While getting my Twitter account, I ran across someone that added a Microsoft Tag to his new business cards. I never heard of Microsoft Tags, so I figured I'd give it a try. So I installed the Microsoft Tag Reader for the iPhone, and then created the tag that you see below that goes to this blog site. I was able to snap this image from my iPhone and it automatically redirected me to my site. I am absolutely fascinated by this technology!!
Most of us already have set an expectation that owning a website is required by a company that wants our business. If this thing takes off, we may soon expect every product or service offering to have a Microsoft Tag that we can scan with our phones, too. Should be interesting to see where this goes.
A long time ago when I first started developing business web applications, my wife asked me about how things were going at work. I told her that one of the biggest challenges with our development team was making sure that our web applications were user friendly and intuitive. She shakes her head, turns to me and says "A website can't be intuitive!" When I asked why, she said it's because a website can't think or gain perception ... which is true, but my response was that it can help the visitor of that website to that.
For the next 30 minutes or so, we went back and forth on ways a website could or could not be intuitive. We finally looked up the meaning of the word intuition, and finally came to an agreement on what it means for a website to be intuitive ... "immediate apprehension". The websites that are able to provide a good user experience (UX) are able to help the visitor know exactly what the site is about and how to get the information they need quickly. We've all been to websites where we couldn't find anything, left, and never came back - confusion leads to visitors going somewhere else for products, services and/or information; and with business solutions, it leads to an application not being utilized.
So if confusion leads to the failure of a website, the opposite must also be true ... understanding leads to the success of it - which means more repeat visitors, more utilization, more revenue, or whatever the goal of your website is ... and the quicker they can understand what your website is doing the better. But I believe the days are gone where it is acceptable to simply throw a website together without any thought and expect people to automatically "buy into" what you're doing. Having a website is not enough, because the assumption in most industries is that you have; having a website that is intuitive is what will set you apart from the others.
First of all, Happy New Year to everyone. Everything's gonna be fine in 2009, son!
It has already started out to be a very busy year for me, including a side project that I helped to get off the ground for a gaming guild. Before I was asked by one of the leaders of the Sinister Society Guild to start a website for them, I had no idea what a gaming guild was (probably because I'm not a gamer!); however, I quickly learned through the building this site.
Along with the basics, they needed a forum, a blog, a way to see their member list (complete with avatars), and a way to secure their site where only their guild members could see the "members only" sections (especially the forum!) And of course, since they don't make any money from this organization - they needed this done as inexpensively as possible.
The first step was to create a new look-and-feel established in a new master page, complete with a brand new logo and flash navigation from my brother Sebastian (thanks, bro!) ... which wasn't easy since we don't usually hang out in "sinister" gaming sites, but we found a way to give 'em what they needed. Then I used the following to quickly build the rest of their site:
- JumpyForum - I started off by finding forum code that I could easily implement into their existing site without ripping out a lot of its code, and JumpyForum fit the bill. Once it was in place, I totally switched out the screens with regular gridview controls and used the same database structure to make it fit the guild's needs.
- CliqueSite® NewsBlog - I needed the same thing for their blog, and I used CliqueSite® NewsBlog for it. It comes complete with comments, archiving, and RSS Feeds.
- ASP.NET Security - Didn't need to create customized security for this, so I just used the ASP.NET security and membership database to drive their security with 4 roles: Member, Assasin (a special member), Moderator (for forums), Administrator.
- ASP.NET Profiles - For all of the extra member information that they wanted to collect (like name, contact info, Xbox gamer tag, Guild Ranking, etc.), I used profile objects.
- Gravatar - Avatars are very important for gamers on the Internet, and this guild needed them to make their site legit. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to program a way for them to create them; within minutes I was able to implement Gravatar for free, that are managed by the tools they provide for you. And with a nifty custom control that is provided by Fresh Click Media, all I have to is pass in the e-mail address, tell it what size I want and I'm done. I was also able to specify the image to show when there isn't an Gravatar setup for a particular e-mail address.
Unfortunately, you won't be able to see any of these goodies unless you're an active member of the Sinister Society. But if you into playing the new game Darkfall (due to come out in the states the end of the month) and feel like you're "sinister" enough to hang with the big boys, feel free to apply for membership that I created using the wizard control.
In this post, we hear from Definition 6 (the home of my first web programming gig) on how blogs can work for your organization; and they use the Obama campaign as a prime example of how successful they can be.
http://blog.definition6.com/blog/definition-6/0/0/the-power-of-blogs
I agree. Times are changing, and I believe that blogs will be around for a long time. You'd be amazed at the people you can reach by having a blog; I know this because I'm surprised every week when I get wonderful comments from people I don't know. The Internet is a powerful force, man.
This week, Google has unveiled their new web browser. Google Chrome. I've been using it since yesterday, and here's my two cents:
- If you're a fan of Google way of designing application interfaces (simple, clean, uncluttered, fast, and yet powerful), then you'll like Google Chrome. You've got tabs, helpful hints that make finding sites easy, and all the basic features you'd get from IE or Firefox without the options that you don't need. I love how you can click and drag a tab out and turn it into its own window. That's hot!
- There were early complaints about the EULA, which stated they could freely track ALL of your browsing and personal info. As of today, that is no longer the case.
- Silverlight 2 applications are not working properly, and sometimes not at all (like for me!) Flash appears to work AFTER you reinstall it. I find it hard to believe that no one at Google thought it would be a good idea to test for this! I consider this an "air ball".
- I thought for sure that Chrome would be bogged down with links to their other Google applications and that they have an option for you to login with your Google account. Not so! That's a big "and one" in my book.
- More info about Chrome that I read from Shawn Wildermuth.
Over all, this isn't a bad first swing at a web browser. I know it will improve in the future. Only time will tell if it's gonna be a IE killer; but I'd say for now everyone safe for a while. That being said, I like it enough to continue using it - kinda diggin' the new browser history page.
One thing I really love about the ASP.NET community of developers (as well as the development community in general) is how we share things with each other for free. I love free stuff! Some of the best things in life are free; and the Internet is no different - especially now.
I recently added another website to my regularly used bookmarks - The Daily Plate. It's a free service that allows me to log my meals and my workouts with easy to use tools that tell me caloric intake, protein, sugars, carbs, etc, as well as how many calories I've burned. And based on my current weight, it can even tell me how calories I have left to eat if I want to lose 2 pounds this week. Very cool.
My brother, Sebastian, and I have both created personal family portals that our families use to maintain calendars, chores, blogs, photos, etc. Once our friends saw my brother's portal, they all asked how they could get one; so he reprogrammed it so others could sign-up to get one. It's called HouseholdPages.com. At first, he was going to do the free trial thing (like we used to do back in the day, which didn't work!); but I was able to convince him to do a completely free offering. After 6 months or so, he has 450+ families signed up. He has since upgraded the site with the ability to invite friends and extended family members with read-only access. The possibilities are endless!
If you're a developer that has built something based on a personal need of yours, I guarantee that someone else in the world needs the same service. But unless you a lot of due diligence, don't expect to start pulling in huge bucks right off the bat. People like me want FREE first; then if I can't live without it, I'll consider whatever premium services you have. Even without premium offerings, there are many creative ways to make money from your free offerings (including pay per click ads, sponsorship, etc.)
Here's some other free sites that I can't do without:
Don't forget about the million of blog sites out there - one's bound to have info you're interested in.