Last Week
This week was more about cleaning up everything in my office space than actually doing much. I made sure to save the API tests though, so in case Mr. Legay asks, I can easily provide a copy of the results that I got from working on the testing. The New Relic Bot project was left operational, and I was assured that whatever happens to the script, they could figure it out. And if not, well they have my email.
So all that was really left for me to do was make sure to wipe out all my cookies and trace accounts. I did so on Tuesday evening just before I left, making sure that whoever used the computer next didn't accidentally get onto my own stuff. I already am dealing with proxy alerts from the bot project, I don't think that I should have to deal with even more!
Everybody said goodbye and all shook hands as I left, a rather nostalgic feeling now swelling up inside. I may visit one last time to conduct an interview with Mr. Legay, but I think for now, my time in the office is done. I hope that LoopLogic can continue to prosper, and look forward to whatever projects they undertake in the future.
Till next time.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
All the Beeps and Boops
That's interestingly what a computer makes when you try and get it to process a line of numbers that have no meaning. It's always interesting to see what block of errors gets spit out at you when that happens, quite similar to what I've been seeing a lot with the coding I do. But there lies sanctification in decoding the lines of script and actually understanding what most people see as gibberish. It's like an artist explaining proudly to his audience what his artwork is about.
Anyway, enough of the romantic styled speech and onto the nitty gritty. I've been working on my Powerpoint presentation to present for an audience, and I'm really seeing how much my coding work has actually been related to what I do. There's just a few last things I need to gather this last week, but I really do see how business model I make come into existence.
LoopLogic's quality as a start up company really gives it the customer service that some other major players in the market don't have. Working alongside the customer support service area of the company, I could see how the consumer's questions or complaints have been focused down by the individual programmers themselves, or even Mr. Legay himself. The company divides itself in a way that promotes individualized projects that all link and connect up together, with customer service supporting the web development team.
Next week seems to be unreal as the last week of the project, but I suppose that it must be. Not going to say goodbye yet, but I'll try to finish up all my projects and leave them in good hands. The New Relic bot project will definitely require maintenance, and it wouldn't do to have somebody's inbox getting spammed with error messages!
Till next time.
That's interestingly what a computer makes when you try and get it to process a line of numbers that have no meaning. It's always interesting to see what block of errors gets spit out at you when that happens, quite similar to what I've been seeing a lot with the coding I do. But there lies sanctification in decoding the lines of script and actually understanding what most people see as gibberish. It's like an artist explaining proudly to his audience what his artwork is about.
Anyway, enough of the romantic styled speech and onto the nitty gritty. I've been working on my Powerpoint presentation to present for an audience, and I'm really seeing how much my coding work has actually been related to what I do. There's just a few last things I need to gather this last week, but I really do see how business model I make come into existence.
LoopLogic's quality as a start up company really gives it the customer service that some other major players in the market don't have. Working alongside the customer support service area of the company, I could see how the consumer's questions or complaints have been focused down by the individual programmers themselves, or even Mr. Legay himself. The company divides itself in a way that promotes individualized projects that all link and connect up together, with customer service supporting the web development team.
Next week seems to be unreal as the last week of the project, but I suppose that it must be. Not going to say goodbye yet, but I'll try to finish up all my projects and leave them in good hands. The New Relic bot project will definitely require maintenance, and it wouldn't do to have somebody's inbox getting spammed with error messages!
Till next time.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
A Quality Customer Experience
My work this week has mainly consisted of running API tests using the program Fiddler. Josh, a major programmer at LoopLogic, taught me how to use program and what to do specifically with it. Additionally, I've had to keep an eye on the bots that were set up using New Relic and Selenium.
I'll talk first about the work with the LoopLogic bots. A few times while working, notifications have alerted me to failures in the bot's program, i.e. a failed login run. When that happens, I have to first check my bot script and ensure that it's still working as intended. If I get an error during my verification of the script, then I'll have to examine the entire code and cross check it with the site in question. If the site itself is down, well that's the cause of the failures and I'll have to report to Stephane about this issue. Alternatively, the site has simply update its web code and I have to adjust the web script so as to correlate with the new changes.
Now onto the API tests. Remember these?
Using a nifty web device that Stephane made, I could imitate the methods called for using a proxy channel and thus test each and every one of them. Alongside this, I used the program Fiddler to monitor the web activity of my computer so as to track the flow of Internet data. This gives us a very detailed analysis of what's happening with each method, showing us whether or not the API in question is actually working or needs to be fixed.
This type of deep analysis I'm doing draws analogy to your typical customer support section of any major video streaming site. Keeping an eye on basic and advanced tools that the company provides to the consumers is fundamental as that is why they are offered in the first place. It's expected of course though, that the big video sites has an entire squad of employees dedicated to this genre; however, there is always the question of large vs focused.
Till next time!
My work this week has mainly consisted of running API tests using the program Fiddler. Josh, a major programmer at LoopLogic, taught me how to use program and what to do specifically with it. Additionally, I've had to keep an eye on the bots that were set up using New Relic and Selenium.
I'll talk first about the work with the LoopLogic bots. A few times while working, notifications have alerted me to failures in the bot's program, i.e. a failed login run. When that happens, I have to first check my bot script and ensure that it's still working as intended. If I get an error during my verification of the script, then I'll have to examine the entire code and cross check it with the site in question. If the site itself is down, well that's the cause of the failures and I'll have to report to Stephane about this issue. Alternatively, the site has simply update its web code and I have to adjust the web script so as to correlate with the new changes.
Now onto the API tests. Remember these?
Using a nifty web device that Stephane made, I could imitate the methods called for using a proxy channel and thus test each and every one of them. Alongside this, I used the program Fiddler to monitor the web activity of my computer so as to track the flow of Internet data. This gives us a very detailed analysis of what's happening with each method, showing us whether or not the API in question is actually working or needs to be fixed.
This type of deep analysis I'm doing draws analogy to your typical customer support section of any major video streaming site. Keeping an eye on basic and advanced tools that the company provides to the consumers is fundamental as that is why they are offered in the first place. It's expected of course though, that the big video sites has an entire squad of employees dedicated to this genre; however, there is always the question of large vs focused.
Till next time!
Sunday, April 5, 2015
A User Connection
Remember those API functions I've mentioned? Well, it's seemed that a few of them aren't properly linked to the site correctly; I'll have to go through and test each call individually to make sure they return correctly. Going to have to use this new program called Fiddler, it's something that can do web coding based on what web pages you've visited. Pretty neat.
However, what I really want to talk about is what LoopLogic is doing for its customers, especially business partners. The company is essentially creating a system that rivals YouTube in video functionality, but in a more professional way. Instead of having blankets upon blankets of videos coating the site, LoopLogic is establishing a system that will aid specifically businesses upon generating consumers.
I've talked about user interface, but now, I'm going deeper with the user's mind. A business generally wants to appeal to the consumer about a specific functionality or purpose. The problem is, most of the time, there isn't enough focus or emphasis placed exactly on the selling point and the consumer is left feeling very overwhelmed, with little knowledge about the next step.
LoopLogic aims for this particular section of the user experience though, in a way similar to how Apple works: limit the user's point of view. By limiting them to a specific video and then guiding them to follow up questions or surveys, LoopLogic is able to focus the user back onto the topic at hand gently, without immediately piling on another set of videos that could be totally unrelated. I think that that's what make them a good competitor to YouTube, which just recommends piles of videos based on keywords and likes.
Hope that you could follow that! Till next time!
Remember those API functions I've mentioned? Well, it's seemed that a few of them aren't properly linked to the site correctly; I'll have to go through and test each call individually to make sure they return correctly. Going to have to use this new program called Fiddler, it's something that can do web coding based on what web pages you've visited. Pretty neat.
However, what I really want to talk about is what LoopLogic is doing for its customers, especially business partners. The company is essentially creating a system that rivals YouTube in video functionality, but in a more professional way. Instead of having blankets upon blankets of videos coating the site, LoopLogic is establishing a system that will aid specifically businesses upon generating consumers.
I've talked about user interface, but now, I'm going deeper with the user's mind. A business generally wants to appeal to the consumer about a specific functionality or purpose. The problem is, most of the time, there isn't enough focus or emphasis placed exactly on the selling point and the consumer is left feeling very overwhelmed, with little knowledge about the next step.
LoopLogic aims for this particular section of the user experience though, in a way similar to how Apple works: limit the user's point of view. By limiting them to a specific video and then guiding them to follow up questions or surveys, LoopLogic is able to focus the user back onto the topic at hand gently, without immediately piling on another set of videos that could be totally unrelated. I think that that's what make them a good competitor to YouTube, which just recommends piles of videos based on keywords and likes.
Hope that you could follow that! Till next time!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
The Influence of Youtube
This week was mainly dedicated to working on the SRP presentation in the office. It's beginning to take some rough shape, but is still a definite work in progress. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't discover anything particularly intriguing while working.
As Matt, the web designer of the LoopLogic company, has his desk right next to mine, I often get drawn into the discussions he would have with other colleagues regarding the appeal of the web design and how intuitive the site has to be to really grab the consumer's attention. This week, there was a particularly engaging conversation that really grabbed my attention.
Remember how I mentioned that YouTube had such a powerful influence on the common mindset? Well, it seems that it does have flaws: for one, there's Google Plus (which incidentally is slowly being shuffled out of the Internet). But the major issue we all agreed that YouTube had was just how it kept stacking videos on top of one another.
Of course, normally, YouTube is meant for you to just click, sit back, and enjoy whatever you wanted to watch. However, it really lacked any serious method that would allow for professional user feedback that is not the abhorrence of the comments section. This issue though is not high on YouTube's concern of to-fix list.
For LoopLogic though, this is an opportunity. To fix this link, the program designed sacrifices the bulk video accessibility and adds in ways for any potential business partner to check on media feedback, such as surveys or questionnaires. This draw parallels to YouTube's like/dislike system, but with actual and proper information about the potential consumer and how they can get eased into making a deal with the provider.
It's all psychological stuff. Probably a thesis paper one day, detailing how the mind has been shifted by how easy things are in the modern day.
Well, till next time.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
On the Importance of Bots
Well, good news: I finally finished up my original project regarding creating bots for LoopLogic. I've now created an automated system that will run through all of LoopLogic's functions while logging in and set up a program in which Mr. Legay and I will be alerted when something errors within the script. That way, the issue can be quickly resolved.
As an anecdote, on Monday, the login portal for LoopLogic through Twitter was not working. The bots reported this problem and we immediately set out to find a solution. Later that day, we discovered the issue (Twitter had changed its API tools without making a full out public announcement), and was able to repair the login portal.
Also this week, we talked about user interfaces even more. Specifically, we talked about how popular and comforting the YouTube layout was in the eyes of the public. The thing about YouTube is that it is insanely popular, definitely something that any consumer would be familiar with. While designing a sample channel page for LoopLogic, we kept making comments about how everybody seemed to prefer a style similar to that of YouTube. We have changes and our own style added to it of course, but the basic layout seemed to be a distant echo to that of our more popular competitor. But then, we realized a major factor.
What we were doing was setting up a video channel for a business contact, so they would have something like 20 videos and then a questionnaire section. This was to focus and maximize information absorbed in a short period of time, giving a very professional feel about the channel. In comparison, YouTube does it more lax, with multiple videos being displayed at once and seemingly having no end to the material.
That brings me to my next major point of the streaming market: target audience. Video companies can easily gain more consumer participation and product consumption by appealing to a certain demographic; that demographic depends on what the primary purpose and what features the video service provides.
Well, till next time!
Well, good news: I finally finished up my original project regarding creating bots for LoopLogic. I've now created an automated system that will run through all of LoopLogic's functions while logging in and set up a program in which Mr. Legay and I will be alerted when something errors within the script. That way, the issue can be quickly resolved.
As an anecdote, on Monday, the login portal for LoopLogic through Twitter was not working. The bots reported this problem and we immediately set out to find a solution. Later that day, we discovered the issue (Twitter had changed its API tools without making a full out public announcement), and was able to repair the login portal.
Also this week, we talked about user interfaces even more. Specifically, we talked about how popular and comforting the YouTube layout was in the eyes of the public. The thing about YouTube is that it is insanely popular, definitely something that any consumer would be familiar with. While designing a sample channel page for LoopLogic, we kept making comments about how everybody seemed to prefer a style similar to that of YouTube. We have changes and our own style added to it of course, but the basic layout seemed to be a distant echo to that of our more popular competitor. But then, we realized a major factor.
What we were doing was setting up a video channel for a business contact, so they would have something like 20 videos and then a questionnaire section. This was to focus and maximize information absorbed in a short period of time, giving a very professional feel about the channel. In comparison, YouTube does it more lax, with multiple videos being displayed at once and seemingly having no end to the material.
That brings me to my next major point of the streaming market: target audience. Video companies can easily gain more consumer participation and product consumption by appealing to a certain demographic; that demographic depends on what the primary purpose and what features the video service provides.
Well, till next time!
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Translating from GitHub to Website
Hello everybody! I've been on Spring Break this week, so I haven't gone to work at the office this week. However, as suggested by Zachary Ginsberg last time, I'll show you with some pictures how the GitHub code goes into the LoopLogic API site, as well as how the interface can affect user experience!
First of all, here is a quick screenshot of what it looks like on the GitHub page of codes:
Not much huh? But you have to understand, these are like how your computer organizes documents. There are folders within these with even more files, and each file contains a bunch of complicated code. When we link a website domain to the GitHub page, GitHub will then take the code within these folders and then run them. So all the code that is within here....
....becomes this! Pretty neat huh?
Now, in my last post, I talked about how important user interface is right? Well, above is a good example: colors. Each of the interactable subsection is color coded in a way that pops out and grabs the user's attention. With some nifty code, we were able to do the same thing as well within the subsection!
See how vibrant the page is? It will hopefully make it a lot easier for the user to get comfortable with how to navigate around the API toolkit. This will boost the likelihood that the user then becomes a consumer, which is the ultimate goal of having a good interface.
Well, till next time!
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