Wisdump

Dumping wisdom on design and the web

Can you just ‘build’ a web application?

First off, in a quick paragraph I would like to introduce myself as one of Wisdump’s new bloggers. My name is Ryan Barr, and I am a young designer that has been designing for almost eight years now. My personal interests are web standards, validation, web programming, and seeing in what ways CSS can be bent. Honestly, I am completely honored to help contribute to Wisdump, and I hope all of you guys can do your best to put up with my sometimes-nonsensical ramblings.

Understanding a Web Application

It is a lot to take in, a web application is often a powerful, useful, constructive tool that betters a website, manages content or information, and helps the user with the main purpose of whatever the application is. Although, when you are the person who is building the application, it is something completely different compared to using the features and (for those involved users) submitting bug-reports and feature requests.

Putting Yourself in Their Shoes

When I started to build the web application I am now working on, my first thought was to jump right into coding its design and its main features. Now, I did start going through with that thought, and I stopped right after I finished the front-end and back-end design.

Your first thought should be ‘what is the main purpose of my application?’ and then furthermore, ‘how are people going to use this?’ and ‘what features are really necessary and what ones should be put on the side?’ Doing so will give you a better understanding of what you should focus on when building your design, and what things will be the main engine that powers the content the application will hold.

Now take a breath, I understand I just probably threw a whole-lot at you and a simple one-sentence statement is needed to actually get what I said: Ask yourself basic, broad questions from a users aspect before doing anything else. This will weed out silly little thoughts, useless little features (for now), and help you build in the long run.

Designing Your Application

You can’t just throw any ol’ design at a web application. There is this new thing in Web 2.0 that is called usability, and any good web application should probably hold it. What better way to do so than have a usable design that functions with your features, and not against them. When you log into your application it should be inviting, and in some way have the more important content stressed and be the main focus, but also carry the eyes to the smaller features. The only way to accomplish this is to have a good flow.

This is where you need to think back to 3rd grade art class when you started to learn contrast, repetition, and flow. Yes, designing websites is an art and all of your handy-dandy little art lessons can probably help in some way. In this case, using those aspects in your design can help the users eye to stay where you want them to be, and allow them to flow thru all of the content and features that your application has to offer.

Finally Building The Application

As you run through all of the pre-stages of getting your application going, you will run into quite a few roadblocks and such that make you think. Doing (in my eyes) the first two steps might take a while, seeing as if you ask yourself a good enough amount of questions, you will form a good business plan ASWELL AS making a good choice, design-wise, might take some time to hit the nail on its head. But after you pull yourself through all of that, it will be time to actually getting your dynamic coding in there and building an engine and some good features to go with it.

Now, there isn’t much to say about actually building your application, just for that reason: its YOURS. Although, my advice would be to make sure all of the big features are in there first, and build your little features on the side of them. It will help you realize what features you might actually want to hold off on for a later version, or perhaps give you more ideas for better features.

Pre-release and Releasing

You have your application’s design and system complete, and hopefully took the initiative to build a website where people can acquire your system, although there is something you might want to consider: beta-testing. Without beta testing hell could break loose and your system creating a pathway to some private files on someones server, or your system not having the right security to eliminate iframe injection and other corruptive things could lead to some pretty big arguments in the long run. So before putting out that 1.0 release, try a 1.0b release and let selected people play with the system on your server, then after you fix those bugs and problems they find, let them move to their server and do bug-reporting. Eventually you will have a strong system that is safe to release and ready for the world to enjoy.

Closing Statements

This will be the only time I include closing statements, only because it is my first post. The whole time while writing this entry, the thought that it will be put on almost 8,000 feeds just drove me wild and put a pavilion of butterflies in my stomach. Now I do apologize if my writing was a bit scratchy, bumpy, discombobulating, or eye-burning in any way. I would love to personally open you to e-mailing me ( ryanbarr [at] gmail (dot) com ) and letting me know your thoughts in how I can improve, because personally, I really want to write more enjoyable pieces in the future.

Why I bought Wisdump, and what you can expect soon

It’s taken a while to get here, but I’m pleased to finally introduce myself as the new owner of Wisdump.

My name is Lee, and I run UK-based Maxafi Ltd.  We are *not* a blog network, but more of a publishing and web-app network.  In fact, this is the first blog we have ever been involved with.

Why did you buy Wisdump?  Are you mad?

When Scrivs first put the For Sale sign up, many people thought he had over-valued the site because it was based around him and would fail without him at the helm.  This may well prove to be the case, but I prefer to look at it from a different point of view.

Taking over an existing site presents a few challenges – firstly, you want to maintain the existing readership.  Secondly, you want it to grow and build on the success the previous owner built.  I’ve seen many sites acquired in recent times where the buyer has seen the pagerank and pageviews and simply expected that if you keep posting, visitors will keep coming.  I don’t believe this to be the case, as is evident from many previously high-profile sites now virtually defunct as the realization hits the owner.

So, my challenge is to build on the previous success seen here, add my own personal flavor and bring some extra features along with me.

So, why should I keep reading?

I remember the not too distant past, when Whitespace *was* 9rules, long before Scrivs became the wealthy net celeb he is today ;-)  Back then, it was about design, speaking your mind and commenting on the goings-on in the industry.  A lot has happened since those days, and those that read Whitespace back then have watched as 9rules went from Scrivs and his personal blog, to the massive community it now is.

In many respects, I find myself at the point Scrivs was back then.  Whilst my destination is different, the journey will be pretty much the same – and I hope you’ll stick with us for the ride.  We’re working on some really exciting stuff right now, and I hope to be able to bring you some insight into the challenges faced by startups, with a bit of light relief (and, probably, some moaning) along the way.

However, I’m not vein enough to think everyone is interested in what I have to say, and I believe some variety is important to any site.  That brings me nicely on to my next point…

Do you want to write for Wisdump?

The first thing I want to do here is bring a few more authors on board to bring a variety of content and opinions.   So, if you think you can be an asset to Wisdump, I’d love to hear from you.  I’m specifically looking for people that can write in a warm, endearing manner.  Subjects include design trends, usability, startup commentary and the web industry in general.  However, if you believe you can bring something else to the table, I’m open to ideas.  This is a paid gig with exceptional rates and incentives.  If you would like to be involved, drop me a mail directly at lee [at] maxafi.com with the subject ‘Wisdump Bloggers’.  Tell me a little about yourself, your blogs and what you feel you can offer.

What else is changing here?

The first change to come in the next few weeks will be a re-design.  We have a crack team of designers working on a new layout and style, and as we near completion I will begin posting some teasers of the changes to come.  What I can promise you is that I’m a firm believer in clean presentation, usability and aesthetics.   You won’t see a barrage of advertisements cropping up everywhere (you’ll notice I’ve already dropped adsense).  The content is first and foremost, as it should be.

From there (or possibly around the same time) we’ll be adding a few features to the site.  I’m keen to get the readership more involved and become part of Wisdump itself, and I’m hopeful these additions will help make that happen.  More details on these to come.

Finally, and most importantly, I want to hear your input along the way – what do you want to see here, do you have suggestions or complaints – they’re all welcome.  Wisdump is nothing without it’s readers, so I’m listening.