Archive for Software Development
A recent post by Tim Peter about designing for a certain browser got me thinking about design and usability and the current state of the browser wars.
Tim argues that instead of looking at what the general market trends in browser usage is, you should look at what the usage of your users are. I completely agree with that sentiment.
Given the current state of modern browsers, however, there is very little reason that your website design and development can’t support the majority of browsers. There might be slight display issues in some cases, but the big hitters: IE7/IE8/IE9, Chrome, Firefox and Safari, are all relatively easy to support. Of course, there are occasional bugs here and there (I’m looking at you IE7) that require special attention (and often additional hair-pulling), there is little reason beyond working with some intense JavaScript or cutting-edge CSS3/HTML5 features that your website will not work in the above browsers.
Once that’s accomplished, it becomes a business decision how far you want to go to support less common situations or exotic browsers or antiquated browsers (hey, IE6). Just like how how much A/B testing you do becomes a business decision, how much cross-browser compatibility your company is going to pursue is also a business decision.
April 4, 2011
I recently read Nudge, a book that covered some really interesting cases of how people can be affected simply by the way a choice is presented to them.
In the case of software, this is a tremendous issue. How many people use the default theme in Chrome or Firefox? How many people have the grass background in Windows?
Those are certainly mundane examples that matter very little to a user, but there are certainly other cases where the default does change their experience. Take signing up for a newsletter, for example. Or getting notified when there are additional comments on a blog post. Those choices will greatly affect a user’s experience with that piece of software.
Much of Nudge discusses giving people the option to control their environment and what they want should they want to make an explicit choice. Otherwise, give them a default that will most likely work best for them and educate them about the possibilities out there and what’s available.
For software, do you make your default something that will make your company money right now? Or money in the long term? Or promote customer retention and recommendations?
Ultimately, those are business decisions. Though, personally, I think it’s always clear that those last goals go hand-in-hand.
March 30, 2011
Recently, I wrote a blog post about site-building for clients with little experience and some of the pitfalls you can run into. This prompted a conversation with a friend of mine about software development in general and what my thoughts and opinions were and what I liked/disliked. I thought it was an interesting conversation and really got me thinking about my career in general, so I thought I’d post some of the thoughts here.
The best way I can describe software development for me is with a list of pros and cons. So, starting with the pros:
- Solving problems. Personally, this gives me a sense of accomplishment, at the end of the day, I can look back and point at something that I did or made or finished.
- Alone time. I’ve found over the years, I need alone time. Otherwise, I just get to the point where I can’t take people. There’s plenty of alone time in software. This, in particular, is a pro for me, but could be a con for others.
- Smart people. There are a fair amount of smart people in this field. People who make sense and think logically and, in general, aren’t crazy. Of course, there are some horribly awkward people, but sometimes that just makes things more fun.
- Always something to work on. Now, this is both in terms of the job market – compared to other areas in the current economy, it’s still quite strong, and in terms of being able to play around with things outside of work and improve yourself.
Now, cons:
- Not-so-smart people. There are, as in all areas, the less-than-smart people you have to work with. I think, however, that this is something anyone is going to run into in any field, so it’s really in the con list of having a career or job at all. However, I certainly do not have the horror stories that some people seem to have.
- Getting bored. Personally, I get bored with a certain task or single project after a few months. If it’s the same project, but with a new twist or interesting new updates, that’s enough to keep my interest.
- Working on uninteresting things. This is very similar to con #2, but it’s still slightly different. Generally, I tend get frustrated when I make something that no one is going to use or provides little value.
Personally, the pros, especially #1 and #2 are what really makes me love what I do. #4 is also a great thing in terms of long-term value and career, and #3 makes the day-to-day passable.
Then, in discussing where to find work, I wrote:
Generally, I’d say look for a small place, and one who’s goal is to make websites/software if you can, not just that they do have a software division to make tools to use internally. That’s not bad, but that means that you’re always going to be a coder to them, but at a place where software/websites are the goal, then you’re the MVP and everything is built around you getting your job done the quickest and best way possible. Because of this, they’re also harder to get a job at a place like this because they are in higher demand.
Great reason I’m happy to work at Bootstrap Software. 
March 3, 2011
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