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twittering: @amyjokim totally. and i love that you used the phrase design-mind.
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Oct 01, 05fileNice
A free php file browser, particularly useful if you have a 'dump' folder on your server where you regularly upload files and you want to be able to see what's there.
Link: fileNice
Also see: eHub Interviews fileNice
eHub Interviews fileNice
Thanks to Andy Beaumont, creator of fileNice for this email interview posted October 12, 2005.
eHub: What is your web application/service about?
fileNice: It’s simply a file browser for looking through the files stored on your webserver.
eHub: Why did you start this project?
fileNice: It was an application that I needed and I figured that if I need it, other people probably do also. I looked at the existing solutions and none of them quite suited my needs. There were a lot of bloated applications and a lot of systems dedicated to a particular type of media. None seemed to allow the user to set up their own file handling, and none of them were particularly fast to use.
eHub: How much time do you devote to its growth? Do you have a day job?
fileNice: During the day I’m Technical Director at Preloaded, a digital media agency in London. This doesn’t leave me with a great deal of time for side projects but a lot of the work on fileNice grew out of a CMS I developed for a client. When I released a public beta, it got linked on the front page of Yahoo News in Japan and I realised there was obviously a lot of interest in a project of this kind. The next release is slightly on the back burner while I’m working on a new Web 2.0 app.
eHub: How large is your team and what are your backgrounds?
fileNice: fileNice is a solo project. My background is actually as a Flash developer, something I still do a little of but my role at Preloaded is gradually moving towards much more Web 2.0 and R+D.
eHub: What is your design philosophy?
fileNice: The only design philosophy employed in fileNice was to make sure it did its job as quickly, easily and intuitively as possible. To build a server application that simple to install, it has to be something anyone can use without needing a manual. The goal was to make it not even need an F.A.Q. although I eventually did have to make one for the more technical questions.
eHub: What technologies are you currently using?
fileNice: I’m often a little late to new technologies and really only take an interest in them if I think they can help me make something better than it could be done using techniques I’m already familiar with. I’ve only just started teaching myself Ruby because it looks like the best option for one of the ideas floating around in my head. I’m still a big fan of PHP.
eHub: If your project is live, what are the most requested features from your users/community?
fileNice: I get a LOT of requests for features that would essentially turn fileNice into a client extranet. Stuff like user log-in, file comments, file upload, file moving / organisational options. I doubt whether most of these features will ever be implemented, if I did this then my Mum would no longer be able to use it.
eHub: Does your user base reside in a primary geographic location or is it distributed?
fileNice: It’s very distributed, although fileNice seems to be very big in Japan.
eHub: Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? The next 2 years?
fileNice: I’ve got a bunch of ideas for other “nice” applications. Simple scripts that do simple jobs intuitively. fileNice itself may possibly one day form the basis of the client extranet that’s so requested, but there will definitely always be the basic option. It does the job it was designed to do and shouldn’t get over complicated or bloated with features that a minority of it’s user base will ever use.
eHub: What is the greatest challenge to your success?
fileNice: Laziness ;)
eHub: What is the one thing you need to get to the next phase of the project?
fileNice: Time. And less laziness. I struggle a little at the end of a hard day’s coding to motivate myself to do some more coding in my spare time.
eHub: Do you have a business model? If so, what is it?
fileNice: No, there’s no business model with these apps. They’re just useful things that I hope other people will find useful too.
eHub: If you’re able to disclose this information, how much traffic or usage do you see on an average day?
fileNice: fileNice is really up and down with the traffic depending on where it’s getting linked from. It varies between about 300 to 1500 unique visitors per day. Recently a lot of these are other developers and people interested in Ajax.
eHub: What is the one thing you’re most proud of about the project?
fileNice: That nobody has emailed me to tell me how bad my Ajax implementation is. Yet.
eHub: How would you describe the shift that’s occurring with the web right now to future generations?
fileNice: Considering the technology to do what we’re doing now has been around a few years it’s interesting to see it now suddenly becoming so important. It wasn’t until the big boys, like Google, started implementing Web 2.0 applications that a lot of people started thinking more about what should be, not what can be.
eHub: What site(s) do you visit everyday other than your own?
fileNice: eHub and mHub, obviously.
linkdup.com - it’s the granddaddy of design portals and a Preloaded project but the current version of it is about 4 or 5 years old. We’re working on a Web 2.0 version of it at the moment although trying to squeeze it in the schedule between client work is tricky.
eHub: How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
fileNice: Not enough.
Thanks to Andy Beaumont, creator of fileNice for this email interview posted October 12, 2005.
Posted by Emily Chang in Development and/or open source
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Emily Chang is an award-winning strategic designer and co-founder and principal of Ideacodes.com, a web consultancy in San Francisco that focuses on the design and user experience of next generation websites, social applications and networked communities. Learn more...
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