Ask HN: Please review Utilium.com – a web app for sharing learning materials

Just took a look as I'm very interested in education. Clean design, but the purpose was unclear.

* Screenshots too zoomed out to be useful. Looks like some type of list, but of what?

* List concrete examples of what the site does. "Organize and share learning materials" --> I can do that on del.icio.us right now. How is this different?

* Sign up page: empty list of schools. Go to wiki/US News and import a list of accredited schools. But stepping back, why must this be presented so early? Have it as a profile field.

* Why isn't search on the homepage? [If this is about discovering/sharing new materials]. I need to have an idea of what people are using it for today. I want to search on "calculus" and see what comes up to understand what the site does.

* Don't repeat the banner text on the homepage [top bar, 2nd bar]. Have a different pitch.

I didn't sign up for an account because I'm not sure what the purpose is. Do you have a tour? Read-only demo account without login? See if you can list out clear benefits. I know 37Signals is bandied about often, but take a look at basecamphq.com. Notice the list of features with mini-screenshots (at a res where you can tell what's happening):

Assign tasks Share files Track time Meet deadlines

Something like that would go a long way to explaining what the site does. Let your homepage be a big sales letter for new users. Returning users will just skip it and click login anyway.

1. Awesome visual design

2. I really like the screenshots and large sign up button. They're all the same screenshot, though, so I can't get a better idea of what is inside.

3. I'm not the target audience since I'm not a professor. I wish there was a video or more screenshots so that I could see all your work before I need to create an account.

Small CSS issue: I'm on FF3, looks like a vertical spacing issue with your search go button (id is global_search-submit).

I recommend adding a screencast to explain the product.

I'm not sure I understand. Is it free or not?

==== from the FAQ ========

How much does Utilium cost?

The Utilium platform is free for instructors and students.

If you adopt and deliver a ready-made Study Pack to your students, there is a cost for your students to access these Utilium materials. Please note that students can access ready-made Study Packs for free during the spring and summer of 2009.

In my opinion, the 37signals style of displaying a product works so well is because of amount of information readily available with such little effort. Your design looks pretty attractive already and is in a similar sales letter type layout - consider adding a tour with large screenshots. It may also benefit you to mimic the style of their pricing page with each plan laid out, even if the primary one is free. There's a sense of mental relief if the customer knows what he/she is getting into at a quick glance and that pricing chart helps a ton in providing that.

Looks interesting idea, after reading your FAQ I still didn't quite get everything your doing. Maybe a video demo or link to some content on the homepage.

Blue text makes me want to click it. The three blue headings next to your screenshot and the 'adopt' and 'author' list items under "two ways to use utilium" specifically feel like they should be clickable to me.

Make them link to a more detailed explanation of why this is more engaging, why it'll cost less, etc.

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful comments! Very helpful feedback. It's clear we still need to work on the positioning of our product and in turn the communication of this positioning to the user (a screencast, some examples, a tour, etc.)

You should add latex capability to text entry. Most scientists can not live without it especially when it comes to writing stuff that has any remote connection to mathematics.