DuffelUp.com Blog

New Corkboard Layout: Love It or Hate It?

Hi Duffelers!

It has been quiet 3 months at Duffel. As you can tell, we stopped our popular "48 hours and a Duffel" posts, not intentionally of course, but because our favorite writer, Kira, has moved on. I tried to write an article or two about some cities I've visited, but I can't get myself to publish them and put you through my poor, 2nd grade writing. However, some exciting things have happened as well, one of which is our topic today: new corkboard layout!

Over the past year, we've been making small tweaks on our corkboard to improve user experience, both from planning and browsing perspectives. One of the most important change we did was exposing itinerary view all on the corkboard for third-party viewers. In another words, if you're not planning the trip, you won't see the legacy list view that had always been on the right sidebar. As you can imagine, this caused some confusion from users - a few emailed us asking how to get their itineraries displayed on the corkboard; others just simply said Duffel is "getting difficult" to use.

Yesterday, we did something quite drastic. To prevent future confusion on two different views - itinerary list view vs. itinerary corkboard view - we got rid of the legacy list view and presented the itinerary on the corkboard, right below where the "scratch board" (now called "My Ideas and Notes") used to be. In addition, clicking on the "i" at the bottom right of each note card (see screenshots below), you will see the detailed view of each note card, including a larger picture (if available).

So why this change, you ask. What are the advantages anyway? Now you can:

View the whole itinerary and snippet of notes without every clicking on "+" sign.
Let other users view your itinerary + pictures at a glance.
Easily view details and larger picture without ever leaving the screen.
Create a travel journal / diary for friends and family to view.

We also understand that there's a drawback to every solution. Here are some from my personal pespective:

Harder to drag & drop items into the itinerary.
Lose the "timeline" view of events. It was easily presented when listed from top to down. Left to right just seems...not right.

These are my thoughts. What about yours? Do you love it, or hate it? We are all ears to your comments and feedback. Feel free to email me directly will [at] duffelup [dot] com. Before you start writing your critism or praise, please remember that this version is just a first stab, and we're constantly striving to find the right balance based on your feedback.

P.S. You can also direct your comments here: http://getsatisfaction.com/duffel/topics/what_happened_to_the_list_view_in_grid_view

- will & duffel team

Posted by will

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Souped Up Bookmarker Tool Enhances Planning Experience

Right from the start, the versatility and flexibility made possible by our Clip-it Bookmarker tool was a big part of what set trip planning on Duffel apart from other planning interfaces and tools. When you use Duffel, freedom blends seamlessly with travel organization. And the freedom to add-in pieces of your trip from anywhere on the web is brought to you courtesy of the Clip-it Bookmarker. Well, the Bookmarker just got a shiny new set of rims and a supercharged engine. Check it out:

Go to any page on the web and find what you want to add-in to your Duffel. Highlight the important stuff and click the “Add to Duffel” button on your toolbar and Voila…the tool does the work for you and all the info is inserted. It’s a huge time saver, and definitely cool. And if you’re on popular websites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor, address gets auto-added too! In the above screenshot, I added a dinner to Dante’s Kitchen in New Orleans to my upcoming duffel NOLA Jazzfest (I know, I know, it’s going to rock). Once I click “add to duffel” in the clip-it window, it gets auto-populated onto my duffel’s corkboard like so:

[golf clap]

And there you have it. Want to learn more? Check it out.

Duffel up and Go!

Posted by will

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Add Popular Tours Directly to Your Duffel

We’ve recently added a new way to add activities to your duffel, making it even easier to browse and add great tours to your trips’ itineraries.

Now, when you click on +Activity, you will be able to select and add-in from a pool of 100,000+ popular tours in over 450 destinations around the world.

Of course, you can still choose to custom-design your own activity (choose the “from scratch” option), but the new wealth of ideas is sure to help spice up and enrich your trip planning experience.

Check out the tours, duffel up and go!

Posted by will

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New Corkboard Layout: Love It or Hate It?

Souped Up Bookmarker Tool Enhances Planning Experience

Add Popular Tours Directly to Your Duffel