Dogfooding WIPUP
I’ve mentioned dogfooding a few times already: it is the process where the developer uses their own creations, thus duplicating the role as a consumer as well as a producer. It’s good practice – because if you don’t trust your own ideas, the chances are that it’s a bad idea in the first place. Even if you don’t use it simply because you are building it for a different personality profile, this implies that you are not truly in the customers’ shoes – how can you design something for somebody you know nothing about? More importantly, what motivates you behind your work, the quality of the work or the success it brings?
My ideals tell me that it should lie with the quality of the work. Ironic it should be that a while back I posted on the topic of WIPUP and webdesign usability – especially when WIPUP is a little online system that was literally built for my own use. A little closer inspection into that article shows that though it does give an example of bad webdesign usability, the point is that I had made an update and had something to show for it.
Yes, and that is the whole point of WIPUP.
If you didn’t get the hint by now, it means that that article should’ve never existed in the first place, but instead appeared on WIPUP. Luckily I realised this and submitted it – and here we have the total sum of my dogfooding, which isn’t much:
13 items – a shameful quantity at any rate if you look at how long I’ve had the opportunity to use WIPUP, unfinished as it is.
Anyway, it now exists and we’ve identified a few more shortcomings of the WIPUP update addition system:
- There is no rich formatting for the detailed description of the update. I propose the addition of BBCode as well as a rich text formatting toolbar.
- There is no way to extend the small textbox for writing a very long detailed description, making it inconvenient for the user.
- There is no way to attach more than one file nor to make an anchored reference to an attachment.
- There is no clear indication of which fields are required and which are optional except for a vague statement in the introductory paragraph.
- Beforementioned introductory paragraph needs some rewording or rethinking, it’s utterly useless, and only adds to confuse the user.
See folks – dogfooding works! (in theory, let’s see how long it is until I actually update it). Meanwhile, why don’t you check out that update yourself.
Related posts:
- Using WIPUP – a practical example.
- SocialDesktop Competition Update: Wipup
- My OpenDesktop Competition Submission: Wipup
- Webdesign usability – confusion or convenience?
) I’ve cut out all templating in my installation as well as recoded the pagination system to meet my needs.
7 Comments