Making Software Fun(furbo.org)
97 points by zdw 32 days ago | 8 comments
userbinator 29 days ago
These sorts of "fun" things are only a good idea if your software is already good. Otherwise they'll just make your users hate your product even more ("what the hell did you spend your effort on!?")
selcuka 29 days ago
True, but at the same time "enterprise software" vendors keep changing their UI icons instead of fixing real, decade old bugs (I'm looking at you, JetBrains). Apparently there is some value in adding such features.
zelphirkalt 29 days ago
Atlassian (broken Markdown parsers, incredibly sluggish/laggy UIs, update state issues on page without reload, and countless more)

Microsoft Windows (bugs relating to icons "down at the clock" and tooltips of those icons, sound volume management, start menu lag, stupid search in start menu, where when you type 3 letters it finds the thing you search, but when you type 4 letters it is no longer there, worse and worse system settings dialogs, hiding everything behind 3 more dialogs to click, and many more)

Salesforce Slack (buggy Markdown parser (what is it with these big companies always getting something like Markdown wrong???), laggy as hell, still no voice chat on FF, ...)

All of these big companies make dysfunctional software, that they can only push down our throats, because of uninformed management levels and the sheer size of marketing budgets they spent.

doix 29 days ago
I used to work for a small SaaS that _really_ cared about quality/speed/usability. Unfortunately, it doesn't really sell well. People care about features and if you're missing a feature compared to a competitor people won't pick you. Even if the competitors feature is absolute garbage and probably a net-negative because people will try to use something broken, people will still pick it.

We probably got a feature complete/working within less than a week then spent months as the CEO (who was a product guy) was nitpicking. We'd routinely throw away features if we felt they didn't fit well.

In the end it didn't really matter. I liked the tool and was proud of it, but it in terms of making money, it didn't do well.

Lanolderen 29 days ago
I wanna hate it but I've done it. It's just tempting to go for the "this looks a bit wonky" or "add CSV import/export to X" ticket instead of the "weird bug, can't reproduce, here are some logs, reassigned 12 times in the past 3 years" ticket.
dunham 29 days ago
You're working on bugs? Sounds like there is room in the schedule for another feature.
Hamuko 29 days ago
Product managers aren't seen to be shipping if all that they have to show are bug fixes that the actual engineers did. They need big projects that they can slap their name on.
brabel 29 days ago
Also, designers gotta justify their jobs.
yarekt 29 days ago
Well where do you think all that tech debt that “we’ll pay off later” goes? new icons is the only thing they can ship quickly.

In their defence who wants to be the first PO to ship nothing for extended period of time. Long term always takes a back seat to short term, IMO in any company pressure must come from the very top

wink 29 days ago
I think in this case it's about a beta of unreleased software (or right about launch), so that doesn't even apply.

But I think the main factor is that it's not-business software by a relatively popular (and well-liked) "small" software company.

pplonski86 29 days ago
Agree. The software should be good and reliable. Then we can think about small and simple improvements like that.

I would say that software should be first smart, then it can be fun.

Nevermark 29 days ago
I once shipped a product whose app icon within the app disappeared if clicked, revealing a square “monitor” with a small version of Breakout you had better start playing with your left/right arrow keys because the game started upon appearance.

EDIT:

In a user's guide I introduced diagrams of calculations with points for scalar values, vertical bars for vectors, and then square 2-D grids to represent matrices, which I referred to as "waffles". With "waffle", referenced by page, in the index at the back of the guide.

I wondered if anyone would register the mild ridiculousness, but I had people coming up to me in conferences later laughing about matrix waffles.

FreezerburnV 29 days ago
One of my absolute favorite pieces of software of all time is "Toot!", the Mastodon client on iOS. It's because it exemplifies this type of development extremely well, with most interaction in the app having some kind of fun little thing attached to it. Favorite a post? It starts an animation from the start turning the entire post gold, which persists and IIRC shimmers occasionally. Boost a post? It pops it out and moves the post up the screen before putting the post back. There are lots of little fun things it does, and it just makes it so fun to interact with. We need more software that embodies this type of design, letting things be more fun or whimsical, instead of super serious or "corporate fun" (e.g.: Notion).
rsyring 29 days ago
FWIW, this is a very subjective sentiment. I really, really dislike things like you described. Software is a tool to me. Let me do my job with it as simply as possible. No distractions and don't get in my way.

It would be like putting flashing lights on a hammer every time you hit a nail. Might sell well at Christmas but very few carpenters I know would want one.

MeetingsBrowser 29 days ago
Some software is a tool, but I think social media is solidly entertainment. Especially liking and boosting toots.

Tools should be practical, entertainment should be fun.

aloisdg 29 days ago
For accessibility reason, this kind of features are often in opt-out.
trilbyglens 29 days ago
Pre-salesforce Slack is probably the most clear example of this in my mind. Still to this day, their API documentation is a lot of fun to read.

The Salesforce Behemoth Corporate Machine is slowly eroding the character of Slack, though, sadly.

selcuka 29 days ago
Their release notes [1] is still kind of fun.

[1] https://slack.com/intl/en-au/release-notes/mac

smatija 29 days ago
I really appreciate this one from 4.18:

Certain menus were not being properly translated when switching languages in the app. You know what they say about menus — they’re most helpful when you can read them.

plasticsoprano 29 days ago
Codekit still has the best release notes, https://codekitapp.com/updates/
unfixed 29 days ago
Haha didn't know about this.

Honestly this is the tone that should have all release notes!

stefs 29 days ago
ah, i once worked on a website and photoshopped one eye of a customer for a testimonial shut. then i switched the images out for a few ms on a random timer: i.e., die testimonal was winking at you. it was tiny and only happened once every few minutes but led to a lot of amusement in the dev team (you mostly saw some movement in the corner of your eye, took them ages to pinpoint it down). removed it before going live, tho.
jccalhoun 29 days ago
These things can be fun and help add a lot of personality but it is a problem if they get in the way of doing things. I'm reminded of old dvd menus where instead of just being able to hit play you had to sit through some swooping animation.
testbreakfast 29 days ago
this reminds me of the old meeting room ipads in pivotal labs offices. if you swiped diagonally downwards from the top corner, it would start flashing rainbow colours and play (iirc) September by Earth Wind and Fire.
weikju 29 days ago
I miss fun software. Great read!