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Beginning UI Design
Posted in: Blog, Development, Technology, UI on December 17, 2009 | No Comments
And now another word from the developer side of the house:
With many years of experience in the Microsoft static development world with all their fancy programs and business models I have found it quite difficult to make the initial pivot into the dynamic world of Python and Javascript. That being said, it has been quite exciting to not have everything handed to you on a silver platter. This post describes the initial design and structure of the code behind a flexible UI.
Javascript
In the Javascript world, one of the big points I keep hearing is that Javascript needs to be written from the prototypical mindset. As I have learned in past experiences, it almost always less of a headache to not fight the design of the paradigm but instead learn it’s intricacies and use it to your advantage. Hence, I have slowly learned how to incorporate duck typing to accommodate a style of coding that enables other developers to plug-in to the same objects being passed around and extend the current system.
With this belief in mind, I have come to a point where I believe the best course of action is to use a classic OOP design. The hardest part of implementing inheritance is that I constantly wonder if there is a way to be just as efficient in the dynamic/prototype paradigm. For most developers this is quite hard to put aside due to curiosity and performance improvements but my first lesson of operating in a startup, has been to focus on glaring, rather than possible problems. A difficult task but there are more interesting problems to solve at this point.
Events and State
One of my favorite parts of Javascript and Python is the ability to pass functions around as variables. Growing up in the Microsoft world, this was quite difficult to do with type restrictions on delegates. It was still possible but not nearly as easy. (It will be much easier with their upcoming dynamic keyword.) Seeing as how we need a way to link the state of a control to a particular action which occurs on the page (not necessarily attached to the state of the dom), I needed a way to call multiple functions when one action occurred. Basically, I needed Javascript to support event-driven design.
At this point all the event manager does is use an associative array to store function signatures in an array and then sequentially call those functions when the event is raised.
var onrender1 = function() { alert('Render receiver 1'); }
var onrender2 = function() { alert('Render receiver 2'); }
var manager = {
events: {},
trigger: function(event) {
for(e in this.events[event]) { this.events[event][e](); }
}
}
manager.events.rendered = [onrender1];
manager.events.rendered.push(onrender2);
manager.trigger('rendered');
// Render receiver 1
// Render receiver 2
Download [zip]
Finally, the manager could be designed as a class to enable instances and attached to objects, allowing objects to enable events using duck typing if necessary.
This is only a basic implementation but works for are requirements quite well. It might be better to implement in the prototype model at a later time…but that’s for another time.
The entire purpose of enabling events is to call functions as soon as something happens This is extremely important when there are multiple controls/components whose visual state depends on a particular action (user initiated or not). A model similar to this is the UI state manager in Silverlight which handles events as well as supports dynamic transitions.
Personally, this is an exciting and interesting beginning to the UI development cycle.
- Collin
How to Succeed In A Startup
Posted in: Blog, Startups on December 3, 2009 | No Comments
While this blog discusses the elements that have helped me succeed in a startup environment it could just as easily be titled “Suggestions for success as a recent graduate” as it’s good advice for anyone entering a new field. These points have also been written with a slant towards those in the software development world, my own area of expertise.
Find A Mentor:
Your first job is one of the greatest learning opportunities of your life and you should be prepared to make the most of it. When you find someone to learn from, everyone wins. It gives the mentor a sense of fulfillment and provides you with the chance to continue your education in a less formal environment. Try to learn from the design patterns that they use, how they leverage different technologies and the organizational patterns they follow in their code. This does not mean you should duplicate them exactly, but if they have been at the software development game for a while, there’s a good chance they know what they’re doing.
Require Transparency:
Young or old, startup or massive corporation, by accepting employment at any company you are trusting your livelihood with those who are employing you. They should respect this trust by keeping you informed of the financial status of the company as well as any uncertainty regarding your employment. Anything less shows a lack of respect for employees and poor character on the part of those employing you.
Take Ownership Of Your Product:
Your first software development position affords you the opportunity to establish a reputation as a quality coder and employee which will follow you for the rest of your career. Make the most of it! This is your code, your product, your culture, your time to shine. Particularly if you are fortunate enough to be on the ground floor of development, you have the opportunity to cement yourself as the “go to” engineer.
The benefits reach beyond your reputation as a software engineer and into the areas of job security, respect and success.
These are all simply points that I have picked up in my own short time as a software engineer. If you have any to add to the list, please, comment!
–Ben
Creating Virtuous Cycles
Posted in: Advertising, Blog, Loyalty, Monetization, Virtual Currency on November 24, 2009 | No Comments
see more Epic Fails
So often in highly competitive marketplaces competitors find themselves in a race to the bottom.
This is certainly true on the Internet for both publishers and advertising networks. For publishers the name of the game is getting as many eyeballs looking at your site at the lowest cost. For advertising networks it’s about creating a profitable margin between the publishers who are constantly getting pitched better rates and advertiser’s who are always looking to cut their payouts.
With some notable exceptions, the eyeball, the actual user of the site, gets lost in the equation. We think the publishers who create the best and most interactive user experiences should be rewarded. Aligning advertising rates with the interactivity of a publisher’s user experience is the challenge that we, here at BigDoor, are working on right now. We like to call this the Loyalty Economy.
Rather than racing to the bottom, we want to be involved in helping our publisher’s race to the top. Racing to the top is about creating win-win-win monetization strategies that reward user loyalty and participation, rewarding interaction between publishers and users and building on that relationship to create value for trusted advertisers.
Recent events have amply demonstrated that when values are improperly aligned online advertising can become a vicious cycle of manipulative and deceptive advertising begetting poor user experiences begetting cynical and manipulative users.
If values are properly aligned then trusted advertising should beget better user experience which begets engaged and happy users in a virtuous cycle – a mutuality of value for everyone involved in the process.
–Patrick Murck
The Real Value of Virtual Currency
Posted in: Blog, Loyalty, Monetization, Virtual Currency on November 21, 2009 | No Comments
There has been a lot of talk recently about virtual currency, and rightly so. Points based systems took off in Asia years ago, and as is often the case the U.S. is just now catching up. It is our thesis that rewards (points, virtual currency, coins – whatever you want to call them) lie at the heart of a shift that is going to substantially alter the online entertainment industry.
The Challenge
There is a well documented macro trend under-way in U.S. consumer behavior as it relates to how we entertain ourselves. People are shifting their time from more traditional media (Newspapers, magazines, CDs, television and theaters) to the online world. Whether part of the cause, or in reaction to this move – the online world has built an amazing entertainment infrastructure within just the last few years. We’ve invested countless millions into in systems and content in order to make sure that users can be connected, entertained and can even personally express themselves in this exciting new world. We’ve improved the experience and are making the online world a truly great place for massive consumer entertainment. The problem is we are still using offline models for monetization. Until recently, in-content ads (that nobody wants to click on if they are in “entertainment mode”) and subscription models were the only two significant monetization methods employed by online entertainment related properties. But a new model is coming, and if we are going to make the online world a sustainable and healthy ecosystem for consumer entertainment, we have to embrace and evolve our methods of monetization to match these new experiences.
Read more…
U.S. Virtual Goods Revenue Poised For Growth
Posted in: Blog, Virtual Currency on November 5, 2009 | No Comments
Today’s chart of the day from The Business Insider. Virtual goods and the revenues derived from them are exploding.
The Great Debate Over The Exchange Economy
Posted in: Blog, Offers, Social Media, Virtual Currency on November 3, 2009 | 3 Comments
The BigDoor team has been watching with great interest the massive debate that Michael Arrington kicked off last week when he publicly blasted some of the practices of the large offer platforms. He then followed that ambush up with a scathing report in TechCrunch.
All we can say is, well done Michael!
Well, maybe that’s not all we can say. A few more thoughts on the subject.
Our founders have more battle scars than we ever cared to earn from public debates of this nature, and as a result we’d like to think that we’ve learned a few lessons along the way. Here’s a few pointers we’d like to offer for no charge at all (virtual or otherwise) to the players in this debate:
A Dream and a Chasm
Posted in: Blog, Public beta, Startups on October 28, 2009 | 2 Comments
Ever notice that when you are insanely passionate about something it tends to occupy every space in your brain, including your dreams? I’m certainly in that position right now as we are working like crazy to improve upon the BigDoor beta and continue to scale and add more partners. So it’s no surprise that our product is playing a starring role in my dreams as well, and last night’s was particularly entertaining.
In my dream I was standing on the edge of a windblown cliff, staring across a massive chasm that seemed to have no bottom. The wind was blowing so hard it was difficult to hear a thing and there was a distinct chill in the air, apparently because there was no sun above – just angry clouds. Across the chasm was another cliff edge that was equally as hard and sharp, but then beyond that were meadows with green grass, gentle rolling hills, plenty of sunshine and I believe even a bunny rabbit or two. Any casual observer of my dream would have instantly understood the meaning of the chasm, and apparently the goal of getting a customer or two to get across this thing is deeply rooted in my subconscious.
Cloud Magic and a Talking Monkey
Posted in: Blog, Technology on October 26, 2009 | No Comments
Security guards disallowed us from entering our data center because of an invoice dispute, which resulted in a geek-strewn, network-cable-tied, flying-hard-drive embroiled bloodbath. I only survived because I happened to have my trusty flask of high-potency 151 rum with me, which I used to cauterize my wounds and calm my nerves.
Read more…
Zynga’s Stellar Growth & Vision for the Future
Posted in: Blog, Gaming, Social Media, Virtual Currency on October 22, 2009 | No Comments
Today Eric Eldon from VentureBeat posted a presentation given by Zynga’s CEO Mark Pincus at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Fran.
We’ve all known that Zynga is on a rocket ship, but it is cool to see their growth mapped on a chart. Fueled by well integrated virtual currency and offer platforms, their growth is nothing short of phenomenal.
What virtual currency, quality games and Facebook have done for Zynga.
View the full Zynga presentation here.
BigDoor early lessons
Posted in: Blog, Public beta on October 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
Since the launch of our public beta last Wednesday, we’ve been working with a wide variety of publishers and content types. We enjoy challenging ourselves to quickly adapt our platform after hearing stories about how publishers are having trouble monetizing their content or applications. Our launch declaration stirred up some goodness – quickly we’re getting plenty of proof that there is tons of compelling content out there that isn’t being served adequately by the typical programs.
That said, I’d like to reiterate the primary driver that will equate to success when you partner with BigDoor: compelling content or services. Publishers who look to get eyeballs by simply aggregating redundant content from around the web and trying to beat the search engine algorithms won’t find our solutions too helpful, mostly because they don’t address their visitors’ needs. That kind of publisher lives by the impression- and click- based reward systems – their visitors are fleeting and will soon look somewhere else.
We are really looking for publishers who believe in what they have to share, but just can’t find the right way to solve their online marketing challenges. If you are one of these publishers, you are decent at getting users thanks to the niche you fill, but standard ads just don’t cut it because your users are in focused consumption mode. They don’t notice your display ads or they don’t click on your CPC links because they actually like your content and want to stay! It’s these users who are going to be more open to rewarding you for your hard work by taking a moment to reciprocate. And by figuring out how best to adjust that relationship so that the give and take is obvious and fair, you will be able to make more money by interrupting them less.
A good example of this is our beta publisher postcard.fm. With a unique service that allows users to create and send audio postcards, postcard.fm uses BigDoor to keep their service free. They see much better results than trying to force a micropayment transaction or simple pageview monetization. “Impressive conversion rates so far! Way better than AdSense it seems,” raves postcard.fm owner David Hoffman.
Sound like something you’d like to try? Sign up today and tell us about your site – we’d love to take a shot at finding a solution that works for you.