I'd Say We're Social

Social media is all the rage and no doubt a powerful tool.  Especially for a project like this, finding community and reaching out to people any way we can is critical to the effort.

To make connecting even easier, in addition to our Facebook "Recommend" button, our blog, and our Twitter feed, we have introduced:

• A Google widget that can be used on iGoogle, Google Desktop, Orkut, or any other site.
• Integration with StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and Digg.
• A fully integrated Facebook App and a Facebook Fan Page.

All of these technologies allow users to discover Wuz Rent along new avenues, on their terms; all the while, we are tapping the same crowd-sourcing power we rely on to drive our own site!

Social Media, Location, Mobile, and Tabs

Why is Community at the Top of the Page?

Because the most important component of the site is community.  The information our community provides is everything.  We can change the name, the look, and the format, but the rental database is what makes the whole thing worth while, and to that end we must dedicate the bulk of our effort.  Recognizing the value of the community and encouraging our users to spread the good word currently warrants our layout decision.  Once we have 100K users, the feature will be less important.

Besides the obvious Facebook integration, we now have a Twitter feed, and a blog (obviously) which rounds out a basic SM strategy.  Can anyone come up with some better community efforts we can make?

Where are the Maps?

The site already helps you resolve addresses using Google's geocoding service.  And, if you click the "map" link on any posting, you will see a Google Map popup with a pin locating the property.  But admittedly, the location features are lacking...

Google's mapping and location services are very powerful tools for us, but they have some limitations me must navigate.  Right now we are working on using HTML5 location features to guess at your location and use that information to inform search results.  Finally, we'll have to devise an adequate reverse geocoding solution (Google may or may not work in this case) to assist with a more general map integration.

Mobile Access and Layout

So, how do I use this thing to save money and make the world better? 
Of all the things to take issue with the service, usability is the most justifiable and least mentioned issue.  Right now, access to the WuzRent database is like getting to search on a library computer.  The functionality is adequate for finding an exhaustive dataset for a given location (assuming you are fairly comfortable with web technology), but it is certainly not a hand-holding experience and we're not setup to always give you exact comps.

To this end, we're working on a bevy of upgrades.  Upgraded search, upgraded stats, activity-based "tab-like" layout, and of course mobile.

We need to support the two major use cases I foresee:

1. Interest in a specific property (renting a new place or renegotiating).
2. Casual browsing (general interest, area interest).

In the specific property case, location, mobile, and specific search are the most important features; in the more general case, broad search features and stats-based navigation are more important. 

Continuous Integration

The web is an exciting place.  The web is for everyone, just like music.  People's use of the web, just like their listening to music, is an everyday thing.  Everyone is an expert, and no one is shy about saying what's great and what sucks.

We've gotten a ton of feedback, which is a blessing and curse, and very impossible to sort through in an entirely reasonable and intelligible manner.  From an engineering perspective, there is an existing development schedule, features that run contrary to recommendations, and sheer impossibilities (at least not without funding).  Improvements are being undertaken everyday at the functional, strategic, and visual levels largely thanks to the participation and feedback of our growing community.

Continuous integration is a software term that refers to immediately combining the work of all developers into a product.  With this project, our developers merge features and improvements into the website everyday.  We have a new Twitter feed up in our Community feature.


Check back often to see the results of our continuous integration of features.

Stay true to the cause,
The Man Behind the Curtain

Someone's gotta be...

...the first comment on the blog. It takes a brave soul. And to show our appreciation, we are going to give you a gold star and a bowl of guac with no cilantro.

I happen to agree that the vast number of fonts is a bit much. That said, don't you kind of wish you could write docs at work with random, interchangeable fonts? I'm kind of sick of Arial Narrow. Did you know there is actually an extensive Wikipedia page about the font "Arial"?

I think there are still a few lines on the homepage that don't quite read that well. I'm thinking them through...

As for the suggestion to move the "Community" section down the homepage. I think I like it where it is for now. You can still see the "Post Rent. See Rents" intro section on the first screen shot. And the community portion feels pretty unique. It would be great if we can a communal feedback loop going.

thats all for now.

wuzrent II

Kick-Off

The site, live for about a week, conceived shortly before then, has been running well.

We launched with a barebones design and an email to our closest friends.

In a week's time we've collected rental data from all over the country, seen visitors from as far as Europe and South America, received a ton of feedback, corrected a few bugs, and introduced a new look & feel.

There is a diverse community of Manhattan professionals behind this project.  Though we can easily agree the idea is a winner, there is a chorus of ideas and conceptions about what the site needs and how it should evolve.

We hope to make this a forum for that discussion: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Feel free to post on our posts and make your own suggestions.  Get involved!

And remember to check WuzRent? frequently to see the site evolve.