I've received lots of great comments so far, and many have to do with functionality of the app and its connectivity to twitter and static links for ratemoon searches. These are all in the pipeline and are top priority.

However, it's also become clear that the interface needs some explanation built into it to make the searches and ratings more intuitive so this is my first objective. If it's not usable, it doesn't exist!

So, in the interest of ease-of-use, here's how to get the most out of Ratemoon:

1. Search Box. The search field takes both business types and locations or just the name of the business. If you want "thai cbd" try searching that. Even better would be Thai, then select "Auckland" from the drop down list to see what comes up. If no results show, or not the one you like or are looking for, feel free to Add Something Good. Remember to check previous posts for the intricacies of this Add Something Good feature. Some fields can be entered generically and they shouldn't be required. I'm working on this.

Since Ratemoon searches the Google Business Directory for New Zealand, only those results, and Ratemoon's database entries, are available. As Ratemoon grows this search will become more powerful.

Try various searches to find what you want. As more keywords are entered into the Ratemoon database this too will increase the app's effectiveness.

2. Select "Shoot the Moon" to show only the first search result. This can be used if you just want to check the address of a business, you're out and about, or you know what you're looking for, know it's in the database and want to rate it.

3. Of course Add Something Good when you go somewhere good or if you can't find it when you search.

4. When you go to "Rate It" for a business you must first submit your comment before rating or your comment will be erased. Rating a business with the moon rating system clears the form, programmatically, so anything user-entered that hasn't been committed doesn't get saved.

Please feel free to add more comments here. I'm working to make Ratemoon as easy to use as possible. It takes work to simplify, but simple apps work the best!

What's good around here? Tell Ratemoon. :)

 

 

This has come up a few times so I just wanted to quickly address it. Since Google directory requires the email of the business, that field is included in the Add Something Good form as a required* field. However, it's not necessary to know this email and I'll be removing the required* from this field soon. Simply enter "ratemoon@gmail.com" (don't enter quotes) into the email field if you don't know the email of the business.

Thanks to my friend Rew for pointing this out!

Working this week on rolling out the rest of the design and ironing out some technical issues and hopefully by the end of next week will have the design I want in its full glory. Till then, keep telling your friends what's good around here. :)

I've had a few questions relating to searching for a business on Ratemoon and I wanted to address these. In the coming weeks I'll be updating the website design to make this process more obvious, but for now I'll give a few tips:

1. Type the name or type of business you're searching for in the search field. If you are feeling lucky select "Shoot the Moon" to only pull up the first search result. This can be used if you know the business is in Ratemoon and just want to locate it so you can go there again. Also, some tricks are entering keywords in the search field like cafe, mojo, plumbing, etc.

2. Make sure to pick the appropriate region for your business - if you're in Mt Wellington choose that by going to the bottom of the drop down list and choose "Other..." and enter Mt Wellington. If you are in Wellington, proper, be sure to choose "Wellington" in the list.

3. If you don't find a business, by all means add it! This increases Ratemoon's effectiveness.

4. Add your comments to a biz listing. I plan on obfuscating the email addresses soon so there's more incentive to do this. I realise that having your email address out in the open is not a very pleasant concept so I've got this as first on my list to fix.

5. When adding a new listing the First and Last name have to do with the owner of the business, not your name. :) If you don't know who the owner is, simply enter the biz name twice or fill first and last name with the first and last name of the business.

6. Post any questions/comments to this blog - it's my issue tracker. I want to make Ratemoon the way kiwis search for businesses in New Zealand.

7. Try typing in "Auto Ellerslie" with no region selected. You'll see you get Ellerslie Auto becuase of the keywords entered for that business. Try it for other things you're searching for.

There's nothing better than a personal recommendation to save you time and effort. What's good around here? Let all your fellow users know. The site's growing day by day and I'm really excited to make it even better. Know anyone south of Christchurch who wants to help grow the database? Have them enter the businesses they like.

Ratemoon has been testing for a week and many entries have been put in, many ratings carefully composed. :) I'm so excited this web app is live (beta, though I hate the term beta it sure fits at the moment) and can't wait to roll out the new design and more features.

Speaking of new, I'm looking for a php developer who codes in php and symfony and knows some linux and mysql as well. If you know anyone, please send their details my way? ratemoon a t  gmail d o t  com.

So for the next week or so I'll be putting in more entries and visiting more places around Auckland, but I need more from other parts of New Zealand - this app is for all New Zealanders, that means you, Dunedin-vegas and Inver-vegas and all points in between.

Keep up the ratings!

At 1am this morning http://www.ratemoon.co.nz went live! I am very excited and couldn't wait to share the news.

As you may know, I've been working on this web app since May 2009 and it's been an incredible journey. Now that it's live I want to test it with people like you whom I trust for honest feedback before I set it loose upon the world. Feel free to tell a few friends, but not too many people - I am still working on the design and some back end improvements before making a big announcement.

So have a play with the site and use it. I think you'll find as more entries go in its usefulness will increase as well. I plan on entering Ellerslie Automotive as my first rating: They are honest, dependable and wonderful to deal with.

The blog is the best place for comments, feature ideas and bug reports: http://ratemoon.posterous.com
Follow the site on twitter: @ratemoon

Nathaniel
Founder of Ratemoon.co.nz