By this time, just about everyone knows about Craigslist. It’s the biggest online classified service available anywhere, and it’s almost completely free.

Craigslist was started in 1995 by Craig Newmark, and all he really wanted to make was an email distribution list for himself and some friends, describing some of the local events going on in San Francisco. Since that time, it has exploded in popularity and is currently the 11th most-visited website in the US. Craigslist has classified ads covering 700 cities in 70 different countries.

The problem with Craigslist is that it is stuck in the past. The website itself has not been modified or updated since it was first created back in the 1990s. Let’s say you live in Atlanta, and you want to buy a used car – a Honda. Here is what you have to do in order to find one on Craigslist:

- Go to www.craigslist.org
- Look in the list of states and find Georgia – click it
- Look in the list of Georgia cities, find Atlanta – click it
- Find the “For Sale” section, find “cars & trucks” – click it
- Now you are looking at the list of ad titles – to see one, click to open the ad (on this screen, you can type to search “honda civic” and see only ads containing those words)

You can only look at one ad at a time. To look at another one, click Back and open the next one. And you can only see pictures by opening that ad – there are no thumbnail images to browse.

AND – you can only search one city at a time. If you want to look in a nearby city (or any other city for that matter) you have to go back to the first page of the site, find the state, and find the city.

It’s a very cumbersome and outdated way to search for something you want. Craig Newmark doesn’t care and has no plans to update it.

That’s okay – someone has created an easier way to search Craigslist.

When you visit Craiglook.com, you will see that the interface is much more intuitive. Right on the front page of the site, you can type in what you are looking for, and the city where you want to find it. Then click Search. Super simple!

The results that come back are also much more informative than just an ad title. Here is what came back from a search for “Honda Civic” in Atlanta (click to see full size):

You get to see a thumbnail image (if the ad has a picture), when it was posted, the phone number to call, a link to send an email to the owner of the car, or to forward the ad on to someone, and even a partial description. Of course, if you are interested, you can click to see the full ad.

Note – this is not a different classified ad site. These are the actual ads currently on Craigslist, but they have been rearranged and displayed on this site in a much more user-friendly manner. Thanks, Craiglook!

Some people cry at movies if they are particularly sad or emotional. This woman cried at the end of Star Wars (and other films). Note – before you assume he’s a jerk for recording her, read the FAQ section on their website.