Craigslist has adopted the less is more principle in terms of design, features, etc., but for the power users it’s interface can be limiting at times. We have looked at a Craigslist alternative before (Crgslst.com) but it has been blocked. I have found a few more alternatives now.
CLHack.com (myWiseBunny.com) – A nifty javascript driven web interface
Clhack.com provides a familiar Windows Explorer look in the web with the States and Cities presented in a folder hierarchy structure.
Once you dig into the United States or Canada, the state/province, the city, it lists the various categories under the city. Clicking on US -> Michigan -> Lansing -> Cars+Trucks look like the picture. Plus, the pictures zoom out when you mouse over it.
You have the option to see the listing with pictures (default) or all listings. You can search through the listings, choose to search only the titles and set a min or max price or both.
I also like the fact that the whole interface is tabbed. Which means you can keep the existing searches open and start a new search in a different tab. This means i can search for an item across cities or even states in different tabs.It even remembered my last search tab when I closed and re-opened the tab in Firefox.
Now, let’s take a look at a desktop alternative.
CraigsPal – Advanced Craigslist Search
Now, if you are looking for something beyond just a nice looking interface than the 90’s look of the original, CraigsPal might fit the bill. CraigsPal is a Windows based desktop software that brings additional features like
* Highly customized filtered content
* Multi-city, multi-state search
* Ability to remove listings containing certain words
* Browsing with keyboard shortcuts
* Spam flagging
CraigsPal comes in free and paid versions ($29.99). With the paid version, you get additional features like
* fully automated search
* instant notifier for search results
* email/mobile notifier
The free version is pretty useful too although it has ads on one side. It can be very useful if you are on Craigslist everyday looking for stuff in various cities.
Search All Craig’s
If you are quickly looking up stuff though and you want to get listings of a particular item no matter where they are in the country, like a freelance job, Search All Craigs can help. All Craigs is a Google Custom Search engine, just like the WordPress Custom Search engine I put together. It is helpful while searching across the country for something but its helpfulness ends there.
You don’t get image previews or advanced filtering capability you get with the other 2. But, someone took the trouble to put this together and is definitely worth a mention.
source: shankrila.com
3 Responses to “3 Craigslist Interface Alternatives”
Very good post that one. Thanks. Would definitely be good to see more like this.
If it’s a better interface you’re after, take a look at iList; simple and clean, done the right way.
Of the three alternatives mentioned in the entry, CraigsPal looks the best, but I don’t feel any of them are so different from Craigslist that I would need to make the change.
Good post. I created an alternative to craigslist that emphasis on location – map based interface. It is called momingle.com