My Next LEC project - behind the scenes of the next Limited Edition Custom

Morgan,

 Will you put the quick search to the right or left? Also, how about the mobile MLS search feature? And a posible agent roster for Brokers?

"our challenge is to come up with something that makes our customers customers "want" to bookmark, "want" to contact and "need" to share with their friends and family."

That's the key, right there IMO. Nicely said, Morgan. In 300 hours can you get a site to that level. Beyond "sticky"...all the way to "compelling".

Looking forward to watching this project unfold.

Dwell - neither mobile search or agent roster are needed or available to everyone, so they will not be built in (not every association allows mobile IDX for instance and not every customer is a broker) but both are modules that are easily added at a fixed cost.

Eric - I think we can do it - one of the major things about this budget, is that it can stretch a lot further than the last one due to the fact that we are using the LEC 2.0 IDX framework which we built last time as a base which was easily 150 hours of work in combined design and programming just for the search peice.

Hi All.

I'm felling the pressure on this one already!! I've been acting like a deer in the headlights the past couple of days. But I do like a challenge.

Mogan, Your the best client! You've already given me all the info I need... I'll just review some of the features to make to sure we're on the same page.

Featured listing: Can we integrated this into the/or instead of the slide show? I like the slide show but feel that the real estate it uses is pretty valuable and should be used for something that will be of value to the user.

Colors: Two color schemes would be good - I think I'll keep them simple too and just use two main colors.

Quick Search: I already have some ideas for this (I didn't sleep much last night)... However, I just wanted to clearify what you mean by "the search being the site"? Do you want it designed into the header of the site or have it as the only focus of the site - like http://www.vancouverpropertyfinder.com?

Jamie

What makes a site compelling? What is it that makes your customers keep coming back?

I just wanted to put that out there as you all know your customers better than I do. Is it Design, Usability/Ease of Use, Up to date Listings, Content/Information or the Realtor/Team/Broker. Or a well balanced combination of all of the above?

Do your repeat customers use your site or do they just call you? Is your website just for capturing new leads?

@Jamie  Returning users definitely visit - some repeatedly before they are ready to do something.  Since you are asking for some ideas - what would the possiblities be to highlight new and updated listings - my MLS on the public site highlights new this week also maybe highlight price change (thinking this isn't going to fly because I have a feeling not all MLS boards would allow this information). 

My opinion is the site should not be about the realtor/team/broker - users don't care.  Compelling would be that the site is easy to use-they can find the information they were looking for easily, the information is accurate, or at least more accurate than other sites they may also be looking at,  that they enjoy being on the site and that they remember it over the three or four other sites that they are likely to visit - there should be a couple of different ways to bookmark the site.  I think it is all about getting the user to come back, build some trust and utlimately convert  users into clients.

Also, I know Morgan mentioned keeping the IDX from the LEC2 but you may want to consider expanding the idea of emailing the listing to a friend to include the ability to send it out to social networking sites like twitter, facebook, myspace etc.  That would be another great way to get the word out both about a listing and also get new people to visit the site.

Morgan, I got dibs on LEC 3 for Calgary! I am sure it will be a good site.

I do think that creating a user site rather than a realtor site is the way to go. We know how popular MLS.ca was in Canada before it was changed to realtor.ca. Simple search options and millions of people. Now it is over loaded with their silly map search and not user friendly at all and many users are turning away from the "new improved" site to other alternatives.....perhaps REW's LEC3? 

Sharing the site or listings with your social networks would be a great option but I am not sure if all the boards allow this at the moment.

Ok REW Design - I have started to spec out the regions I want in this LEC in a basic color co-ordinate mockup which you can see here. http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/lecmockup1.php

One thing that is noticably missing from this mockup is horizontal navigation element - It could most certainly be incorporated below the featured listings / search element with some suckerfish - but I wanted to get some thoughts on perhaps moving my tabs and pagination for the search and listings "under" the feature elements as opposed to above them where I have them now. My thinking was that normally there is somewhat of a "replication" in the main side nav and the top nav, which although I find it useful (because some people gravitate to top nav, and some to side nav) others have commented that it may somewhat redundant so I thought I would try something different. What do you think?

Carolyn, Thanks for the ideas and opinion.

http://www.neighborcity.com - this site does a pretty good job of including the ability of sending pages to your social networking sites. Two big buttons on the results page... Save to Favourites and Share this page. They use the share buttonservice from AddThis.com

Also I really like the Buyers Tools on the details page. The Request more info, Make and offer, and the Schedule a viewing forms are right there in the side bar.

Morgan, I am not sure about moving the pagination/tabs for the search and listings under the elements - I think it would be fine for the featured listing but not for the Search Feature.  Do these two features have to be side by side or is there some flexibility in where elements are positioned as long as the basic structure is intact?

I like the idea of having a horizontal navigation with suckerfish and then just have the subnav in the sidebar on the secondary pages. I think a horizontal nav is important for a user-freindly site as it does seem to be the norm. Removing the redundancy of the repeated side nav links would be good too.

I can show you what I have when the top section is done. Instead of showing you a completed page.

Of course there is flexibility - I rely on you to make those kinds of executive decisions if something looks like junk, then change it up

BTW - your programmer has been assigned, I picked Michael for this one as there is going to be a lot of AJAX related work (we are not going with jquery for the quick search or featured listings tabs as I want to reduce the code even more than on LEC 2.0 - so that will require either AJAX or some xml parsing should we decide to go a flash route for the quick search, featured listings or both <<< any objections to using flash for either?

Morgan,

I really like the group design concept.  I also really like the color flexibility.  I don't know what good color philosophy is on the web, but in my area the company logo has to be at least as large as the agent's name and I hope that one of the color schemes will be neutral enough not to clash with the fairly vibrant RE/MAX logo.  Thanks.

Bruce   

No, no objection to using flash.

For the quick search - I've noticed some sites just have one main search field that you can type in the city, subdivision, zip code or MLS Number. Is this possible? Just thought it may be easier for the user and it would eliminate the tabs.

Jamie - Carolyn posted about this site in a forum thread and I think the dropdown / navigation system is awesome! www.whitehouse.gov please file it for our discussion on dropdowns once we have the headers mocked up etc.

As for type in, it's certainly within our core competency (we have done it before quite a few times) perhaps we could mock it up and see how it would look.

Just a thought from the user's standpoint on the type in - there are going to be users (a significant number probably) that will be from out of the area that will not know the specific names of towns/areas.  I think a list (targeted to the areas actually covered) is more useful.  When it gets to the subdivision search the user is likely to have a better idea of what they are looking for and a type in there makes sense.

I can see it now, I don't even have my LEC2 up and I'm already trying to figure out how I might be able to use an LEC3

Yep - the new whitehouse.gov site is very well done. Nearly all the design feeds I subscribe to had posted about it this morning. I really like the 2/3 column dropdowns and will keep them in mind.

Carolyn - Good point on the type in's and this has given me an idea.. What I'm trying to do is eliminate the tabs on the quick search and think I can do this by having just two fields.. A select box list for City/Area and a type in (with auto complete) for Subdivision, School, Zip Code, or MLS Number. I'll do this in the mock up and see how it looks... Thanks!

An interesting usability article for those that are interested... 10 principles of effective web design. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/31/10-principles-of-effective-web-design/

I've been following this post and am intrigued about the type-in area idea because it is something I've wanted to explore myself. Although the gridded checkboxes are effective, they are a nightmare to work with (as a developer/designer) and a little intimidating to look at (for the user). The problems that they do solve is that the user can see all the areas available and there's no chance of them creating spelling errors within the query.

It would be really cool if we could have the best of both worlds--a type in that provides an option for the user to open up a dialog and choose cities (or zips/areas) from the list that would be supplied back to the type-in field.

http://rewtemplates.com/_img/idx-idea.gif

Searching by school is an advanced option and really doesn't need to be on a quick search. On the same note, "Search by MLS Number" isn't really a search at all, it would be someone referencing a listing that they seen somewhere else (print/TV/etc.). This shoud probably take the user directly to the listing's detail page (login/register if that restriction is set) and not to a search result with one listing showing. (unless, of course, they entered multiple MLS #s). This could be a seperate box altogether--beds baths etc. (all other search parameters) do not apply.

 To possibly add to the sites accessability/usability and to compliment any navigation system/hover overs. I think the team should take a look at the jquery HoverIntent plugin. 

http://cherne.net/brian/resources/jquery.hoverIntent.html

I've used it before and it works well.

Thanks for this Phil - great idea.

A couple of questions though... What do you mean by "beds baths etc. (all other search parameters) do not apply."? I still wanted the user to be able to choose Property type, beds, baths and price on the quick search. And what are your thoughts on the best way to display the cities, neighborhoods and Zip Codes in the dialog? I think i'll mock up a couple of ideas and let Morgan decide which one he wants to go with.

@Anthony: We're using that plugin on the REWBlogs here (Rate this Post, Share this post etc...), and agreed it does make things more usable. I'm not a big fan of things happening on rollover... but the hoverIntent helps make things feel less "quirky".

@Jamie: I'm refering to the "search by mls number". Other search parameters do not apply, because we can only expect 1 result.

I envision the dialog would look something like: http://comps.rewdev.com/idx-case-study/idx-idea-dialog.gif. It's very clear what has been selected and easy to add/remove new areas. I think we should be limiting the area selections to 3-5 at a time (most of the big boys only allow 1 area per query).

Morgan,

What do you anticipate the cost to be on the LEC 3?  I'm just thinking for those of us who have LEC 2's in progress may want to upgrade to the LEC 3 if we haven't already started any work on the LEC 2.

The LEC 4 (This is LEC 4 we are working on) will retail the same as LEC 2.0 $10,000 USD plus hosting.

LEC 4, wow! Time flies when you're having fun. I don't even remember LEC 3.  Does anyone have an example of LEC 3?

LEC 3 isn't done yet - it is a very special site based on Marc Rasmussens fallen thesarasotamls.com that I am putting together to help raise some $ for Marc to get back on track with his new site - you can see what we have so far here: http://dev136.rewtemplates.com (Again it's NOT done, so if something is busted we are working on it) - Pricepoint for that one is $8000 USD including the IDX, quick search, blog, control panel, rss and featured listings. $2000 of which will go towards SEO for Marc on his new site http://www.luxurysarasotarealestate.com

 I'm really digging the idea about the unified search for everything (city, mls, subdivision, or price, etc.).  One of the things I've been pondering in addition to that about real estate searches, is if it was possible to help the user find the area they're looking for.

For example: If you go to google and type in a search and intentionally misspell it, it'll ask if you "meant" something else.  This would be great for users who are not too sure of neighborhoods or communities.  Just an idea though...

Morgan,

LEC #4... http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/lec-4_mockup_1.html

I got a little bit carried away so it's more than just the header!! I'll let you digest it for a while and prepare for your comments.

Holy crap; that is absolutely gorgeous.  Smashing Magazine recently had a note about "punched" in letters being in style - they really do look good!  (on the 1,2, 3 part)

I really like the feel of this new LEC - the quick search tool that is unified really helps the user identify what they should do first.

One suggestion - do you guys think it would be better to make the returning user login a little more prominent?  Right now it's sort of hidden on the right side bar, and it would be nice to have a easy to spot location for users to come back to when the (hopefully) revisit the site.

I don't really have any suggestions on where to put it though.  The Sign in link at the top is good - maybe we could make that link and the register link stand out a bit more from the rest.

Wow, that is so sharp. I love it. I never thought it would look that sharp without a slideshow, but who the heck needs a slide show when you got a site like that. Very nice. I could just imagine the "Call To Actions" you could put to the right of the 2 pictures of the featured listings.  Very Nice.

Morgan,

As you know I already bought an LEC 2, but we are still toying around with the MLS board to get them to sign off on it. We haven't started anything on it yet. Can I switch over to the LEC 4? What would it take?

 I would like to get your thoughts on color choices.  One hesitation I've had is that on LEC2 and on the current design of LEC4 there are colors that really clash with the RE/MAX red that I have to use in my logo.  The more neutral colors in LEC3 seem like they would work with most any logo.  

I know that you are planning on offering some color options in LEC4, but I was just wondering what your thought process is when choosing colors for a site.  If necessary, I could change my logo to all white and it would work just fine with any of the color choices, but it just seems as if REW sites use colors that are a little more "out of the box" than most other sites.  

Also, based on previous comments it seems that LEC4 will cost a little more than LEC3.  Can you tell me what the primary differences will be?  Thanks.

Bruce

This is really sweet.  I really like the larger featured listings and the preselected searches (foreclosures, luxury, etc.) on the right.  I think the quick search and larger listing photos in a way take the place of the slideshow and I agree it's not missed on this site. It might be the size of the text but the blog summaries look a little like adwords to me.  The top seems a little busy (not sure you need the sitemap at the top).  I do like the my listings button at the top and the addthis buttons work well at the bottom of the page

Love it.

I really like how it has the easy search on the main page. Great exposure to your featured listings and clients (sellers) will like this. Mark's idea of "Call to Action" may not be a bad idea either but I think there are many other call to action buttons on the main page.

If you are an agent that work lots of listings you can use this as one of your valued benefits of listing with you so your clients to have their homes featured on your site.

Guys and gals

I am in Florida (damn you Jamie you had to post this while I was gone)  - please don't fall to in love with this mockup as a lot of it will be changing before we are done, I just need a chance to put together some feedback

(I am at my presentation Booth in Orlando at the conference center btw if anyone wants to stop by and say hi and their in the area)

Oops that is going to make design stress to no end (leaving no comment like that) - Awesome job on the footer, don't you dare change it

Wow - Great Feedback.

The punched out numbers worked really well here... I originally had them white but the whole search section looked way to busy. I tried to make this site current but not too trendy.

The Featured Listings Box. This is supposed to work like the Tabbed Featured Listing on http://www.mckinneyhomerebate.com - So the Foreclosure Listings and New Home Listings etc. are also Featured listing and will show the listings in the main area when you hover or click them. It would be cool if they changed on hover and then when clicked it took you to the foreclosures page or the new homes page etc.... Or even better - this is automated like a slideshow/carousel and each category is shown for 5 - 10 seconds and then fades into the next. Have to wait for Morgan's feedback though on this one as whatever is decided will have to appeal to the masses and/or be easily changed to suit individual needs.

Agreed that the Rgiht side bar need some more attention. Especially the blog posts.

What do we think of the colors? I think the colors work well here and for an alternate color scheme I was thinking a sandy yellow for the background and blue for the search banner/bar.. not sure about the other color (Main Nav, Featured Listings, Side Bar) yet though.

jamie, can you please re-upload the comp with the REW logo modified to match the color scheme? (The stark green and blue are distracting) - Thanks

Morgan... All you could give me was the footer!! LOL

Looks great. I am going to enjoy following this!

Morgan - Just uploaded it with new logo. Just Refresh.

Nah not just the footer - but I need some time to process this - it is most certainly not what I had envisioned and I doesn't follow my layout so I have to get over that part before I provide to much commentary.

I can tell you that the featured listings in their current form have to go. Those tabs on the right are wholy inappropriate for an LEC product (they would need to be customized every time which does not lend itself well to replication) - and I "do" want my numbers (see my mockup) I want users to be able to interact with listings (ref our discussion on AJAX or xml)

The header area (above the search) has promise but I will be wanting some modifications.

Colors - I love the strong brown with the gradient, but the light baby blue is not working (especially in the header area where it does not give enough contrast with the links)

more to come

Just a quick update... (nothing new to show just yet though). I'm working on tweaking the header, reworking the featured listings and changing up the colors.

Should have something for you to see tomorrow.

Good stuff - thanks REW Design

Okay as promised... An updated version of the Mock-Up.

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/lec-4_mockup_2.html

Let me know what you think. Maybe we could approve/sign off on sections as we go?

Jamie

Really starting to look good.  I like how you brought in the login on the sidebar higher - the top navigation is looking good too to me.

I was thinking about the search bar across the middle - I think it would be more intuitive to allow the user to search three different ways rather than a 1,2,3 step process.

Option one can be a unified search that the user can enter in to find things like properties on a street, zip, MLS#, city, subdivision, etc.

Option two can be a quick search that includes pricing - search results are very general and allows the user to filter their results easily.

Option three can be to a call to action for a map search, or a contact for personalized assistance maybe.

sections works:

Tentatively - the following are approved

Heading as seen in this screen http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/lec4/lec4heading.png is approved

Footer as seein in this screen http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/lec4/lec4footer.png is approved.

Now let's get onto some feedback on the unapproved items (For the benefits of our readers here is a screen) http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/lec4/bodyarea.png

Starting with the left hand side navigation - I would like it thrown out completely - If you refer back to my region map here http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/lecmockup1.php top left is to have what corresonds with "main pages" in the REW 2.0 CMS and then there is a section labelled "Variable content" - the idea for that section was to have it as a snippet, that could inherit a default or global setting if nothing is filled out OR customer could customize it on a per page basis (think of the functionality kind of like how our current footer system works.

For the purposes of the mockup perhaps you could do some sort of map search graphic or banner ad, whatever - just understand that the area is variable.

Left hand side navigaton - Update.

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/lec-4_mockup_2a.html

Right hand side navigation:

Blog posts - I really don't think the dates are necessary, let's remove them. Also we are missing a "read more" CTA of some sort - not everyone knows to click the hyperlinked title. Could we put "[x comments] and [read more] under each one (If there are no comments have it read "add comment" I will have programming make this conditional.

Other than that, I am pretty good with the way the right hand side navigation looks.

Center area: There is to much padding on the left and right of the featured listing and content areas please reduce it. One challenge with 3 column layouts is having enough center space to fit text etc - the more space you can give me to work with the better (means more content above the fold). It is better to reduce said padding than shrink up the navigation elements because I do like their widths.

Featured listings tabs - I don't know what it is about them, but they don't seem to fit for me (the numbered tabs that is) - There aren't tabs above in the header, so it seems like 2 separate navigation types or feels, going on in one site. Can you try something else with those numbered tabs (keep the numbers) to make it more consistent with the header navigation (the blue navigation that has buyers, sellers, communities etc?) The rest of the featured listings area is fine.





 

Also can you please mock up the featured areas callout and the 2 column snippet <<< Will this work here?

Left hand side - again makes me feel like the tabs, just doesn't seem to "fit" with the overall scheme. I would like to try something different but I am challenged as to how to describe what it is that I want other than say make it "consistent" with the other site elements. It just seems to lack depth or something, not sure - I will try to find you some inspiration links to help visually describe what I am looking for - feel free to mess with it while I ponder.

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/lec-4_mockup_2b.html

Right Hand Side - Changed the Blog Posts (Deleted dates and added "Read More" & "Comments"

Center/Main Content Area - Reduced padding and added two column snippet and featured call out.

Featured Listings - Changed tabs

Left Hand Side - I wasn't really sure what to do here... I removed the vertical shadow and the shadow behind the links.

What happens if the agent has more than 6 featured listings?

Steve,

It's great there is only 6 featured listings because then you can rotate your inventory if you have more and use it as leverage for price reductions. Check this script out "Mr. Seller after we go ahead and adjust the price, I'm going to feature you as one of my featured listings on my website which gets over ____ Thousand hits a month."  There are many ways to spin the featured listings to help you out.  Just an idea, hope it helps

@Mark - I love the idea of featured listings - but my thought was more along the lines of this:

"What happens to the tabs on top if you have more than 6 featured listings?" 

Are you guys thinking it'll dynamically expand to include more listings?

Actually they rotate randomly on refresh - you can add as many as you want, and every listing will get it's fair share of exposure making all sellers happy.

How about it only shows 6 but, if you have more than that, they automatically rotate order into one of the 6 available spots?  So, they dynamically change with every visitor or refresh.

@Morgan - Ah - that makes sense then.  I guess that the 1-6 just bothers me - on a first impression, if I was the average real estate consumer browsing the web, I'd think that the real estate site only had 6 featured listings, period.

Do me a favor Jamie - remove the "main navigation" heading on the left hand side, so that the brown bar under it is higher and lines up with the corresponding blue bar on the other side (I need some symmetry there)

Ah I see what you mean Steve - Jamie - can you put a "more" next to the 6 in the listings (or you could make it 5) I realize it will have to push the numbers left a bit, but it might look ok. Also make hte more stand out - perhaps a really nice orange or something

Ok I know what I want to do now wiht hte left hand side nav (I don't have an example, but I am sure I can find one)

I do want you to line up the bars top left and top right as above -

Then what I want is expandable / collapsable (will be controlled viia snippet) navigation system which by default will have the first set of sub links open.

Make the first category / heading "Communities" and then list 4-5 communities

Then have the rest closed - they would have the option to open or close them as they saw fit - it would work kind of like the refine search bar in the search results where you can select more options etc, but for content links as opposed to search elements - know what I mean?

http://www.mariusroosendaal.com - http://www.alexcohaniuc.com

Morgan, just wanted to show you these. Both sites use the expandable menu (both show website and not submenus though) but I wanted to get your thoughts on the design/skin for the menu. Or do you want to keep it plain like it is now?

http://www.mariusroosendaal.com - is exactly the heading concept and effect I was talking about, but with links as sub items as opposed to screenshots.

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/lec-4_mockup_2c.html

Featured Listing and Left Menu have been changed. I'm not sure if we need the top left (brown) bar anymore.

Let me know what you think?

REW Design - you have the green light to build (we might make some minor modifications but I am satisfied with the framework - game on!) (I will get you a dev setup shortly)

http://dev169.rewtemplates.com - now I guess I gotta start talking to programming - DOH! haha

Some Alternate Color Schemes....

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/Alternate_colors/lec-4_mockup_black-red.html

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/Alternate_colors/lec-4_mockup_blue-gray.html

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/Alternate_colors/lec-4_mockup_blue-red.html

They took longer than 30 mins to do (I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote that) but thought it would be good to see some variations in the color scheme.

Let me know if you want to go with one of these for the initial build.

Hmmm Keller Williams, Coldwell Banker and RE/MAX

They are still a little to "inspried by" as opposed to being as close to the original as I had in mind - but definitely keep those as options.

Let's work on this one http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/Alternate_colors/lec-4_mockup_blue-gray.html (everyone seems to like blue) as an alternate - but please go ahead with the build as planned (with the original color scheme) - we can build the second one when we are done and time it to get a feel for how long custom colors are going to take to build then implement .

Thanks for the update -

 The Keller Williams (red and black) looked perfect.

LMAO!

Btw Steve - seeing as you have a top ranked site (which makes for a good case study) and because you have been a loyal REW Moderator for a long time if you would like to step up to the plate on this one, I will give you a free KW color scheme and a 50% discount to be the LEC 4.0 poster boy - whatya say?

 I think you got yourself a deal, Morgan!  Can you give me a call?  PM me if you don't have my number.

Attaboy Steve-O! Congrats...

Eric

Alright let's do this!

OK REW Design - looks like we are going to do Keller Williams first - so let's work out this color scheme a bit more http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/Alternate_colors/lec-4_mockup_black-red.html -

Do you have the approved KW logo's or do you need me to get you some? The site will be going up in hte Houston market (note to readers Houston is now gone for LEC 4.0)

I thought the colors were pretty good!!!  

The new remax (beta) site has been toned right down in terms of colors - quite a difference from the bold Blue and Red that we're used too. http://www.remaxbeta.com 

Anyways - let me know what you want changed on the Keller Williams "Inspired" color scheme. I don't have the approved KW logo... could you email me them. Thanks.

And Congrats Steve on your new LEC 4.

 REW Design - I can get you some real nice high quality .eps files for the KW logos if you'd like.  Contact me with a good email address if you're interested.

Ah hah! The RE/MAX Beta I had not seen, definitely a step up (and I see where your pallet came from now)

As for the kw colors - I don't know - maybe I just need to see it with the KW (as opposed to the REW) logo - Steve can you send me the newest KW Logo's

thanks

@Morgan - Just emailed you some pretty detailed info regarding offical KW colors and logos; hope that helps.  Let me know if you need anything in addition to that and I'll get to work.

Thanks Steve - they are in the hands of REW Design now

All I need other than that is your data feed (go get that brokers license will ya!)

My next priority, my friend.  I'm on it!

Thanks.... I'll get to work on this and change over the logo and make sure I'm using the correct colors.

Damn I'd love to be a 50% poster boy too! lol

That LEC4 is so hot, these LEC's are like cars to me, I only get short leases on cars because they keep improving on the model and making a better body/options and I have to get the latest and greatest one! I don't even want to think about the LEC5!

Is that Re/Max beta somethign you guys are designing for them?

No we are not designing the new RE/MAX (Most franchises aren't that smart) although we are working on a major franchise contract right now (in fact they are flying in to spend the day with us at REW corporate tomorrow) but I cannot disclose who they are until they launch (I'll hook you up with a sneak peak via PM though)

I think everyone that is familiar with the REW product would love to be a poster boy. Congrats Steve!

Morgan, have you had a chance to connect with that one contact I gave you for the broker site yet?  I know you guys were playing some phone tag.

You mean CIR? Nah still playing tag (she is out till the 15th) but we will hook up one of these days (I offered to fly out as you folks are only about an hour and a half by plane for me) we'll soon see I hope - thanks again for the referral.

Morgan,

Mike was talking about his short term leases and it made me think of a sweet "early trade in program."  What if you did something for all the people that buy a LEC, where they can trade up to a new LEC at any time for "X" dollars?  Because these LEC's are addicting, and every few months a new one comes out, and you wanna keep moving up. What do you think? Can I get copywrite benefits on the "early trade in program" ? lol

You can trade up (although it's not really up, merely sideways as really the main difference in LEC's is look and feel) any time you like - to trade up to LEC 1 costs $8000 LEC 2 $10,000 LEC 3 $8,000 and LEC 4 $10,000 (plus the cost of re-implementation of any custom features including custom colors of course)

Let me know if you end up flying out here Morgan. It would be a nice to meet you in person.

Mark, I must agree with you that REW always seem to come out with something new and addictive on a regular basis. I am not sure if I would replace my current REW site with the LEC 4 or replace on of my other sites which I think would be the most logical move. Then REW will come out with LEC 5 and I will have another problem. lol

REW needs to offer the web site buy backs, like the lease companies do when you get a letter in the mail that you can get a great new deal on a new model haa  imagine that. Then we can sell the old LEC's off for parts.

Keller Williams/Steve Castaneda Color Scheme Update...

http://comps.rewdev.com/limited_edition-custom_4/steve-castaneda/lec-4_mockup_black-red.html

Here it is with the official KW Colors. Looks sweet!

@ Mike and Mark.... You're thinking about this the wrong way. You don't want to just lease these sites - you should think about collecting them all!! Now a garage full of these puppies would be pretty cool. Polish them a bit everyday and then sit back and watch the leads come in!!

Looking forward to a live site so we can see how it all works/functions/options etc.

 I'm liking the color scheme!  The header seems a bit off; maybe it's the KW logo being so prominent and at the top.

REW Design - also know that you can change the logo to be all white if you like - that could contrast with some of the black areas on the mockup.

Now, I created that little house logo I used and am fanatical about it (so proud - *sheds a tear*), but it just doesn't seem to fit well with this theme.  Feel free to not use it in this LEC.

Love it, Love it, Love it!!!  I am going to implement the same color scheme for my LEC 2 for the Keller Williams Color. Awesome Job!!

I have been playing around with the header and the KW logo actually looks better all black. I also removed the house logo - it was kinda distracting... Anyways, I was wondering if "MyHomeHouston.com" or even "Houston Real Estate" should be on the left hand side with a smaller KW logo either beside it or on the right?? Kinda like most of the over REW site Templates/Customs. Thoughts?

Hey I agree with Jamie about the collection of sites.  Just collect them all or at least collect your favorites.  I had not really been a fan of the LEC1 but now I'm really liking Brian's thehomecart.com site.  I don't know if I'll be ready for another site when this one is finished - but I think this one might appeal to different people than the LEC2.  Not better/worse, just different.

This site in the KW reds looks cool - Personally I wouldn't have the Keller Williams logo at the top - I would brand Steve and My Houston Home Team more than the brokerage.  The house logo is part of Steve's current branding - maybe if the KW logo was at the bottom the house logo would fit better? 

 I really like that idea, Carolyn.  Could we try that REW Design?

I think you should just remove the house and get on to building the markup (This is not Steve's custom color scheme blog post, it's the LEC 4.0 blog post heh)

PS Steve - if you want to make mods to the header once it's in the markup phase you will still of course be welcome to do so, just trying to get my blog post (and designer) back on track

 Hehe; easy to get carried away.  Sorry about that.

Then I would also consider taking the  KW logo off this mockup and put the REW logo back on.  If it is shown this way, there will be people who will brand the company rather than themselves.

Morgan,

This LEC is looking great so far!  Now that the look of the site is coming along, I was wondering if you would be focusing on making the search function/ results screen any different than previous sites.  I would really like to see the search function/results screen really stand out as it is the focus of the site.  Any thoughts on changes compared to what is generally done for IDX?

I would be glad (and I assume others would  too) to share items we have been thinking of.

Morgan,

This LEC is looking great!  Have you given any more thought to differentiating the search function and results from other LECs given that this one is more focused on the search. I am sure we would all help with our ideas on items we would all like to see.

Can't wait to see the end result!

Hello Carl,

To be honest - I am satisfied (for this set of interations) to provide options (different designs) as opposed to re-inventing what is already proving to work exceptionally.

Granted, each tune I build I add in a few little tweaks that are unique and different - but I need to be careful not to outdate preview version each release.

Development Update...

Morgan, I`ve started on the build - I haven`t gotten very far yet but the basic page structure/background images are in place. You can follow my progress on the dev site.. http://dev74.rewtemplates.com

I'll be browser testing once more of the page is set up - so don't worry if the page isn't working or suddenly breaks...

Thanks for the update

Thanks for the reply.  Sorry for the double post.

I absolutley agree with you that what you currently have works very well.  I am excited to see the finished product and talk with you more when it is all done.

Update

I should have the page pretty much complete today and programming will be able to jump board Monday! I've been browser testing as I go so that I don't have to back track later on.

Next week I'll be able to focus on getting more of the functionality working (suckerfish - quicksearch etc.) and also skinning the IDX and blog if they are in place by then..

http://dev74.rewtemplates.com

I personally love the new LEC design so far!   I did hate to see those call to action buttons go from the original mock up

Wow - it must be the the clean air and food quality North of the border. REW seems to have a limitless supply of cutting edge energy and that is good news for us agents.

Here are my 2 cents worth for the new LEC:

1. Spell Checker - sometimes I type soo fast Superman himself starts to sweat. No one ever sets off to 'misspell' but that's life and I am sure I have my share of oops on my own web copy.

2. Make your Backend interface "Apple - MAC" friendly. I actually like using Explorer's counterpart "Safari" because it automatically spell checks for me when I am typing new copy via the Rew Backend which is so cool, but there are other quirks in Safari that make it somewhat impractical to use at this point.

3 Photo Caption - Would be so neat to be able to really get a handle on captions below photos as they help to identify photos to readers so they know exactly why the photo is included. Yeah, sure you can use a WYSIWYG editor to force the captions, but it would be nice to have this feature nailed down.

Heck, that was 3 cents worth! Could inflation be coming back??

Morgan,

I am getting really exited about this LEC now that I have pretty much made a commitment to you guys to get this site along with some other stuff. I didn't hear back from Craig today but I am sure we will wrap it up in the next couple of days.

One thing I think you should consider adding is a mobile IDX option. Maybe someone that has this option on their site could elaborate on user statistics and feedback?

Hey Justin,

Looking forward to it. With regards to items like mobile / cellphone IDX - it can never be a part of the LEC package because by their very nature LEC's must be able to apply everywhere, whereas not every MLS board allows mobile IDX.

Mike (Above you) has the first operational version of the mobile IDX so is really the only person that can give you feedback, but I am sure he would be more than happy to.

I see REW Design is working away on LEC 4 at http://dev74.rewtemplates.com  I like what I see more and more and it is going to be a looooooong 2 months.

yeah most of it's cosmetic but lots of work still to be done on the IDX (always a challenge)

Morgan, Question about the IDX pages.

We need to add the refine search menu and I was going to delete one of the side columns so that on the IDX page there are only two columns (Main Content and a side column). Which column/side should we keep?

I was thinking of deleting the left nav column and putting the refine search where the "my account" and "recent blog posts" are. Thought?

So you want to "delete" all left nav elements in the /idx/ directory - correct? That makes sense (it's supposed to somewhat emulate LEC 2.0 - and then on the right hand side the refine search will replace the "Recent blog posts" - I think we should keep the "my account" panel either above or below the refine search - when the are logged in, it will be replaced with their control panel menu correct? Top right hand side seems a logical place for it.

On your details page - same thing, get rid of the left hand menu (make room for the large photos of the lisings) and use the right hand side as the CTA menu etc (again I don't want to re-invent the wheel here, you are to skin the details page as close to the LEC 2.0 as possible without compromizing the new LEC 4.0 design.

Can you guys make the image in the details page larger than the LEC2? As large as possible?

Sorry Justin we don't allow custom requests during framework development of LEC's - but you can certainly request yours be increased if you are not satisfied with the final size of the photos (my focus is on balance of elements, images are hugely important but they cannot be so overpowering that the rest of the information is overly de-emphasized.)

Perhaps I will throw some jquery in there for lightbox like we did on the mckinney site http://www.mckinneyhomerebate.com/idx/residential/11145792/details.html (Click the Large Photos) button. (We will want to skin it up a bit more)

No problem. I was just throwing it in there as a suggestion not as a request.. The lightbox looks like a good option.

It is also hugely dependant on what we get from CREB as well - if the images are small, then trying to stretch them makes them look bad. Ideally we would want a "full size" option - but sometimes "full size" is really small and crappy. Your photo sizes seem decent http://www2.creb.com/18/C3359618_15.jpg

We made them as large as possible from the CREB feed on my current site and users seem to like it.

Site is looking good. Nice clean drop downs (like whitehouse.gov).

Are the social bookmark links on the bottom left going to have the appropriate icons for each bookmark?

@ Steve

I've added your logo etc. in the branding area (header). Let me know what you think?

Thanks REW Design!

My logo still feels out of place, but I definitely like the font and colors.  I'm with you on keeping the KW logo at the bottom of the sidebar.

I'm curious on what you guys think about having to subtitles/catch phrases, etc.  Is that a bit confusing?  There's two at the moment: "Passionate about Houston, TX real estate" and "Your local search engine for Houston real estate listings."  I like the latter better for sure, and I think it pops more being in the black bar there.

I guess that leaves us a whole bunch of room in the title area to do something creative.  I just don't know what.

I'm open to not using my logo though - I never really branded it much and I kind of have this stubborn idea that it only looks good in blue.  Red to me seems a bit too dominant, "bullish", I don't know how to describe it.

What I meant about the subtitles is that do you think it makes any big deal with having two "mottos"?  I'm thinking back to Steven Krug's "Don't Make Me Think", and sort of agreed that one motto was perfect.

What do you guys think?  We'll probably run into this scenario with anyone buying this LEC.

I see what you mean..  I didn't think of  "Your local search engine for Houston real estate listings." as being a Tagline - more of a title/headline for the quicksearch. But the placement of it kinda makes it into one by default.

I think you should just get rid of the passionate about part under the logo, it's not necessary.

Btw REW Design - we are going to need to change (I want to change) the hover state of the top links with the dropdowns (those similar to whitehouse.gov - I really don't like how when you mouse over only that little tiny sliver  within the area activations - I want a background activated behind the entire button please. The rest of the dropdown / effect looks great

Looks great so far!

I am sure everything is not done, but when you click "blog" in the very top navigation it stays hovered on "home".

One thing I noticed today, if you check out:

http://dev74.rewtemplates.com/idx/map/

The snippet for the footer looks like it's bugged out.  Don't know if you noticed that.

Just got the snippets for the property search in a thumbnail format and it looks great!  I love what you'd done so far, REW.

Last comment - the snippet for the footer - I meant the testimonials module.

The testimonial module is now fixed on the Map page.

We're nearly there....

One more thing on the map page, and I think this would be the same for all markets, is that the property type should default to single family/residential rather than anything else.

At the moment it's set for Country Homes for my market.

On the bottom module, the most popular neighborhoods, is that going to be a snippet like module?  I notice that I can manually edit the information, but the numbers in the default give me the impression that it's supposed to be tied to the IDX somehow.

I love new new tabs!  (the highlight black part that you changed instead of the "sliver"

On the left sidebar on the home page, how are we going to work in sub-pages?  At the moment, I'm controlling the "Houston areas" module by simple unordered lists with a CSS class.  Are there plans to incorporate a new class for a sub-page?

One more thing (sorry, been meaning to post this stuff but had a lack of time):

On the home page left sidebar, I love the javascript that's going on there with the sliding menu.  I see there is a class to define which is the active one (which is why the search for homes one is always active when you open a page with that sidebar). 

Would it be possible to have that sidebar active title be dependent on the page?  On the home page, I think it's fine that the sidebar opens with the Search for Homes title active.

But on pages like the articles for buyers; shouldn't the "Information for Buyers" title be active instead?  That would seem to be a bit more intuitive - what do you guys think?

Same goes for community pages - if the user lands on a community page, the "Houston Areas" title should be the active one.

Morgan,

The link above that you are using for a Large Photo illustration has been sold.

Copied from Above:

Sorry Justin we don't allow custom requests during framework development of LEC's - but you can certainly request yours be increased if you are not satisfied with the final size of the photos (my focus is on balance of elements, images are hugely important but they cannot be so overpowering that the rest of the information is overly de-emphasized.)

Perhaps I will throw some jquery in there for lightbox like we did on the mckinney site http://www.mckinneyhomerebate.com/idx/residential/11145792/details.html (Click the Large Photos) button. (We will want to skin it up a bit more)

Morgan, you can use this link below and I promise I won't sell it for at least 2 years!

http://www.mckinneyhomerebate.com/idx/cms/54/details.html

You can also delete this entry if you want and simply add the new link to your fomer post above.

Ok,
Well no time like the present to start testing no? - Steve we should clean up any content / navigation items you want cleaned up and I would like to make a DNS switch this week if that is ok with you. Then we will hav a period of 2 weeks or so of observation / adjustment while we work out any final details and adjust any minor items. You cool with that? REW Design / programming - please make sure you do final QA tests (check and test, especially the IDX peices) - Nick - has this been submitted to HAR compliance? If not, it is your #1 priority today. Finally - can anyone check and see if there are larger versions of the HAR photos available (or investigate generating larger ones that maintain aspect ratio?) The LEC has a large photo format, and the HAR images seem quite small dimensions wise.

Thanks everyone - the site is looking awesome!

I'm definitely cool with that; I enjoy deadlines.  My priority this week will be to continue to bring over the last of all my content and make sure it's all redirected properly.

On the map search - can we get the Prop. type select field to default to "Single Family", and the list be in this order?

1. Single Family
2. Townhomes/Condo
3. Mid/Highrise Condo
4. Multifamily
5. Lots
6. Country homes/acreage
7. Rental

This was more-so noticable last week, but I was assuming it was because of the development process.  Once we go live, should I expect for the site responsiveness (loading time mostly) to improve?  I notice various delays when trying to load a page with a snippet or properties.

The IDX pages are loading quickly today, so it was probably just REW Design updating code that caused me to experience delays.  I'll let you guys know if I notice it again in the future.

I'm still a bit perplexed on how I should setup the navigation on the main page.  As it is:

• The home page sidebar naviagation is controlled using a snippet.  Simple definition lists are used to control what displays where.
• When you select an interior page, let's say under "Information for Buyers" > "Buyer Articles", the "Buying" section is loaded on the left-sidebar at the top and is the active header.  Thanks for adding this REW Design!

This is where I get stumped a bit.  Now, since we're loading a header for the page we're now on at the top of the original snippet for the sidebar, you know how duplicate links.

Try it: http://dev74.rewtemplates.com/buyer-articles.php

See that there is an active "Buying" sidebar header on the left, plus a little bit down is the same one from the original snippet under "Information for Buyers".

I like the idea, I'm just trying to hammer out the best way to get it all organized.

Using the new system that REW Design put in, I moved all the community pages to a main page, and put the neighborhoods in each community as a sub-page.  That works out great for the auto loading sidebar module active-header thing I spoke about in the previous post.

Since the "Community" page is what is loaded in the main navigation menu, I replaced the pages that I moved with links and it virtually works the same.  The only thing that's not is that the "Communities" tab isn't highighted when you're on a community page; but that's not a big deal.