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Beef 🥩 or Bust 💥 Learning from other platforms

This week JP and John dig into platforms we love and hate and what we can learn from them.

A weekly podcast about programming, development, and design.

I'm John, I run a design and development firm that builds apps and websites.

I'm joined by JP:

Hi, I'm a software engineer at a real estate tech start up

Catch up / What's today's episode about?

This week Best and Worst Apps

Web app: Iterable - every "save" reloads the page

Mobile app: Notion - every change to a kanban board reloads the page; every time you swipe back, the page reloads

Takeaway: Optimistic rendering

Mobile app: apartments.com; I would need to register to save my settings. Maybe this is intended?

Takeaway: Don't be user-hostile, don't use negative incentives.
Takeaway: Use local storage (Cookies) or local device when a user is not authenticated, redirect on account creation and save that data.

Putting things I care about at the tippy top of the app. Put it under my thumb!
Takeaway: Test your apps in different contexts, huuuuge and tiny.
I've made this mistake - shipped apps that don't render properly on an iPhone 5s

If you log out of the facebook app it doesn't actually log you out.

It goes to this screen with your profile photo and a password field, it's still collecting data on accounts associated with that phone.

Takeaway: Don't prioritize business needs over product simplicity and privacy.

JP: Slack turns apostrophes into curly apostrophes
- https://practicaltypography.com/straight-and-curly-quotes.html
- “ - curly
- " - straight
John: Drafts jump up to the top of the screen and go missing from your threads
John: Global notification "Mute" switch outside of your system settings.
John: The account management strategy is bonkers — Why can't I have one login that gets me to all my workspaces?

"Would you like to be rich and beautiful?"

Yes! I'm awesome.
No thanks, I'll stay poor and ugly"
Takeaway: "Push back on stakeholders, suggest more thoughtful design solutions, if well executed "interstitial" email collection can be just as effective and way less user hostile.
Keep in mind: Google knocks down SEO significantly on email pop ups websites

Desktop app: Slack has a cmd + k to search, cmd + r to refresh, etc

Desktop app: Youtube scroll on a full screen video

Chrome: youtube + tab to search | ebay + tab to search

Takeaway: Provide more than one way to access common functionality, this can be a keyboard shortcut, a gesture. Reward power users.

Spotify new album announcements
Netflix new shows
Youtube Premium ads
WORST: Apple "Have you tried the new maps?"
Fuuuuuuuuuuck that.
Takeaway: Feature new features or content passively in context. Highlight new content etc. Don't interrupt users. We are better than that.

Stripe does this so so well. One login can get to multiple accounts, secure, simple.
Bank of America — basically just need to delete the app every time to switch between my company and personal accounts.
Pastel — You can't belong to more than one "Team"
Slack — Multiple "Workspaces" new phone sign into 4 different workspaces.
- Takeaway:
  - Be really thoughtful about user account management, understand that more than one person need to use your app and access your data. Think about from day one tying data to an "Account", "company" or "Household" that includes the single user.
  - Example: App for dog trainers, every trainer belongs to a "School" even if it's just themselves, every dog and client belongs to a "Household" that way you can easily add and remove user's access to a "School" or "Hosuehold"
  - If you tie all the data to the individual user, it's really tough to share access.

Drive me bananans
- If you tap a phone number there is no way to "Copy" it. the only option is to "Call"
- If you tap an address "Open in Maps" 🙄 🤮
- If you tap an email "Apple Mail" 🙄 🤮
- Lock-in BS

Picks: