Simplicity Rules

Adam DuVander on keeping it simple

Beware marketing from fear

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I create web programs that take user input and do something smart. Not every site needs to be overseen by someone with my skills. I’d guess 99 in 100 projects can be completed with off-the-shelf web software.

Still, there are programmers who want to shout from the kills the “dangers” of not hiring a good coder. These programmers are marketing from fear. They don’t want to be replaced by a packaged solution.

Every industry faces similar fears. The great people don’t market from that fear.

Tap water is different. You are an idiot if you drink tap water.

The TV news magazine 60 Minutes had a piece on low-cost real estate company Redfin. Agents go bonkers when someone talks about reducing commissions. One site took reporter Leslie Stahl on a fictional drive-along to show how much time and money it takes to sell real estate:

But now comes the fun part. It’s about noon by now and we get to go out and get our daily dose of disrespect and hatred from the FSBO’s and Expireds. So we head back to the gas station to load up the Jeep with gas…another $55.00.

It left me wondering why the author even wants to be an agent.

iPod Wedding photoWhile I was reading up on reactions to the Redfin story, I noticed a lot of comments rolling into a site I never launched. My friend Jon and I started iPod Wedding after he had a good experience choosing the soundtrack to his reception. We haven’t made it past the first post, but a DJ forum found the site and DJs started leaving angry messages. Here’s one of the tamer ones:

Have you all lost you minds!!! I am a DJ, and I have to say that this is nothing short of complete stupidity!! Whoever wrote this how to needs some real education on what a Dj does. What about the intros, the events, when the food is served, where and how the best photos are to be taken. A DJ sets all of these things up, its the experience of the DJ that makes the entire party

This guy may be right. Jon and I met spinning CDs at the campus radio station. I’m sure good DJs can make a better reception. Marketing from fear of automation isn’t the right way to convey your unique value proposition. If you’re scared of it, maybe there’s a reason?

I should finally read Player Piano, a book my friend and fellow programmer Josh has long recommended:

Vonnegut’s first novel, an unforgiving portrait of an automated and totalitarian future, was published in 1952. A human revolt against the machines which control life was arranged by the machines themselves to prove the futility of such resistance.

Did you know we still have travel agents? My guess is that the ones who do it well don’t go on about how much they hate online booking.

Thanks to Lee Brimelow for the water bottle photo.

Simplicity sells, not features

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NYTimes personal technology columnist David Pogue gave a passionate TED Talk about Simplicity in technology.

This is a guy who tests out gadgets and software for a living. His message is that it’s simplicity that sells, not features.

Pogue’s voice recognition software put out a new version without any new features–just better voice recognition. That is a ballsy move when most software companies are trying to add another bullet point to their packaging.

His biggest advice for creators:

“The hard part is not deciding what features to add, it’s deciding what to leave out.”

That’s right out of the Laws of Simplicity.

It’s all my fault

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“It’s not my fault.” That’s what Mac OS 8 and 9 would say (text-to-speech) whenever there was an error. That isn’t the nicest way to approach a user. It’s cute, but why does it have to be my fault?

The problem goes beyond error messages. Usability problems on websites are often interpreted as the user’s problem. Of course, that’s not true. One of my colleagues at BestPlaces recently said, if they don’t get it, it doesn’t matter if we think we’re right, we’re wrong.

Just as we should plan for generosity, we should make sure it’s always clear: It’s all my fault.

Help users write better headlines

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In any content, headlines rule. A good headline catches my attention and makes me want to read more.

When we have others create the content, they also supply the headlines. That means it’s up to we savvy web people to point them in the direction of better headline writing.

For WifiPDX, I asked reviewers to Give us the one sentence pitch. Why would you go here? It was a good thought, but there were two problems:

  1. This was the last field on the review page, despite being the most important
  2. It let to generic headlines like, “It’s great,” or confusing answers like “I wouldn’t” (go there).

Then there’s the case of BestPlaces CityViews, where visitors leave their comments on places (for example, Portland comments). I labeled the headline field “Title.” This most important part of a comment has been consistently misinterpreted.

Example text boxes, all labeled with Title

That’s right, people think that I am asking their title: President, Principal, Student, Human Resources Director, I’ve seen it all. To be fair, most people get this right. Since I have seen over 15,000 CityViews, this has happened enough that it’s a problem.

The fix could be as simple as calling it a headline. I could also provide a comment preview, so someone has a chance to make changes before committing. There’s probably even a little more guiding to be done.

If the goal is to generate good headlines, we can’t just give them an empty box. We need to help them fill it with good stuff.