A while back, a request was made by one of the Dev List members to do a URL shortener script.  Well fast forward a few weeks and it is complete.

I would like to introduce to you Incy – a very simple URL shortening script written in PHP.    I decided to put the script online as a demonstration at incy.co (feel free to use).

Why You Need Your Own Shortening Script

There are literally hundreds of URL shorteners out there.  I’ve used a number of them, switching between su.pr, bit.ly and just recently playing with my own, incy.   Both Bit.ly and Su.pr have been very reliable with good uptime and I’m ure they won’t disapear anytime soon.

But I have been burned in the past.  I’ve seen URL shorteners close down before, and with them, all my links.  Suddenly I had social networks and blogs filled with broken links – talk about annoying (as well as potentially costly).

Now you can run your own URL shortener.    Your in control of your own data.

Ridiculously Simple

Incy is dead simple.  Put in a URL, click a button, and its replaced with a nice short one.  I was a little annoyed that I had to design it with a button – I’m still trying to figure out a good way to remove the “click” step (bit.ly does it well).

A utility like a URL shortener should be just that – a utility.  It has a job to perform and should do it with as little fuss as possible – no page reloads, no messages, no warnings.  Just get the job done.

Database Free – Ridiculously Simple Installation.

Every URL script I looked at required a database.  This means its harder to install, move around and edit.  Incy uses flat files – that means no database.

Installing Incy is as simple as uploading the files – no config files to edit, no database to create, no setup procedure.   All you need is a server/hosting account that has PHP5 support.

A Building Block For You

Because the script is so simple, its ready for you to add some flavours.  Why not code a stats module, wordpress integration, ad support, an API, bookmarklets – the sky is the limit.  Just like all my script releases, this is designed to be added onto – even if you’re not a programmer, thanks to outsourcing you can easily hire a programmer to make some quick (and cheap) edits.

Download the Script

Dev List Members: Coming to your inbox this Wednesday (tomorrow).  I’ll also put up a direct download link in the archives once it gets sent out.

If you’re not on the list, join here.  Its great value.  You get this script plus countless other photoshop templates, scripts, ebooks and other goodies sent to you each and every week!

It’s been a while since I did one of these posts.  Here are the best posts I read all week.  If you’ve got nothing better to do this weekend – why not get some quality reading done:

Travel Stuff

My Quest for the Perfect Office

Ok so Johnny wins the award for best office locations.    My “offices” are usually much more boring being the hostel common area.  Maybe I should start seeking out some less practicable but much cooler locales.

Sleeping in Airports

As the title suggests, this site is dedicated to sleeping in airports.  I instantly fell for this site after a recent (somewhat epic) 3 day commute through Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Chiang Mai airports, without stepping outside. (a ridiculous itinerary only attempted by those silly fools looking to save a couple hundred on an airfare).   Next time, I’ll take a bus.

ExileLifestyle – Pick Colin’s Next Destination

Colin moves to a new destination every 3 months – its an awesome idea.  But whats more awesome is he lets his readers choose where he goes next.  I sensibly chose Tunisia — one of the cheapest countries to live, French is widely spoken, and I love middle eastern food…..maybe I should stop by.

Twenty- Something Travel

I’ve been following this blog (in the shadows) for a while now.  Its a great indie travel blog and its just got better with a slick new design.  I’m digging the retro header.  Nice one!

Geeky Stuff

How to build your own CDN using BIND, GeoIP, Nginx, and Varnish

Ok so this article is really only for those who either run web apps or just love playing around with servers.   I want to run my own CDN and this is a very nice (and cheap) way to do it.  Just need to find servers in a bunch of edge locations.

Someone Shoud Build This

An idea from Matt Cutts (Google) on a way to prevent the sharing of old news.    Half joke, but seriously maybe a weekend project?

My Stuff

Dev Work -i’m currently in the zone.  If you need an design or dev work done, I’m available to take on one more project.  Whether its a banner, logo, blog design or complete app, lets talk.

And finally – sign up for the Dev List (yep I came up with a new name for the temporarily name “list”).  If you want to build stuff online, you need to this.  Whether you’re a design, marketer, developer or blogger – there is something for everyone.    And you now get to try an issue for free!  Give it a go

What People Pay For: In relation to web apps.

An important part of building an web app, is figuring out how its going to generate revenue.  If you fail to ignore this step, your app risks becoming a hobby as opposed to a business.

And It’s all to easy to just throw up a bunch of ads and hope for the best.  But in reality, advertising doesn’t provide much of a return for the smaller web app.  So instead of giving into advertising, ask yourself this question:

What Will People Pay For

You would be surprised just what people are willing to pay for.  That’s not a negative statement.  We live in a consumerist society.  People have this thing called “money” that they want to give to other people.

So lets take a look at what people pay for and how it can relate to your web app.

People Pay For a Feature

I am looking at two televisions.  They are both similar but one has a couple of additional features.  I am more than willing to pay a little extra for that additional feature.  I can see myself maybe wanting to use the Picture in Picture option someday.   And so I buy the more expensive one.

People pay even more for unique features.   How is your app unique?

It often just takes one or two unique features to win a customer.

People Pay For Quality

Why do people buy a BMW?  Sure they might be “cool” but certainly aren’t considered one of the coolest cars.  So why are people willing to pay a premium for a BMW when they could buy a similar sized car for much less – quality?  BMW has built a brand around quality – people believe that a BMW is of much better “quality” than say a KIA.

BMW isn’t the only company to build a brand around “quality” — I have a habit of dropping my Macbook when going through Airport security (trust me, its a horrible feeling when you hear it drop against the hard ground).  On one occasion,  after dropping the laptop,  the sympathetic security officer said to me “lucky it’s a Mac”.    It was then I realised that Apple products were considered to be of better quality – of which I do (whether foolishly or not) believe to be the case.

People will pay a premium if they believe they are getting quality.  How can a web app deliver quality?  In many different ways – what is your uptime like?  Does your site break when it gets a flurry of visitors?  Does your app have a “quality” interface, that looks professional, and delivers a predictable experience?  These are just some of the ways to inject “quality” into your web apps brand.

People Pay for Service

Have you ever shopped at Harrods in London?  Its quite an experience, and I could personally (and have) spend most of the day in the food hall.  I tried to pinpoint why it was such a draw for tourists and locals alike.  Partly it is due to quality (you expect Harrods to do an incredible job sourcing only the best), but I think service plays a more important role here.

At Harrods the service is good.  You might call it “old fashioned”, but I’m too young to make that call.  I’m willing to pay somewhat ridiculous prices for food, just because I was getting treated so well while shopping there.

Why do people pay more for Zappos shoes?  You can buy shoes cheaper elsewhere online.  But they deliver their famous brand of customer service – in fact I’m sure people are drawn to Zappos, just to experience the customer service.

So people will pay for Service.  Integrate amazing customer service into your app.  If someone clones your app, you can always deliver better customer service – there is no limit or roof on how good your service can be.

People Pay for New

Why did I just buy a new iPod Touch.  I don’t need it.  If I was to analyse my usage on my touch, I would find that I do little else than play music, check in on Foursquare, use the calculator and the odd app.  My new iPod Touch can do all of these things.  And so could my old one.  So why did I buy the new one?

I can’t figure out exactly why – there is no one feature that caused me to spend a few hundred.  So I’ve come to the conclusion that “new” was the cause.  A new one is shinier, lighter,faster – all of which sound amazing, but none of which actually caused me to buy the product.

So people will pay for new.  Be on the edge of technology – by that I mean pushing the boundaries as to what is possible.   Come up with new ideas, don’t follow trends.  Be the company that creates the “new”.

People Pay for Simplicity

This is what I’m all about – simplicity.

One of the most common things I hear “your app doesn’t do this, and this.  Competitor does and they are cheaper.  Why should I pay for yours”.   In this scenario, competitor has chosen to build a brand around “features”.  They have done very well out that.  But I’ve chosen to focus on “simple”.

My theory is that people will pay for a simpler experience.

Why the hell do we buy McDonalds?  Sure its addictive but it isn’t that good – and we all now know that its really bad for us.  Why do parents feed their kids this crap?  Because its simple.  Its predictable and easy.  No matter where you are in the world, no matter what language you speak, you know that you can walk into a Mcdonalds and walk out 2 minutes later with some food (if you can call it that).  Its just simple.

McDonalds simplified food and made billions.  They don’t have the best food, they don’t have the most expensive food, the coolest food, or the most extensive menu.  They do have simple food.

People pay for simple.  Why not take a problem and make a simple solution.  Why not cut some features.   How about you look at a competitor, see how they are doing it and beat them buy making your solution ridiculous simple.

Taking the simple approach, you will be at the mercy of the press.  “Why would anyone use this product if they could use competitor which does this and this”.  But don’t worry – they have to write this.  And if they don’t, I’m disappointed in you for building a an app that is too complex — build something worthy of criticism.

So that is just some of the things people pay for.  There are many others – what do you think?

This Weeks Downloads (TWDs) are about to get sent out.  Here is what you’ll be getting:

URL Shortener PSD

I’m actually working on the script behind this PSD template to be released soon.  But I thought in the meantime, why not release the PSD template.   The difference in textures helps the URL box stand out from the background.  I also decided to use a Purple/Pink colour palette as i’m sick of using blue – I think its time for me to expand my colour range.

Use this template as a building block for your own simple apps.

Twitter Background

I re-read Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It and it inspired me to take more time to develop my presence on various social networks.    It also inspired me to do a design for a funky Twitter background.  I hate,  Twitter backs that have too much info – nobody reads it, so I kept it to the absolute minimum.

I’ll release a Moo Minicard design in the same theme, so you can create some slick business cards as well.  Look out for this design next week.

Login Form

A simple login form for your web app.  Once again its in PSD format.  You could just use the button which has slightly more depth than my usual offerings.

How do I Get These

Simple, get on The List.

Everybody kept telling me how important it was to keep updating WordPress to the latest version.

But I got lazy and paid the price

This blog (or rather feint.me/travel) was hacked due to a security vulnerability found in WordPress.

Let me tell you – trying to get rid of malware is a bitch and in the end I hired an outside firm to get rid of it for me.

So don’t be lazy like me – make sure your blog is kept updated, or as suggested to me, use a hosted platform.

Although my Macbook crapped out, I still managed to get back into the swing of things.

Here are this weeks downloads:

Donate Button

Here’s an alternative to the standard PayPal donation button.  Works best on light designs although could easily be modified to look nice on a dark background

Awesome Image Captions

When including images on this blog, I often like to caption them – it gives a little bit of context.  Here is one technique you can use (i’ve also included instructions on how to get the blurred effect):

Ebook Background

A travel inspired background – not only will text be easier on the eyes when placed over this background, it will also give your ebooks a more polished finish.  Works well in both InDesign and Word.

List Members, these downloads hit your inbox a little while ago – enjoy.

To download, sign up on this page.

That looks like an interesting piece of content..I’ll click the link and give it a read….oh no I won’t…..there’s a big popup lightbox standing between me and the content.

There seems to be a growing trend – bloggers placing an email newsletter opt-in form inside a lightbox that automatically popups to visitors.   I can’t understand why so many bloggers (or should I say mindless markerters) think this is a good idea.  Heres why (hopefully I’ll change some minds):

Users Are Used to Set Browsing Pattern

You click a link > you are taken to the content.  This is the expected scenario – and the user is used to it.   However, by popping up a lightbox, you are breaking this pattern.  This in turn causes confusion and annoyance.

You Are Selling to the User before they Have a Chance to Read Your Content

Most of these popup plugins, only show the first time the user visits the site.  This is a ridiculous concept – surely you want the user to get to know you and your content before signing up for your newsletter?

You Have a Popup Blocker Installed

You are using a browser with a popup blocker – which blocks popup advertisments.  You probably love the fact you have this installed.  Yet – you break this piece of software by using another method.

Stop the Hard Sell

You’re an awesome blogger, with amazing content.  You don’t need to push me into subscribing.   I probably already subscribe to your list (if its worth reading).  Don’t annoy me.

Netbooks and Iphones Can’t Handle These Popups

Have you tried accessing your site on a netbook or iphone?  Did you bother doing any browser, or usability testing?  Did you ask your readers if they found this box annoying?

Netbooks don’t have the screen space to display many of these lighbox plugins.  The result is the “close” button being shown offscreen rendering the site useless.

Don’t just base your decision on whether to keep this plugin installed on your subscriber count metric – you are being ignorant to many other metrics like bounce rates and more abstract metrics like user satisfaction – both equally important.

So here’s a challenge for you bloggers (mindless marketers), come up with a better solution that doesn’t break common usability rules and pays respect to your readers.

Oh crap….a flashing folder on bootup.  What could that possibly mean?  Oh nothing much – just the hard drive has failed.

I didn’t realize just how important a laptop was to me until my hard drive failed on me yesterday, crippling my macbook and with it my source of income.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had a hard drive fail on me – yet this is the first time, when I’ve been alone, in a foreign country.  It’s funny, I never really get homesick, but after losing my Macbook I felt really far from home.

I can’t even replace the Macbook in Thailand (without having to settle for a slightly different keyboard layout).

The Tool of the Trade

A laptop is an essential piece of gear for the digital nomad.  Without it, you lose control over your income.    Thats a scary thought – so what are some things you can do to help ease the pain of losing a much loved laptop:

Backup, Backup, Backup

Luckily, I’m fairly good at backup and had transferred most of my design work across to a flash drive (and the cloud).  But I still lost some files (my music collection) – if you’re a designer, a hdd failure could easily cost you thousands of dollars if you lose your work.

Older May Not Be Better

I don’t like constantly replacing tech – my Macbook was going on 5 years so it was probably nearing the end of its working life (The latest photoshop ran very slow).    If you rely on your laptop its probably smart to replace it every 4 years or so.  But then again – hdd can fail at any time.

Switch to the Cloud

Thank god I work in the cloud – all my docs, are safetly hosted (and backed up) in the Cloud.  I use Google Docs, and backupify.

For Digital Nomads, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be using the cloud – it just make sense, no matter what minor objections you have.

Don’t Panic

I did – and it got me nowhere.  If you’re laptop (or other essential tool) fails, take a step back, go grab some food and sleep on it (not physically on the laptop, that won’t do anything, just the problem )

Figure out what the worst possible scenario is that involves not having your laptop – once you realize its not actually that bad (mine involved having to fly back to Canberra) you’ll feel better.  Get out your notepad, and start getting your mind out on paper – trust me it helps (and makes for fun reading later)

So as it stands, i’m writing this on a cheap Samsung netbook (and I’m not so sure this can be legal copy of Windows,  put on by a friendly Thai for 500 baht $15).   When I get the chance, I’ll switch to a Macbook Air.

What tools can’t you live without – the ones you couldn’t run a business without?

RIP Macbook.

Running a startup is all about overcoming challenges.  You’re sure to come across many of your own.  If you build web apps, or have been thinking about building a web app, here is one challenge you’ll eventually need to overcome: email

Now I’m not talking about email marketing campaigns (that can be managed with a great tool like Mailchimp), I’m talking about transactional emails.   These emails may include:

• Account Activation
• Signup Confirmation
• Friend Requests
• Follow Notifications
• etc.

Running a web with just a few thousand members, you’ll probably never need to worry about these emails causing and overload – but once things start getting bigger you’ll notice your qmail (or whatever mail agent you’re using) starts to have issues.  If you are constantly need to reboot qmail or clear the mail queue – its time to think about a better option.

The two options I’ve listed below, are aimed for small startups – perfect for bootstrapped applications.  Also, if you’re more into server admin than me, you can probably create a pretty slick mail setup on your own.  The following services will take mail off your hands:

SendGrid

This is the service I use and love.  Sendgrid is used by some pretty neat companies like Foursquare and GetSatisfaction – just imagine how many emails those companies send.  Sendgrid will improve your email deliverability (are your web apps mails always going to the junk folder?) but you also get some very handy stats.    These stats helped me tweak the emails Task.fm sent to improve the open and click-through rates.

The average web app will pay around $0.00075 per email sent through Sendgrid.

Postmark

Similar to SendGrid, Postmark is apparently very good (I’ve never used them, but I’ve only heard good things).  The one major difference is that Postmark uses the RackSpace cloud, which I’m a big fan of.

Take a look at the two and see which fits best for you – there are a few minor differences between the companies (and of course look at the pricing)

Why Outsource Your Mail

Mail for web apps may seem simple – mainly because tools like gmail have made sending and receiving email so simple for consumers – but when you’re talking about delivering email at scale, things can get quite complex.  Both these companies know a lot about mail and you’ll be tapping into their knowledge pool.

I’ve mentioned just two of the many different methods that can be used to overcome the mail challenge – I would love to hear how you handle mass transactional emails.

P.S – learn how to build your own Web Apps (or steal my code) by signing up for The List.

This one was built for my Mother.

I’m currently in Phuket, Thailand.  Its raining outside – which is ok, as I spent a little too long on the beach yesterday and gives me the chance to write this post.  Its a nice lifestyle I’m currently living – but its not without its risks.

At the end of the day, even though I’m rarely alone, I am traveling solo.  And understandably, this does worry my family – after all its their job to worry.

So I decided to come up with a really simple way to let my folks where I currently am and that I’m alright.

Now I could just send an email – but I know that there is often not the time, and knowing my folks, Im not sure how long it would be before they check there inbox.  So I wanted to send them a Text Message – this way, if anything was wrong, they would get it instantly.

Now I could use a phone, but like many other travelers, I don’t actually carry one or have international access.  So this sounded like the perfect opportunity to solve a problem and build a web app.

Introducing Check.fm

Check.fm (yes another .fm – i’ll explain the very good reason behind this in another post) is an app that will send an sms message to your Family/Friends/loved ones when you check in, with your current location.

To use the app, you simply add your contacts (I added just my Mum), and then while travelling hit the “check in” button to have a sms message with your current location sent.

Your contacts will be sent a short link which hosts a map with your location.  For those interested in stalking me – heres mine (been a while since I checked in)

Peace of Mind

I know from travelling myself, that its often hard to find the time (or persistent wifi) to make a phone call or send an email.  This app was built to make use of limited time.  I know my parents appreciate getting an update every now and then of where I’m currently located.  And it can be done with just my laptop – without the need for a phone.

Pretty Nifty Technology

Thanks goes out to HTML5 – this app uses the brand spanking new GeoLocationAPI to determine a users location (triangulation of WIFI signals) to determine your location.  Its very precise – It can find you within around 50 meters without using a GPS.

The Very Beginning

My goal now, is to turn this into a iPhone app and add support for Foursquare and other check in tools.  The eventual goal:
if you you want to let your folks know your ok, and don’t want to call, you would turn to Check.fm.

Let me know what you think

p.s – if you want to build your own web apps, make sure you subscribe to The List – Its full of the building blocks needed for your next app