6/29/05

RIA Features Preview....

Here are a couple of things that are either in development or being considered:

  • New Search Engine. One that works like Google, catches misspellings, and delivers you ALL the pages that contain the query you're looking for, sorted by relevance. I think it will be great.
  • Giving Weblist creators an Approve/Reject option on weblist suggestions that captures all the incoming data (description, rating, review, etc.)
  • New registration process for new users that allows new users to rate items and register on the same form. Right now it's really confusing... you leave the comment, hit submit, then get taken to the registration page.
  • New RIA User Toolkit - links to Recent Comments, Top Reviewers, etc.
  • Featured Member functionality for home page.
  • Vastly expanded user pages that includes a lot of things not currently present.
  • Editing tool for item description available to ALL users. Think Wikipedia.
  • Networking functionality that will allow you to view a list of members interested in a certain topic.
  • Trust factor. More on this to follow.
  • Interlinking profiles. So if I say that I like the Rolling Stones in my profile, the words "Rolling Stones" becomes a link that will show me other members that like the Rolling Stones.
  • New Alert functionality. Alerts when a new item is added to a given topic, alerts when a certain user posts, as well as a tool for each user to manage their alerts.
  • Top Contributors page (new item submissions, item edits, weblist items)
  • RSS feeds of RIA content to other sites (recent comments page, top ten lists, etc.). So you can put RIA content on your MyYahoo page, for example.
  • User Stats (so you can see how many times people have viewed your profile).
  • Mod Flag ability that would allow moderators to put comments on hold.
  • Getting rid of the ratings pop up window, going to a full page, and providing a few simple formatting tools (internal and external linking and paragraphs for example)
I think that's the big stuff. Feedback is always welcome (either public or private).

2 comments:

  1. adam, that's a great point and something i've struggled with. ria is intimidating to my mom too, and she's a smart lady. how do i make it easier to use for non internet pros? bigger font? easier registration? welcoming messages for new users?

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  2. pb, i think that's a no brainer. The faqs haven't been updated in years, and having a link to up to date faqs would probably be helpful in the "new user toolkit" we're working on. I was messing around on MySpace.com today to see how they do things, and i noticed that right after I signed up i had a "friend" in my "network" who i didn't know. turns out he was my assigned mentor who was available to answer questions. It's a neat idea...

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