TheWayoftheWeb

There’s a difference between successful new technologies and websites, and ones which fail.

All the successes are able to answer a problem, or solve an existing one, in a simpler, easier, faster way than before. If what you’re planning needs explaining in more than a sentence, or needs instruction for a consumer/visitor to use, then it’s probably not quite right. After all, if someone came to your house for a meal, would you expect to have to explain how to use the doors, use the stairs, go to the toilet, flush the toilet, and walk down the stairs again?

If you need a comprehensive take on this…or a handy reminder, see ‘Don’t Make Me Think’ on the book list, right…it’s full of things you might forget in the excitement of site building.

This was brought home to me for the umpteenth time today when I went to the doctors. I’m sure many people have already seen this with their doctor, but when I went in, I was amazed to find that I no longer had to queue for ages to speak to a receptionist to tell them that I had made the trip from my bed to doctor’s surgery without accidentally ending up in the pub.

Instead, I just had to type my sex and birthday on a touchscreen, and in return I got a personalised welcome, plus a rough idea of the current delay between my appointment and the time I’d be seen.

It saves a line, it saves receptionist time (which means they can be doing more complex tasks), and it gives me a rough idea of whether I can nip to the loo or not before my appointment….