Simplicity Rules

In the Year of the Password Manager I complained about sites that require registration. Honestly, it’s not a big deal to me. I am the sort of geek that usually is making the decision to require registration, so I’m not really a good example of the average user.

1. The average user is worried that I’ll spam them
2. The average user doesn’t want to take the time to fill out a form
3. The average user wonders whether it’s worth logging into their “spam account” to get my confirmation email for a service that might just suck

If I really think I have something, shouldn’t I lower the barrier for entry? Shouldn’t it be less about getting my email and more about showing me all the functionality possible without an account? I think so and I think we should make 2006 the Year of the Optional Registration.

In the case of Rollyo, let me create a search without creating an account. Let me even share the search. Just set a cookie so if I decide to sign up you can make sure I get credited with my searches.

Riffs – let me give thumbs up to Lindsay Lohan. Heck, even let me write a review, but tag me as anonymous. If I want to stand up for my opinions, I’ll do it later by creating an account.

There are two reasons I can think of why so many sites would require a membership:

1. They want to have a hook in me so they can email later and say, “hey–remember me?”
2. Every else does it

And I have two solutions:

1. Make your stuff so good that I’ll never forget you
2. Everyone else will do it if they get on board with the Year of the Optional Registrations

So, what do you say, are you in?

During 2005 I have probably registered for accounts on two times the number of sites as the ten prior years combined. With a month and a half remaining, I feel comfortable calling this the Year of the Password Manager.

In August, the simple-minded folks (that’s a compliment) at 37Signals asked the question URL or Username and Password? I appreciate how user accounts can enhance a site, but I also think they are often unnecessary.

Example 1. Rollyo lets me create my own search engine by telling it what sites to include in a search. While they have a number of advanced features, there should be no need for me to be a member to create a search. Unfortunately, registration is required.

Example 2. Riffs, billed as a better epinions, looks pretty cool. I tried to give a thumbs up to Lindsay Lohan and they told me to login. C’mon. I know you don’t want ballot-stuffers, but there are other ways around that. Plus, it’s not like this is presidential politics or a scientific poll.

Update: I stop the ranting and offer a few suggestions in The Year of the Optional Registration.

Let me first sheepishly admit that I recently started reading Donald Trump’s blog. He has a post about focus that really spoke to what I’ve been thinking and reading about lately. If execution is more important than ideas, then focus is what it takes to succeed, right?

I recently mentioned, as an aside, that RSS might be more of a geek thing. It seems most people, especially the everyday internet user, visit web versions of sites rather than read RSS feeds. Indeed, almost every non-blog website (including most of mine) don’t have an RSS feed.

One part of the problem is that the entire concept (including its acronymic name) is pretty geek-centric. Another issue is that it’s not simple enough to subscribe. Mike’s solution is an intermediate description page. It gives an introduction to RSS, as well as instructions for how–and where–to subscribe.

Elliot calls them web design pet peeves. He did such a great job of framing these in terms of the user, that I think anyone who browses the web will understand many of the same problems. Here are the three I’ve been seeing most lately:

• Blogs not having an RSS feed. This might be more of a geek thing, but it’s bound to become a bigger deal to more people as they begin using RSS to save themselves the time of checking sites they visit often. Ever since Mike Duffy told me to just sign up at BlogLines, it’s the way I consume most frequently-updated content. I have a friend who has a blog without RSS… and I visit once per week tops.
• Using frames so I can’t link to a specific page. I would extend this beyond frames. It’s any page that’s not easy to copy, save, and revisit.
• Playing crappy music without giving the option to turn it off. Real estate sites do a lot of this. Since people tend to surf at work, I imagine a lot of those sites blasting music get closed right quick.

And lastly, I would add one to Elliot’s list:

• Opening new windows. Use simple links and let me choose where to open it. No Javascript popups, no target=_blank.