Bill Cava » simplicity http://bill.cava.us Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:58:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 simplicity kills twitter? http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2008/12/19/simplicity-kills-twitter/ http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2008/12/19/simplicity-kills-twitter/#comments Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:33:31 +0000 bill http://bill.cava.us/?p=72 As someone who fancies minimalism I dig Twitter’s concise feature set, tho I knew it was only a matter of time before an uber-twitter showed itself. @cmswire heralded it’s arrival in a post about a feature rich microblogging site called Yonkley. It let’s you:

  • * create a microblogging site around any subject area (a twitter vertical).
  • * customize, brand, theme
  • * add adverts
  • * increase the character limit to above twitter’s 140 characters

Is the answer for twitter to bulk up on features? In some areas, YES! Hey Twitter, get people search working! Beyond that, no. Twitter just needs to start better promoting the many sites out there built on their APIs. My favorite, qwitter.

discovered via @cmswire Yonkly: The Next Twitter Killer?

]]> http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2008/12/19/simplicity-kills-twitter/feed/ 0 Importance of Subtlety http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/03/01/importance-of-subtlety/ http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/03/01/importance-of-subtlety/#comments Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:32:17 +0000 bill http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/03/01/importance-of-subtlety/ It’s a small detail, but a significant one. A couple months ago, Microsoft agreed to standardize on a Mozilla’s RSS icon. It is significant because the letters “RSS” are meaningless to most people, and it’s a move in the direction of making the technology more accessible. 

 

]]> http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/03/01/importance-of-subtlety/feed/ 0 Language of Technology http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/02/17/the-language-of-technology/ http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/02/17/the-language-of-technology/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2006 19:16:51 +0000 bill http://bill.cava.us/?p=8 While watching various content management vendors demonstrate their wares at an industry event recently, it became clear to me that the state of things is extremely complex. In a race to stockpile features, so much attention had been placed on what should be added, that no one seemed to notice something significant was missed along the way. 

What was missed? Let’s take a step back from content management, and look at the way we talk about technology. 

Notice the terminology we use on a daily basis; we call sites used for searching the web “engines.” We use “tools” to accomplish things that would otherwise require deeper technical knowledge. We label images with the letters “RSS” to denote that syndication is available. The focus is on the implementation and not the application– its function, and not its practical purpose.

This came to be because, for the most part, it requires technical sophistication to create meaningful experiences on the web, and we’re using the language of its creators– engineers and geeks. Yet in the larger picture, that language is unfitting and unfamiliar to most of the people using it. 

But I’m convinced that over the next couple years we’ll see this language change because as “content management” evolves from a “tool” into something more meaningful and relevant to a larger audience, the web experiences we’ll have will be influenced by a new crowd, those without computer science and engineering degrees. And just as natural language evolves over time due to sociological and cultural influences, the language of the web will change as a new wave of contributors enter.

How this happens—well, that’ll be the fodder for many posts. Suffice to say I’m a big believer that there’s huge room for opportunity and improvement in the way we’re currently organizing the words, pictures, and relationships that comprise our personal and business experiences on the web.

]]> http://bill.cava.us/index.php/2006/02/17/the-language-of-technology/feed/ 0