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Oct

17

Credibility in a Less Than Credible World

Filed Under technology |

Credibility is an interesting phrase to throw out in the world of web applications or web technologies. I had been contemplating this word a lot lately, and thought I’d share with you guys an excerpt of something that I’ve been writing as of late:

…Often times, I’ve found perception to be a key to the success of web applications. Initial impressions are so important, we need to wow users, not necessarily with fantastic user interfaces, but with a solid, purposeful we application. Take for instance StumbleUpon, its key to success is its accuracy. I find it amusing that its hard to establish yourself as a credible, respected web application (due to the saturation of “web 2.0″-esque applications), yet its easy to lose your credibility rather easily.

This is an interesting theory, I think we can easily connect these dots to similar technologies. I am tempted to discuss the parallels I outlined between ColdFusion and Ruby on Rails, previously. I’ve spoken with friends about this specific analogy and one thing I’ve always agreed with was “ColdFusion would be one of the bigger web languages if had come out about 4 years ago, rather than 10 years ago.” I think thats totally true! Most of the misconceptions associated with CF are based upon wildly inaccurate statements that may or may not have been true 7 or 8 years ago. I’ve stated this before, but I have to say it again, I feel like developers using ColdFusion for the last 3 years are most likely much different developers than the developers who have been using it for the last 6 or 8 years. The technical needs have changed vastly since ColdFusion’s inception, yet some argue ColdFusion’s approach to the changes has not.

An even more prevalent example is the rise and fall or script.aculo.us. As of late, script.aculo.us has lost massive developer-share to its rival framework, JQuery. But why? Its become better at the game that script.aculo.us started. Its smaller, faster, and provides better solutions to developers who need javascript functionality.

An interesting “control” to my theory is the Twitter vs. Pownce trend. Pownce was a much, much better offering that Twitter, (in my humble opinion) yet, Twitter seems to maintain its strength as the most popular of the two. But why? Who knows…Maybe its the existence of a powerful service API (in Twitter), or the lack of public availability on Pownce’s end? Its really hard to tell.

Either way, I feel like perception is a key to success on todays internet; Maybe my apps just need to “feel” right? I long for that warm/tingly feeling when I use my apps. Perhaps its peoples need to personally identify themselves based upon things they are using, is Pownce more or less “hip” than Twitter? Honestly, I approach most of my application choices based upon utility, but if I am faced with two equally matched applications, I will probably pick the “sexier” one. Although, at the end of the day, its all ones and zeros, right?


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