Comments on: I Don’t Like Globrix Property Portal

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:32:47 +0000

What drives me mad about the Globrix website is that (for me at any rate) it is constantly tracking the mouse’s left to right position, so that the second you click with any button it changes the price range you are searching for. This means if you want to open a house’s details in a new window, and you right click for the context menu, it will reset the search’s price range, and you have to spend ages trying to get back to where you were.

It is just SO annoying.

By: First time buyer

First time buyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:40:19 +0000

I think this article will encourage more users to use Globrix :)

By: Usability Sympathist

Usability Sympathist — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:37:33 +0000

Nope. He doesn’t work for Rightmove. He’s just spot on right.

That said, I think he’s being unfairly harsh – despite the pacy style and “call a spade a spade” screengrabs (love those), I think underneath he’s an advanced web user. (Basis: Anyone who tries turning off javascript is an advanced web user)…

…and for an advanced web user – it’s “fine”. If you’re into the web, it’s quite fun to explore broken conventions (eg the massive text font). I bet he actually worked it out in a nano second, and the price sliders, those too right?)

And as for turning off javascript – who the hell turns off javascript? No basic web user turns it off – come on. Yes, the infinite scroll (another convention bites the dust) will spook them a bit, but it isn’t THAT hard to work out.

That said – the core of the argument stands rock solid…

Here’s the rub… 98% of the web users are NOT ADVANCED users, not looking for fun interfaces, or “AJAX tweaks” for the sake of them.

And the problem goes WAY deeper than the (spot on) bigger points explored in this article. It’s throughout the entire system! It’s too late to fix, it’s completely endemic on virtually every process in the site.

Try putting an average joe bloggs in front of this cool site and watch them completely FAIL within 30 seconds. Goodbye 70% of the audience.

By: The Landlord

The Landlord — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:26:43 +0000

@Tom
I wish I did, I wish I did. They have some hot employees!

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:52:17 +0000

You forgot to mention you work for Rightmove.. :)

By: The Landlord

The Landlord — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:24:18 +0000

Hi Sam,
Yeah, they basically scrape your stock. I assumed they did that :)
At least their service is free, that’s all I can say.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:18:15 +0000

Hi, we use Globrix as a spider from our site – it looks up the property listings we have on our site and then transfers them to theirs – make any mroe sense now?

By: Dmitry

Dmitry — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:38:14 +0000

Try to disable javascript in your preferred browser an go to on GMail e.g. ;) Most of rich internet applications like facebook, twitter or friendfeed will not work without JS. Spirit of the times…

By: Fee

Fee — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:42:56 +0000

Have tried using Globrix on the iphone, the mobile version of the site. But the images dont appear! Good job you can opt out and use there normal site. However that only displays 5 results and theres no next button!
So its pretty rubbish if you want to use the site on the go.

Rightmove is a lot lot better with an actual app (which is also free)!

Fee.