Here are some simple ways that the Waze website can become more user-friendly, especially for new users and editors. Such improvements may help retain users significantly.

1) Automatic redirecting of international traffic: If a new user types ‘waze.com’, the site should recognise the origin of the IP address and, if it’s from outside North America, automatically redirect the user to ‘world.waze.com’. This would save everyone a lot of time and hassle trying to figure out where their account really is and where their scores are registered. The present state of things causes panic and confusion, both of which can be relatively easily avoided.

2) Put ‘Forums’ and ‘Wiki’ on a separate tabs on the main website: This would provide a direct route and fewer clicks to get into the Forums and Wiki while increasing visibility and encouraging participation.

3) Provide easy links or tabs to access ‘Uservoice’: Many new users have no idea the Uservoice site exists. And since it forms such an integral part of improving Waze, it needs to be in easy reach, especially for new users.

4) What happened to the Website/Editor Uservoice page?: The link to that part of Uservoice is dead. Was no one using it? Refer to the previous point.

5) Increase votes for Uservoice: I know the current system limits the user to prioritise the features to vote for, but I feel a few votes could be earned when suggesting a new feature. After all, that’s what we want, is it not?

6) Homepage site use instructions: Since Waze is an extensive facility with a wide range of things to be done, I feel we could use the homepage to introduce new users to the site and the services with a small introduction and a link to each. Again, I feel this would encourage users to stick around and explore the site as well as see all that Waze has to offer.

What do you guys think?