Every startup begins life with infinite choices, and there never seems to be enough information when we need to make a decision . To deal with this we pick up a compass to help make sense of things. Some compasses are big…
There is a continuing debate in the entrepreneurship community about whether a single founder can start a successful company. The most common arguments against flying solo include: It’s harder to get funding Starting a company is an emotional roller-coaster which…
The need to create application Help is nearly ubiquitous - every app needs it – but there isn’t a lot of information available for people who are tackling the job for the first time. I’m hoping to fill that gap. This article…
There are a couple of things that most of us have in common in the week between Christmas and New Years: We spend time with family We eat a lot of leftovers We create our New Years resolution list We…
A while ago fellow python-lover Adam asked me which modules I recommend for new Django projects. Can’t-live-without-it apps South If you use Django and you’re not using South then you’re enduring way more pain than you have to. South manages…
This weekend I went to a corporate holiday party on the Odyssey, a large party boat that circles the Potomac in D.C.. I enjoyed hanging out with an energetic, geeky group – but didn’t enjoy the twenty+ minute wait at…
Every Christmas my family finds a couple of pieces of art on my wish list. They’re usually small prints from independent artists that can be easily purchased online. It can be difficult to find affordable art – but fortunately, there…
Yesterday I filled out a very long application form. At the end I was asked to submit my billing address in a typical form: The City dropdown is required, but here’s the catch: it doesn’t have any values. So after…
A few months ago I put up a (very) short survey asking readers what we can do to improve application help. Here are the results: How would you describe your profession? Answer Votes Vote Count/Percentage Technical Writer 8 Votes(66%)…
Nearly all web usability experts agree that validation should happen in real-time, while the user is inputting data. But the technique doesn’t guarantee a pleasant user experience. Take this hypothetical project management app as an example. I can enter a…
Hi, I'm Jen, host of Software Smitten and the creator of