In the maturity phase of a technology, it either becomes a legacy to be appreciated for its past accomplishments or morphs into something new that compels the world to take another look. ColdFusion has now been around for 14 years (a century in Internet years), and in its 9th incarnation. What started as a simple alternative to CGI scripting is now a full-fledged application server platform. But is ColdFusion with its HTML roots still relevant in an increasingly Rich Internet Application-driven world? Does ColdFusion still have legs as a presentation medium, or will it slowly be relegated to heavy lifting behind the scenes on servers far away from the eyes of Internet users? The CFinNC conference to be held at NC State University this weekend may offer clues.

This exciting two-day conference will showcase a veritable whos-who of the ColdFusion world, each offering not only their technical expertise but also their own vision of ColdFusion and its shiny Rich Internet Application cousins, Air and Flex.  Can’t make it you say? You can follow the event live on twitter via @Jason_Jasura  as I post all of the happenings that you just won’t find in any of the posted presentations.  It’s bound to be a great conference. Hope to see you there!

Posted by Paul under ColdFusion & Web Design & Web Development | No Comments »

An article published by the New York Times 1 shares design techniques that can make or break a website’s success. The article states that Ford recently designed a car which rocketed to the number two spot in European overall sales; it also is their best-selling car for that market for 2009. The design team attributed their success to a psychological profiling technique that leaves focus groups in the dust: customer personification. Before designing the car, the designers created a profile of the target for their new vehicle; in this case, a target individual they named Antonella. This profile captured her likes, dislikes, hobbies, daily activities and attempted to capture her essence. They even went so far as to create a “Day in the Life Of” video and screen-tested several models before selecting one that matched the profile. All before one cup-holder was designed. Why the fuss? According to Ford America’s executive director of design, “Personalizing gives context to the information we have. Sometimes the target demographics are difficult to relate to by, say, a 35-year-old male designer.”

What lessons in web development can be learned from this case study? To answer that, how many times have you conducted a mock web design session with a client, trying to convey the value of a particular color pallette, only to be told “The CEO really likes blue, so we’ll go with blue.” (Cue reader laughter) So, we’ve all been there. The web design session has failed at its outset because the target audience has been misidentified as the client. Time for another example: the web design sessions went smoothly and web development went smoothly using the latest Web 2.0 techniques guaranteed to bring in a young audience, but visitors aren’t converting into customers. Expensive focus groups are brought in and finally the results come back: 25 year-olds have no interest in purchasing the site’s primary product of long-term nursing care insurance. Once again, the target audience has been misidentified, this time relative to the product.

Next time, before sketching the site layout or designing the customer flow, remember to take time with the client to identify the site’s target audience, and get as much detail as possible about that person. When the client finishes giving you the information, press for more. The lesson: spending time upfront can prevent many times more expenditures down the road.

1 PHIL PATTON, Before Creating the Car, Ford Designs the Driver
New York Times, 16 July 2009, sec. Automobiles

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