nimbletoad blog

VinFolio’s recent financial troubles bring up some legitimate concerns for Web Application pricing models.  Too often web applications are built without consideration for sustainable revenue or long term impact on the user community.  Many companies such as Vinfolio built web applications as lead generation devices.  This method is wrong and too often ends badly when the generated leads fail to provide the anticipated revenue.

Like many web applications, VinFolio does not charge customers to sign up and use their cellar management tool,  VinCellar.  Customers can use this application to keep track of the wines in their wine cellar, receive real time cellar price evaluations, and interact with the VinCellar wine community.  Why does VinFolio offer all this functionality free of charge?  VinCellar is VinFolio’s lead generation device for wine storage and their wine auction marketplace.  VinFolio pays its bills and payroll through commission on wine sales.

Sounds like a win win.  VinFolio gets a steady flow of wines to sell and wine collectors get a great application to manage their cellars free of charge.

Not so fast.  What happens if wines stop selling? What is the price of free?  Now that Vinfolio is circling the financial drain, the future of VinCellar is in jeopardy.

VinCellar clients have invested many hours inputting wines into this system and adding tasting notes.

Vinfolio is not in the business of providing cellar management.  The web app was a fancy lead generation front. VinFolio gave the service away in the hopes of profiting from the sale of the user’s wines.  The problem is that the commission did not pay the rent.

VinCellar is a case of different primary benefits between the site owners and its users.

Users:
Primary – Keeping track of their wine cellars
Secondary – Interacting with the Wine Collector Community
Convenience – An easy way to sell wine

VinFolio:
Primary – Selling users wines through the marketplace and auctions
Secondary – Storing user’s wines for a fee

Unlike other sites such as Ebay and Amazon where the users and site owner share common primary goals, VinFolio’s goals were not aligned with its users.

At Nimbletoad, we firmly believe that a site’s goals should be aligned with the users of that site.  Web Applications  should derive their sustainability from the user community.  This can come either from subscription revenue as in the case of BaseCamp or Freshbooks, or from advertising such as Facebook and Myspace.

Nimbletoad unveils caimeiju.com, a powerful web-based research tool built on the open source Content Management System Joomla!, utilizing the JoomlaWorks K2 content creation component and JPGraphs Object-Oriented PHP Graph creating library.

By integrating these tools, we were able to develop this site for our client Language Media Agency at a fraction of what proprietary technology would have cost. Caimeju.com shows the power CMS systems have beyond a basic website. Open source CMS systems, like Joomla! can be used to build dynamic web applications that stand along side some of the best proprietary software on the web.

By using JPGraphs, we were able to render statistical graphs on the fly in PNG format, allowing for a much faster display of the community data. Users are able to access the information without the constraints or need to install proprietary tools such as Adobe Flash on their web browser. Caimeiju.com is one of the most robust real estate tools that can be viewed on smart phones such as Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry. Users of the iPhone and other smart phones can view the site and graphs without waiting for Adobe Flash to be available on their devices.

Caimeiju.com is a landmark real estate research tool, targeting Chinese Real Estate buyers in the US market. Caimeiju’s community data spans 1700 California cites, with plans to expand service to additional regions in the future.

I just wanted to take moment before I dive into the subject of art and functionality to introduce myself. My name is Nicole Schmidt and I’m Nimbletoad’s newest addition to the team. I’m here to offer design support and maintenance to the everyday operations. I’m excited to join the team in forging new media trails. When I’m not updating and developing sites my passion is creating art with my hands instead of a computer. Here is a a look at my offline passion.
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Visual art, in the traditional sense, is simply mechanical reproduction. In the days of the masters it literally was reproduction because copying someone else is how people learned how to create art. Even with today’s modern and contemporary art movements visual art is still an imitation of nature, imitation of fantasy, interpretation of other peoples art or an attempt to be original through circumstance. So if visual art is subjective and functional art like the Taj Mahal is objective how can you have functional visual art?

I think my form of art is the pinnacle of functional static 2D art. I say this because my art is not just an expression of mine it is a product of repurposing. I take paper trash and recycle it to create my art. It’s one step further in getting the most functionality out of something that originally was made to have one function. Would someone know the original function of my materials was to report on the latest printed news or to inform the recipient their APR was being increased to 29%? Probably not but then again that is what I was going for, art made from trash that didn’t look like it was made from trash.

Some art purists may say it matters what the art was created with, a true artisan uses only the finest materials. For them art is not that subjective and they hold fast to a certain set of beliefs, this is what brings them to their opinions of what fine art is. It’s ok they can stay in the stone ages where functionality and art were two separate entities I myself will keep forging ahead carving new paths for those that follow.

My art is on display at Vine To Glass, 210-A N. Coast Hwy., Oceanside, CA 92054 through August 8, 2009. Come for the last hurrah with my art on the walls: Sun & Sea, Vino & Tapas at 6:30 p.m., Vine to Glass & Vigilucci’s Present the following pairings:

• Bailly Lapierre Blanc Brut Reserve, Cremant de Bourgognepaired with Endivia e Salmone Affumicato (Endive and smoked salmon)
  
• Venica Jesera Pinot Grigio paired with Prosciutto e Melone (Parma Prosciutto and Cantaloupe)
  
• Casa Barranca Red Blend paired with Involtini di Melanzane (Eggplant stuffed with wun dried tomatoes, goat cheese and basil)
  
• Ramos Pinto Ruby Port paired with Tartine alla frutta (Mini fruit tarts)

Cost is $35. Please RSVP to (760) 757-1037 or via email at tastings@vinetoglass.com no later than 5pm on August 6th.

Leave it to open source to keep-up with the latest and greatest. With the release of Firefox 3.5 Mozilla has kept pace with what today’s websites are dishing out. With websites becoming more more and more like full applications the need for speed and power is apparent. So Firefox 3.5 got a power boost with the brand new TraceMonkey JavaScript Engine. TraceMonkey allows JavaScript code to render on par with native code according to Mozilla’s VP of Engineering Mike Shaver.

Another important update is that Firefox 3.5 supports the new specifications for HTML 5. Eventhough HTML 5 isn’t slated to be finalized for another year it’s already being implemented by the latest browsers. Because of HTML 5 support Mozilla has used another open source brethren, Ogg, to replace proprietary video viewing solutions. This means no proprietary plug-in is needed to view video or listen to songs online if you have the latest version of Firefox. Website publishers can place video as easily as any other graphic and it will play smoothly in Firefox 3.5.

Here at Nimbletoad we like to see our favorite internet browser isn’t daunted by the proprietary competition! Innovation always inspires us to look for ways that we can become more nimble.

For a full review of Firefox 3.5 latest capabilities visit webmonkey

So I guess the myth that celebrity deaths comes in threes has been dispelled with the recent news that TV pitchman Billy Mays died Monday, June 29th. What brought Billy Mays TV pitchman celebrity status? After meeting Max Appel, Orange Glo International founder, Mays was recruited to demonstrate on shopping networks for the company. It was pretty evident what Appel saw in Mays’ delivery style. Not only was his enthusiasm infectious but he showed you why it was such a great product. Billy Mays, another great example of why functionality comes first.

Although FrontPage has been out of development since 2006 many people still use it despite the headaches and limitations. Microsoft’s replacement software, SharePoint and ExpressionWeb are even more complicated and designed to only work well with other Microsoft programs and servers. When we show people our open source solutions it is like the blinders have been lifted. Web development built on open source frameworks frees clients of the proprietary shackles and allows their web presence to flourish freely.

Open source CMS such as Joomla, Drupal and WordPress have become powerful web development tools because of the freedom of instant collaboration. Developers can construct websites with the peace of mind that they will work while still being able to customize the design to fit the clients aesthetic. Not to mention the infinite possibilities for customization with independent PHP programs one can develop to plug into these CMS sites.

Functionality first, design second. This really is what we want in everything, the only exception to the rule is art because the aesthetic is it’s function. Today websites are focusing on functionality first because frankly we don’t have the attention span for the theatrics of an all Flash site. We have become a society that is plugged in everywhere and connected virtually at all times. That is what makes the worldwide community of idea sharing and collaboration known as open source all the more important. Open source allows our websites, blogs, and social networking to operate across all our media gadgets. Proprietary programs just don’t have the functionality, freedom and speed we need in today’s media market. ###