Thought Leadership

How About Templates and Wizards?

Two easy profile improvement ideas for Medium. We need urgent solution.

Implementing these two ideas can save time and reduce the pains of writers struggling with profile designs

Context and background

My follow-up to my previous story inspired me to write this piece.

Since Medium introduced the new profile format, many of us have been affected by the changes adversely. I did not like the new profile format and still don’t like the lack of functionality. A substantial drop in my stats coincides with the profile change; hence it is a concern to me. I was not the only one.

Many writers reported that November yielded the lowest income they received on Medium this year. This claim resonated with me as I experienced a substantial drop in my November payment. However, this is not the point of my story. My point is related to new and problematic writer profiles.

I attempted to design my profile as offered by Medium via email. The outcome was not desirable, as pointed out in this story.

The story received some concerning comments. Several writers raised their concerns. Writers don’t have the time and skills to design their profiles. For example, Dr Jeff Livingston commented “I am frustrated by this issue as well. I do not want to learn digital design. I just want to write.”

It is not only a skill issue, but there are no published instructions. The lack of instructions discourages writers from attempting to customize their profiles. No one wants to waste their precious time.

I made the time at the weekend and have some design skills. However, my issue was the lack of notable features to design. I did not see features that can improve the quality of my profile.

I also noticed that there were too many constraints preventing to creation a functional profile. The system was restricting what I wanted to achieve.

In my opinion, the design team might not have applied Design Thinking practice to understand user requirements; therefore, the features are lacking. The current features do not meet the needs of writers.

I hadn’t seen any notice from Medium collecting user requirements before these changes happened. We all learned the changes with surprise. Maybe they did requirements gathering on a small scale, but no evidence that the majority was consulted.

Many writers want to be able to format their profile pages to show selected stories in a particular order and a specific look. For example, many top writers want to feature 20 to 50 best articles from different topics representing their writing portfolio. Some want to show only the heading and perhaps just the first paragraph. Some want only thumbnails. The system does not allow us to achieve what we want.

The common sentiment is that rather than writers should choose what and how to display stories to the readers, Medium mandates the number, format, and amount of content to display in writers’ profiles. This new enforcement concerns many writers.

After this brief background, let me explain the purpose of this story.

Purpose of this story

I have some ideas for improving our profiles. Leveraging my writer, reader, and technology experience, I want to recommend a couple of potential solutions which can address the issues amicably and sustainably.

I propose two compelling and proven techniques to address design issues. These approaches can make the transition process simple and easy for writers.

These two ideas are not new. They are commonly used by many online publishing service providers. However, These two features that I want to introduce don’t exist on Medium; therefore, I feel obliged to point out hoping the engineering team can consider them.

Giving options to users is not rocket science for service providers. It requires an understanding of user needs and commitment to investment for a solution.

Here are the two ideas that can address current profile issues.

1 — Templates

Templates are commonly used design constructs.

A template, based on pre-formatted objects, is a starting point for users.

Templates can help users by giving them options. Using a template resembles selecting items from a sales catalog.

There can be a template button on our profile page where users can choose from pre-formatted profile options.

For example, an option can give the writer to choose 10, 20, or 50 stories to show to the readers.

A template can provide a specific look with colors and fonts. A template can also provide a specific layout where the page objects are desired.

In short, templates give the writers options to choose. The system configures the profile based on the selected template.

I won’t go into the technical details of templates as they would be beyond the scope of this story.

Let me introduce the second idea.

2- Wizards

You may have heard the term wizard when installing software on your PC.

A wizard is a support feature of a software package that automates complex tasks by asking the users a series of understandable questions.

We commonly use wizards for robotics process automation, performing tedious and repetitive tasks.

Based on the answers obtained from the user via the wizard interface, the application configures the profile settings. The idea is rather than the writers waste their precious time; the computer performs tedious and repetitive tasks. This idea offers a sensible approach.

There are patterns in software libraries that can be used to achieve the implementation of wizards. Application programmers can easily design a wizard interface. Many popular blogging and content publishing sites implement wizards to help their customers.

Writers may click on a wizard button such as “Design My Page”.

Then, a wizard may ask questions like:

What colour do you want for background of your profile?

Which of the following fonts would suit your needs?

Which part of the screen do you want to place your photo; right, left, etc.?

How many stories do you want to show on your profile?

Do you prefer thumbnails, summary, or extended views for your stories?

Creating a profile using a wizard can be very quick and easy for writers.

Conclusions

Implementing either templates or wizards are viable options. Use of both can even be more productive and appealing for the platform.

Designing and implementing these two ideas require some investment from Medium. This investment not only can improve the quality of the service for the platform but also reduce the help-desk tickets and saves a considerable amount of time to members.

Considering the large number of members, I believe the investment is justifiable as a business case. The trade-off of investment dollars for client satisfaction is an executive decision.

The onus is on the business leaders of Medium.

I am only a thought leader and a messenger performing a duty of call.

Three critical points need to be considered.

1 — Writers don’t want to waste their time for learning design skills as their primary role is writing.

2 — Writers need well-functioning and appealing profiles to attract attention of readers.

3 — The current situation of writer profiles appear to affect visibility and readability of stories causing substantial decline in stats hence need to be addressed promptly.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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