December 2nd, 2009
Feedback is cool, community is cooler!
Since launching rsstunes, Jack’s rolled out a bunch of little code fixes and upgrades behind the scenes. Which in and of itself probably isn’t that exciting, thats what developers are supposed to do- develop. What is cool is that a lot of work was the direct result of feedback- sometimes suggestions, sometimes bug alerts- that we’ve received over Twitter. (For the last round of tweakage, I’m looking at you @creamteam and @pmablog).
It’s nice having folks that aren’t staring at your project all day give feedback- especially now that these RIA tools are letting creative types build applications instead of websites and widgets. On a lot of typical websites, you might have a client contact to please, but after that you’re generally home free. The desktop is a different beast. People really use applications, and we’re going to have to adjust a little and be responsive if we expect that cool little doodad to sit down in the dock all day instead of get played with for 30 seconds online.
Not trying to be a downer though. It’s sweet to be able to make an app without a hardcore dev team. And, if you’re open to talking to your users somewhere convenient (ie: Twitter) getting good feedback isn’t just easy, but it’s also kind of fun. People like having their needs addressed, and if you respond to them we’ve found more often than not they will bend over backwards to help you get to the bottom of the issue at hand. And- bonus- they might even tweet to their friends about your app since you’re such a responsive guy/gal.
RIAs open the door to lots of awesome new possibilities. Just be mindful that they may also carry some responsibilities as well, and commit to being communicative with your users. Also, if your audience happens to be mp3 bloggers, I can pretty much guarantee you will hear something new you like to boot.