Features that DotTel lack 7
Before I get to see the arguments around this post, let me clarify that I know what is DotTel all about and how different it is from a normal website.
But I think there are few bits those DotTel lacks and should consider providing these features in near future.
1. Custom Logo
There is no option to have a custom logo. Personally, I feel that when someone stop by my DotTel I like them to see my custom logo rather than the existing default .Tel Logo.
I bet any company would be interested in showing off their brand image rather than having the default DotTel logo. Companies spend fortune on branding.
2. Custom or Multiple layouts
Again, there is no option to have a different background. The least Telnic could do is to have a set of templates where the DotTel owners have an option to select from these available options. Personally I want my DotTel to have a white background with custom logo with which people at least can recognise immediately where they landed on 
.
3. Section Heading
I have no clue why they have set “Keywords” as the section heading for the sub-sections like Business Address and so on.
Practically it does not look professional to have the “Keywords” as section heading for Address part.
Either there should be an option to edit the text “Keywords” to the one that user prefers or the Business Address sub-section must be moved out of this keywords section.
Bottom line:
Whatever DotTel target market is, majority of the people prefer to have unique logo & background. May be these can be restricted to size and dimensions, but there is a real need of these features.
Communication channels like myspace, facebook and todays Twitter, all provide profile customisation Tools. Lets hope Telnic provides some level of personalization on visual aspects and the way content is sorted/displayed on DotTel, for example the one that I have mentioned above.
Share your thoughts on this..
But I think there are few bits those DotTel lacks and should consider providing these features in near future.
I am a freelance developer who works with car dealers. I have always tried & suggested most of the new technologies and domain extensions to my clients.
It was really tough to convince them as none of them were agreed to the concept of not having their brand image. They all spend minimum of £30 pounds on marketing each car they hold in stock. Hope they allow some level of customization.
You always raise good questions! However, these have been answered many times in a number of different forums on Namepros.com and on our new community forum at telnic.org.
Basically, .tel doesn’t do content, it does contact information. You can, through free tools, integrate the .tel information into your ‘contact us’ page if you want the power of ‘real time’ contact information with your branding. Equally, visit the .tel over your mobile browser and you get nothing BUT contact information.
The branding is the contact information – it’s more social branding; the offer of customers being able to get in touch with your brand the way THEY want to. Any other site can do logos, push marketing and rich content. But .tel is about getting people to understand that it is entirely focused on contact information. Not content. And that’s also why the only brand visible in terms of a logo is .tel – to show that all it contains is contact information. It is precisely this similarity in layout that enables the .tel to do what it does best – deliver information quickly to those looking for it.
With regard to the Keywords header, that’s a good point. We are taking feedback on the esthetics and are modifying the proxy page and the control panel so expect further changes, from user feedback, in the coming months.
However, the key takeaway is that the .tel is fundamentally different from all of the other TLDs and social tools out there. Bottom line – try dialling another domain from a softphone like Kiax and voipGATE – you won’t be able to. .tel is a single point of contact, not a highly designed place for visual branding. There are plenty of other offerings out there that can do that.
Keep the feedback coming!
Justin Hayward
Telnic Limited
justin.tel
Oh! this means that Tel logo is forever? I was in the hope that sometime in future telnic will allow us to have our logos.
now I am disappointed, I am aware that .tel is for communication but still.
I don’t believe I ever said ‘forever’ in my response, but certainly we have no plans at present to change the policy. That said, we have been very responsive to feedback to date.
Justin I agree with you! To be crystal clear, what i understand from your response is that you dont have any plans on providing the feature of logo customization right now or for some time but there might be changes to your plans in future and you may introduce this feature? hmm…there is a “but” ….i might sound a bit zzzz but what i feel is that the wow factor of “logo” is missing with .tel though the TLD is entirely a good concept and best option to save and publicize contact information.
cheers
Katie
Hi Katie,
It’s a complex issue, believe me, even though it might be considered simple. But your analysis of my response is correct and I respect your position on the wow factor of a logo. But does it truly add anything to the user experience? Impact? Trust? Reassurance? Relief?
The .tel domain has been designed for ease of use from the end-user’s perspective – to have access to quick, simple, pure contact information. Given all of the rest of the content online, we truly believe that the wow factor is that sense of relief to be protected from logos, pop-ups, banner ads, flashing skyscrapers, etc and that this will reinforce the strength of the social brand of the company using the .tel.
Products evolve, markets move and if we hear that a significant proportion of companies won’t purchase a .tel because they can’t put their logo on it, we will of course take that into account and act in the interests of the community, both owners and users alike.
Regards,
Justin
Thanks Justin.
However, when a person is already on .tel domain, I am sure they already know what it is all about. My reference is towards the recognition, trust & the appealing factor “customization” brings to DotTel & even the majority of the people would be interested in.
As of today, to store .tel in a mobile one needs to install a separate application or they can only bookmark in a browser. Either way users are seeing graphic (existing tel logo), if DotTel domain is something that one can register/save just as a number and browse the content without browsers/separate applications then yes, Logo/visual is not something one should be worried. I know that telnic is working on this, but If there has to be some logo then I wish it could be customizable rather than a default one.
Let us assume that I have registered a DotTel domain VinodsM.tel and someone registered VinodM.tel. A friend of mine with whom I have no contacts since last 10 years, for some reason he started searching for me in Google with my name and found the above two domains. Unfortunately if he clicks on other domain he has to read so much of stuff before he can confirm that it’s not me. In the same scenario, if there is an option to have customized logo, and if I put my picture in place of logo then he can easily confirm that its me and he can get in contact right away.
If the above scenario arises to a corporate company who will naturally have identical domains registered by others, then think of the possible confusion or loss that could occur.
So if we have some level of customization where owner(s) can have their own logo then a lot of confusions can be avoided.
There are other things that may need to be addressed by Telnic.
Example:
1. No follow option
2. Some kind of verification method (ex: Search engines require a webmaster/owner of the website to verify their domain to get accepted for search).
But I am sure over the coming days it will get better and thats the reason I have not written about all those.
I hope Telnic will review their stand on this and let the owners to have some level of customization.