Collaborative Catalog Collection Management Site

Great balanced viewpoint SCB. Got me going so I clicked on your site too and had a stroll around once again.

I noticed you were on Google+ also when I scanned around on there once or twice.

huckles888 - I guess there may not be such a list. I may have to go through each country on the list of stamp-issuing entities, look up the currencies used and associate them with that country. There are 886 in the countries list that I have so that is a time consuming task.

But ... in thinking about it, it may be a mini example of the kind of thing I want to do in general. If the list were split, many hands make light work. For collectors who specialize in a particular area, there would be no research necessary at all, just a few keystrokes. Perhaps putting up a dead simple site to accomplish this rather small task would serve as a good trial balloon for the larger effort. I hadn't thought of that until I was halfway through this post. Thanks. I may do that.

scb - Thank you so much for your response.

Let me first reply to the comments with which I agree unreservedly.

"Would you buy a book that looks great on the shelf? Or a book that has great content?"

There is absolutely no question that "Content is King".
Even the greatest actor cannot save a bad play.
Without content every effort will end in failure.

"If it wasn't for [the catalog publishers] business, there would be a whole lot less for us stamp collectors."

I own a set of Scott, and Stanley Gibbons catalogs (not new by any means). They are essential.

You have raised so many great questions. I will start at the top.

In software development there has always been the question of whether to support backwards compatability.
It is not a choice for sites like ebay and Amazon who built their platforms years ago and have millions of users.
A new site has that option. Since I am starting from scratch I have chosen to build it using bleeding-edge technologies.
Your point about many users using older browsers and perhaps being somewhat 'technologically challenged' is true.
But all that needs to be done is to download a new browser and I don't think this is really a show-stopper.
It can be done by a friend or family member if need be.

"So by limiting yourself to 'advanced HTML5'-features, you're making a miserable user experience to 50-60% of potential users"

I will never let this happen. That would be disaster. Any visitor using an incompatible browser would arrive at a page where they would kindly instructed that the site cannot be viewed on their browser and that they might click on one of the provided download links.

Just to clarify for others, your mention of advanced HTML5 features may be misunderstood as adding complexity and thereby requiring greater computer savvy. The opposite is true. The aim of these features is to allow developers to create a much simpler and intuitive user experience. It is really fun to use a beautiful tool.

To address your second point. The site is intended to be free. I feel that one of the greatest true achievements of the information age has been Wikipedia. It demonstrates the power of people working together and inspires me.

"it would be very foolish to except the community to produce this content for you"

I would heartily agree were the content for me, but it is not. It is for each one of us.
That is what I love about your blog. The excellent content is for us.

For us folks who use older browsers and older computers but who are young of heart (lol) the idea is Why change it if it ain't broken?

It has seemed to me that a lot of updates and upgrades are to take into consideration that people have newer computers and OSs and browsers. But if you don't have all new, there is really no reason to start using new software that has new learning curves to just learn how to use it when security is OK and it does what you want for the money you want to spend.

If I had the money I would buy all new and have lots of new toys of course. It's fun. But I'm making do with what I have and I do not find it forward thinking to ignore all of us who are providing part of the support needed to have all the internet happening to start with.

You might think that things Have to change and people Have to move on but really, no, they don't. And people like things to stay the same. It's hard to change for a lot of people. It might not be the best choice but it's the easiest at times and people like easy a lot. see ebay.

Maybe you're creating something that will provide us all with the motivation to upgrade and really want to change but then again, maybe you're just updating the wheel.

I've always wished that people could program while thinking like people rather than having to program while thinking like a computer so the darn thing will work in the end. We are slowly slowly getting there, not fast enough for me but at least it's progress of a sort.

Perhaps program while thinking you will look for and get feedback regarding who is using and who is not using your site. Review and reconsider if need be. Update. Upgrade. Maybe in a backwards way.

Puzzler - I certainly understand your viewpoint.

Just to let you know I am a native New Yorker who is old enough to have bought stamps from Stampazine when they were still on Nassau Street.
I was only probably 12 or 13 but I still remember the long glass counters lined with men on stools smoking cigars.

There is certainly no reason to change if it is not broken.
I just feel that software is so quickly becoming less and less clunky and computery and so much more fun to use that I want to use it, if that makes sense.

This is my opinion of course, but there is almost no learning curve when one downloads the new Firefox or Chrome or IE browsers.
They are more secure and easier to use. They will run on older machines and they are free.
There is no question of having to spend any money or having to make do based on cost.

It certainly would not be forward thinking to ignore anyone. It would be mean in fact.
But since it so easy to download a newer browser, I don't feel that way.

One thing I can't argue with is your statement

"And people like things to stay the same. It's hard to change for a lot of people."

That is a tough one. But if no one tried to create anything new for the reason that people like things to stay the same...well you can see what I am saying.

My aim is to eliminate the learning curve entirely by making software that thinks the way people think.
Whether I can do that remains to be seen.

I really value this feedback tremendously. Thanks

Not sure if you've seen/read this before, but this might give you inspiration: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/20...details.html

Especially the bolded part, "Getting the details right is the difference between something that delights, and something customers tolerate." is worth repeating time and again.


What worries me a bit is that you write:




but on earlier post You stated:




So you have already wireframed how Your application will work, and the way You expect people to use it.

scb - I too am follower of Jeff Atwood's blog. I haven't visited it in a while, so thanks.

It seems we agree on this very basic principle.
Other ways to express the same thing:

"God is in the details" (possibly coined by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) and
"99-1/2 just won't do" (an old gospel song later turned into an R&B song by Wilson Pickett)

This has been my aim in all of my endeavors, software, music, painting, for a long time.
In 2007, I posted an article about it on my now very neglected blog.
The permalink is robertzurer.com/god-is-in-the-details-building-a-mystery

"So you have already wireframed how Your application will work, and the way You expect people to use it. "

I can see how you would get that impression from what I wrote but nothing could be further from the truth.

Professionally I have mainly worked in the Agile community and really do 'Embrace Change' :-)
My outline or wire frame was just an attempt at putting out my ideas so that they might be augmented, changed and improved by feedback.
It was also in the hope of attracting collaborators.

I think that the MyCollection -> Sandbox -> OurCollection -> MyCollection loop is a pretty cool idea, but it is just a start and will change and continue to change.
If it doesn't change it's not alive.


Again thank you for your insightful response.