4. I make:
✦ E-commerce sites for online and bricks-’n-mortar retailers
✦ CRM and client account management webapps for small real
estate companies
5. I make:
✦ E-commerce sites for online and bricks-’n-mortar retailers
✦ CRM and client account management webapps for small real
estate companies
✦ Content sites for artists, publishers and other perfectionists
6. I make:
✦ E-commerce sites for online and bricks-’n-mortar retailers
✦ CRM and client account management webapps for small real
estate companies
✦ Content sites for artists, publishers and other perfectionists
✦ Little fixes, tweaks, improvements or total catastrophic revisions
to any of the above
7. I make:
✦ E-commerce sites for online and bricks-’n-mortar retailers
✦ CRM and client account management webapps for small real
estate companies
✦ Content sites for artists, publishers and other perfectionists
✦ Little fixes, tweaks, improvements or total catastrophic revisions
to any of the above
✦ Money
11. The new hotness
✦ Create online communities, organized around communication
and sharing of information.
12. The new hotness
✦ Create online communities, organized around communication
and sharing of information.
✦ Participate in the web by publishing text and multimedia
content, which can then be shared
13. The new hotness
✦ Create online communities, organized around communication
and sharing of information.
✦ Participate in the web by publishing text and multimedia
content, which can then be shared
✦ Enjoy newer, more agile means of consuming content via RSS
readers or mobile devices
14. The new hotness
✦ Create online communities, organized around communication
and sharing of information.
✦ Participate in the web by publishing text and multimedia
content, which can then be shared
✦ Enjoy newer, more agile means of consuming content via RSS
readers or mobile devices
✦ Spend less time waiting thanks to “live” Ajaxed UIs
28. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user would like to make it easy for someone to send him/
her a message...
29. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user would like to make it easy for someone to send him/
her a message...
✦ ...and that maybe that message should include a file attachment
30. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user would like to make it easy for someone to send him/
her a message...
✦ ...and that maybe that message should include a file attachment
✦ ...and perhaps also some tags
31. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user would like to make it easy for someone to send him/
her a message...
✦ ...and that maybe that message should include a file attachment
✦ ...and perhaps also some tags
✦ ...and that incoming messages should be available via RSS
32. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user would like to make it easy for someone to send him/
her a message...
✦ ...and that maybe that message should include a file attachment
✦ ...and perhaps also some tags
✦ ...and that incoming messages should be available via RSS
✦ ...and this feature goes unused when the user continues to use
e-mail for all their communications needs
33. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user needs to be able to post files to their website for
friends or customers to download...
34. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user needs to be able to post files to their website for
friends or customers to download...
✦ ...and maybe also news items and calendar items and contact
information and link lists and photos
35. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user needs to be able to post files to their website for
friends or customers to download...
✦ ...and maybe also news items and calendar items and contact
information and link lists and photos
✦ ...and maybe they want these items to be organized into
subfolders
36. User requests are often aspirational in nature
✦ The user needs to be able to post files to their website for
friends or customers to download...
✦ ...and maybe also news items and calendar items and contact
information and link lists and photos
✦ ...and maybe they want these items to be organized into
subfolders
✦ ...and the resulting complexity has them coming back next year
wondering why it’s so hard to post a file to their website
40. What they’ve got
✦ Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6.x
✦ E-mail via Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook/Outlook Express
41. What they’ve got
✦ Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6.x
✦ E-mail via Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook/Outlook Express
✦ Instant messaging via a proprietary client (e.g., AIM or Yahoo)
42. What they’ve got
✦ Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6.x
✦ E-mail via Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook/Outlook Express
✦ Instant messaging via a proprietary client (e.g., AIM or Yahoo)
✦ Listening to music via whatever music player they’ve got (e.g., iTunes
or Windows Media Player)
43. What they’ve got
✦ Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6.x
✦ E-mail via Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook/Outlook Express
✦ Instant messaging via a proprietary client (e.g., AIM or Yahoo)
✦ Listening to music via whatever music player they’ve got (e.g., iTunes
or Windows Media Player)
✦ Broadband (with a catch)
44. What they’ve got
✦ Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6.x
✦ E-mail via Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Outlook/Outlook Express
✦ Instant messaging via a proprietary client (e.g., AIM or Yahoo)
✦ Listening to music via whatever music player they’ve got (e.g., iTunes
or Windows Media Player)
✦ Broadband (with a catch)
✦ Search engine
46. The problem
People are not aware of the new hotness
✦
47. The problem
People are not aware of the new hotness
✦
People don’t think they need the new
✦
hotness
48. The problem
People are not aware of the new hotness
✦
People don’t think they need the new
✦
hotness
The new hotness has not been properly
✦
explained
65. Cmere
My projects
The next generation of web invites
MightyShelf
What the world would be like if Delicious Library
didn’t take two hours to do something
Nomatic
Because searching for an apartment
in Wicker Park sucks.
74. RSS Awareness
✦ Only 12% of internet users are aware RSS exists
✦ Only 4% have knowingly used it
75. RSS Awareness
✦ Only 12% of internet users are aware RSS exists
✦ Only 4% have knowingly used it
✦ 27% of users consume RSS via web portals like My Yahoo!
without ever knowing what RSS is
76. RSS Awareness
✦ Only 12% of internet users are aware RSS exists
✦ Only 4% have knowingly used it
✦ 27% of users consume RSS via web portals like My Yahoo!
without ever knowing what RSS is
✦ 28% are aware of podcasting, but only 2% subscribe to
podcasts
79. FeedWhat? NetNewsWho?
RSS requires the use of specialized software
✦ ...which many users can’t / don’t want to install
✦ ...or which just doesn’t seem like something they want to use
80. Night of the living bookmarks
Or the use of (dare I say) poorly-concieved browser features
81. Night of the living bookmarks
Or the use of (dare I say) poorly-concieved browser features
✦ What’s the di erence between “Live bookmarks” and regular
old bookmarks?
82. Night of the living bookmarks
Or the use of (dare I say) poorly-concieved browser features
✦ What’s the di erence between “Live bookmarks” and regular
old bookmarks?
✦ What’s the di erence between Safari RSS and a regular old web
page?
83. Night of the living bookmarks
Or the use of (dare I say) poorly-concieved browser features
✦ What’s the di erence between “Live bookmarks” and regular
old bookmarks?
✦ What’s the di erence between Safari RSS and a regular old web
page?
✦ Is the user aware that these features are even there?
84. Portals are, like, so 1996
Or is built into personalized home pages like My Yahoo and
Google
85. Portals are, like, so 1996
Or is built into personalized home pages like My Yahoo and
Google
✦ These pages are so full of advertising and commercial content
that it’s not obvious that they can be tailored to user prefs
86. Portals are, like, so 1996
Or is built into personalized home pages like My Yahoo and
Google
✦ These pages are so full of advertising and commercial content
that it’s not obvious that they can be tailored to user prefs
✦ Users don’t find navigating to three di erent pages to do three
di erent things inconvenient
87. Portals are, like, so 1996
Or is built into personalized home pages like My Yahoo and
Google
✦ These pages are so full of advertising and commercial content
that it’s not obvious that they can be tailored to user prefs
✦ Users don’t find navigating to three di erent pages to do three
di erent things inconvenient
✦ Your website doesn’t have the right button
92. User, RSS. RSS, User.
✦ Describe RSS in lay terms, as it pertains to your app
93. User, RSS. RSS, User.
✦ Describe RSS in lay terms, as it pertains to your app
✦ Don’t assume that the user will make the connection between
your app’s RSS and someone else’s
94. User, RSS. RSS, User.
✦ Describe RSS in lay terms, as it pertains to your app
✦ Don’t assume that the user will make the connection between
your app’s RSS and someone else’s
✦ Think about how your RSS will be consumed and target that
95. User, RSS. RSS, User.
✦ Describe RSS in lay terms, as it pertains to your app
✦ Don’t assume that the user will make the connection between
your app’s RSS and someone else’s
✦ Think about how your RSS will be consumed and target that
✦ And finally...
108. Things to consider
✦ What sorts of things are users looking for when using your app?
109. Things to consider
✦ What sorts of things are users looking for when using your app?
✦ What are the most logical ways to describe those things?
110. Things to consider
✦ What sorts of things are users looking for when using your app?
✦ What are the most logical ways to describe those things?
✦ Are users likely to need to group items using tags?
111. Things to consider
✦ What sorts of things are users looking for when using your app?
✦ What are the most logical ways to describe those things?
✦ Are users likely to need to group items using tags?
✦ The scope of taxonomy: is it open- or closed-ended?
112. Things to consider
✦ What sorts of things are users looking for when using your app?
✦ What are the most logical ways to describe those things?
✦ Are users likely to need to group items using tags?
✦ The scope of taxonomy: is it open- or closed-ended?
✦ How much overlap is there between the scope of your app and
somebody else’s?
115. Practically perfect tagging
✦ If the app is narrow in scope, suggest that the tags be narrow in
scope
✦ If each tag is considered a separate, discrete item in your data
model, consider presenting them that way to the user
116. Practically perfect tagging
✦ If the app is narrow in scope, suggest that the tags be narrow in
scope
✦ If each tag is considered a separate, discrete item in your data
model, consider presenting them that way to the user
✦ Don’t rely on users to decide how to best use the tagging
feature -- show them
121. Tag clouds
They’re not the devil, but are often a lesser demon
✦ What exactly does larger text
signify? How does the user know
that? Do they need to?
✦ Are the tags in the cloud
meaningfully related to each other?
✦ How does the cloud relate to the
item the user’s looking for?