Productivity and Self-improvement by Gutata

A few months ago, I wrote about business models for web software. 37Signals recently posted their own article and thoughts on the subject, explaining which model they would choose and why. They also had a follow up blurb:

A business model checklist for web apps

A checklist of the various business models available to developers of web apps & services. Related: But, seriously, what IS your business model? and Business Model, Schmizness Model.

I’m not sure how my previous article got noticed, but while it’s getting some attention, now is a good time to give a big thanks to the Django community for creating a framework that is not frustrating, and dare I say it, fun to use. Kudos to the people who started it: Adrian, Simon, Jacob, and Wilson. And to all those who have contributed.

The community has been great. If there were a bug or some annoyance, any time I searched online for it, I almost always found a ticket or patch in the works to solve the problem. I’ve landed at quite a number of Django-centered blogs that talk about something interesting done with Django: a problem that Django easily solved, a neat trick, or a cool new feature. And I’ve often ended up at Simon’s and Eugene’s blogs because they have something valuable to add in each of their entries.

Keep up the good work!

I’m not sure if this is a good litmus test for popularity contests, but when I mention Django to web application developers, almost no one has heard of it. When I mention Ruby On Rails (RoR), almost everyone has heard of it, including those who haven’t heard of Django. I wonder what it is about RoR that has made it a household name (among developers).

In terms of features and productivity, I can’t say if RoR is worse or better than Django. From various articles and comparisons, it seems Django would have the edge. Maybe I can talk about that later. So let’s just say that the two frameworks, including the languages behind them, are close in terms of functionality. That is, there is no significant increase in benefit. And there are fantastic communities and documentation to help if you get stuck. Like anything, each framework has its strengths and weaknesses.

If this is the case, what other reasons can explain RoR’s greater popularity? For one, I think that 37Signals (the creators of RoR) is good at marketing, PR, and best of all, explaining why they chose their approach. They speak at conferences and hold workshops to share their knowledge and (usually) promote RoR. In defense of Django, the Django community does their share of speaking. Just not to the same extent.

Perhaps the biggest reason for RoR’s popularity is that multiple semi-popular, user-centered, and professional applications have been built on the technology. The list includes 37Signals’ productivity applications, 43Things, Penny Arcade, Odeo, A List Apart, YubNub, and Corkd. Not to take away anything from the Django developers, the current set of Django powered applications, or my own efforts (blondela.com and prrice.com), but it seems like Django is missing the killer stand-alone application that users are passionate about. The one that Django developers can say is profitable or scales to millions of hits per day. Or perhaps Django does have enough applications to warrant some attention, including Lawrence Journal World, Naples Daily News, and Adrian’s (lead developer for Django) Chicago Crime. And to push it over the top, Django just needs a few more applications to add to its portfolio.

This discussion is a bit fruitless however. From a developer’s perspective, who cares if one framework is more popular? Pick the one that benefits you the most or that offers the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance (especially for lazy engineers) seems to be a good method for deciding the best framework/technology. And if we could measure “resistance,” maybe this would be a better metric than popularity.

I remember reading a 37Signals post on how choices can be overwhelming. I couldn’t agree more. The example in the article is restaurant menus. You can see how fast food restaurants have tried to narrow choice with $0.99 menus. In-n-Out’s menu has 3 burgers, 1 fries, and 4 or 5 drinks (soda and milk shakes). It makes it that much easier to decide what you want.

The same idea applies to web applications. Give users less information and less choice to give them better focus. With less distractions, relevance is king and we end up with more successful and more useful web apps.

Sorry for not posting. I know that the millions of people who read this blog (heavy sarcasm here…) have been waiting for something… anything! After a few weeks of coding, I put together a new and simple deal site that helps show how good a deal is by organizing review summaries and price history. It’s all based on user generated content. Try it out and let me know what you think. I hope you find it useful.