Where’s the Web Innovation?
Richard MacManus over at Read Write Web has written, Let’s Focus on Web Innovation Again!. Absolutely! The last few years have been completely manic in development pace on the World Wide Web. Driven by the early hits of hits of Ebay, YouTube, Flicker & MySpace, there’s now IM platforms, VOIP applications, Email services, online photo editing, task managers, 3D worlds and more social networks than you can poke a stick at.
But it’s become harder to see the innovation*, because now most of it’s been done. So, at the risk of hubris, I put my hand up to say APPLEBOX innovates it’s ass off!! Check it out:
1. Our Model
We’ve taken an existing model of the local video store (typified by Video Ezy), and completely turned the economics of it on it’s head. We’re fully integrated with the Internet, and leverage the strength of both local store, immediate pickup and online browse, search and reserve. Hard to believe, but nobody’s done it before.
2. Our Technology
We run Serverless AJAX with a complete Web Service back end. Without descending into too much jargon, our way of delivering APPLEBOX is new. We take Single Page apps to the extreme, and house multiples SPAs within a JavaScript controller that moves between each SPA as the application requires it. This is standard MVC, but the C and the V are in the browser, rather than on the server. I get a lot of comments on how well our storefront works; this is largely due to the Serverless AJAX techniques.
So you want innovation? Look this way. And we’ve only been open 2 months. Give us another 12 and watch out! 
* My dictionary says to innovate is to introduce something new, or make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas or products.
December 2nd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
The store idea is certainly innovative, and I would probably use it if not for the web application associated with it. Applebox’s business would seem to be heavily dependant on the success of the web site, yet it has so many usability problems that is likely to turn potential customers off. Just a few of the more obvious examples:
1) The app starts by opening a new browser window whether I want one or not. I have a tabbed browser because I usually want to open pages in new tabs. As a user, I should have control over how new windows/tabs open. By forcefully opening a new window, your opening statement to a potential user is hostile: “we don’t respect your wishes - you must do things our way”. Of course I know I can just go to http://storefront.applebox.com.au/client/shell/, but I only know that by looking at some of the client side code.
2) The application does not seem to be navigable using the keyboard. Most actions require fiddly mouse work, which is difficult for users with limited mobility or for laptop users using a pad or trackpoint. Consider the simple action of going back one page. Normally I would just use the Alt and back-arrow keys or Command+[ on a Mac. Other people might use the menus (e.g. History|Back). Others might use the big green back button on their browser, or look for a link or button labeled back on the web page. Applebox’s application reduces those four choices down to only one inconvenient option for the user: figure out that the little left arrow is a back button (probably not obvious to a non OS-X user) and use the mouse to press that very small target. Analyze almost any other action and it’s the same pattern: the multiple choices thoughtfully provided by the web browser designers have been unnecessarily narrowed down to only one option.
3) I’ve touched on this in a way already, but there is an awkward clash here between the expected user interface of a web application and the interface that Applebox’s application provides. Overlaying an iTunes style on top of a web browser just messes with people’s conceptual framework for the application. Applebox’s application doesn’t give me the things I would expect of iTunes, but it doesn’t give me what I would expect of a web application either. For example, if I find a DVD that interests me (but perhaps is out), why shouldn’t I be able to bookmark it (in my browser, or del.icio.us, or on a scrap of paper) for later reference? It’s a static resource (granted with changing state) so there’s no reason not to let a user do what they’re accustomed to doing with a web page - keeping a reference to it. Wouldn’t you like your users to be able to email a URL to the friends or post a link on their site? It’s the iTunes interface and the over-use of Ajax/HttpRequest that gets in the way.
Making the web page look like iTunes and playing with AJAX might be fun for the developer and it certainly looks very pretty, but in the process it has made the application painful to use. Probably not beyond everyone’s threshold, but certainly beyond mine and maybe beyond those of others. Unfortunately, I’d rather walk up Station Street to your competitor.
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:31 am
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your thoughts! You’ve certainly got me on a couple of points. And whilst you’re the only person to voice usability issues amongst an overwhelming positive response, I’m ready to hear the voice of dissent! It can only help me improve APPLEBOX. Let me tackle your points:
1. Opening in a new window.
As you’ve discovered, you can run this app inline to the browser. I’ve initially decided to open the catalogue in its own page (without the browser chrome) to maximise the real estate for finding a movie. Without the address bar, bookmarks bar, google/yahoo/alexa/whatever toolbar and a header row of tabs, a lot of space is freed up that simply makes the app easier to use. On a 1024×768 screen this can be significant. For those with plenty of screen space, you can reposition and resize the window, and it will re-open next time with the resized dimensions and position. But I do agree, it should be your choice, so I’ll think how I can make it work both ways.
2. Keystroke Support
Yep, I need to capture the browser keystroke shortcuts (page back/forward). I can then feed those into my own navigation events. But beyond these shortcuts, I’m not sure what else you want from keyboard support? (and FWIW, in-store I run this app in kiosk mode with the browser context fully removed).
3. Bookmarking
APPLEBOX supports bookmarking for members. Once you’ve got an account, you can bookmark as many movies as you want, and organise these to as many collections as you can think of. By managing this within the app, my users also see whether their bookmarked movie is in or out, and will eventually allow them to share their lists with others. Outside the app - yep I want to let friends link by URL, save to delicious, link from their blog/facebook/myspace page. It’s all on the cards, and I’ve only been open 2 and half months! Check back in 6 months and see the improvements
4. User Expectation
This is a biggy, and of course if something doesn’t behave as expected, usability should be questioned. I suspect for a lot of people, APPLEBOX behaves as iTunes does and so meets their expectations exactly. You mention it doesn’t give what you expect of iTunes - what are those things? For others, it’s simple point and click and as there’s such huge variance in the way apps look and feel from the browser through to the desktop, they don’t think twice. For others again (such as yourself), you expect web pages to behave a particular way, and APPLEBOX is a departure from that. I say APPLEBOX steps outside of what a browser can typically do and how web pages typically inter-relate. It’s behaviour is desktop like, yet its launch is from a browser. Opening in another window tries to break the relationship with the browser and establish the app in its own right. If I packaged this as a XUL Runner app (or an IE HTA) with a desktop icon and it opened by itself without any browser context - is it now constrained to how web pages should behave?
And let’s also not forget APPLEBOX is a business, and not just a web application. Other dimensions to this business are friendly, knowledgeable staff, great prices, great movie selections, well organised genres, a great store with a great vibe, being active in the local community, free wireless hotspot at the local cafe, being able to see instantly if what you want is there (and in), and not having to walk along 50+ metres of shelving to browse! If none of these work for you, then please, enjoy Video Ezy! That’s the beauty of an open marketplace
Cheers,
Simon.