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Final (Ever) Links

Crazy to think that my four years has come to a close! I just wish it were in better times, but what can you do? I’ve had a fantastic four years and while there’s been a lot of stress, I’ve enjoyed every minute. Thank you to everyone.

That said, here’s my list of important links.

Blog

All #ixd503 posts

Launch Strategy

Launch Strategy Document

Promotional Website

Twitter 

Prototype

Prototype Walkthrough

Link to Final Prototype 

[garwin00]

Finishing up

In an effort to get things cleared away, I’ve gone through the prototype with a fine tooth comb, and cleaned everything up that needed to be cleaned up. 

The final Prototype can be viewed here:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/63b4186a-f79d-4c9a-41b2-f2f79532f316-1585/?fullscreen

[garwin00]

Stickers? T-shirts? Social Media?

I’ve mocked up some stickers for Privacybase. People in the tech world, myself included, have a strange thing for putting stickers on their devices, so I feel like it’s only right if I create some for Privacybase. 

I’ve decided not to create any t-shirts or clothing though, as honestly, I feel like promotional clothing is quite a niche thing. In my own personal experience, I’ve been to shows where promotional t-shirts have been given out and they’ve never been worn. I feel like maybe, further on down the road when privacybase is established I might reconsider but until then I’ll just stick with stickers.

I’ve also decided to relent and set up a Twitter profile for Privacybase. I was so against the idea of using social media initially that I would never have given in to the thought, however I’ve done some research and it seems as though many other privacy projects and services all have twitter accounts, which has changed my mind.

I still refuse to use anything remotely related to Facebook though. 

You can find the account at @_Privacybase

[garwin00]

What, exactly, is an .apk file?

APK stands for Application Package, and it’s simply the method of distribution and installation that Android apps use. 

Any Android application is installed through an .apk file, the only difference being that apps installed through the Play store run the installation automatically, rather than the user manually installing them. 

The manual installation process is actually rather easy, just download the file and run it. The operating system will take over and install it for you. 

Obviously this means that any updates will have to be done manually too, but as long as the content is able to be viewed this is less of a problem. 

This is perfect for me because I am able to release the official Privacybase .apk file to those who do not want or use the Play store. 

Users on Apple devices are not so lucky though, there is no such method to manually install apps on these devices, everything must run through the app store. 

[garwin00]

A word about distribution platforms.

When I decided that I was no longer going to create a progressive web app, I then had to start thinking about distribution platforms, obviously I was going to have to avail of the App store and the Play store, but there are those who refuse to use such closed ecosystems, especially in the privacy world. 

This means that I’m going to have to figure out a way to provide for them alongside releasing on the App Store and Play Store. 

I was initially stumped, but then I remembered that I can release an offical .apk file and let those users install it for themselves, solving my issue. 

[garwin00]

Additional promotional materials?

Thinking more about avenues to promote the project, and I’ve decided to create some promotional posters and banners that I can post online in privacy forums and things like that. 

I think that as long as these are posted in areas that suit, such as the /r/privacy subreddit and various privacy forums they could end up being quite effective. 

I don’t want to go around just posting them anywhere that I can, as I feel like that will cheapen them. 

[garwin00]

How do I promote this?

I'm starting to look at promoting Privacybase, but I really don't want to use any social media. I'm very adamant about practising what I preach, and I'm preaching that social media marketing is predatory and disgusting. 

 I'm reading blog posts such as 

https://thehuntercreative.com/top-10-ways-to-promote-without-social-media/ 

and 

https://www.mycustomer.com/community/blogs/sheza-gary/marketing-without-social-media-how-to-do-it

These posts seem to suggest that in order to promote my project I’m going to have to network with people, which isn’t really an option for me, as I do not want my face associated with the project, I would rather remain anonymous.

However, seeing posts entitled things like “It’s no Longer Internet Marketing Without Social Media” really do make me wonder how much success I’m going to have without social media. 

I've decided to take relent slightly on my initial stace of no paid advertising or marketing at all, however I’ve decided that I’m okay with physical ad space on bus shelters an things of that nature. 

[garwin00]

The site is up and live!

I’ve built the site and have it up live at privacybase.app 

The site is hosted by Netlify, which is a service that I’ve never used before but would recommend to anyone! I was able to link my Github account and build the repository automatically and continuously, which means that any change I push to the Github repo will automatically update on Netlify.

Setting a custom domain up couldn’t be easier either! I bought my domain from Google domains, all I had to do to get it to use the custom .app domain was point the DNS from Google to Netlify. Once that propagated an SSL certificate was automatically issued. Honestly the whole process was so easy and was literally a case of copy pasting 4 lines. 

[garwin00]

Finally cracked something

This might seem like nothing but I had to make a post about it. One of the things that I've always struggled to create with css is a -nice- box shadow, but I think I've finally cracked it! 

The secret is apparently to drop the opacity way down to make it very subtle and make it quite long!

That screenshot might not exactly do it justice but I really like it. Here’s the code:

Such a simple thing that probably doesn’t deserve it’s own post but it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for ages.

[garwin00]

Time to move on to something else (for now)

So the prototype is looking almost complete, I have a few more things that I'd like to go back and tidy up before hand in but that can come later. I've started thinking about promotional material and how I'm going to spread the word. 

I really need a website that can act as a home for Privacybase on the internet. I've drawn up some quick sketches. 

As you (probably can’t) see in my really crude drawing, I want it to be super simple, so that it fits in with the design language of the app. I would like to have a section at the bottom where I can link to the prototype. I’ll probably play about with this to see what works because I don’t know if this is long enough but we will see. 

[garwin00]

We’re getting somewhere now.

The app is starting to look fairly respectable, even despite the cut features and things I don't have time to get done. My three primary sections are complete and it's time to look at the final remnant of my old design: the onboarding. 

My old onboarding process was primarily data collection, and that's a feature that's been entirely scrapped.

Chris gave me an idea back at the end of last semester that I was keen to explore: give the user a fake privacy policy to agree to, and use it to make a point. 

That’s something that I attempted to do, even if I might have been a bit heavy handed with it.

My onboarding has also fallen victim to my “make it as simple as possible” mentality. There’s nothing to fill in and no selections to make, just some text to read.

I think there might be a better way to do this but for now I’m happy with what I have, it’s only meant to be seen and read once. 

[garwin00]

Hopefully this is the last of it.

Again, another feature that I've had to limit due to the time crunch is the news section. I had wanted to try my hand at writing some news posts, and had begun planning some.

Thanks to the revised deadline though this wasn’t going to happen. 

If Privacybase were to be built though, these news posts would be coming from somewhere through an API, so that’s what I’ve had to do. I’ve taken a sampling of news posts from other sites (and given them full credit and a link back!) I don’t want this to be seen as plagarism or something so if this is an issue I’ll happily cut the section. 

In terms of actualy design of the page though, everything is consistent with the visual language of the rest of the app, with a large featured news card for important news posts of that day. If there are none then a featured post from another day will occupy this spot. 

[garwin00]

I’ve had to cut some more features.

I’m trying to get the prototype of Privacybase up to scratch and in a shape to be handed in. The previous version that I submitted in January had plenty of features that were half explored or just straight up bad ideas. I’ve had to make some cuts to features that maybe I would have liked to include in the end but don’t have time to explore fully. 

First to go was the profile feature, which admittedly I was on the fence about from the start. I had initially included it as I wanted to expand on the social features but data collection for social purposes is the antithesis to everything that I’m preaching about in privacybase. 

Next to go is direct comparisons between VPNs. This is something that I was very sad to see go as I feel like it’s important, but I don’t have the time to explore it fully. Instead users will have to tap into the specific VPN page to see their rating, and they can no longer select two or more VPNs for direct comparisons. I’m hoping to combat any ill feelings from this by displaying the rating of the most popular VPNs right on the main VPN page

Users can then tap this card if they would like to get more information about that specific VPN. 

Finally, I have had to cut manual filtering of search results. This was another feature that I was sad to see go, but again I just don’t have time to explore it fully. Instead search results will be displayed chronologically and seperated by “today”, “this week” and “this month” and search results will now be context sensitive and appear as they user types.

[garwin00]

Well that’s not good.

I’ve written 3 full guides, but with the shifting of deadlines and this whole global pandemic thing I can’t afford to spend any more time writing them. Ideally I would have liked at least two more guides written up but that’s just simply not achieveable. I’ve wasted too much time on other abandoned avenues that I’ll talk about later on and it’s time to move on. 

[garwin00]

Here goes nothing

Finally giving this copywriting thing a good go. 

It’s really helped that I’ve written my dissertation and have part of an idea as to what I am going to talk about. I’ve opted for more of a conversational tone of voice after having a really good thing about who is going to be reading this. I could have easily slipped into technical jargon but I wanted to keep it as simle and easy to understand as possible. 

I’m hoping that it ends up in a good state. 

[garwin00]

How do I write content?

With the revelation that I’m not going to be making a progressive web app anymore, I really need to start thinking about what content I’m going to display in my final submission. 

I’ve never undertaken content creation on such a scale before so I really need to make sure that I know what I’m doing. 

I have a set of guidelines and goals for all copy but I really need some guidance and practise.

Guidelines:

- Be Factual. - Be Straightforward. - Be Open & Inclusive.

Goals:

- Educate & Inform. - Establish & Maintain trust. - Get to the point, quick.

I’ve had a look at this article:

https://copyblogger.com/good-copywriting/

and it seems like I want to aim for a combination of number 1: plain copy and number 3: conversational copy. 

I’ve also read this :

https://expresswriters.com/how-to-write-web-copy/

and it has really given me some good food for thought, especially the point about keeping scanning in mind. Sometimes when I write something I think that the person is going to read every word when thats just not the case, so when I’m writing content I’m going to have to keep the fact that they may just be skimming in mind.

[garwin00]

Progressive Web App?

Initially I’ve been designing with the thought that I was going to turn Privacybase into a progressive web app at the end. I liked the idea of users being able to save the website to their home screen and have them able to access content offline. I’ve been attempting to follow along with Mike North’s class on Frontend masters:

https://frontendmasters.com/courses/progressive-web-apps/

(Thanks Github student developer pack!) 

Admittedly though, I found it very difficult and it goes way above my current skill level. After no substantial progress over the span of 3 weeks and another 5 hours of video content to go through and attempt to digest, I’m sorry to say that I have to scrap this idea. 

It’s a shame because I was looking forward to getting my teeth into some code and some things that I’ve never done before, but it’s head and shoulders above my current skill level and I can’t afford to waste any more time on it. 

I’ve had to give myself a bit of a reaily check, I need to focus on making Privacybase as solid a design as possible, and I don’t have time to build it as well.