Last week, that “someone” was me. Back in December I wrote this post: “Skill Doesn’t Matter if you Lack Taste.” In the post I have a couple of examples where incredible skill still has a mediocre outcome because of a lack of taste. One of the examples I used was the corny transitions in the more recent Star Wars movies (hint: never criticize Star Wars). You can judge for yourself thanks to this video.

The post made it to the home page of Hacker News (a site known for quality discussion) and the traffic started flooding in. First the comments pointing out that the wipes were a homage to earlier sci-fi movies. Something I didn’t know, so thanks for pointing that out.

Then the comments turned negative. Really bad. First just off topic and insulting, but then really offensive. Some so bad I just deleted them and would not reprint them here.

All this over a conversation about Star Wars? Seriously?

Normally I would say “Welcome to the internet. That’s just how things are.” except that this came from Hacker News which is a community I really respect and care about.

Don’t be a dick, just be nice. It’s that easy. Point out when someone is wrong, but do it in a helpful way. Insulting their family won’t help anyone.

Luke Beard has a beautiful poster (shown above) that inspired the title. You should purchase it here: Art prints & posters from Luke Beard. Then hang it near your computer to be reminded while commenting on the internet.

HN is my favorite website and I visit it at least once a day. The quality of the community on HN is so high that often the comments are just as valuable as the article being linked. While I have had an article I wrote make it on the front page, I’ve never before reached #1. So what does the #1 spot get you? Here are some stats for those interested:

• 487 Votes
• 200+ Comments
• 3 job offers / requests to interview for a position.
• 25 emails
• 51,052 unique visitors
• 300+ retweets and mentions on Twitter

You can read the post here: How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code and the HN Comment Thread.

It was expected.

I wrote that post specifically to do well on HN. After being around the community for a year I learned that stories revealing financial data behind startups are well received and often reach the home page. But to reach #1 it would need a little bit of a twist.

The first titles I wrote for the post were:

• “Revealing OneVoice Sales Data”
• “Pulling back the curtain: A detailed look at my App Store sales”
• “OneVoice Numbers”

Boring. None of those would have had the desired results. If you aren’t already familiar with OneVoice why would you click the link? So I decided to add the sales numbers to the title:

• “How I Made $19,000 on the App Store”

That’s pretty good. I would click that link. But $19,000 isn’t that much. There are plenty of stories of developers making $200k+ on the App Store. So the title needed a twist at the end. “… While Learning to Code” is the final touch needed to make it a really catchy title.

• “How I Made $19,000 on the App Store While Learning to Code”

It would be interesting to test the difference the engaging title made.

Any Downsides?

When revealing detailed financials there could always be some downsides. The main one being that I may have generated some more competition in an already crowded field. For anyone looking to make some quick money, this isn’t the way to do it. To me this is success, but I could have made considerably more by doing contract work.

I don’t know about you, but I was completely engaged for almost 12 minutes. Most online videos struggle to hold your attention for more than a minute. So how can you hook people this well?

Engaging Content

Your topic and point of view must be interesting. No amount of editing, illustration or animation can make dull topic engaging. So, first re-write and re-think your topic until it is holds attention.

Cut Everything That Isn’t Crucial

So you drew someone in, their listening to you, how do you keep their attention? In his talk, Sir Ken Robinson, rarely says a word that isn’t crucial. His presentation could have been hours long, but it is edited down to be as precise as possible. I am sure the longer version has detail and additional points, but for most of your listeners that isn’t necessary. If they want to learn more they can turn to Google (or provide links of your own). Just make it succinct.

Make it Visual

If all I am doing is listening, then my mind can wander. I can write program and listen to a podcast simultaneously, though each task only gets half my focus. If you want full attention than your message needs to be accompanied by visuals. This is a big part of the reason for slides with presentations. They help to explain points, but also keep the listener better engaged.

Since you don’t have any incredible animators or illustrators on staff, then you should go with relevant photos. If it is a presentation try using full screen photos with no or minimal text for the best impact.

———————————–

P.S. If you want an example of changing education learn more about the Khan Academy.

It’s normal that those emails I glance at have me thinking about them for another thirty minutes. Often well into dinner or whatever other social event I am at. And why? I can’t do anything about them. If a client needs help I have to wait until I am back at a computer with dedicated time to actually solve their problem. So I didn’t actually gain anything by being momentarily occupied with my phone.

This is especially noticeable during meetings at work. First we have a meeting that may or may not be important, but then half the people spend their time staring at their phones or laptops. Then when asked their opinion it has to be explained again since no-one was fully present.

While at conferences and other social events where I don’t know anyone I use my phone to pretend to be busy. That way I look less awkward and don’t have to go to the effort of joining conversations and introducing myself to new people. Later it always frustrates me, but I never seem to change the habit. My phone has become an odd crutch.

So I decided this time would be different. I put my phone away and just looked around the room. People watching can be quite interesting and somehow relaxing. After a few minutes I struck up a conversation with the Maitre d’. Odd how you can actually engage people when you give your attention to them. When I found out Hilary would be a bit longer I wandered over to the bookstore next door.

Then when we did sit down to dinner my mind was free of the distractions of email and work. Instead I had things to talk about related to the books I had just been browsing. Things I knew Hilary and I have a mutual interest in.

Email, Twitter, and Facebook can all wait. Be present. Your colleagues, friends, and family deserve it.

Basic Security

You see when you give your username and password to a service then they can login to your account. Sounds pretty basic right? But think about it. If they can login to your account they can post anything, change your photos, or whatever else. On Twitter they could even change your password and your email address so that you are locked out of your account without a recovery method.

I would never do something so foolish!

Of course you all have enough sense to not give out your password to just anyone who asks for it. Right?

Wrong. When I looked through my Twitter feed and see little ribbons next to people’s avatars I must point out that they just handed over access to their account to a complete stranger.

But all my friends are doing it!

The service Twibbon asks for your username and password which thousands of people are giving up without thinking twice. But it’s okay because they clearly state: “Your login details will not be stored and are only used to update your profile image.” Awesome. They sound nice. Why should you trust them?

@nipper Says it quite succinctly.

They don’t even look trustworthy! A single line of text shouldn’t make you think otherwise.

It gets worse.

You use email right? Is your Twitter password different than your email password? Yeah, I didn’t think so (to the smart ones who answered yes, congratulations! You passed web security 101). Interested in what you can steal if you know someone’s main email address and password?

• All social media accounts
• Bank Accounts
• Domain Names (It happened to David Airey)
• Blogs
• Your entire online identity
• Online Cell Phone Account

You get the idea. On the web your email address and password are the keys to your virtual kingdom. Why give up something so important just to turn your avatar green?

The best part.

Not only do users give up their password, but they also then post a tweet to tell their friends to do the same. Viral phishing! Now that’s clever.

Web developers should know better!

I found this unfortunate example the other day. The worst part is that many web apps are doing the same thing.

Even the well designed service BabelWith.me does it.

When otherwise intelligent web professionals build services that circumvent basic security principals we are teaching users that it is okay to give up valuable information to an unverified third party service. As designer and developers we need to be setting the standards (and following them!) for security if we are going to fight the increase in online identity theft. Not contribute to it!

There is a better way.

Twitter uses an authentication tool called OAUTH that allows for an app to temporarily access your account, but without requiring you to ever disclose personal information. It also controls what the app can do when they have access. Most of you have seen this screen:

The way security should be handled.

Basically this lets the app do the cool things it was designed to do, but it leaves you completely secure at the same time. It’s just better for everyone.

Think about this.

Your Twitter account is important. Business or personal it is still your brand online. You can’t afford to have it tarnished by a simple, foolish mistake. It would be really embarrassing to post to tell your 2000 followers they should all visit a porn site. It happened on MySpace and it is only a matter of time before it happens on Twitter.

Note: If I called you out specifically or offended you in some way please know that it is only because I am pushing for a safer web (and you were a perfect example!).

Update: This article from CodingHorror.com has some great information (Thanks @davidlwheeler):

You’re Probably Storing Passwords Incorrectly

Follow me on Twitter @nathanbarry