1. Meanwhile, In the
Rest of the World...
RailsConf 2006 - Chicago, Illinois
Practicalmadness

2. Hello, my name is David, and
I’ve come here to tell you what
you’re doing wrong.

3. I make:
✦ E-commerce sites for online and bricks-’n-mortar retailers

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

8. But before that,
I worked in
tech support.

9. While we’re all excited about
the “new” Web, much of our
potential audience is still
discovering the old one.

10. The new hotness

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

16. Surf di erently.

17. Surf di erently. Surf better.

18. And the user says...

19. And the user says...
✦ No!

20. And the user says...
✦ No!
✦ What?

21. And the user says...
✦ No!
✦ What?
✦ Huh?

22. But what the user means is:

23. But what the user means is:
“Why?”

24. Some faulty assumptions

25. Customers know what their
browser can do

26. Users know what they’re
talking about

27. “Everybody lies.”
- Dr. House

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

37. Users are choosing their
environment

38. What they’ve got

39. What they’ve got
✦ Windows XP + Internet Explorer 6.x

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

45. The problem

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

49. They don’t think they need the
new hotness.

50. Many people are only casual
Web users who visit a
relatively small number of
sites

51. They already have a circle of
people they communicate
with, and established means
for doing so

52. Many people who use
computers every day feel
that they don’t fully
understand them

53. And even relatively tech-savvy
people don’t see how the new
hotness fits into their lives

54. So why should we care?

55. Awareness
Many Web 2.0-isms would be a hit with
your users, if only they knew how to take
advantage of them

56. Market opportunity
We’re not just talking about Grandma

57. Vision
We wanna change the world, remember?

58. So what’s the solution?

59. Do your homework

60. Talk to people.

61. Talk to people.

62. The solution is more than just
a feature set

63. Think about the future

64. And now, errata

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.

66. (They’re not here, unfortunately)

67. It starts with how you think
about the product

68. Before you start
✦ Who’s gonna use it?
✦ How will they use it?
✦ How often will they use it?

69. railsconf

70. Syndication

71. ?!

72. RSS Awareness

73. RSS Awareness
✦ Only 12% of internet users are aware RSS exists

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

77. FeedWhat? NetNewsWho?
RSS requires the use of specialized software

78. FeedWhat? NetNewsWho?
RSS requires the use of specialized software
✦ ...which many users can’t / don’t want to install

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

88. “RSS” is invisible to end users

89. “RSS” is invisible to end users
And that’s the way we want it.

90. (Boy, these website buttons are tiny!)

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...

96. Know your mystery meat

97. Hey look! Words!
Flickr

102. Tags

103. ?!
railsconf

104. What is a tag?

105. What is a tag?
No, really, what is a tag?

106. Tags are “microcomments”

107. Things to consider

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?

113. Practically perfect tagging

114. Practically perfect tagging
✦ If the app is narrow in scope, suggest that the tags be narrow in
scope

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

117. ExtraTasty!
skinnyCorp

118. Self-supporting UI
ExtraTasty

119. Cork’d
Tundro

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?

122. Meaningful collections