The Software is Wrong, Not the People
By Joe Flood, July 13, 2011

It was a small moment at the WordPress DC Meetup. One of the creators of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, was in town. He had come to this monthly meeting at Fathom Creative to learn what the local community wanted in the next version of his web publishing software.

The media library in WordPress was discussed. Mullenweg admitted that it is confusing and gets difficult to manage once you have lots of images in the library. A man in the audience brought up a technical issue he had with the library. Mullenweg explained that you could actually do what the man wanted to in WordPress but stated:

The software is wrong, not the people.

This is a revolutionary statement. Mullenweg could have just told the man that “you’re doing it wrong” before telling him the “right” way to work with WordPress. Instead, the fact that users had problems with the media library told him that the software needed to be improved.

It’s a contrary notion. We all adapt to clunky and ever-changing software, relearning the basic tasks needed to accomplish our work – where’d they move the print button?

And we cope with this increasing complexity without complaint. Because no one wants to look stupid. You can’t figure out the ribbon in Microsoft Word? You must be the idiot, not the software.

This is especially true in the world of content management systems for web sites. I’ve worked on large-scale web sites for more than a dozen years as a web editor, producer and site manager. I remember when we did things in HTML. I have fond memories for Claris HomePage. Compared to the complexity of managing a large site in Dreamweaver, a CMS seemed like a brilliant idea.

Be careful what you wish for. Over time, I’ve had the fortune/misfortune to use nearly every major CMS out there.

The simple publishing tools that we used back in the 90s “evolved” into massively complex structures requiring expensive experts to install and administer. CMS like SharePoint, Vignette and Percussion are punishing experiences for the user, turning the joyous task of writing into a machine-led death march. You enter your content and then engage in a series of database programming tasks, with the hope that at the end of it, if everything goes well, your article will appear in the correct format on the web site at the next publishing cycle.

It’s no wonder that there’s so much bad writing online when the publishing tools are so lousy.

WordPress is different. Being open-source, and closely tied to the community (would Steve Ballmer listen to your feedback?), it has a different philosophy – “The software is wrong, not the people.”

Of course, it’s not perfect – the media library definitely needs some work – but it’s easy to use and adaptable. WordPress now powers more than 50 million web sites.

And, most importantly of all, it’s software that people want to use. No one feels passionate about SharePoint. But they do about WordPress. This enthusiasm will lead to its greater adoption. Over time, the users will prevail.

The original article can be found at Joe Flood’s site. Thanks go to Joe Flood himself for the permission to republish!

One web site goal which I’d like to touch on today is the idea of using a web site to build trust. How exactly can a web site manage to help build trust?

As I’m sure you’ve heard over and over again, “You have only one chance to make a first impression.” Make sure your web site design makes a professional and intelligent first impression and you’ll be laying the groundwork for trust. Your visitors want to feel secure that you are familiar with the subject of your site. The more professional looking your site is, the more secure your visitors will feel. Another way to make them feel important to you is to make sure that something as simple as navigation is easy to use. Your visitors will feel that you have been thorough in mapping out your website with them in mind.

Make sure your content is not only accurate and relevant, but also honest. Anyone can repeat a fact, but to make someone believe that you are not just mindlessly repeating information is quite another skill. Also, spelling and grammar goes together well with this point. Spell check your pages, and make sure your grammar is correct. The occasional mistake may sometimes be overlooked, but regular mistakes can definitely make you less desirable to potential customers.

Know your audience. If your audience is full of tech geeks then speak as one. If instead, your audience is made up of stay at home moms, or teens, or athletes, then speak to them so they will respect you. Do not belittle them. You need to know your audience.

Let your visitors know that you are still around. Occasionally update your content: add new information and update old information. It will make them feel better that you haven’t disappeared on them and it also shows them that you are keeping current with your field.

If you want to use testimonials make sure they’re real. Phony claims just break your trust, if you have a good product or service people will tell you so.

Of course, the same rules that apply in everyday situations also prove true for the internet. Swearing never makes a good impression and insulting competitors is very unprofessional. If you do not agree with something state your reasons intelligently and do not reduce your web site to a back alley brawl. You want your reputation to continue over the long-term, don’t ruin it by making a snide comment, it definitely will not help your cause.

Let people know that there is actually a human behind the words they’re reading. The internet allows people to be anonymous. If you want trust then you need to step in front of the veil of anonymity. Liz and I do it all the time. You always know that anything from this site comes from one of us.

Contact Us. Use this page to your advantage. Put your company address, telephone, and fax numbers as well as email addresses on this page. If people know they can actually contact you and speak to a human being they’ll feel much better about doing business with you.

Make sure your company policies are clearly spelled out. If you give a money back guarantee then state it. If not, then state that as well. Customers want to know beforehand what they’re getting themselves into. Trust them to make that decision, do not make your policies vague and confusing.

As you can see there are many ways to use your web site to build trust with your customers and visitors. Use the information to your advantage and never forget that without your customers you would not have a business. Listen to them and they will reward you.

So, what are the basics? What should you be checking? Well, for most of our clients on maintenance you need not worry about any of these things, High Aspirations, Inc. has got your back. But, what if you decide you want to handle your own maintenance? What do you do?

Following are some of the basic things that need to be checked to make sure that your web site is being all it can be!

1. Is your web site loading? Make your web site your home page or visit it a couple times a day at the very least. If your web site stops loading then your customers will miss it and move on.
2. What date does your copyright notice show? This should be changed every year. Take the time once a year to go through the site and make sure you’ve updated these dates. If you don’t have a copyright date on your site, then maybe this is the perfect time to add one.
3. Test your forms. If you have an opt-in or any other type of form on your site make sure that it’s still working. You went through the trouble of adding the form to your site, make sure it’s doing what it should be doing. If your customers are having a tough time using the form, they may very well decide to stop trying and just move on.
4. Replace or remove broken links. It’s not unheard of to have links disappear. Maybe that site with the information that was relevant for your customers shut down, don’t frustrate your customers by leaving a dead link on your site. Find a replacement or get rid of it.
5. Replace or remove broken images. It is very possible for an image to become corrupted, for a link to an image to get broken while updating your web site or heaven forbid for your site to become hacked (which opens up a whole new set of problems, but we’ll just keep this simple today). Make sure those images are still there. If not, then find out what happened to them and correct the link or upload a new image. Just make sure to get rid of those ugly boxes with the red ‘x’ in them!
6. Test your order forms. If your customers can’t make it all the way through your checkout process then you not only lost that day’s sale, but every sale that person may have come back to make. Order something from your own site and make sure the checkout process is flawless! Use yours or a friend’s credit card and then refund the purchase or contact your merchant to see if they have a test card number you can use.
7. Check your legal disclaimers. If you have legal disclaimers on your site, make sure they’re still relevant. If you don’t have any, then you may want to check to see if you should add them to the site. Unfortunately, when everyone is out to make a buck on someone else’s back, it’s best to make sure you keep your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed!

This is a short list of the most basic items that need – and should – be reviewed on a regular basis. If you feel like you’ve been neglecting your web site and just don’t have the time to dedicate to make sure it’s in prime form, then make a call to your friendly web site designers! We’ll put it though the paces and make sure it’s in tip top shape.

1% for the Planet: The Music, Vol. 1

"Introducing what is quite possibly the most important album ever made."

"It’s simple, really: when you download 1% for the Planet: The Music, Vol. 1, you help save the planet. All proceeds from the album allow 1% to do more for environmental non-profits all around the world."

You can get the album by visiting the 1% for the Planet: The Music, Vol. 1 site or via the Amazon link below.

As more and more people look to create or bolster their online presence, HAI Hosting is expanding web site building services too. For people who want to have their site developed without investing lots of time or money, we suggest HAI Hosting’s WebSite Tonight®.

We have also introduced an Unlimited Hosting package designed for power users who need more disk space and bandwidth. Unlimited Hosting is available on both Windows and Linux.

A new integrated product suite which allows users to quickly switch between WebSite Tonight, Quick Shopping Cart®, and Quick Blogcast has been introduced. This integration is aimed at business users who want to build a complete online presence, including ecommerce, using our simple-to-use products.

Finally, since email has grown into such an important communication tool for individuals and businesses, HAI Hosting offers an email plan with unlimited storage space and IMAP. We have also launched two new Hosted Exchange Email plans with BlackBerry® support.

To review HAI Hosting’s products and services, please visit www.haihosting.com. And remember, High Aspirations, Inc. is always here for all your web site design and related needs, whether you want to do them yourself via HAI Hosting’s suite of tools or have us handle them for you!

With the texting feature in HAI Hosting’s Web-Based Email, moms can instantly send reminder emails to kids and text them at the same time so they don’t forget homework. Sports fans can catch the latest scores and chide their friends who are at the game. All of this from your desktop – which means no clumsy thumbing in messages on your wireless phone anymore.

Here’s how it works: HAI Hosting customers can access their Web-Based Email accounts as they always have, but at the top of the Compose window you have an option to select email only, text message only or both. A simple cell phone field in the user’s address book drives the feature. In addition, HAI Hosting includes a function that allows users to keep within the 160 character limit required by cell phone carriers for text messages.

Photo Album is a photo manager that helps users store and present their images on a specialized web site, at their own domain name. By registering a personalized web address, you can give your friends and family an easy-to-remember and relevant address to view your favorite photos. Your viewers can order wallet through poster-sized prints directly from the application and have them shipped to their door.

The service supports single photo or bulk upload options, whereby you may add entire directories to your online collection. Once uploaded, you can choose from a variety of editing options, all managed from the comfort of your own domain name. Individual galleries may be password protected, kept private or shared publicly.

Visit HAI Hosting for more information on Photo Album.

One of our biggest roadblocks when trying to help our clients with the occasional tech support problem is being able to see what exactly the problem they are having is. Now, with this handy little tool we are able to give our clients the power to request help from us either by giving us complete control of their computer or allowing us to view their screen while we walk them through to a resolution.

There is no setup required, no networking knowledge needed, and we cannot connect to you without your invitation. Best of all, CrossLoop is free to download and use.

If you need our help, please call or email us first to setup an appointment. Once we have confirmed your appointment, please visit http://www.crossloop.com/ipage.htm?id=download to download the application. Installation instructions can be found on that same page.

We hope you will take advantage of this tool by giving us the power to better help you.

HAI Hosting’s Web-Based Email accounts are fraud, spam, and virus protected, POP3-configured, and advertising-free. Each account offers you@yourdomain.com personalization for a truly unique e-mail identity, generous disk space to accommodate large attachments and access to accounts from anywhere with an internet connection.

Web-Based Email 4 is a feature-rich upgrade to HAI Hosting’s already successful email program, giving customers many new features:

• instantly preview email messages while scrolling through them in the inbox
• unique Drag and Drop to quickly move email messages for easy filing
• search your email or the entire web in a single click and save searches for future reference
• create folders from any screen view without a complicated folder management interface
• customize the program’s appearance by choosing from among a wide variety of color palettes

For more information about Web-Based Email 4, visit HAI Hosting or the Help Center’s Web-Based Email FAQ Articles.

Now anyone can design and create a .MOBI-compliant web site easily and affordably. Pages designed for .MOBI are optimized for on-the-go devices, making them easy to load and navigate from the smaller, more limited screens of wireless phones and PDAs. With more and more browser enabled mobile devices being sold every day, you need to make sure those users are able to access your site easily and efficiently while away from a full size computer.

Companies large and small and across all industries can embrace the power of the .MOBI top-level domain. Using WebSite Tonight offered by HAI Hosting, users can easily create web sites that are formatted specifically to provide on-the-go mobile content and services. For example, web sites that are .MOBI compliant are designed with content and graphics suited for a two-inch screen rather than a 17-inch desktop monitor. Long download times and excessive scrolling can be a thing of the past!

Search for your .MOBI Domain Name now! Or, if you are an HAI client, just let us know and we’ll handle it all for you.