Slash7 with Amy Hoy - Home

Doing the Work, with lessons from Magnum PI

2009-10-28T12:46:00Z

Introductory interface talks are boring. More importantly, by neccessity, they are the same old content recycled. And recycled uselessly, to no end.

Because if the audience members were interested in interface design, they would already know the content of the talk. Or, to put it another way, if they didn't already know the content of the talk, they clearly didn't care.

So when I gave a talk last week at the Italian Perl Conference, in Pisa, Italy, I didn't give the type of introductory interface design talk that you'd expect.

Instead, I gave a talk entitled: "Doing the Work"

In Doing the Work, I asked the following questions:

What if software development was like Magnum, PI?
What if software development was like a seesaw?
What if software development was like a mathematical problem?

I could tell you more, but I don't want to give away the punchlines.

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The audio was recorded, so as soon as I get it, I'll be setting it up with the slides for a more complete experience.

What do you think?

Where do you see opportunities to apply leverage?

Where's the worst repetition in your everyday computing life?

What other software do you know, where all the competitors work exactly the same?

What tools help you multiply time?

Nearly Sold Out - Berlin JavaScript Master Class

2009-10-20T11:14:00Z

A quick note for our European friends—especially ones who we'll see at JSConf Europe.

Become a JavaScript Master

Our one-day JavaScript Master Class is coming to Berlin, November 9, right after JSConf.

If you feel like you've got some room to improve your JavaScript when it comes to understanding the hardcore-iest parts of the language, like the deep ins & outs of the object model, or knowing when and how to use closures, or how to make the DOM your bitch (yeah really), you should come.

Not to mention, we'll talk about how to handle large JavaScript code bases without tearing your hair out, how to use and write custom events (no frameworks allowed), how and why to write and run unit tests, and more: deployment practices, performance ideas, and so on, so forth.

Class size is limited to 20, and of course there are two instructors (me and Thomas), so it's small, cozy and perfect for personal attention. Bring us your questions and we'll be sure to pack our answers when we fly.

Oooh, and you get a nice binder with all the slides printed out so you can take notes during the class.

It's a heady day, but totally worth it.

Save Your Seat Now

There are a few tickets still available at the early bird price of €349. After Nov 1, the price will go up to €400.

But, if you are a member of my Advanced Discount List (ADL for those in the know), you'll already have received a coupon good for €30 off.

Which brings the current price for you down to just €319.

If you aren't a member of the ADL yet, but you'd like to get in some hot discount action, you have two options:

Tweet me at @amyhoy. Follow me and I'll be able to DM you a discount code.
Join the ADL. I will email you the discount code personally, when you join. Plus you'll get other discounts on our books, videos, classes, etc., in the future.

Sign up for mad discounts and general reader adoration

I won't spam you, and I promise every email I write <strike>nagging you to buy</strike> offering you discounts will be as chirpy and entertaining as you'd expect! And I don't email often, either. I'm not one of those people.

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24-hour tweet drive to #beatcancer

2009-10-16T16:40:00Z

Quick note: This week, Thomas and I helped build this Ruby-driven site.

Yep, that's right, it's the first drive that earns money by tweets, Facebook status updates, & blog posts. (Hence my post!)

It's legit. I know, because we built the site and know the others involved.

Please share with your friends & readers.

How to Write Your Sales Page

2009-10-13T14:54:00Z

It's Time to Redesign The Sales Page! Part 2 (Part 1)

So, last time on "It's Time to Redesign The Sales Page!" we talked about why I decided the Freckle Time Tracking sales page had to be totally redone.

Namely:

We weren't proud of the design, so we didn't promote it
We didn't believe it was effective at reaching our visitors, so we didn't promote it

So these problems break down into two categories:

Visual appearance
Message/content

Because the message/content issue is much harder than the visual appearance, that's where I started.

Tune in next time for the design.

Pre-work: Why, and Who?

To figure out what to say on a marketing site, you first have to figure out:

Why the hell should anyone care?

Once you have the Why, you also have the Who.

Why... and Who

Freckle is focused on freelancers and small teams.

Freelancers and small teams who do what? you may ask. Well, to us, it doesn't really matter. We designed it around our needsand we're designers and developersbut, across most industries, freelancing or consulting is pretty much the same. It's different in the same ways, too. There's as much variation among designers in their freelance habits, as there are among all freelancers, of all types.

This is why "freelancers and small teams" isn't really our Who.

The real difference between our customers, and people who'd be better suited with our competitors?

Attitude. And outlook.

If you like this, you'll like us

Nobody has ever accused me of being nuanced. It's not that I'm incapable of nuance, but it's not my highest priority. I like bold statements, bold moves, and bold designs.

Freckle, too, is bold. It's got nuance to itto quote one happy customer, it's got "a thousand little touches"but, at heart, it's a bold and decisive tool. We made it to be, in many cases, the opposite of what's out there currently for time tracking. Because, well, we used those systems, and we hated them.

We've thrown out a lot of time-honored time tracking tropes (teehee) in order to make Freckle what it is. But this isn't a case of cargo-culting "less is more," it's less with a purpose.

Two examples of "features" we cut out: required client/project hierarchy, and the need to define tasks before you could track time for them. Those things have their place in the enterprise.

But they're not features for small teams, or soloists, with a flat hierarchy, a high level of trust, and a culture of independence. They're hobbles. Annoyances.

And those people, the ones who trust their team members, who crave freedom, efficiency, flexibility, and a 10,000 ft view of their time, are our audience.

To be even more specific, they like bright, happy software with bright, happy colors, and a little friendly snark now and again.

And we deliver.

That's our Who and our Why, so intimately entangled.

Now, to write the site content itself

So, after an exercise just like this one, on paper, I was able to articulate why. And who.

Now the question becomes: How?

How to reach people who believe in trust, freedom, efficiency, and flexibility?
How to speak to them? (As in, "that really speaks to me" as opposed to "talking with your mouth")
How to communicate that we help them with the 10,000 ft view?
And the bright cheery bit?

Freedom, efficiency, and flexibility

I made a list of the most important aspects of Freckle, and I worked my butt off to figure out how to describe them purely in the terms of benefits:

How does this help you, the user, kick ass? (Thanks to Kathy Sierra for this mantra.)

Features are in bold, benefits are in italic:

Quick entry? Enjoy entering your time, and get it done in as little as 3 key strokes, no mousing.
No up-front configuration? Create new clients or projects when you need themthe first time you log time for 'em.
Flexible tags & description? Describe your time however you want, when you want. Use tags with reports to get as granular as you want.
Inline indication of time budgets? Always know exactly where your project stands, on every page.
The Pulse? Learn the days where you & your team work the mostand leastand on what. Get a feel for your rhythm.
Bright & cheerful? Lift your spirits, even if time tracking's not your idea of The World's Funnest Thing To Do.

Are these a little bit overblown? Of course. But they're an example of a draft. Gimme a break.

All positive

Did you notice that the benefits I listed here (and on the actual site) are all phrased in the positive? That was on purpose. I don't want negativity to creep in.

Even though it's so easy to frame Freckle in terms of what it's not: Not painful. Not ugly. Not full of horrible, evil select lists. Not disrespectful. Not ignorant of the fact that time is a business (e.g. our competitors mostly don't offer any kind of non-billable time tracking).

Psychological research has shown that when people hear a negating phrase ("I am not a crook!"), they forget the negative and remember it as a true, positive statement ("I am a crook!").

Freckle's not an asshole. (Freckle's an asshole! With a bad toupee!)

That's why responding to your competitor's claims with denials is a weak position, whereas stating things about your product that are positive is a strong one.

Headline: Setting the tone

The headline is the first thing a person will see when they load the page. ( Well, in theory, anyway.)

So, I spent my time brainstorming potential headlines that would set the tone for the rest of the page. Tone, of course, being a bit playful and irreverent, but still smart and get-down-to-business, because that's how we roll (as a company, and as a software product).

I decided up front that "Freckle Time Tracking" wasn't good enough. If you tell people "Oh, we do time tracking software," their eyes immediately glaze over.

More importantly, if I tell you "time tracking" you immediately think of all those other apps that do time tracking. Those apps are mostly the same. It sets (incorrect) expectations: Oh, a time tracking app. I know what that looks like.

If your app takes a really different approach, like ours, you've just screwed the pooch, and you haven't even closed your </h1> yet!

So really, my number two goal was to set the tonethe number one goal was to provoke a bit of curiosity.

One headline I toyed with was: Sorry, control freaks!

The one that won, for now?

Goodbye, Administrivia.

Is it perfect? No. But it's surely better than "Freckle Time Tracking." Or something nauseatingly self-congratulatory, like "Time Tracking: Solved" or some such.

The others aren't worth mentioning; they were various shades of boring, predictable, and ho-hum. That's how it always is when you want to do good shit. Gotta keep cranking through all the predictable stuff until something cool sneaks through by accident.

Set the stage: highlighting the problem

But you can't just drop benefits into a potential customer's lap, and expect to get anywhere. It's like trying to walk through a door that isn't open. You're just going to walk away with a big embarassing bruise on your forehead.

So, before popping out benefits, I tried to open the door. I tried to get the visitor in the mood to hear about benefits. That means getting them to think about their current lack of benefits.

My goal with the first two paragraphs on the page was to set the stage:

Frustrationmany people find time tracking to be a truly ornerous task, because of bad software, mostly. So, first, I bring up the image of how awful it usually is, followed by the premise: Freckle can make it better.

Raising the questiondoes the visitor's current system support the visitor in these critical ways? Freckle does.

Deliver the solution: benefits

And then, with the benefits work I did above, I wrote the copy for the benefits sectionbelow the call to action for the tour. In case people weren't ready for the tour yet.

This section I edited, over and over. Every time I wrote anything that sounded like a feature, I ripped it out and started again. I kept bringing the focus back to you, you, you. Our potential customers don't want to hear about us unless it's how we can help them. (Fundamental human fact: Your customer is the most important person in the world. Everybody goes through life looking at everything relative to them. You, too.)

I tried to make headlines for these mini-sections that would be descriptive, but, like the big heading up top, create a tone that fits with our software and our audience, and create curiosity as well.

I selected screenshots, especially, that showcased the little touches in Freckle, and the brightness and cheerfulness.

Lay it all out: features

Finally, for those who are less interested in touchy-feely benefits, who want cold hard facts: a feature list.

I grouped the features by broad category, situating them in context to show how they created the great user experience.

Everything we say about Freckle, I want to always bring it back to that user experience. Even though we've got a lot of features that the competition don't, what really ties it all together is the experience of using it.

Now, your turn

Do you have a product with a sales page? How'd you decide to create your content?

And...Would you like more articles like this?

Pimpin' [Software Projects] Ain't Easy

2009-09-28T15:29:00Z

I spent this weekend at CURUCamp—that is, Central European Ruby Camp—here in Vienna. It totally kicked ass, I got to hang out with friends, make new friends, and learn stuff.

(Plus, thanks to Jürgen the organizer, I now know a place where I can get a decent mojito in stodgy old Vienna. Good thing, too, cuz I feel a mojito-emergency coming on in the near future.

But I digress.)

And I gave a short talk of my own: Pimpin' [Software Projects] Ain't Easy.

Pimpin' [Software Projects] Ain't Easy

It's a theme I keep coming back to, because so many of the people (and projects) I care about are bad at this very thing.

I stupidly didn't think to record the audio, but I hope you enjoy the slides.

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I'm proud to say that this talk has been given the stamp of approval of both Natasha Hall, co-organizer extraordinare of the wonderful Webstock conference, and Kathy Sierra, my biggest internet brain-crush. Yay!

This presentation has been certified as ’Fricken Awesome’. I for one, now feel empowered to be an software-pimpin’, ass-kickin’ ninja. — Natasha Hall

I hope you can say the same!

Oh yeah, there's a sugar pill for that.

2009-08-25T10:39:00Z

Everybody knows about The Placebo Effect™.

That's what happens when you think you're taking a medicine that will help you, and it does help you—but it turns out that it was a sugar pill, not a medicine at all.

It was discovered by a clever, desperate nurse during World War II. She was running out of morphine to give an injured soldier, so she lied. She told him he was getting drugs, but he was really getting saltwater.

And it worked.

Belief

Now we can believe that through some magical interference, the saltwater was transubstantiated into delicious, delicious drugs. Or we can look at the simpler explanation.

It turns out that simply believing something is a medicine that will help you, causes your body to help itself. The exact mechanisms aren't known.

But it does appear to be increasing in strength. Which is kinda whacky.

Placebos are getting more effective

There's an article in Wired today called: "Placebos are getting more effective. Drugmakers are desperate to know why."

Read it as a commentary on the "health industry" in the US, and you're going to get angry and depressed.

But if you read it as a case of design epistemology, and it's a truly fascinating read.

It's horrendous how ineffective many major drugs are, compared to their placebo. And drug companies, instead of investigating it, look at it "as an embarrassment." That's the horrifying part.

And the fact that the placebo effect has been getting stronger over time? Jaw-dropping.

And then comes the most salient fact: the placebo effect isn't getting stronger in European trials of the same drugs.

Is it just that Europeans are smarter, and Americans are bigger on blind faith?

Hmmmmm.

Everybody loves a marketer!

In the late 90's, the US government dropped its prohibition against advertising drugs to consumers. Do you remember the explosion in ridiculous drug ads? If so, that was why.

By now, trying to sell "consumers" on brand name drugs, directly, is a $6 billion-a-year business.

This is a throwaway line in the Wired piece. They don't include the numbers, but I happened to have read it recently in another book.

So. This whole 3-pager from Wired is a well-orchestrated build-up of the mysterious circumstances, the fascinating and horrifying facts. (The story about the nurse came from there. I'd never heard it before—and it's amazing.)

But at the crescendo, the author gives up. He barely considers that the ads create belief. He mentions that it's hard now to find American people for trials who are "virgins" (not already taking other drugs), because of the ads increasing consumption.

But he never outright considers that the ads themselves create the belief which causes the placebo effect to be so much stronger.

Even though the potential evidence is staring him in the face.

Actually... Europe doesn't love a marketer.

Whether cuddly, cute, or super serious, those drug ads aren't allowed in most European Union countries.

Where, the author points out, at least some drugs are still more effective than sugar pills. The specific case he cites is diazepam in the US versus diazepam in Italy and France.

Same drug, different country—totally different results vis a vis sugar pills.

Interesting, right? Makes you think, doesn't it? What could be different about these two countries—maybe $6 billion-a-year level of different?

This is hardly incontrovertible proof, but I somehow doubt it's the widespread use of Vespas that causes diazepam to work better in Italy than on American shores.

Oh, that. "Everybody" "knows" that!

Nobody wants to believe that they're suckers for advertisements.

So maybe viewers and readers view specific ads with suspicion.

But if you repeat a message long enough, and it appeals to the innate desires of people, it will become reinforced as the culture absorbs it as "common knowledge". All that "common knowledge" is basically stuff we learned before we had the idea to question it—it was just always, you know, there.

And why would it be harder to believe that drugs = cure than low-fat = healthy?

(Common wisdom pre-low-fat food pyramid was that meats, eggs, and butter were an extremely important part of a healthy diet. And, despite the food pyramid and now-firm belief in low-fat dogma, Americans are surely not getting thinner or healthier.)

In fact, since the placebo response existed long before the mass marketing of prescription drugs (WWII), we know that the belief was already there. Or maybe the belief was "the nurse wouldn't lie to me."

Either way, of course we want to believe in a cure.

And there's no reason to think that repeated exposures to something that reinforced a belief wouldn't strengthen the belief.

Damn those tightly-coupled, looping systems!

Now we come to the snake-eating-its-own-tail moment.

Drugs are supposed to be the opposite of belief; research trials are supposed to be science.

But one day the drug industry received what it believed to be an enormous, beautifully wrapped present: the American people, delivered legally on a platter of advertising, garnished with giant piles of cash.

Of course it used this gift liberally. Who wouldn't?

But the very exercising of that gift increased belief in the industry's products so much, the products aren't actually required any more to get the relief they are supposed to deliver.

The advertising made Americans believe so hard in drugs, that even fake drugs can work better than the real ones.

Is that incredible, or what?

But it's not all academic

So we're not in the drug industry. Well, at least I know I'm not. You probably aren't either.

This is universally applicable.

Turns out that the placebo effect isn't just about medication. It applies to processes, too. For example—research found that if you treated factory workers better, gave them shorter hours, and longer breaks, they produced more.

Yay, science vindicates being a decent human being!

Then another study found out that if you treat them worse, give them longer hours and shorten their breaks, they will produce more.

Say what now?

We fool ourselves all the time with processes that we think will make us better leaders, better designers, better programmers, better husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, people—and they all work, to some extent. It's the attention and it's the belief that does it.

Go go gadget humanity.

More on this?

So this has so far been a pimping-free article. I know you're getting tired of it. I am too. 2009 is my Year of Hustle and I am hustlin', but as they say, hustlin' ain't easy.

I have, however, submitted a talk to SXSW Interactive where I'll talk more about these types of things: Sweaty Design: 99% Perspiration for 1% Genius.

Like last year, I will record this talk's audio and give it away for free, with a transcript.

So if you cotton to the notion, I would greatly appreciate it if you would vote for my talk. Even if you can't attend SXSW in person. Thanks!

It's Time to Redesign the Sales Page, Part 1

2009-08-23T10:24:00Z

Before the Redesign

<strike>So you've got this product.</strike> So I've got this product.

<strike>It's totally unique, the only entry in its field, and everybody knows it.</strike> It's a rookie entry into an extremely crowded (if not particularly well-differentiated) field. Almost nobody knows it exists.

It's a time tracking application, and it's called Freckle Time Tracking. And it's totally different, but who knows and who cares?

Sizzling steak—yum! Raw meat of unknown pedigree, not so much

The product site sucked. We focused on building, launching, and polished the product. Naturally, I wanted to build substance before trying to add—much less sell—the sizzle. The app itself has plenty of sizzle but the product site? Soggy.

This is what the product site was like, circa a couple weeks ago:

Go ahead, click it for a full-sizer, complete with legible text.

And that was it. There's no screenshot of a site tour or a screencast because, well, there was no tour, no screencast, no list of features, no… anything.

Not just an ugly face

Aside from being generally objectionable on those grounds, it was ineffective.

People didn't understand what the service was. Our conversion rate was pretty typical (just under 3% sign up for accounts), but I think we can chalk that up to New App Novelty Syndrome more so than to anything else.

Moreover, it's ineffective because it doesn't convey what really makes the product difference. The copywriting hints at it, but doesn't go all the way. The best parts of Freckle are left hidden (partially because they weren't all there when we made this first site).

Lastly, and perhaps worstly, because it's embarrassingly bad and we perceived it to be ineffective, we didn't promote the product. And that's a kiss of death.

Why the old site had to die

Because it was ugly and useless, it was ineffective at promoting the wonderfulness of our product.
Because it was ugly, useless, and ineffective, we didn't want to waste many potential 'first impressions' on it.
Because we didn't want to waste first impressions, we didn't pimp it.
Because we didn't pimp it, it didn't get traffic.
Because it didn't get traffic, people didn't know about it.
Because people didn't know about it, they didn't sign up.
Because people didn't know about it, and most importantly because they didn't use it, we didn't get buzz.
Because we didn't get buzz, we didn't get serendipitous exposure.

And here the situation turns around and bites its own tail. Without serendipitous exposure, we didn't get signups, which would beget buzz, which… you see how this is going.

For want of a shoe, the kingdom was lost.

If you polish shit, all you get is shit that's shiny

Obviously a complete redesign was in order, and I don't mean just the visuals.

There were all these other problems. The content was insufficient. The content was badly written. The tone of the product site didn't match the app. It wasn't effective.

If that site were a house, it'd have an acceptable front façade, but only two outside walls and half a roof. And no furniture. And probably there would be ground squirrels colonizing the first floor and puffins eating away at the foundation.

And what can you do when puffins start eating away at the foundation of your house? You firebomb it and start over. Stinking puffins. It's impossible to get rid of them once they get settled in.

So I didn't start by analyzing the current site and figuring out how to improve it bit by bit.

You don't polish things that don't work at all, which were wrong in their very conception. Hello, shit polisher? Your deceptive local maximum is calling.

No, you replace them with something that's fundamentally going to work, and you polish that.

And to be able to build something that's fundamentally functional, you need to get clear on your goals.

Enough philosophy—Let's talk numbers

Our goal is to be "ramen profitable" on Freckle alone—for four people—by January 31st, 2010. Normal numbers just aren't going to do it.

To be "ramen profitable"—to be able to pay all our bills and be able to buy cheap blocks of instant noodles—we need to have about five times the number of paying accounts we have now, assuming the same distribution.

That means that we have to:

not waste time and resources reaching people who won't like Freckle anyway (e.g. opposite of the Right People)
reach our Right People more effectively
convince more of our Right People to sign up
convince more of our Right People to sign up for / upgrade to paying accounts
convince more of those to use the service regularly, and keep their accounts open

Now that we have goals, the question becomes: how do we achieve them?

What happened next? How did I start? Did I make it?

Obviously the newly redesigned site is online now. You should check it out and see what happened. But there's more to the story.

Tune in for the next installment on Friday, where I'll explain how I broke down those goals into design requirements, and how we got from there to the current site. I'll also talk more about the numbers.

Don't miss the next post: subcribe to my RSS feed.

Feed reader averse? No problem, sign up for email delivery of new posts.

And, yes, obligatory modernity: If this stuff is up your alley, you should follow me on Twitter, too.

The Fine Art of Opportunism

2009-08-14T18:58:00Z

No, this is not the start of a post where I point and cackle evilly as I explain how the whole "training course" thing was a sham calculated to help me harvest and sell your email addresses to spammers in Katmandu.

But, you know how I keep dancing around this whole "it's not about PROBLEMS" topic? (If you don't, look here, here, and here). You might want to get a coffee first.)

Well today I found an essay called The Fine Art of Opportunism by Venkatesh Rao, who has yet another angle on the topic. And unlike mine, it's nicely broken down into bullet points. He uses a totally everyday experience (running out of coffee) as the starting point for his dissection, which is wise, I think.

But he doesn't stop there:

Perhaps the single biggest barrier to opportunistic behaviors is a sort of puritanism drilled into us by most cultures that an outcome is not won fairly if it is won without an effort proportionate to its value. Gamblers are not respected in any culture. Not even smart gamblers who learn to count the cards at blackjack.

As the kids say: Word.

What do you want to see more of on Slash7? Don't make me guess, let me know! Fill out my itty bitty little poll below. While you're at it, you should click here and follow me on twitter. Chat me up.

Sept 12th in DC: JavaScript Master Class!

2009-08-13T13:56:00Z

First things first: Thanks for your input, folks. You've helped us shape the class... and by expressing interest (however tentative), you helped me feel brave enough to do it. :)

JavaScript is White Hot, with Few Experts

JavaScript has been the up & coming language for the past 3 years, even more so than Ruby. JavaScript has the potential to be the most universal, cross-platform language in the future.

But despite all the hype, JavaScript experts are few and far between. Those who are expert-level can do amazing things and earn a lot more doing it.

And if you don't know what the experts know, and you spend your days doing JavaScript, you're undoubtedly experiencing a great many lost opportunities (except for wailing and gnashing of teeth. Those opportunities are everywhere.)

So. Do you want to become one of those experts?

Hell, who doesn't want to be awesome and earn more?

You'll Learn A Shi—Poop Ton

Make no mistake, it's going to be an intense day. Which is why we'll be providing coffee and other little pick-me-ups of the edible variety.

From 9am to 6pm (if everyone can last that long), it's going to be All JavaScript, All The Time. We're gonna talk advanced language features. We're gonna talk best practices. We're gonna help you shape the clay-ey lump of potential that is JavaScript into a beautiful vase. (But no creepy Patrick Swayze hands, we promise.)

You'll learn how the browser engines work, and how page layout really happens, and why that matters to you. We'll teach you how to make the DOM your bitch, instead of the other way around—which, let's be honest, is the usual state of affairs.

And that's just before lunch.

After lunch, it'll be a smorgasboard of tools, techniques and tribulations, or something else that begins with a T. Unit testing, performance, code management, architecture, deployment... these things are on the menu.

Plus, of course, plenty of delicious Q&A with yours truly and Thomas Fuchs. (Who, I'm sure I need not remind you, is a Prototype core member and the creator of Scriptaculous.)

(Our) Talk is Cheap

This full day educational extravaganza would normally run you a cool $425.

But if you're an early bird kinda person—registering before August 26th—you can snag a seat at only $380.

Better yet, since you are clearly a cherished reader o' mine, join my Advanced Discount List and save a further $30.

Meaning you can experience an entire full-frontal assault of JavaScript Experience Points for a ridiculously low $350. That's $75 less than less on-the-ball, unconnected people.

And that includes a copy of our book JavaScript Performance Rocks! and the DOM Monster profiling tool (which we'll discuss in class).

When? Where? What? How?!

All these questions and more answered over at Jumpstart Lab, our organizer & host for the day.

Jumpstart Lab is the company founded by our friend Jeff Casimir, a fabulous teacher with a passion for tech. Be sure to check out his other, extremely reasonably priced courses on Ruby, Rails and Robotics on the sidebar!

Didn't you mention a discount?

Yes, indeed I did. Sign up for my Advanced Discount List below and you'll be able to save an extra $30 off the early bird price.

I will email you personally with the discount code when you sign up, so you don't have to worry about the course selling out before I email everyone at once.

Even if you can't attend our course for whatever reason, you really want to be on this list because it's the only place for discounts on our book and other future goodies. And believe me, most of the other stuff in our pipeline is not geography-dependent. Even if you're not in the DC area, or even the USA, there will be goodies for you.

</form>

It goes without saying: I won't spam you. So far the list has been active for 6 mos and I've sent one email. I know how much it means that you trust me with your email address. Nuff said.

Feedback?

This is the first time I've done this kinda thing. I taught a half-day class on JavaScript: The Language to a sold-out house at OSCON; and a full-day workshop on interaction design at Webstock in New Zealand, and of course I helped Jeff Casimir (Jumpstart Lab dude!) with Workshop for Good way back when.

But I've never created a course and then sold it directly.

So I'd like to hear from you about what you think.

Screw Interface Patterns

2009-08-10T09:52:00Z

Allow me to begin by saying that this is an opinion piece. I'm not doing research into the matter, but rather boiling down trends—the good and bad—as I see 'em.

And they're mostly bad. Otherwise it'd be boring.

A Pattern Language

Pattern obsession has come to user interface design by way of software architecture, by way of a book about real (brick and mortar, natch) architecture written by a man named Christopher Alexander.

In A Pattern Language, Alexander proposes basic building blocks of architectural and community (town, etc.) design that have been proven useful in certain situations, for certain effects, so that architects and civil planners can use them as a starting point for creating effective and pleasant environments.

It's heady stuff. And quite fascinating, really, although closer to the Did I Just Reread That Same Sentence 3 Times? side of the reading enjoyment scale than the OMG That Is So True Let Me Leap For Joy! side.

Now, somewhere in the dim & misty, some people who weren't civil planners or architects read Alexander's book on the patterns for buildings and towns. And they thought to themselves, Boy howdy! This can be generalized for ANYTHING, if you think about it! Let's apply it to software. And for a while, it was good.

But not all is right in Patternsville.

Don't Mix Stripes and Dots

He also wrote a book on the invention, creation and refinement of things, in general, called Notes on the Synthesis of Form.

In this book, among other things, he argued that innovation comes from taking an existing thing and smoothing out its observable problems.

One of the metaphors he used was that of trying to create a perfectly smooth metal face on an object. (An abstract object, apparently.) He said that you can tell if something's not perfectly smooth by inking it and holding it against a known-smooth object. Then you see where the ink transfers irregularly, and then you sand it down, and you start again.

If you've ever had a dental crown made, you know how this works. (There's nothing quite like biting down on carbon paper. Yummmmy!)

He meant it metaphorically, of course. The imperfect metal face stood in for the design of an existing thing, also presumably imperfect in some observable way. By "smoothing out" its problems, through tweaking and refinement, you achieve a more perfect thing. An innovation.

The thing is, this is—for the most part—a load of hogwash. It may work for architecture, and it may work to a (much) lesser degree for software architecture, but it doesn't work for interaction design... unless all that you're aiming for is something not-very-objectionable.

Software is not Architecture

Zed Shaw and I once had a conversation about this very topic. I didn't agree with him entirely at the time, but in hindsight, he was absolutely right (and I'm going to steal his arguments—Hi, Zed!).

Software is just simply not architecture.

Architects work with real, physical constraints—gravity, tension, wind, earthquakes, soil composition.

Software, no matter how fervently you wish it, has no equivalent. Hardware limits don't compare. If an architect underestimates gravity, his bridge will crash into the ocean. If a software architect underestimates how much RAM she needs, her software will run slowly.

Of course, people do die because of software errors. But logic errors and bad interface are just not comparable to the forces that hold the universe together, don't you agree?

And yes, there are well-worn paths in the software development world. You know that if you have to achieve a certain kind of permissions structure, you might want to do an ACL. There's nothing wrong with this, in the pure sense. Getting advice from trusted peers and experts is a good idea in any profession.

People no longer treat patterns as the shared wisdom of experts, however. They are inclined less to bang their heads against a problem and then consult the Book of Wisdom to see what it says about their particular problem. Instead, they treat patterns as Wal-Mart for decisions. They don't know what they want, exactly, but hey, this little item here on the shelf looks like a potential candidate.

They start with a pattern and see how to make it fit.

This is bassackwards.

Design is not Architecture

Interface design, also, is not architecture.

The world of software is a world of possibilities. The world of architecture is much less so.

Yes, there are very many ways to skin a cat or an I.M. Pei building, but the fact is that humans come in a known range of sizes, walk in certain ways, feel certain ways about low or high ceilings, sleep in certain ways, group together in certain ways, and have a known range of tolerance for temperature and personal space.

These vary among populations, but not by very much—and, bonus, humans have been creating towns and buildings for thousands of years. There's a lot of trial and error here. A lot of it, no doubt, was reductive (smoothing away problems).

On the other hand, software is an extremely young field. When Alexander published Notes, in 1964, software was an unknown quantity for all but a very few elite individuals. Who used punchcards.

Now, with the incredibly powerful computers we have on our desks, in our backpacks and even in our pockets, we face infinite potential permutations of design for software interface.

Not so for buildings.

And the best things in interface are not achieved by eliminating existing problems. They come from additive design, not reductive sanding down.

Take, for example, the iPhone. Compare it to its predecessors, right back to the Newton.

Can you imagine a sanding-down process that would lead from, say, a Sony Ericsson, RIM, Palm, or Nokia handset to a product like the iPhone?

The Most Universal is the Most Boring

Interface pattern afficionados have moved from the sage advice stage (e.g. "Pave the cowpaths"—that's a good pattern, it's a guideline with room for individuality and interpretation) to the concrete (visual designs *as* the pattern, complete but for colors and styling). This is such a problem.

These concrete patterns are useful for two things:

Surveying the field of what's out there, and
Helping bad designers elevate their bad work to the mediocre

Item #1 is interesting for everyone in a library-sciences kinda way, but I believe that #2 is detrimental. I don't think that the most-discussed tools and strategies ought to be aimed at the lower end. How dismal.

Consider creative writing, which is a much better parallel to interface design than architecture. When you write, you can do anything. You choose words, rhythms and structure to communicate your ideas, not just what you say. You still need to hold up a coherent thread, and help the reader to follow along, just like with a good interface design. But you have, as it were, endless possibilities when you face the blank page.

I'd like to leave you with this passage from one of my favorite books, Sin and Syntax:

"House" is familiar, it's short, and it's standard, but why ignore the options, which include cottage, duplex, dacha, shack, bungalow, A-frame, Tudor, Victorian, hacienda, manor, and wickiup? (Don't even think about colorless words like abode, dwelling, domicile, or residence.) Create analogies: is that pile of wood and steel a poor man's Fallingwater? a Tony-Simth-on-stilts? or a Bauhaus mineshaft?

Choosing the right noun means exploring the layers of a word. First, it must be precise, conveying the exact image you are rendering: pick bungalow if you're describing a one-story house with a low pitched roof. Second, your noun must be rich, its connotations conjuriing a realm of emotion or sensation: stay with bungalow if you're capturing coziness, a homey atmosphere. Finally, your noun must be apt—its associations, its links to other words and ideas, must comlement your meaning. Are the occupants a bunch of frat boys? Then crash pad might work better.

Yes, house is the most universal word available. It works. It's a noun that's central to society; it's one of the very first words you learn when you study a foreign language. You know that you will be understood when you use it, in any situation. It's a pattern.

But you couldn't call yourself fluent in any language if that's the only word you know for a place where people live.

Do you design or develop rich web interfaces? Then you really ought to snag a copy of our book, JavaScript Performance Rocks!, before the price goes up. It's over 280 pages of how to architect, serve, and run the fastest rich web app you can—and how to cope with speed problems in the UI, if you must. Plus it comes with our handy dandy profiling tool, DOM Monster. Right now it's a steal at $24—which is $15 off the final price! So check it out now.

JavaScript Performance Rocks UPDATE!

2009-08-06T18:23:00Z

Just a quick note for those of you who have bought our JavaScript Performance Rocks! ebook & DOM Monster package:

Check your inboxes!

You should have received an email with a pre-final copy of the book. It's pretty much content-complete -- but still has a few editor's notes, and needs a couple minor updates (to cover Safari 4 final, for example), and I plan to add a few more infographics.

Basically, there's just a little bit of polishing left. And I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer!

The original beta version was 103 pages, totaling 13,000 words. This pre-final version is 282 pages, totaling 36,000 words. What a difference an update makes.

This version also includes all the code samples broken out into real text files, and benchmarks you can run yourself.

If you didn't get an email...

Drop us a line with the name and email address you used to buy the book.

If you haven't got your copy yet...

Now's a great time to buy!

The beta price is just $24, and for that mere pittance you get a 282-page book, AND our DOM Monster! profiling tool—which GitHubber Chris Wanstrath has described as "awesome."

Trust me, it's a great deal. Go ahead and get your copy already!

About that workshop

Book first, workshop second. Details are coming soon!

Washington, DC

The date is set: in DC it's September 12th, and the location is right on the metro in Dupont Circle.

Thanks to the wonderful Jeff Casimir of Jumpstart Lab for hosting. (Check out his Ruby and Rails courses, too!)

Philadelphia

We're trying to nail down a date and venue in Philadelphia and haven't had any luck yet. If you've got connections, I'd love your help!

JS-Fu in DC/Philly & Surrounding?

2009-07-09T15:37:00Z

Thomas & I are planning our fall trip to the US. We were going to speak at the Ajax Experience, but... let's just say that's a story for another day.

We want to offer a 1-day JS master class, one in DC and one in Philly, in early September.

And here's where I could use your help! Can you let me know...

are you there?
are you interested?
what topics would you loooove?
would you prefer a week day or a weekend?
is this something you think your employer (if you have one) might underwrite, or would you have to pay out of pocket?
do you want a discount as one of my very special readers? (duh! ;)

Thanks much in advance! Hope I'll see you soon!

Scripty2: Scriptaculous 2.0 Alpha is Out

2009-06-26T15:57:00Z

This one's a quickie: Thomas, with a little help from his friends, has put out the first alpha for Scripty2 (aka Scriptaculous 2.0).

While there are lots of things missing (autocompleter, etc.), it's pretty damn stable. That's what we've been using for Twistori, the various Zeitgeists, and of course, Freckle time tracking.

Thomas has written a blog post about the update, to which I'd like to add:

the docs are amazing! animated graphs for each easing function (check this one out)
it's pretty damn stable (worth repeating)
the API is even more friendly than before

Major props to our friends and co-conspirators Philipp "Joe" Markovics on JavaScript and design and Samo Korosec for the incredible custom icons and nifty 3D backgrounds. (Joe's company, abloom, does contracting to build web apps from design to development, and Samo can be hired for illustration!)

Enjoy, and let us know what you think.

In Memoriam: George Carlin, 7 Words You Can Say on Twitter

2009-06-22T16:53:00Z

Hate cuss words? Avert thine eyes! (What are you doing reading this blog, though, I'd be interested to know. Oh right. You already looked away. I'm just holding a conversation with myself. Ladeeda...

George Carlin is one of my heroes: hilarious, self-deprecating, edgy without being bitter, envelope-pushing without resorting to valueless shock, remarkably poetic, a dancer with dirty words, and, of course, in possession of an amazing voice I could listen to all day.

He's also dead. Goddamnit.

Carlin passed away a year ago yesterday. Yesterday was a Sunday, so we're celebrating today... with 7 Words You *Can* Say on Twitter.

This is our riff on his 7 Dirty Words (You Can't Say On TV/Radio), which got him arrested and landed in jail. The resulting court case from one of his performances actually went to the Supreme Court. And he was awarded a Mark Twain award, posthumously.

How many other "comedians" can claim that?

So, without further ado... please enjoy

7 Words You Can Say on Twitter (a Very Special Twistori).

Further links:

George Carlin on Wikipedia
Video of him performing 7 Words
I'm a Modern Man... - his "I'm a modern man" skit (text and video!), which is amazing. His performance on his CD set, "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?" is even better (because it's uninterrupted by roaring applause)

Keep digging deeper.

2009-06-11T15:39:00Z

The same thrill, the same awe and mystery, comes again and again when we look at any question deeply enough. With more knowledge comes a deeper, more wonderful mystery, luring one on to penetrate deeper still. Never concerned that the answer may prove disappointing, with pleasure and confidence we turn over each new stone to find unimagined strangeness leading on to more wonderful questions and mysteries -- certainly a grand adventure!

— Richard Feynman, 1955 address to the National Academy of Sciences (full text)

Slash7 with Amy Hoy - Home

Doing the Work, with lessons from Magnum PI

What do you think?

Nearly Sold Out - Berlin JavaScript Master Class

Become a JavaScript Master

Save Your Seat Now

Sign up for mad discounts and general reader adoration

24-hour tweet drive to #beatcancer

How to Write Your Sales Page

It's Time to Redesign The Sales Page! Part 2 (Part 1)

Pre-work: Why, and Who?

Why... and Who

If you like this, you'll like us

Now, to write the site content itself

Freedom, efficiency, and flexibility

All positive

Headline: Setting the tone

Set the stage: highlighting the problem

Deliver the solution: benefits

Lay it all out: features

Now, your turn

Pimpin' [Software Projects] Ain't Easy

Pimpin' [Software Projects] Ain't Easy

Oh yeah, there's a sugar pill for that.

Belief

Placebos are getting more effective

Everybody loves a marketer!

Actually... Europe doesn't love a marketer.

Oh, that. "Everybody" "knows" that!

Damn those tightly-coupled, looping systems!

But it's not all academic

More on this?

It's Time to Redesign the Sales Page, Part 1

Before the Redesign

Sizzling steak—yum! Raw meat of unknown pedigree, not so much

Not just an ugly face

Why the old site had to die

If you polish shit, all you get is shit that's shiny

Enough philosophy—Let's talk numbers

What happened next? How did I start? Did I make it?

The Fine Art of Opportunism

Sept 12th in DC: JavaScript Master Class!

JavaScript is White Hot, with Few Experts

You'll Learn A Shi—Poop Ton

(Our) Talk is Cheap

When? Where? What? How?!

Didn't you mention a discount?

Feedback?

Screw Interface Patterns

A Pattern Language

Don't Mix Stripes and Dots

Software is not Architecture

Design is not Architecture

The Most Universal is the Most Boring

JavaScript Performance Rocks UPDATE!

Check your inboxes!

If you didn't get an email...

If you haven't got your copy yet...

About that workshop

Washington, DC

Philadelphia

JS-Fu in DC/Philly & Surrounding?

Scripty2: Scriptaculous 2.0 Alpha is Out

In Memoriam: George Carlin, 7 Words You *Can* Say on Twitter

7 Words You Can Say on Twitter (a Very Special Twistori).

Keep digging deeper.

In Memoriam: George Carlin, 7 Words You Can Say on Twitter