Archive for the ‘Paste’ Category

Happy Holidays!

Kallie 12/21/16
Paste, Uncategorized

We’re limiting our support staff this holiday season so we can all spend more time with our families. Thanks for understanding if response times are a bit slower than you’re used to. We’ll do our best to help you as soon as we can.

Happy holidays!

-Paste

Happy Holidays!

Hey everyone! Once again the holiday break is upon us. It’s been an amazing year, but truth be told we’re ready for some good old fashioned downtime. We’ll be out of the office from December 24th until January 5th. Our response time might be a bit slower than usual during the break, so thank you for your understanding.

If you have an emergency during that time, though, just shoot us an e-mail – we’ll do our best to get you taken care of as quickly as we can.

Happy Holidays!

- Paste

Happy Holidays!

We’re not sure how, but it’s time again for our annual Holiday Break. We’ll be out of the office until January 2, doing things like hanging out with friends and family, chasing kiddos around, and maybe succumbing to a nap here and there. Our response time might be a little slower than usual until we’re back in the full swing of things.

If you have an emergency during the break, just shoot us an e-mail – we’ll do our best to get you taken care of as quickly as we can.

Happy Holidays!

- Paste

Why Responsive Design Puts More Pressure on the Content First Method.

With the rise of responsiveness, a lot of time has been spent talking about design. I get it. It’s the design that has to shift between screen sizes. It’s the pixels that have to be pushed, and reorganized, and whipped around to give the user the best experience. But I feel like something’s being left out of the conversation.

Content is Still as Important as it Ever Was
Just because the design changes from screen to screen doesn’t mean what’s being said on them is any less important. The user being able to view the website comfortably is only the first step in retention. After they realize the site will work on their tablet or mobile (which people come to expect anyway these days), they get down to the nitty gritty – the content. Information is the whole reason they’re there in the first place, right? That hasn’t changed.

Content Has to Adapt, Too!
As the screen shrinks, the less the user sees. Which means the words they do see have to be strategically placed, and incredibly purposeful. Your headline has to have more punch. Your intro has to get the point across quickly and effectively. When you only have a small amount of space to prove yourself, every character counts. So obviously this changes the way you plan the content for your site. Or at least it should. Keep Reading

The Launch isn’t Dead.

Joe 06/06/13
Paste

I wanted to take a minute to write a rebuttal to this.

http://layervault.tumblr.com/post/52226746701/the-launch-is-dead

Obviously we just had a major relaunch, so it’s fresh on my mind. While iteration is a huge part of of software development, it’s not all of it. The web has enabled developers to zero in on fixes, and release code on a daily basis rather than boxed gold masters as Kelly so accurately described. It’s a fantastic way to work.

But we came to a time when we were quite literally trapped inside our own platform. There was not a smart way for us to make the design responsive. There wasn’t a clear way to add the new features we wanted without them feeling “stapled on.” So we set about something more ambitious. We rethought the layout and organization of the application.

Maybe we could have subtly tweaked our way from there to here. I can’t imagine it, and it would have take 5x as long.

At one point Kelly says:

“If you’re at the helm of a young company preparing for a launch, don’t. Roll out what you have today to the appropriate users.”

If we had done that, we would have quite literally rolled backwards. Our first drafts were not hatched, and had no business seeing the light of day. We tested internally, tested with users, and when we were happy we released. Diving in sounds great —but in reality? What successful team doesn’t iterate then also periodically relaunch? Apple? 37Signals? Surely you can’t only iterate and stay in front of your competition forever?

Kelly goes on to talk about PR value, and its being a short-sighted goal.

We’re small; we rarely get any media attention. So it’s great for our team morale to have people talk about us and to us. We all had a blast yesterday, and that’s nothing that moving a button 5px could ever aggregate to. Either in publicity or in love for your job.

Not to mention, the hundreds of new users we got yesterday. Momentum is a funny thing. It picks up speed the more you get. It’s really hard to develop that gently rolling up and down small hills.

Anyway. LayerVault seems great. And I don’t know Kelly. But there is definitely more than one way to run a company. So for any of you feeling like you should reevaluate your launch plans: Since Kelly worked some great movie references in to her article, did you also stop drinking Merlot after watching Sideways?

Do it Better.

Creating something totally, completely, brand spanking new is sometimes, well… rocket science.

I don’t think that means we should quit working our tails off to create the best web app or website just because something similar has been done before. I do think it means, though, that we should not feel defeated because we’re working with ideas that existed before us.

We knew we were reinventing the wheel to some extent when Jumpchart was born. Fact: there are other website organization tools out there. Same thing with Staction and Paprika. But we felt we could do it better. We didn’t look at wheel reinvention as a negative. Instead, we recognized how important it is in the grand scheme of things. Versions are what get us to the best.

I mean think about it. Writers don’t publish an unfinished book. Architects don’t let tenants move in before the building is done. Hundreds of logos are sketched before a winner is chosen. There are steps to finishing a project, and many versions are created along the way.

Sixty years from now when we’re all old and wrinkly, there could be a revolutionized way of organizing website content that works for virtually everyone. And that’s great – it truly is.

All we hope is that Jumpchart somehow played a small part in its existence.

Don’t Let Brand Loyalty Screw You.

It feels like I’m seeing it more and more. Why do companies offer shiny, sparkly, drool-worthy deals to brand new customers, and those of us who have stuck around for years get little more than “gee, thanks?”

I’ll admit, I’m bitter about my recent experience with my cable company, but it’s opened my eyes. For years at my house we’ve been putting up with crap like intermittent service during big games, a stubborn DVR box that works only when the stars are perfectly aligned, missed recordings because of “unknown technical difficulties” and only the rarest of opportunities to talk to a real human being when we need help. Not to mentioned we get absolutely zero monetary refunds to cover our emotional damages from getting so worked up. When we finally called to find out how we can get more for our money (and threaten to take it elsewhere), we were not-so-politely told deals like that are stubbornly reserved for new customers only. I didn’t feel so much shocked as I did betrayed.

I Would Like Some Cheese with My Whine, Please.

Alright, I’m just going to say it. What about me?

I’ve paid for their service for years, and even sent them business a couple times. I trusted them to give me the best quality possible, and haven’t cancelled our account when they’ve fallen short on their promises. And then when I so desperately need them to come through for me, they made me feel like I was two inches tall and not worth their time. #bigcompanyfail Keep Reading

Writing Toward a Mission. The Call to Action.

As you already know, a lot goes into building a website. There’s the design, the programming, the implementation… but before all that comes the content. Getting the content wrong could mean quite a bit of backtracking later on, and I think we can all agree backtracking = evil. So while you’re busy not taking one step forward and two steps back, make sure you don’t forget perhaps the most important element of your copy- the thing that will get readers to do what you want them to do.

It’s a crucial (and largely underrated) part of writing website content: the call to action.

What’s the Point?
When users visit your site, they’re either looking for something specific (which is why you make your navigation incredibly user-friendly- so they can get in and get out.) or they’re interested in learning more about your company/product. Either way, what they don’t want is to reach the end of a page and think “Okay, what do I do now?” Keep Reading

An All Day Meeting.

Kristin 04/10/12
Paste

A lot of people in this world think meetings are evil. I tend to be one of those people, actually. But let me clarify- it’s meetings that take 3 hours to accomplish what could have been knocked out in 30 minutes that get under my skin.

I have a deep appreciation for group communication. People working together, touching base frequently, actively collaborating and working toward the best possible result. There’s nothing negative about that.

I just think there are ways to go about it that don’t require half a day’s attention. Frequent e-mails showing progress, phone calls to touch base, and some occasional face time is nice! And I like to think our clients agree. After all, once we’ve determined we’re all on the same page, don’t they want us spending more time working on their project than talking about it?

Aristotle Got It Right.

Kristin 05/13/11
Paste

For me, what matters most isn’t the code or pixels, it’s the users, clients, and friends who share it with me.

It’s always nice to find other people who think like we do, and Trent Walton does. He shares our belief that it’s more about the overall experience we create for our users, rather than the bits and pieces we use to get there. Although we strain immensely over all of those bits, and pour tirelessly over each of the pieces, what brings us the most joy is someone telling us “your work really helped me today.”

And that is what we strive for, because the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts.

Paste Interactive is a small app studio that makes cool, smart tools to help next generation workers work better, simpler, and faster.
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