This analysis is the data submitted by PPS members who took the time and answer the questions below. Thank you to all who completed it and even voiced their own opinions.
1. What is PPS main priority or goal for you?
2. What do you do on PPS?
3. What is the purpose of the Wiki for you?
4. If all services (Wiki, Blog, Pings, RSS, Directory) were placed on the homepage, will you visit them? If yes or no, please state Why?
5. Do you think all the services should have a consistent design and colour?
The reason for such an analysis as I explained in my previous post, PPS Needs You! was that this data was to help me find out PPS current weakness and enforce my own personal findings or judgements to help better PPS.
So without further due, let’s see how your data has helped me.
Question 1; this question was actually to analyze the amount of members who actually understood or know about the PPS project’s true nature. Before the addition of the extra services, PPS was known for its ping list that helped bring the Malaysian blogger community closer as well as help break the ice between blogs. Everyone who answered recognized PPS as the central hub for bringing local blogs and bloggers closer.
Working towards the verge of becoming a central hub for bloggers, PPS needs to make one or two services their priority in order to maintain their goal of bringing local blogs and bloggers closer. Currently, PPS still concentrates on its pings but has been quiet down to bring the other services to the front. Being also the central hub to learn about blogging and introduce it to the masses, I feel that PPS might need to define what the PPS Blog is really about since it’s covering so many topics at this moment.
Other than only hosting and advertising its services, I think PPS should work together with other blogs that concur with their goal. One such blog could be The PPS Review. PPS wouldn’t need to start a podcast section of their own but just form a merger with an already existing blog that’s sharing the same view.
Question 2 is all about studying the habit and users. It’s clear that the ping listing is PPS main attraction whilst few mentioned that they’ve visited the other services.
Question 3 touches the validity of the Wiki service. Before the PPS revamp, the Wiki was a hub alone for members to share a word. From my understanding, creators of Wiki use a service like this to gather information from various sources. In other words, unless the Wiki finds a more important role to play for PPS, I feel that it’s not utilizing its own purpose. Suggestions at the top of my mind, it could help host step-by-step tutorials for bloggers as well as become a manual on blogging.
And because the Wiki is a collection of information, bloggers share their knowledge on certain topics. The service then would prove useful to beginners or even intermediates.
Question 4 actually determines the outlook of the homepage. Though the majority have spoken that they wouldn’t mind having all the services published, there’s a high risk that most members might just bookmark the PPS Pings page and not the homepage. So we need to ask ourselves another question, what can we put on the homepage that would get members to visit the homepage at least once a day?
I’m thinking of an announcement section that can only be seen on the homepage. Other than that, make the homepage more user-friendly by employing a login function that is connected with the PPS Pings and PPS Directory. I’m also pondering right now if the PPS Pings should be made the homepage, but this time the other services will be made more obvious.
Question 5 doesn’t need any explaining. If you noticed the Pings, Blog and Directory layout and colors, they already have a consistency. However, keeping this black and white theme to me doesn’t spell fresh for PPS. It might be daring to use colors, but surfing a website isn’t just about content. When you read the book, it’s not just about the text. It’s about presentation as well as atmosphere. As for the RSS section, it’s still in BETA and I don’t think normal bloggers currently understand how to take advantage of this service.
Though these questions help me solved certain agendas, this discussion is open to anyone who have ideas of making PPS better.
Well, that concludes my analysis and it helped solve things like:
- What is PPS weaknesses?
- Where are its weaknesses?
- Why is it a weakness?
- How do I provide a solution?
- What PPS should be and could be?
These are the normal question I’m always pondering on when taking on a client’s project. I’ve learnt and have been matured by the more successful few to understand that an analysis is crucial to discovering the true potential of a client’s website along with its future.
That is why I tell a lot people that web design isn’t what it used to be 3-5 years ago. Companies normally do something like this since they get an official client brief. But for me, as a freelancer, it’s something I had to pick up myself and just keep on learning. It’s not the money involve or the challenge that keeps me doing this. It’s my passion for web design and turning it into a professional career.
When I told one friend; who’s also an ex-colleague, “I feel G is way better than me in designing layouts/interface.” He told me that the biggest difference between me and him is that I love what I do. I believe it not because I’m vain but it is because of things like this above I’d contribute to a friend or community in order to help them understand web design/development better.
So if you asked me is web design my job? Nope, it’s my passion. :)