I just finished an awesome article about how the iPad app was developed for LinkedIn.  This was particular intriguing to me because we’re continually asked about a smartphone app for JibberJobber (go to m.JibberJobber.com to get to the mobile interface).

What I’ve said is that we’re collecting feedback, and as we get that we’ll get closer to deciding whether we need to do native smartphone apps.  Personally, I don’t want to do it.

Even if we were a huge company, creating and maintaining (and maintaining some more) native apps for the iPhone, Android, etc., and all of their whimsical changes (these are operating systems, so any core changes they make can be cause for a complete redesign/recoding of a native app).

In the article, it says that most of the iPad app is actually web-driven.  In other words, as far as I understand, it’s not an offline app… it has a few things that are native to the device, but pulls most of the data from the web.

Technology is a beautiful thing, and as a former developer, if this is the direction we’re headed (away from native apps and towards web-apps that look/feel/function like they are native), we’re headed in an awesome direction.

One can only hope!

Note: I have an iPad… but haven’t even cared to get the iPad app for LinkedIn.  I don’t do LinkedIn anywhere but from my PC.  How old-fashioned is that!

I’m really interested in user interface design.  I have no training in it, however, as the owner of JibberJobber I try to get people to become more engaged in the tool.  UI has everything to do with it.

Here’s a fun article on TechCrunch titled User Experience And The Poison On The Tip Of The Arrow.

Here’s a quote from the CEO of Wesabe, on a difference between Wesabe and Mint:

“I was focused on trying to make the usability of editing data as easy and functional as it could be; Mint was focused on making it so you never had to do that at all.”

The entire post (it’s short) is worth reading, but since I’ve read this line I can’t get it out of my mind.

How do YOU make your product/service (or yourself, if you are in job search mode) so simple and easy?  Wesabe was going towards simple and easy at the same time that Mint was redefining it.  And they redefined it to the tune of an acquisition of about $170M.

Social media is… funny.

I wrote two books on social media. I train people how to use (mostly) LinkedIn. I talk about how job seekers can use these tools, and I talk a lot about personal branding, whether it is online or offline.

I’ve been on these tools for years. I’ve had heavy-use periods, and light-use periods (right now I’m going through a light-use phase).

I’ve seen people become consumed with social media, whether they think it is going to be the silver bullet to end their job search, or get them gobs of new customers, or just find a friend or share stuff… social media has become too-consuming.

Here’s a clip I found on TechCrunch where a comedian who has made over $.5M in one test/campaign using social media shares his thoughts on how we use it.

Some of my favorite parts:

Um, I don’t have any favorite parts.  The entire thing is a favorite.

So where does social media fit in? It’s a TOOL.

How can you use it as a tool, instead of YOU being the tool (see #4 here)??

Check out the ads I saw in my gmail just a minute ago… I wonder why I get non-english ads?  LOL

Today on my JibberJobber blog I wrote about three critical elements of good design: sexy, functional, easy.

I’m sure many books have been written on each of these three things.

I want to share a quick thought about FUNCTIONAL.

Functional doesn’t mean LOTS OF FUNCTION.

It simply means that the software (or widget) has to do the job.  It has to work.

Some functional software will be overly complex.  Common example: Microsoft Excel.  I’ve heard many people say they use less than 10% of the features of Excel.  Most people have no clue what a Pivot Table is in Excel, or how to create or use one.  It is part of the 90% that people don’t use.

Other software/applications are super-easy (from the user’s perspective).  Think Flickr: simply posting pictures.  Or Slideshare: embed powerpoint presentations online (on their website and/or from my website).  PRWeb: post press releases and have them distributed.  The decision to use a less-functional application is quick, since there aren’t a lot of factors to think about.  Do I want to blast my press release out? Yes or No.

JibberJobber has a lot of complex functionality because managing relationships, and the job search, and networking, and follow-up, is a very complex process.  We try to make things simple for the user, and hide the complexity on the back end.  Sometimes we do a great job at that, other times we are lacking.

The more functionality a system has, the harder it is to get customers, educate them on the why and what of the system, and turn them into users.

We want the “easy button” in software, which works sometimes, but not all the time.

Finally, separate function from functionality.

Function = it has to work well.

Functionality = how many things it is doing (the complexity of the system)

I am regularly asked about developing web apps, like JibberJobber, or mobile apps (which I don’t have experience in, but am interested in). I found a really good post on Mashable titled 8 Things You Should Know Before building a Mobile App.

Lots of interesting tidbits in there…. the one that all my buddies need to pay attention to, first, is this:

Making an app will cost you, at the very minimum, around $10,000. This is for a super-simple program — none of that fancy enterprise or social networking jibber-jabber. Even still, any app worth its weight in code will likely cost you closer to $20,000.

Yes, you can do it for less, if you are a developer.  If you aren’t, get out your wallet.

And remember, there’s maintenance… p0tentially lots of maintenance.

One of my favorite techie colleagues is Camille Carboneau Roberts, who specializes in in resumes (and especially federal resumes).  Camille always has great insight into techno-geek stuff.  She wrote in about her favorite screen sharing software/systems, and gave me permission to repost here.

I’ve been using GoToMeeting, GoToPC, and GoToWebinar since they first came out. I’d have to say for at least 12-13 years. So long ago, that the price I pay per year is not even half of what they charge now because I set it up to renew annually. I do get my money’s worth because I use it for training-software, social media, and on occasion 1:1 with clients on their projects.

However, now, I use join.me for the quick individual sessions. Clients don’t  always want to download the software even though it only takes about 2 minutes and join.me is just really simple to use. I also use it to “remote” in and do computer/file/software fixes.

There are hundreds of others that work well including:

WebEx.com

Glance.net

Skype

TeamViewer.com

Mikogo.com

Freescreensharing.com

CrossLoop.com

and a small drum roll:  Google+

There has been Remote Assistance built into the last few versions of Windows, but not a lot of people know about it… and it is a bit buggy if you aren’t tech savvy.

If you are looking for simple, you can’t beat join.me.

Thanks for the list Camille!

We have format issues with our stuff – usually audio and video.

I asked a friend from my neighborhood what he uses to convert video and he said to use Convert Files. I’m guessing we’ll be using this a lot, between our Lumix camera and the Olympus voice recorder.

Cleo Parker shot me a note about After the Deadline… looks like an awesome tool for writing better.  You can use it for free, and if you have a web service you can incorporate it there, for free.  I think we’ll need to add this into JibberJobber

Here’s what Cleo wrote:

While I was writing the summary, I used a cool tool I learned about in my local  WordPress Meetup, After the Deadline.  You may be familiar with it as it’s a grammar checker plugin available for WordPress and I see you’ve got a WP blog. But outside of a blog, you can use their online demo to check grammar and spelling in anything you cut and paste into the space.   It’s called After the Deadline, great resource for anyone who wants their writing to look as good as possible. http://www.afterthedeadline.com/

Thanks for the tip, Cleo!

I’m toying around with changing some visual elements of one web page (not a website), and I found some AMAZING tools:

Color Scheme Designer: This helps you see what colors go good with one another… very cool tool.

Flaming Text – Free Logo Designs: Put in the word, change some settings, and it gives you text with different visual characteristics.  Super cool.

Choosing Color Combinations: blog post that is excellent, from Veerle’s blog.