I Believe I Can Fly

Photo: Marina Souza (my daughter). My beautiful wife Elen starting my Fresh Breeze at Saint Augustine, FL. After so many tentatives, I decided to buy an electric starter. Like a website, when you start in paramotor, you must keep improving.

Start a new site is a huge task, especially when you are doing it alone, with basic skills of programming, and no other target user (in our case, ppg pilots) available for usability tests.

What I am trying to say is, you do your best but when things get real (you publish the site and invite people to come), you start to find bugs, usability problems, and receive lots of suggestions from your users.

Fact is, a website is like a child (ok, if you do not have children, think about your pet): you are going to take care of it your entire life! Sometimes the error fix or the suggestion implementation is simple, and you do it promptly, other times if will spend another couple of nights thinking on how to do the task.

Fortunately this is a positive thing for ppgplaces.com. With less than a week, I have made so many progress in the project that I could not imagine in the beginning.

As you know already, the positive feedback came also with (mostly) good suggestions. Also, I made my list of “known problem fixing” (mostly about browser compatibility and security, these kind of things most people will never notice). Saying that, here are the progresses after 3 days of launch:

1. Browser compatibility: now you can visit the site with any browser you want and you see the correct design of the site (first version had a difference in format if you were using IE 6 or 7);
2. Better search: Mike Phillips reported that he was not getting the correct results when searching “florida” (I was saving only the 2 digit state, that’s why the list of sites in “florida” was not showing correctly). I revisited the search function and know you can find any site when searching the full name of the state;
3. FAQ: Many pilots sent me emails with very similar questions. I compiled most of them and create a Frequently Asked Questions page;
4. Random headers: As a designer, I liked to be surprised with new images every time I browse the site. By the way, you can send me your own pictures either;
5. Blog: In order to keep the site alive and also having a space for show my progresses in the development of the site, I have created this blog as a deeper form of interaction with you all (hope you are liking it);
6. Map All: Joe Onofrio suggested this feature as a benefit for people travelling around the country for his Monument Valley Fly In in October (man, I would love to be there but, starting a new job in Washington in August I will not be able to make it). The idea basically is show all available sites in a map, allowing people to create their routes to fly as much as possible when travelling around states;
7. Directions to the site: This is my favorite new feature. Just inform from where and you are going to see the directions to the site;
8. Print: This is a good one also. Select your next place and print the instructions about it (directions included). Even being disconnected you will be able to find the place and/or contact the locals while in road.

There are lots of other suggestions and ideas to be implemented. Keep sending them. Unfortunately some features being asked had to be “postponed” due their centricity to the United States area only, as my idea is to make this site as globally as possible.

Thanks again for your support. I am seeing new pilots and places arriving every day and this is great!

Alex