Building Community-focused Apps with Rails

10:45 - Ballroom 201

One of the guys from Cork'd.

1. Plan (as a product)
2. Start small
3. Stay Agile: Resist Big Infrastructure
4. Determine Ownership
5. Have a Revenue Stream (without ads)
6. Don't Do a Public Beta (do it privately, with people who will give you good feedback).
   
7. Know your audience (make yourself a user)

Building It:

1.  Work from design forward
2. Be aware of the fold ("above the fold")
3. Consider the data (avoid big migrations, normalize early)
   
4. Work together (in realtime)
5. DRY (use plugins)
6. Take "code vacations" (walk away and come back as a user/designer)

Getting noticed:

1. Google is very important
1. Use meta tags properly
2. Use URLs effectively

Recruiting Members:

1. Make signup really easy (one two three, signup)
   
2. Ask only for what is necessary
3. Ask for lots but require as little as possible.
4. Limit non-members (most stuff only happens when you are logged in).

Keep them Coming Back:

1. Make small improvements.
2. Respond positively to your members.
3. Share your API
4. Just ship it.

Socially

1. What are my friends doing?
2. Allow them to talk to each other.