I had written a few articles about Web 2.0 and how the younger generations have a tremendous influence on the technologies we use to communicate on the web (here and here). One of my main points was about ease of use. As IT professionals we should take lessons from the web and apply them to work. As I was drafting part two of my five part article "Are you running IT like it's your business?", my 8 year old daughter wandered in my office and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was writing a Blog and she asked me if she could write one. I created her an ID on Blogger and sent her on her way. A few minutes later she comes into my office and says, "Check out my Blog, Daddy". I typed in her blog, which was innocently named, "theseareaboutmycat.blogspot.com" and I stared at my monitor with my mouth wide open. With no instructions and no help from me she had a cute little blog about cats and dogs.
So why can't we build applications this easy for our users? Do we try to anticipate our users' every need and over design our applications? Are we making things too complex? Hmm, I see a few more articles on this topic brewing in the near future.
In the mean time, I have showed her how to add video and Site Meter to her site. I can't wait to see what she creates next!
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My favorite sayings
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there"
"Before you build a better mouse trap, make sure you have some mice"
"Before you build a better mouse trap, make sure you have some mice"
May 5, 2007 at 3:28 PM
Web Apps should concentrate more on the basics then the nifty extras. If a house could read the weekly paper more better than it could keep us warm then who would use it? If the younger (or older) users can quickly get to grips with an application then it's perfect. Great article and my girlfriend will love your daughters blog lol :D