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Why Less Is More And How To Unlock the Web

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Saved by 16 people (9 private), first by anonymouse user on 2008-06-30


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Features, I’ve recently come to realize, can be obstacles. Problems. The more powerful an application is, the more specialized it is, and thus with increased power its intended audience shrinks, and ironically, it becomes more, not less, vulnerable to competition.

Highlighted by suhit_a

Features, I’ve recently come to realize, can be obstacles. Problems.

Highlighted by alvint

with increased power its intended audience shrinks

Highlighted by rharrison

with increased power its intended audience shrinks

Highlighted by ztrek2000

those who overspecialize will not do very well

Highlighted by rharrison

those who overspecialize will not do very well

Highlighted by ztrek2000

Simplicity is power

Highlighted by rharrison

Simplicity is power

Highlighted by ztrek2000

Create a solid foundation, and let others build a thousand different houses, each catering to a different need, and you’ll never go out of fashion.

Highlighted by alvint

From this notion a new paradigm has arisen. Less is more. Simplicity is power. Create a solid foundation, and let others build a thousand different houses, each catering to a different need, and you’ll never go out of fashion. Simplicity is the key that unlocks the web. Bear with me.

Highlighted by jahmount

Create a solid foundation, and let others build a thousand different houses, each catering to a different need, and you’ll never go out of fashion. Simplicity is the key that unlocks the web.

Highlighted by masaru

Simplicity is the key that unlocks the web.

Highlighted by alvint

Twitter belongs to a new breed of services, perhaps accidentally discovered, that win by doing less, not more.

Highlighted by alvint

Some smart developers have thus began to understand that it’s better to build a very simple service that caters to a very basic need, and slap an API on top, than to try and create a specific, complex service that does a lot right from the start. The first type of service, if executed well, has shown to be very resilient: once it breaks the initial attention barrier, competing against it is practically impossible.

By catering to a basic need, creating a service that satisfies it in a simple way and opening it up through an API, you’ve unlocked, or perhaps deciphered, a small part of the web as a platform. You’ve created a mini platform which everyone is going to use because it’s, simply put, good enough.

Highlighted by masaru

Some smart developers have thus began to understand that it’s better to build a very simple service that caters to a very basic need, and slap an API on top, than to try and create a specific, complex service that does a lot right from the start.

Highlighted by alvint

The first type of service, if executed well, has shown to be very resilient: once it breaks the initial attention barrier, competing against it is practically impossible.

Highlighted by alvint

By catering to a basic need, creating a service that satisfies it in a simple way and opening it up through an API, you’ve unlocked, or perhaps deciphered, a small part of the web as a platform.

Highlighted by kenyth

You’ve created a mini platform which everyone is going to use because it’s, simply put, good enough.

Highlighted by alvint

Unless someone else makes it even more simple

Highlighted by ztrek2000

Unless someone else makes it even more simple

Highlighted by rharrison

Add a couple of features to Twitter and it’s Wordpress. Why is a Wordpress minus a couple of features so popular?

Highlighted by kenyth

Why is a Wordpress minus a couple of features so popular? You have to stop thinking in the traditional way and adopt the new “less is more” philosophy to understand that.

Highlighted by alvint

By far the most popular application that thrives from being simpler than its competitors is Google Search. Remember the way search engines looked before Google?

Highlighted by jahmount

the site consisted of almost nothing

Highlighted by rharrison

the site consisted of almost nothing

Highlighted by ztrek2000

But this is the disconnected world we’re talking about. On the web, things change. It’s not only important what you can do; you also want to be able to do it from wherever you want; you want to plug in into other services, you want to work together with other people. Furthermore - and this goes even more for mobile applications and services - on the Internet, complexity is looked down upon. People don’t want big applications that can do everything; they want simple, widgety applications that cater to a specific service.

Partly, this is because complexity makes web applications slow and clumsy. Partly, it is because the attention span of an average Internet user has shortened, and partly, it is because his willingness to learn the nuts and bolts of a complex application has diminished. Most importantly, it is because the Internet constantly changes and it’s really hard to build something big and complex on such shaky grounds.

Highlighted by masaru

wherever you want

Highlighted by ztrek2000

wherever you want

Highlighted by rharrison

People don’t want big applications that can do everything; they want simple, widgety applications that cater to a specific service.

Highlighted by alvint

complexity makes web applications slow and clumsy

Highlighted by rharrison

complexity makes web applications slow and clumsy

Highlighted by ztrek2000

Most importantly, it is because the Internet constantly changes and it’s really hard to build something big and complex on such shaky grounds.

Highlighted by alvint

Is it thus smart to create a lot of small apps, each aimed at a different niche? It’s definitely a sound approach. But I think an even better one is to find the lowest common denominator, an underlying basic need that connects all these various niches, cater to that, open it up and let mashups do the rest.

Highlighted by jahmount

even better one is to find the lowest common denominator, an underlying basic need that connects all these various niches, cater to that, open it up and let mashups do the rest.

Highlighted by kenyth

choose exactly which features they want to use

Highlighted by ztrek2000

choose exactly which features they want to use

Highlighted by rharrison

Determine a basic need -> Create a service that satisfies it in the simplest way possible -> Open it up.

Highlighted by jahmount

It sounds simple, but it’s not; determining a basic human need, like the need to share photos or the need to communicate with short text messages is a hit and miss affair.

Highlighted by alvint

The other part of the equation is equally elusive. How much is too much?

Highlighted by alvint

But I believe now that in many cases it is better to reduce the number of features to a minimum, open the application up via an API, and let the community build on what you have started. This synergy will make your application far more valuable than it would be if it had all these extra features itself.

Highlighted by jahmount

But I believe now that in many cases it is better to reduce the number of features to a minimum, open the application up via an API, and let the community build on what you have started.

Highlighted by alvint

open the application up via an API

Highlighted by rharrison

open the application up via an API

Highlighted by ztrek2000

The few that manage to get this formula right will build mini platforms upon which everything else on the web will be built. By unlocking little parts of the web they will each cater to a different need, and as long as that need is shared by a large number of people, it will be impossible to compete against them

Highlighted by jahmount

The few that manage to get this formula right will build mini platforms upon which everything else on the web will be built.

Highlighted by alvint

as long as that need is shared by a large number of people, it will be impossible to compete against them

Highlighted by alvint