Dec 4, 2009 8
BlueScape Search: A Half-Baked Solution In Search of a Problem
Coldwell Banker just released its beta site (beta.coldwellbanker.com) this week, and on the whole, it’s a nice update. Here’s the current homepage:
And here’s the beta homepage:
Frankly, they’re both very nice; the beta page strikes me as being a bit more ‘unified’ and more contemporary in look and feel. The new search interface that dominates the center of the homepage is quite nice, and the default view is the List view (as you learn when you just type in a zip code and hit Enter). The search results are clean, and the map view is… all right, even if it needs some work and cleanup (those icons need to go, but it is a beta…).
But the most interesting feature Coldwell Banker is introducing with this version of the website is their BlueScape Search, which they bill as a way to “find your Dream House”. Since property search is the key activity of any real estate website visitor, and search itself has been something I’ve been involved with for quite some time, I wanted to look closer at this attempt at innovation.
