Monday, September 26, 2005

Blueberries and milk? Maybe.

Today I was shown a mock-up for the new myOtaku front-end. I'm looking forward to working on that with Adam, because I think it will be significant improvement over what we have now. So far my work has mostly involved the back-end, which relates to backrooms and all of the things that you see when you're updating and editing and so on. The front-end is your actual user page, which the public sees. On myOtaku 3.0, we are stripping it down further and making it even more customizable. This will of course be particularly useful to those who do not have great HTML skills, but who want to create a great looking page regardless. It is likely that the Premium service will launch later than myOtaku 3.0 itself. Adam and I both agree that it would be best to focus our energies on building a strong main-site update first and then focusing on Premium after that. Considering that our membership numbers are growing more quickly with each week, a strong new free-access site will help to keep things moving rapidly. So, I think you can look forward to what we are building in terms of the free stuff. It will certainly feel like a major upgrade, I think. In semi-related news, you may be aware that we are purchasing our fourth dedicated server for this network. I'm not certain what the causes are, but hopefully this will help to correct any speed issues that some people might be having. At the very least, it'll provide guaranteed space for growth. To jump back to the myOtaku subject for a moment, it's true that myOtaku allows you to use pretty much any type of coding you desire. So even for those of you who have more advanced coding skills, myOtaku is relevant (especially if you want to avoid paying for a domain and building everything from the ground up). At the same time though, it's true that myOtaku doesn't offer the power and flexbility of freely-distributed blogging services. Although it is not our intention to really be any kind of competitor or alternative to those services (our focus is, afterall, on the portfolio aspect of myOtaku), I think it is likely that the next iteration of this site will feature more sophisticated options and features. When I talk to people about the services they use (and when I talk to webmasters in general), I get the sense that many are out of touch with regular Internet users. For example, if you look at OtakuBoards, I think you'll find that it's quite an easy site to navigate. Most of you won't have much problem with it. But what if your mother or father registered an account tomorrow? What if your grandmother registered? Anyone who uses the Internet less frequently - or who uses it often but only in a very simplistic way - is going to view OB as an incredibly complex prospect. The same is true when it comes to a service like myOtaku or deviantART, where you have a blogging service combined with a portfolio system. Although we do allow great customization for those who know some sort of web code, it is true that most of our users posess no knowledge of such things. As a result, using myOtaku (or OB) really has to feel very seamless and simple. This somewhat relates to the idea of designing web sites only for Firefox or Safari. Yes, there's merit in doing so - and I think it can actually be a good thing for people to do it - but designing exclusively for such programs (at the expense of Internet Explorer) can be a self-defeating exercise. There is always a kind of niche audience for that stuff. For example, building a really technically advanced Flash site is great for those who have the ability to view it. But are you going to be accessible to everyone? Are you limiting appeal because you are setting high barriers to entry? I remember seeing a web site that was designed by a former OBer, which physically blocked anyone using IE from entering. This individual would quite happily stand there and talk about the benefits of open source and the need to be inclusive and so on, yet he would deliberately block 90% of Internet users from his site. So is his position really related to inclusiveness and a sense of community, or is it more about self-importance and egotism? I'd say the latter. When I saw the notice that basically ordered me to use Firefox, I closed the site and never returned. I'm willing to bet that most IE-users would do the same and not think twice. So, bang, he kills off a large percentage of potential visitors. With our network, we do struggle with issues like these. When you are engineering sites that hundreds of thousands of people use, you do not have the luxury of creating a "niche" destination that will only operate on a minority of browsers. It is necessary to support those browsers, but it is even more critical to ensure that all of your functions work correctly in the dominant platform (in this case, IE). I notice, with some amusement, that the CSS-based movement is growing all the time and the emphasis seems to be on clean and intelligent design. I think this is a fantastic trend. However, I also notice that many sites which are ostensibly designed with maximun functionality and useability in mind, actively reject or penalize IE users. How are these philosophies compatible? If your intention is to create something that is easy to use and aesthetically pleasing, does it not logically follow that you should place a similar amount of energy on ensuring strong brower compatibility? Or at least, a support for as many users as possible? All of this relates back to more than technology. It comes back to the idea that many web designers are designing for themselves and are ignoring their potential audience. Potential is the key word, I think. Technology is part of the equation, but so is a general design philosophy. If you look at your own site or you browse various sites on the web, put yourself in the place of your grandmother. Imagine that you have never used the Internet before and you have no idea what the terminology is, you have no idea what the conventions are. Under such circumstances, how many web sites become that much more difficult to navigate? I would say that OtakuBoards is ridiculously complex by those standards, as is myOtaku, as are most sites. So, for me personally, I think OB will be the big experiment. It is through this prism that I am viewing the site, but it is also through this prism that I am designing it. I have no idea what the outcome will be, except to say that I think it will be more positive for everyone. myOtaku 3.0 is not exactly being designed in this way, but I think it will be both more complex and easier to use than its predecessor. Anyway, that's quite a disjointed ramble, but hopefully some of it makes sense. It was something I was thinking about recently and a few of my thoughts just spilled out onto the keyboard as I began my post. ~_^ RiflesAtRecess: It's interesting you mention the size of the new post window. That's something we can and should consider adjusting. I agree about Revolution. There's just so much potential, both with traditional and non-traditional games. Annie-kun: Yeah, I wanted to keep it simple. But you never know, I might change my intro image again soon, there are a few others that I quite like. indifference: Thank you. I do recommend reading some of the stuff about Revolution, or viewing the demo video of the controller. I think you will be impressed. John: Apparently it's very easy to support the controller in terms of the API (Application Programming Interface). The big issue is just the ideas. I'm less confident about that than any finacial support, honestly. As for the song, I think I should just link to it and let you download it. Click here to download Strict Machine (that goes for anyone else who can't get it by clicking on the link at the top of the page). flirtinangel: Actually, I'm just very fast when it comes to typing. I can thank years of touch typing classes in primary and secondary school for that (funnily enough, touch typing classes were compulsory at my primary school...all the way back in 1993/1994 - if only they knew how forward-thinking that was). Congrats on the play. ^_^ Otakusennen: Two things come to mind. I think the hardware specs will genuinely surprise people (especially Matt from IGN) and I also think that what hasn't been shown on the Revolution controller is actually quite significant. You can check the Revolution thread at OB for a little hint about that. Aaryanna: I honestly have no idea where that 84 came from, lol. But yeah, it would not be Celsius, that's for sure. Nearly boiling point! Hehe. Thanks for your comment, I hope you are doing well. ^_^

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