redesign profile page

[chadwhitacre]

This is a meta-ticket for redesigning the profile page.

Originally ... copied from #43:

Think Facebook timeline. A big part of Gittip for me is "the feeling of participation in someone else's story." I want Gittip to help tippees to tell their story. What are they doing to make the world better? Why? How is their vision unfolding? Let's link out to Twitter, blogs, etc. for the narrative, and let's use Gittip to tell the story in numbers. Here's what they're tipped and how much they tip. Here's when they've bombed or been bombed (#131). Here's how their funding goal has evolved (#110). And then the narrative bits add flesh to the bones. Here's what I did with the money. Here's how I made the world better. Here's how I realized my vision.

[chadwhitacre]

I'm adding a +1 from kk to this ticket. His general feedback was that there's a need to close the loop. After a year of anonymous support, how do I answer the question, "Was this successful? Was my supporting this person worth it?" Our call had technical difficulties but I take it that this ticket could address some of that concern. We want receivers to be able to clearly communicate the value they're creating to their supporters.

[lyndsysimon]

This would seem to take Gittip from "a funding platform" to "a funding with a social network".

I would be very much in favor of seeing a users' page be expanded to allow more context - goals changing over time, multiple goals with associated anticipated rewards, etc - but I really feel like the question of "is this person still making the world a better place?" is best answered through other means. A personal blog would seem to be ideal, and I believe we should link to those types of platforms instead of attempting to reimplement them here.

[chadwhitacre]

@lyndsysimon I go back and forth. Blogging is as old as Internet dirt, of course. Can Gittip put enough of a new spin on the form to make it worthwhile to reimplement?

My current thought is to implement this as a "weekly status report." So you'd get at most one post per week, and it'd be clear the weeks you didn't fill it out. Calling it a weekly status report would also focus the content. What I want to do here is lightly guide people (including myself!) in telling their story. Maybe blogging is even your main gig. So you do your blogging, and then in your weekly status report on Gittip you say, "I wrote ten blog posts this week across my three blogs, and here they are," etc.

Do you think that's different enough to add value?

[chadwhitacre]

I mean, in a sense, small weekly payments to individuals has been technically possible for a long time with PayPal. Gittip is about collecting these technical pieces into a coherent whole around a new way to work.

[chadwhitacre]

Also could collect tweets to @gittip_status from linked accounts and put those on the profile page.

(via @hurlothrumbo in person)

[ironchefpython]

-1 for social media "features".

Please don't' reinvent blogging. Let me have a markdown formatted "about me" section where I can link my web page, blog, twitter feed, bugtracker, resume, employer, cat pictures, stamp collection., whatever.

[abnor]

It would be good to have a separate page for accomplishments perhaps, or goals. "Thanks to you, I have been able to do this thing [picture][description], and this thing [picture][description]" or "With your tips/support I would like to do this thing [picture][description]". You could potentially create a log in with other website [tumblr]

The idea of supporting them for long periods of time is somewhat understood (I have ideas bubbling about different/friendlier layout), but the idea for BIG things to happen isn't obvious.

BIG things tend to happen with random funds, grants, etc. Which is what kickstarters are.

Those big things are also expected to create a trickling effect that leads to a sustainable lifestyle, but that isn't always the case when you consider people with no so reliable jobs [artists][scientists]

I think gittip so far is the opposite extreme of the kickstarters

[abnor]

Here is a potential profile layout.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1SLYvOJJVoVMWlYMzVBVlZ5SzQ/edit

What do you think? Basically a different 'about me' (statement) section and the ability to brag about other projects (new and old). I propose that the empty space be filled with the ability to load picture (especially when the website reaches out to non-programmers who can't display their work with just links).

[chadwhitacre]

+1 from @abnor on #692:

• allow users to express their desires/goals through their profile page, which may involve simply linking to other websites/blogs to allow previews of their work, or to create submission forms/boxes of their photos/statements.

Here is a scratch example. The blank space could be used for photos or previews of other sites.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1SLYvOJJVoVMWlYMzVBVlZ5SzQ/edit?usp=sharing

[chadwhitacre]

@abnor's mockup:

[chadwhitacre]

I like the idea of putting connected accounts at the bottom of the screen. At larger sizes I would probably make that a tray that showed a few accounts and then popped open when you hovered to show the rest. At smaller sizes it would fold down to one column and be in the same scroll scope with everything else.

[chadwhitacre]

One issue: Accounts can theoretically and will probably actually be usable for both identity and funding. Think Dwolla, which provides OAuth in addition to (of course) funding. And then some accounts won't be usable for identity (sign-in) either by user choice or by our constraint (we want to limit the identity providers we trust to big players, to minimize attack vectors).

[chadwhitacre]

@abnor Also note that the design is such that the "box" at the top is used to highlight the most important info on the page (it also includes the navigation). It's not really appropriate to double that up. Basically, we've got that box + one or two columns of "regular" content. If there's two columns they fold into one at smaller screen sizes.

Again, I like the idea of moving "Connected Accounts" to a bottom tray, and evolving it to make clear the different kinds of accounts.

What's behind the other two parts of this rearrangment?

• moving "About Me" and "Funding Goal" into a second #box
• adding "Projects [New]" and "Projects [Old]"

Can you say more about how you see those changes addressing the design problem of "allow[ing] users to express their desires/goals through their profile page, which may involve simply linking to other websites/blogs to allow previews of their work, or to create submission forms/boxes of their photos/statements"?

[abnor]

Design is fluid and can change based on the audience, but I feel this at least establishes a structure. So far it looks like we all agree on linking and connecting to other sites. The rearrangement was based on the potential idea of the profile page being amped up with content that the user could input/upload themselves (a more dynamic way to prove to a donater that this person has some cool stuff going on). You didn't have anything too dynamic to say (and I got lazy about creating some pictures or photographs of what you (could) have done), so the rearrangement of words was simple.

I agree that the first few bits of content should be extremely basic, though I had the idea that perhaps a short bio is also important enough to shove up there.

[hurlothrumbo]

I'd also assume, as a user, that I could edit the default headings, if I wanted to delve into settings.

While the visual design remains consistent, people could explain their Gittip identity on their own terms if the goals/projects/etc. assumptions don't suit them.

[hurlothrumbo]

-1 for social media "features".

Please don't' reinvent blogging. Let me have a markdown formatted "about me" section where I can link my web page, blog, twitter feed, bugtracker, resume, employer, cat pictures, stamp collection., whatever.

+1, esp at this point. Within a sound design structure, flexibility over prescription. Let twitter be twitter

[abnor]

+1 For Custom headings. When I think about Profiles I think back to the days of myspace, picture on the Left, about me on the right, and then all the rest of the boxes of info left up to the user to fill out (in this case just describing their goals/projects).

If they were handy with html they could perhaps customize further if they wished :p

[chadwhitacre]

Now this is what I'm talking about:

http://www.quirky.com/products/35-Switch-Modular-Pocket-Knife/timeline

[abnor]

I like it I like it. Think we would encourage people to signup here and then preview that profile in gittip's profile, or ask to steal the code for ourselves?

[chadwhitacre]

@abnor We'll rebuild it ourselves. It's inspired by Facebook's timeline, clearly. Want to try to find some other examples of Facebook-inspired timelines?

[abnor]

I'll jump on it.

728 I couldn't agree more about having a dynamic, interactive display of people's work (for users and browsers). I also agree that the easiest way to market gittip is to have users market themselves.

[chadwhitacre]

Thanks @abnor! :D

[leto]

What about integrating a few of the new Github Contributions stats directly on a Gittip profile?

[chadwhitacre]

@leto Yes, yes, and yes. You volunteering? :D

[sigmavirus24]

There's no API for those

[abnor]

So... as we agreed in the Marketing Board meeting, 90% of the users are currently programmers, and that the widget sounds like the key to unleashing the generosity unto said programmers.

https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/search?q=widget

As for the 10% 'other' category, I'm still convinced that tweaking the profile pages (although it is quite a feat) will increase this remaining 10% to 30% over night, and then from there the site will grow out of control (as is the dream).

I'll still work on the ideal 'profile page' however, in the mean time.

[abnor]

This isn't so much as a timeline as a potential website to model after (the philosophy is there, just not the money).

http://ifwerantheworld.com/

[chadwhitacre]

The horn/toot feature I just deployed addresses this. If that takes off and once that bakes we should maybe redesign the profile around it.

[ceboudreaux]

+1 via Jon Kolikant on Facebook

"Hey,

So just looked at gittip very briefly. So I'll be debbie downer and make capitalist questions and comments.

Macro to micro.... leggo

1) Big thing - I really just don't get it... Why would I give my money to someone else based on a 10 sentence profile? If I feel that strongly about changing the world... why don't I go change it myself? Where are the measurable goals? Where are the consequences of not achieving the goals? How do I know I'm not just giving my $ to someone to smoke weed on the couch and blog about how much better the world would be if only (insert)...

I'm different from most ppl I think but I never ever give my money to charities without reading everything on their website and scrutinizing who sits on their board. This has even less transparency, no watchdogs..

2) What is the objective? I get "change the world" but how does a small weekly gift do this? Sounds more like high minded rhetoric... WHERE'S THE BEEF?

3) Are you basically paying someone a salary to explore their creative side? I feel like the website, articles I found, and maybe even the designers are not entirely clear on their vision. Dream big, but with clarity, then plan plan plan. Don't plan to 'work' work the plan.

4) I was looking at kickstarter and they were trumpeting how they had raised over 1/4 billion in about 2.5 years. Remarkable... yes.. but compare to traditional. Accel, private equity, other venture cap... these guys move BIG money and they do so QUICKLY. Knowledge economy latency is everything.

5) I'll looked the website up a few days ago while I was waiting to meet a friend for drinks on my iphone.... website does not work great on that platform. Trying to fund techies (which im still not sure is the goal) this seems like a major downside.

As a sort of summary. Again, I'm very unclear what the site actually intends to do, which might reflect my ignorance, or may reflect the designers themselves not really being clear, unless I read this totally wrong, the assumption underlying the idea is that world shattering ideas will not get funded within a contemporary economic framework.

I study complexity. The main benefit of capitalism is the price mechanism. Prices are responsible for both distribution of goods and services and income. Prices, with some exceptions, are not set by any person in particular, but by 'social' forces. Prices are the most democratic form of mass social action ever conceived by mankind. The problem is they themselves were not conceived by anyone in particular but were stumbled upon... like most great inventions. Prices dictate the relative cost of producing something - what must be given up. Human have no crystal ball that I know of, so wisdom and complex discovery mechanisms are the next best thing. There are certainly exceptions, but the goal is not just to fund 'good' ideas, ideas have to be sustainable. In order to be sustainable they must be able to generate profits in line with the cost of capital required to produce the products. Services that cannot be monetized or socially inefficient, not just economically inefficient, because exchange is mutually beneficially (assuming no fraud). Does that mean charity has no place? Of course not, if helping someone makes me feel better, and lets be honest nobody gives away money because it makes them feel worse off, then the exchange is mutually beneficial. My concern is if we willy nilly toss money around with no information, and metrics, how could we possible expect return on the investment.

Unless it is only the physical act of 'giving' that interests humans I think gittip needs to focus on doing a better job telling the story. They allude to this but seems like just rhetoric. HOW are these people going to change the world with my $20 a week? If they are failing to do so, HOW is that situation going to be changed? If they are squandering my 'gift' HOW will I ever know? Like can you streamline a more friendly business plan? "Your gift will contribute to my being able to create sidewalk art in a blighted neighborhood in LA, thereby giving people who traditionally may have poor access to the arts visually and emotionally compelling stimulation. I need $10 for chalk and 150 for incidentals." Forcing the gift recipients to think critically about how they will utilize their gifts also may lead to more ownership, and thus more value per $ of gift.

Just for me I'd rather slip a $10 to the obviously downtrodden man under the bridge then $20 a week to some programmer I know nothing about with vague claims about improving the world."

[cakey]

I feel this illustrates a key distinction we need to be clearer on, which echoes points raised in hope's feedback. Gittip is far more about tipping to projects and people whose stories you are already familiar with, and far less about using the site to find new people.

Gittip stories should be a summary of a user or projects main points of focus, NOT a marketing campaign like kickstarter.

We need to emphasise this by ensuring it is as easy as possible to find the people and projects whose stories you are already familiar with, which is why I am such a supporter of #536.

@whit537 needs to decide where he stands on this one, :)

[timothyfcook]

+100.

Stoked to see this happen soon! I agree with earlier notes. This feature is going to be really really important to the long-term growth and quality of Gittip.

However, I agree it should be kept simple. Link out to, or embed, other content. It's not a place to publish, just to compile and report.

My Pitch: the new profile pages should have two main sections:

1. Statement: why are you on Gittip, who are you, what are you doing that you need/want gittip support)
2. Collapsible timeline of updates: always focused in (and expanded) to show just the most current updates. This section will be a chronological list of gittip-specific updates on your gittip-funded work. Updates could be links to tweets, blog posts, or, if the user is really serious, embedded videos, etc.

2a. Goals integrated into the timeline: Sort of like the Quirky timeline listed earlier, your major GOALS can be listed and interspersed with your timeline. Ideally, a Gittip user timeline starts out with a list of goals

like this:

1. GOAL
2. GOAL
3. GOAL
4. GOAL

and, over time, it becomes this:

a. UPDATE b. UPDATE c. UPDATE d. UPDATE e. UPDATE

1. GOAL UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
2. GOAL
3. GOAL
4. GOAL

[chadwhitacre]

@timothyfcook I like the goals and updates focus. I assume goals are not financial but work-related, yes? Or as @gwenbell and @evbogue call it, The Work. ;-)

What do you think of the (nascent) horn feature?

https://www.gittip.com/timothyfcook/horn/

This seemingly goes against what you said about linking out instead of publishing here, but ...

[timothyfcook]

@whit537 Yeah, the goals are work related. A simple form of accountability/motivation for users.

I think the Horn feature has merit. I don't see it as "publishing" but as voicing gittip-specific support. I think Gittip is fostering a special sort of community that could stand to include a feature like this unique to the site...

I think it needs a bit more structure, and a bit more explanation. I'll think on it more and find the Horn issue...

[ehmatthes]

I'd love to see some movement on this issue.

Strong profile pages are relevant to Gittip's mission

We see what I think of as "gittip campaigns" from time to time, where people try to drum up support for their work through gittip. Potential funders may see a project they'd like to support, but they may want to know a little more about the person behind the project. I feel strongly that Gittip should not reinvent blogging, twitter, or any form of social networking, but a strong profile page could be central to Gittip's mission. I'm not sure that I want to see an expectation of updating notes about progress on Gittip itself; most project development platforms have clear tools for that, and I wouldn't want to feel I have to write weekly updates on Gittip as well as keep up with the issue trackers on my projects.

Potential funders should find links to a recipient's projects, blogs, and social activity on their profile page, but funders shouldn't have to follow all those links to get a clear sense of who a recipient is. Gittip is founded on the principle of trust in creators. Potential funders should be able to get a clear picture of someone they are thinking of supporting from that person's profile page alone. They should be able to quickly and easily follow some links to verify what the person is claiming on their profile page, but that profile page should also stand on its own pretty well.

There is a clear structure to strong profile pages

I recently revised my Gittip profile, and I ended up with several main sections: Projects, Personal, Funding Goal, and Contact Info. When I have taken the time to look through others' profiles, I keep seeing these same categories. I think this is pretty much what it takes to give a clear sense of who we are as creators on Gittip.

I think we want to avoid the MySpace issue and keep some clear structure to the page, to maintain a clear and consistent Gittip brand across the site. But the profile page should represent an individual.

There are a few high-profile people such as Chad, Jesse Noller, Kenneth Reitz, whose Gittip profiles are probably not that important to their success on Gittip. These people are so well known in their communities that they don't need a strong profile on Gittip. But if we want to help lesser known people who are doing important work, then giving them the tools to build a strong profile page could help scale the project. I think we should refine the profile page with these less well-known people in mind.

Doing something

I am well aware that it's silly to just ask the maintainers of open projects to do a bunch of work that you personally care about. When I can get started hacking on Gittip, these will be my main areas of focus:

• Issue #640 - Markdown for profile statements
  • This is a quick and easy way to let motivated people develop stronger profiles.
• Add a text box near the Funding Goal, that lets recipients give a brief reason why they are asking for a certain level of support.
  • This information can be included in the overall profile, but it's really good to know that these are not arbitrary numbers. A strong reason for having a funding goal can motivate people to donate, and I would like to see this reason featured prominently, rather than being buried in the text of a longer profile.
• Help redesign the overall structure of the profile page.
  • When people write a meaningful profile, there ends up being some unused space on the lower right. I really like the mockup shown above, and I'd like to help implement that or refine the idea.
• Play with some informative stats that could be displayed on the site, or for gittip developers to gauge the maturity of the project.
  • A histogram showing how well users are progressing towards their funding goal: number of users vs. % of funding goal.
  • The more users who are at or near their funding goal, the more mature gittip is as a project.
  • We'd probably want to filter out new and inactive users; maybe include anyone who is receiving $5 or more per week.
  • If Gittip is only working for really high-profile people, then it will have limited impact. This would show how deep gittip's impact is.
  • Personal stats, such as the current percentage of the funding goal that is being met.
  • When visiting a profile page, it would be good to see visually how close a person is to meeting their goal.
  • It might be good to think of 'stretch goals', as people have in Kickstarter. Would funding beyond your target level be meaningful to you?

Thank you all for the work you are doing. I have been skimming the issues for most of the last year, and I have been humbled by your work on the project.

• Eric

[chadwhitacre]

Projects, Personal, Funding Goal, and Contact Info. When I have taken the time to look through others' profiles, I keep seeing these same categories.

Good call!

[chadwhitacre]

Not directly "story" related, but a thought from @mehulkar on #2612 re: what should be on the profile page:

Displaying "My Balance" on my Profile page. Since the homepage links directly to your Profile, I expect to see something familiar over that transition. That $x.xx is the thing I care about the most, based on the homepage design.

[rohitpaulk]

Can this be closed?