Hello Railers, At the beginning of this year, I announced Family Connection, an open source, free, and easy-to-use family website built using our darling web app framework, Ruby on Rails. Now it?s available as a hosted, very easy-to-set-up web app called Family Anywhere! It has the same Family News and Address Book features as the original, plus a new Photo Album that lets you browse all of the photos you?ve shared with your family. The hosted version is $9 per month, or less if you buy a year at a time. I?m proud to bring this program out in to the light of day, as it reflects some of my own desire to promote a better, more family- oriented world. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does! Best Regards, Duane Johnson (canadaduane) http://blog.inquirylabs.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060524/9ff7657e/attachment.html
G''day Duane, My first reaction is that I think you should have a demo site linked to your page, so people can see what it is they''re signing up for. You''ve got a demo site linked to your Family Connection site, but (unless I missed it) there''s no demo linked to your Family Anywhere site. The Family Connection site doesn''t offer the Photo Album, so even if people go there they won''t see all you''ve got to offer for $9/month. IMO, the Photo Album is potentially the big seller, so I think showing a demo would be a big positive. Nice idea, looks nicely implemented. Regards Dave M. On 25/05/06, Duane Johnson <duane.johnson@gmail.com> wrote:> > > > Hello Railers, > > At the beginning of this year, I announced Family Connection, an open > source, free, and easy-to-use family website built using our darling web app > framework, Ruby on Rails. > > Now it''s available as a hosted, very easy-to-set-up web app called Family > Anywhere! It has the same Family News and Address Book features as the > original, plus a new Photo Album that lets you browse all of the photos > you''ve shared with your family. The hosted version is $9 per month, or less > if you buy a year at a time. > > I''m proud to bring this program out in to the light of day, as it reflects > some of my own desire to promote a better, more family-oriented world. I > hope you enjoy it as much as our family does! > > Best Regards, > Duane Johnson > (canadaduane) > http://blog.inquirylabs.com/ > > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > >
Awesome, thanks for the suggestion, Dave. We''ll definitely be adding some screenshots and/or a demo site. Duane On May 24, 2006, at 3:43 PM, David Mitchell wrote:> G''day Duane, > > My first reaction is that I think you should have a demo site linked > to your page, so people can see what it is they''re signing up for. > > You''ve got a demo site linked to your Family Connection site, but > (unless I missed it) there''s no demo linked to your Family Anywhere > site. The Family Connection site doesn''t offer the Photo Album, so > even if people go there they won''t see all you''ve got to offer for > $9/month. > > IMO, the Photo Album is potentially the big seller, so I think showing > a demo would be a big positive. > > Nice idea, looks nicely implemented. > > Regards > > Dave M. > > On 25/05/06, Duane Johnson <duane.johnson@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> >> Hello Railers, >> >> At the beginning of this year, I announced Family Connection, an open >> source, free, and easy-to-use family website built using our >> darling web app >> framework, Ruby on Rails. >> >> Now it''s available as a hosted, very easy-to-set-up web app called >> Family >> Anywhere! It has the same Family News and Address Book features as >> the >> original, plus a new Photo Album that lets you browse all of the >> photos >> you''ve shared with your family. The hosted version is $9 per >> month, or less >> if you buy a year at a time. >> >> I''m proud to bring this program out in to the light of day, as it >> reflects >> some of my own desire to promote a better, more family-oriented >> world. I >> hope you enjoy it as much as our family does! >> >> Best Regards, >> Duane Johnson >> (canadaduane) >> http://blog.inquirylabs.com/ >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Rails mailing list >> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org >> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails >> >> >> > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
G''day Duane, Rather than screenshots, which can be a bit impersonal, I think a demo site is more engaging for the type of people you want signing up. Let them wander through the site from the perspective of a member of a fictional family, with events from e.g. school concerts, family picnics, etc., rather than look at a bunch of screenshots which don''t necessarily give the "feel" of how it all hangs together and the value it could bring to the users. My impression is that, with social networking sites, you need to either (a) give people a feeling of how it could add value to them personally such that they want to "invite your site in" and make it part of their lives, or (b) dive in with the massive-user-numbers-and-lowest-common-denominator approach that makes MySpace, digg et al popular. The second approach works great if/when it reaches critical mass, but then you face your entire user base dumping you for the next biggest thing unless you''ve subsequently got something of high personal value to offer; the first approach is likely to grow more slowly and steadily, and inspire much more loyalty in the user base. Screenshots are great for MySpace and digg, but not for what you''re offering. All IMHO naturally, and quite possibly total rubbish, so feel free to ignore everything I''ve just written... Regards Dave M. On 25/05/06, Duane Johnson <duane.johnson@gmail.com> wrote:> Awesome, thanks for the suggestion, Dave. We''ll definitely be adding > some screenshots and/or a demo site. > > Duane > > On May 24, 2006, at 3:43 PM, David Mitchell wrote: > > > G''day Duane, > > > > My first reaction is that I think you should have a demo site linked > > to your page, so people can see what it is they''re signing up for. > > > > You''ve got a demo site linked to your Family Connection site, but > > (unless I missed it) there''s no demo linked to your Family Anywhere > > site. The Family Connection site doesn''t offer the Photo Album, so > > even if people go there they won''t see all you''ve got to offer for > > $9/month. > > > > IMO, the Photo Album is potentially the big seller, so I think showing > > a demo would be a big positive. > > > > Nice idea, looks nicely implemented. > > > > Regards > > > > Dave M. > > > > On 25/05/06, Duane Johnson <duane.johnson@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >> Hello Railers, > >> > >> At the beginning of this year, I announced Family Connection, an open > >> source, free, and easy-to-use family website built using our > >> darling web app > >> framework, Ruby on Rails. > >> > >> Now it''s available as a hosted, very easy-to-set-up web app called > >> Family > >> Anywhere! It has the same Family News and Address Book features as > >> the > >> original, plus a new Photo Album that lets you browse all of the > >> photos > >> you''ve shared with your family. The hosted version is $9 per > >> month, or less > >> if you buy a year at a time. > >> > >> I''m proud to bring this program out in to the light of day, as it > >> reflects > >> some of my own desire to promote a better, more family-oriented > >> world. I > >> hope you enjoy it as much as our family does! > >> > >> Best Regards, > >> Duane Johnson > >> (canadaduane) > >> http://blog.inquirylabs.com/ > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Rails mailing list > >> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > >> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > >> > >> > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Rails mailing list > > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails >
On May 24, 2006, at 10:17 PM, David Mitchell wrote:> G''day Duane, > > Rather than screenshots, which can be a bit impersonal, I think a demo > site is more engaging for the type of people you want signing up. Let > them wander through the site from the perspective of a member of a > fictional family, with events from e.g. school concerts, family > picnics, etc., rather than look at a bunch of screenshots which don''t > necessarily give the "feel" of how it all hangs together and the value > it could bring to the users. > > My impression is that, with social networking sites, you need to > either (a) give people a feeling of how it could add value to them > personally such that they want to "invite your site in" and make it > part of their lives, or (b) dive in with the > massive-user-numbers-and-lowest-common-denominator approach that makes > MySpace, digg et al popular. The second approach works great if/when > it reaches critical mass, but then you face your entire user base > dumping you for the next biggest thing unless you''ve subsequently got > something of high personal value to offer; the first approach is > likely to grow more slowly and steadily, and inspire much more loyalty > in the user base. > > Screenshots are great for MySpace and digg, but not for what you''re > offering. > > All IMHO naturally, and quite possibly total rubbish, so feel free to > ignore everything I''ve just written... > > Regards > > Dave M.I''ve implemented both of the above now, so if you care to take a peak, let me know what you think. Thanks for your very valuable feedback. Duane Johnson (canadaduane) http://blog.inquirylabs.com/
Daniel Higginbotham
2006-May-25 04:49 UTC
[Rails] [ANN] [ADV] Announcing FamilyAnywhere.com
Hi Duane, The one suggestion I have is to include how much time it takes to sign up and how many steps there are. So far it looks really neat! Daniel -----Original Message----- From: rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org [mailto:rails-bounces@lists.rubyonrails.org] On Behalf Of Duane Johnson Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 6:38 PM To: rails@lists.rubyonrails.org Subject: Re: [Rails] [ANN] [ADV] Announcing FamilyAnywhere.com On May 24, 2006, at 10:17 PM, David Mitchell wrote:> G''day Duane, > > Rather than screenshots, which can be a bit impersonal, I think a demo > site is more engaging for the type of people you want signing up. Let > them wander through the site from the perspective of a member of a > fictional family, with events from e.g. school concerts, family > picnics, etc., rather than look at a bunch of screenshots which don''t > necessarily give the "feel" of how it all hangs together and the value > it could bring to the users. > > My impression is that, with social networking sites, you need to > either (a) give people a feeling of how it could add value to them > personally such that they want to "invite your site in" and make it > part of their lives, or (b) dive in with the > massive-user-numbers-and-lowest-common-denominator approach that makes > MySpace, digg et al popular. The second approach works great if/when > it reaches critical mass, but then you face your entire user base > dumping you for the next biggest thing unless you''ve subsequently got > something of high personal value to offer; the first approach is > likely to grow more slowly and steadily, and inspire much more loyalty > in the user base. > > Screenshots are great for MySpace and digg, but not for what you''re > offering. > > All IMHO naturally, and quite possibly total rubbish, so feel free to > ignore everything I''ve just written... > > Regards > > Dave M.I''ve implemented both of the above now, so if you care to take a peak, let me know what you think. Thanks for your very valuable feedback. Duane Johnson (canadaduane) http://blog.inquirylabs.com/ _______________________________________________ Rails mailing list Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
On May 24, 2006, at 1:10 PM, Duane Johnson wrote:> Hello Railers, > > At the beginning of this year, I announced Family Connection, an > open source, free, and easy-to-use family website built using our > darling web app framework, Ruby on Rails. > > Now it?s available as a hosted, very easy-to-set-up web app called > Family Anywhere! It has the same Family News and Address Book > features as the original, plus a new Photo Album that lets you > browse all of the photos you?ve shared with your family. The hosted > version is $9 per month, or less if you buy a year at a time. > > I?m proud to bring this program out in to the light of day, as it > reflects some of my own desire to promote a better, more family- > oriented world. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does! > > Best Regards, > > Duane Johnson > (canadaduane) > http://blog.inquirylabs.com/ >Duane- Very cool site. Congrats on the launch. -Ezra -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060525/ffc5d46f/attachment-0001.html
Cool website! I like the effect when clicking pictures.
Looks great. Maybe move the demo link to the front page and put in a big button (like the "start" one). Cause I couldn''t find it very easily, but other than that - it looks great. - Adam -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060525/2c9902f9/attachment.html
Cool site, Lee family here I come! I must know how you did those screenshots! That''s some nice AJAX (right?) Good luck, Jin Lee On 5/25/06, Adam Rails <adam.rails@gmail.com> wrote:> > Looks great. > > Maybe move the demo link to the front page and put in a big button (like > the "start" one). Cause I couldn''t find it very easily, but other than that > - it looks great. > > - Adam > > _______________________________________________ > Rails mailing list > Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org > http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails > > >-------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://wrath.rubyonrails.org/pipermail/rails/attachments/20060525/5e5823a8/attachment.html