March 2008 - Posts

• Goals Really Do Motivate People

  I love little things like this. It seems silly, but goals have been proven to motivate people. They don't work alone, but when combined with other compelling expereinces goals can put your user's average time on site through the roof.  A recent example of this is what you see in Linked in.  I hate managing both linked in and Facbook, but I still log in every now and then.  I don't want to stay, but hey, adding a picture gets me to 80%!  Posted Mar 31 2008, 02:45 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Design

• TelliTip 9: Show full post content on the home page in Graffiti

  I saw this question in the Graffiti Support forums and figured I'd turn it into a tip.  By default most Graffiti themes only publish the post excerpt on the home or other index pages (like tags) because, for SEO reasons, most search engines don't like duplicate content on sites.  But lets pretend you are throwing caution to the wind and want to show full post content on the home page and only use the actual post page for comments.  On with the tip... Log into your control panel as an admin. Go to the theme customization with Presentation > Themes > Personalize on your current theme. Click on the index.view file to open it. I recommend saving your existing copying the current index.view content into a new next file as a back-up at this point. Find the line with the $Post.Excerpt(...) script Replace this script with $Post.Body() Save the file Verify Note: Every theme is different and your mileage may very depending on the theme.  Just swapping the excerpt for the full post.body content worked well in most of the default themes I tried this on.  Posted Mar 31 2008, 10:42 AM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• Time to leave networks on Facebook

  I probably just noticed something that's been going on for a while. I thought I'd check out the Seattle group on FB. It's a 200k audience being fed daily spam like this: Facebook needs to find a way to deal with this problem because it's only going to keep getting worse.  Posted Mar 29 2008, 07:28 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Social

• The reason for your low click through rates

  If you manage a community or sell ads online you'll be shocked varying levels of quality found in ads submitted by advertisers to pitch your community.  You may then have then had a conversation with some of these advertisers about click through performance.  Sure, you could give them raw data that shows other ads in that spot perform well, but who believes raw data... how about truly democratizing ads?  I saw this recently on CNET... No, I'm not talking about the fact that Apple turfed the Microsoft section, I'm talking about the little feedback link that takes me to... Unfortunately this is a good idea that's just poorly implemented. Why not just borrow from digg style simplicity and simply have a Thumbs Up/Down above ads that registers votes?  Lets take that one step further up the chain. What could you do with the data you collected about ads?  I know what I would do on my community.  I'd want to give advertisers that reach a certain threshold of thumbs up more impressions and penalize the ones who get thumbs down. This way the community gets to help choose how they are pitched to.  Crazy? Posted Mar 28 2008, 08:01 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Business

• TelliTip 8: Easily find an archived post for editing

  The control panel post lists in Graffiti and Community server don't offer a search functionality (yet) that would make it easy to find and edit existing posts.  The easy work around for this problem is to make sure you are signed into your account and use the site search to find your post. Once you find the post most themes will have a direct link to the editor for that particular post.  Posted Mar 28 2008, 08:39 AM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• Design the little things that stand out

  Good products tend to pay attention to the little details. Not all the details, but enough to make you notice. Lately I've noticed that the list of supporters or fans or whatever you want to call them on Facebook pages seems to always show a few people that are in your social circle, or friends of people in your circle if needed.  This way, when you are browsing the page it says to you "It's ok, look, your friends are here too!".  They could have chosen a random set of people here, but I think it's a nice touch. Posted Mar 28 2008, 02:26 AM by evolvingWe Filed under: Social

• TelliTip 7: Create a Silverlight Powered Photo Gallery in Graffiti

  Kevin Harder created a Graffiti plugin that uses the Slide.Show Silverlight photo gallery control.  This plugin allows you to use Flickr, Picassa, or photo albums stored on your server.   Download the plugin, which is located here: http://kevinharder.com/downloads/graffiti/slide-show-plugin/ Copy the Copy the Graffiti.Slide.Show.dll file into the /bin folder on your web site. In Graffiti, as an admin, you can do this with Site Options > Utilities > File Browser.  Open the Bin directory and click Add Files. Go to the manage plugins page (Graffiti Admin > Site Options > Plug-Ins) Click the "Enable" link on the plugin you wish to use Click the "Edit" link on the plugin you wish to use to configure it. Enter the name of the post the gallery should be displayed on (i.e. "Photos") and any other options (such as path or username). Click Save button.   Posted Mar 26 2008, 12:00 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• ESPN Turns Off Ad Nets

  On one hand ad networks offer publishers and networks the ability to simplify and hand over inventory, but on the other hand... online ad management is going in the direction of becoming a commodity that publishers will be less and less likely to pay a middle man for.   Reading between the lines below it seems that it's becoming an obvious question of "why should someone stand between my brand and money from advertisers when I've been managing TV ad sales myself for a long time. ESPN Turns Off Ad Nets Top Web publishers are planning a revolt. Even as more prominent sites experiment with selling remnant inventory through online ad networks, and in some cases ad exchanges, ESPN.com is saying thanks, but no thanks. The site recently cut ties with Specific Media and several other unnamed ad networks, and is taking the bold stand that ad selling that relies heavily on arbitrage and algorithms is not for them. Posted Mar 24 2008, 12:39 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Business

• TelliTip 6: Create a contact page

  So you have your fancy new site almost ready, but you realize you want a way for people to contact you.  You need to build a contact form.  Things to know that will make this simpler: Graffiti themes are comprised of scriptable *.view files that define page contents and layouts. Pages named after these view files will adopt the layout defined on those view files. View files can use macros to output content.  There is a "Contact Us" macro that can be used to generate a contact us form. ContactForm() Your theme may already define a layout (have a view file) for a contact us page.  You'll want to check before starting.  To check log into the control panel, choose presentation -> themes -> personalize on your theme -> look for a .view file with a contact form. If your theme defines a contact view you probably want to use that for starters. Record the name of the contact view.  It's most commonly "contact.view". Click write and create a new post (it can be uncategorized) Name your post the same name as the contact view file.  "Contact" in my case. Enter any information in the body you'd like to have on the contact page. Publish & View your contact page - You should now have a basic contact form as shown to the right. Now you probably want to add this page to your site navigation. To do this use the Navigation admin under presentation. Presentation > Navigation > Posts > Find the contact post and add it to the site navigation. You now have a contact form! If your theme did not define a contact form.  Contact the person who built the theme and slap them with a fish. Personalize your theme... choose presentation -> themes -> personalize on your theme. Click Create a new file for this theme. Name it appropriately - this will be the name of your contact page - contactus.view for example will work fine. :-) Add "$macros.ContactForm()" to the contents of this file.  Create a new post with the same name as the view file you just created. Publish & View your contact page - You should now have a basic contact form as shown to the right. Now you probably want to add this page to your site navigation. To do this use the Navigation admin under presentation. Presentation > Navigation > Posts > Find the contact post and add it to the site navigation. NOTE: You'll notice that this new page doesn't contain the body of the post you just created.  If you'd like to make the contact form look a little by adding the post contents try pasting the following into the contactus.view in step 5 instead of simply the contact form macro. <div class="article">   <h1 class="title">$post.Title</h1>   <div class="body">         $post.Body   </div> </div> $macros.ContactForm() Posted Mar 24 2008, 10:18 AM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• From Futurama to Profiteering Widget Users

  Well, duh, if you take away crapware that OEMs were being paid to install by default then you are going to have to pay more for your laptops.  I think Sony should be getting positive press for this.  Well, actually think they should flip the default.  "Click Here to Save 50 with TONS OF GR8 APPZ" Sony hates you, offers $50 "Fresh Start" option to build your laptop crapware-free (Paul Miller/Engadget) Paul Miller / Engadget: Sony hates you, offers $50 “Fresh Start” option to build your laptop crapware-free  —  Sony has quite the history of crippling excellent, beautiful hardware with horrible, useless software. Via Techmeme I think this show is a guy thing, but I'm glad it's been coming back.  New Futurama movie coming to DVD in June Filed under: TV on DVD, FuturamaAs the first Futurama straight-to-DVD movie, Bender's Big Score, begins airing on Comedy Central (they'll air the movie as a four-episode blok on Sunday night), Fox has announced the name and release date of the second straight-to-DVD epic. Via TV Squad You too can write a your own spam generators widgets without being much of a developer! Cool alert: Zude, Visual development environment for the Web (adds OpenSocial support) I just witnessed a development environment that’s completely different than anything I’ve ever seen. Via Scobleizer -- Tech geek blogger I've had so much Outlook downtime that, if it wasn't for the awesome free support incident MSFT gave me I would have switched this past week.  eM Client takes on Outlook, Thunderbird Filed under: Internet, Windows, E-mail, Beta Looking for another alternative to Microsoft Outlook? While Mozilla Thunderbird offers many of the same features as Microsoft's email client, you need to install plugins to add calendar and task management features. Via Download Squad Yes, users that don't participate in the classical sense of the word do count as members of your community because you benifit from learning about what they read and view based on analytics.  Then you can use that to refine your community and content.  Just as important, if not more so, than ratings, tagging, social streams, etc.   Can NOT participating in communities = Participation I’m ignoring for this post that NOT participating would always be better than bad, negative, dishonest, undisclosed, paid, etc. Via Community Group Therapy Yes please.... Google about to drop the other Enterprise shoe on Microsoft? I’m hearing about a few things that Google is planning to do to newly compete with Microsoft’s enterprise offerings. Via Scobleizer -- Tech geek blogger I'm not sure if this would make me cooler or not... Guitar Hero: On Tour and 'Guitar Grip' DS peripheral revealed Filed under: Nintendo DS, Peripherals, Rhythm Finally, after months of speculation and funny Photoshop mockups of little guitars, Activision has spilled some details on the portable DS release of Guitar Hero dubbed, as expected, Guitar Hero: On Tour. Via Joystiq Feedback communities are going to be huge. Kampyle Closes The Feedback Loop One of the key ingredients to success on the Web is rapid iteration, and to do so, eliciting user feedback is a must. Via TechCrunch I said my piece on Twitter. Friendfeed is nothing that Facebook couldn't rebuild in less than a few days with better data about you and your prefferences.  It's also something that doesn't work as well if you aren't Scobl-esc in your friend proliferation. Aggregate Your Online Social Life with FriendFeed [Feature] Between Flickr, Digg, Twitter, your blog, Facebook, Del. Via Lifehacker Tech support communities are for profit... I'm living proof.  Fixya Raises $6 Million B Round for Crowdsourced Tech-Support Companies hate providing good tech support for their products because it is expensive. Via TechCrunch Just awesome... Google Maps, Wiki-Style Google is getting more comfortable with its inner wiki. Via TechCrunch There seems to have been a bunch of backlash against Facebook, but I found the new privacy stuff easy... it's just that their defaults are wrong.  :-) Facebook To Launch New Privacy Controls; Confirms Chat Is Coming (Michael Arrington/TechCrunch) Michael Arrington / TechCrunch: Facebook To Launch New Privacy Controls; Confirms Chat Is Coming  —  Facebook announced new privacy controls at a press event at their downtown Palo Alto headquarters today, and also demoed their new chat application - called Facebook Chat - that has been rumored since last week. Via Techmeme If only my blog had more readers I could get in on the widget profit madness.   CBS to bloggers: Install our widgets, and we'll split the profits (Caroline McCarthy/The Social) Caroline McCarthy / The Social: CBS to bloggers: Install our widgets, and we'll split the profits  —  CBS Television Stations has launched a new program to get its local news headlines onto blogs and social-media sites, the CBS division said Monday. Via Techmeme Posted Mar 21 2008, 09:30 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Business

• TelliTip 5: Zoom in on big dots with Graffiti

  Quick did you know today with a shameless plug.  Did you know you can zoom in for a better view of your last 30 days of views on the Graffiti dashboard?   Simply highlight a portion of the graph by dragging out a section and the chart will zoom in. It's a cool effect, but probably not so worthwhile on such a limited set of data. But, if you liked that and think that it could have a use on real data in your community then you should check out the Harvest Reporting Server application. Check out the live demo here:  http://reports.communityserver.org/demo/ lots of data to zoom in on! Posted Mar 21 2008, 01:20 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• Lost and Found - Mint.com: Why Design Matters, Too

  Not important to the story, but just an interesting side note is that I found this through a friends facebook update since they had shared the link with google reader -> feedheads in facebook -> facebook news feed -> me ->you.  Not important, but interesting how things travel now.   Mint.com: Why Design Matters, Too « FoundRead 1. Good design implies credibility You only get one chance to make a first impression. When people visit your website, most won’t go through a fact-finding expedition to figure out your Series A numbers, who your investors are, and what your story is just to decide if your company can be trusted. Initial trust is a gut-feeling. The easiest way to put your company on that path is via well executed visual design that shows you put some effort, and money, into delivering a first-rate and satisfying experience to your customers. They will notice. Ignore design and you risk creating distrust of your business from day one, and driving up that bounce rate... Shameless plug - This is one of the things I love about the Graffiti project at Telligent.  The design of the templates shipped tell a great story. Posted Mar 20 2008, 07:33 AM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• TelliTip 4: Using Categories and Tags In Graffiti with Live Writer

  This post covers options for setting tags & catagories on Graffiti posts from the graffiti UI & Live Writer.  I was recently pointed to a good blog post discussing the differences between categories, tags, and external tags. From what I've seen you need both categories and tags for optimal user navigation, ping-ability, and organization. Graffiti gives you that flexibility when it's used as a blogging platform.  Posts can be included in only one category, but can have any number of tags. Finding categories in Graffiti is obvious because it's the dropdown on the main "content" tab of the Graffiti editor below the post title, but tags are tucked away on the "settings" tab while you are writing a post. In Windows Live Writer, once it's configured for your Graffiti site, has a similarly hidden area for setting tags. Catagories are exposed below the editor, but you have to expand the bottem toolbar, as shown to set the tags on a post. To set tags in Windows Live Writer use comma delimited "keywords". When this is posted the tags will now be associated with posts.  Keep in mind that not all themes support the concept of tags.  If your theme does not you may want to experiment with other themes or customize it to add a line like this to the appropriate view files. (More detailed instructions in a future tip. ) #if($macros.IsNull($post.TagList) == false)     Tagged as:     $macros.TagList($post.TagList,"") #end Enjoy! Posted Mar 19 2008, 05:07 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Software

• Anti-Permission Marketing - Why I stopped using Windows Live Mail

  About 9 months ago I stopped using Windows Live Mail completely.  I switched to gmail.  I actually liked WLM a lot better at the time.  Having been a lifetime outlook/OWA user the swanky new interface they had rolled out was comfortable and worked great. Kudos to their development team.  Why did I switch? I switched because the Windows Live Marketing team stopped respecting me as a customer and started abusing their power to grab my attention.  They send "Important Updates" at least once a month that can't be blocked despite my junk mail settings.  I loved WLM because of the ability to set mail filters so that only people that new me got to my inbox.  Sort of like facebook messages before app-spam went crazy. My settings were as follows: This meant that only people I wanted to could grab my valuable personal attention.  Regularly scan your junk mail and add someone you may have missed. I could also use the address to sign up for things online without worry. Life was great.  Then I started getting dancing Lepricons in my inbox... I can tell you now that communications_msn_enus@microsoft.msn.com is not on my safe list and can't actually be blocked or added to a junk mail list.  So I looked for the option to remove myself from these urgent updates.  If you do you'll find this note at the bottom: There are so many things wrong with this text. Lets start with the first sentence "As a Windows Live member you have received this e-mail to inform you of updates, changes to the service, or special news and information vital to the service." Now let's scan this particular newsletter for information that is vital. As shown above the top of the mail is an ad for Window Live One Care... what if I'm on a MAC? You also see tips and tricks that include "Inform Others"... otherwise known as let us help you spam your friends so that they will join WLM. I don't consider tips vital Get WLM and MSN on your phone! It's another ad! "Use Windows Live Mail to Stay up to date"... aren't I already doing that? It's basically an ad to use WLM! I had lots of hope for the "Tell us what you think" section. Maybe they wanted my feedback on Hotmail.  Maybe they wanted to improve the service... no, I get asked to vote in a ridiculous poll and shown that everyone's favorite game is "Chicktionary" - How did I live without this vital knowledge before? At the bottom there is a touch of human to the newsletter.  This part probably should have been first as it's actually the most useful (still not vital ) content. The final insult from the text above is how I, as a formerly loyal customer, could remove myself from getting this junk mail.  If you do not wish to receive these letters you may discontinue your participation in the service and close your account. I love it... if you don't like it... leave.  Thanks. I've done that.  I guess what's infuriating about all this is that there are hundreds of better ways and designs that could be used to inform me with tips, new service announcements, and polls like this without disrespecting my explicitly set chosen user settings.  Lets look at the same messages on google that don't ignore my settings or force me to delete mail I didn't ask for. Get gmail on my phone! Its the same ad from the WLM newsletter, but in text and not in my way.  Plus they could rotate this and it's shown every time I log in.  Naysayers will say that now I'm forced to see an ad, but it's always there and consistent. So I could choose to not look at it. Gmail uses webclips, and this space above my inbox for news, ads, and stories that are interesting to me based on my mail. Creepy... maybe, but I've actually clicked on them.  No messages about "Chicktionary", but if the WLM team wanted to they could put the silly polls there.  Here is Google's way of pulling me into new features.  A link clearly labeled "New Features" and a "New" icon next to one of the new features.  All very visible, in context, but not in the way.  Great design IMO.  Plus, they have a dedicated product blog to let me know about their new features. Not that anything in the WLM newsletter was what I would call "Vital", but what if there was a vital notification.  Lets pretend, in a really bad case, that my private account information leaked on the service.  Would an e-mail I delete really be the best way to tell me?  I've now been trained by the WLM team that this mail is junk. Please don't put anything vital in it.  If there is something I really need to know put it in my face when I log in with a pop-up.  Of course I shudder to suggest this becuase of what else it might be used for.  The point is that I can't trust that mail to be vital, I didn't ask for it, the information is not relavant to me, it actually ignores my settings, and there are really better ways to give me this information in this day in age.   Respect your customers, give them information they want, and only interrupt their workflow with truly vital information. Posted Mar 19 2008, 01:28 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Business

• LOLCats can use the CLR!

  This is just too much to not pass on... LOLCode.net - Now your LOLCats can use the CLR! - Nick's blog LOLCode is an emerging esoteric (and hilarious) language based on the dialect used in LOLCats images. It's been siezed upon by a group of people (myself included, now), and is being expanded into a real, workable, turing complete esoteric language (though nobody has proven its turing completeness yet!). Posted Mar 18 2008, 05:28 PM by evolvingWe Filed under: Technology