Over the weekend I’ve made some important changes that enhance usability. These changes are incorporated into the sidebars:
Search: Rollyo
I’ve now incorporated Rollyo into the site. The previous version didn’t work well in all browsers in this theme. Readers now have a choice as to where they search: This site, Related sites or Search the web. Related sites is a collection of other websites taken from the list of accounting and accounting software related sites I read each day. This will help ensure you don’t miss alternative views on a specific topic – I hope.
Q&A: Yedda
Yedda is a very simple way of asking questions and connecting with people who share similar interests. It works by associating tags (keywords) to people. Those users who have agreed, will receive the question by email. Users can choose the number of questions they receive per day, week or month. This gives users plenty of control and ensures they’re not bombarded. If you get fed up of dumb questions, then you can always alter your profile or switch question answering off.
Both questions and answers are searchable. I think this could have great value for the practitioner community because it could serve as a discovery mechanism. Equally, this could be used as an internal discovery mechanism in firms where there are more than say 50 people. Alternatively, it could be used to build small communities of ‘experts.’ I realise there are other methods of doing something similar but this is the only one | know that connects people in an opt-in manner.
TaxHub for instance sends a nightly email of changes to topics and maintains complete anonymity if you so wish. That’s fine up to a point. But in an age of free information exchange, I wonder whether it continues to be appropriate.
Yedda allows you to ask questions on any topic of interest, so you’re not restricted to a single answer. Indeed, if you’re not sure if the answer is current, you could post a follow up.
Try to select tags with care, ensuring they are general enough to ensure discovery. A good example might be:
Does anyone know the current state of play regarding Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for US owned subsidiaries operating in the UK?
Tags might be: Sarbanes-Oxley, SOX, compliance
Get the idea?
Do read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy statements. They are important. And if you like it, then I’d recommend incorporating into your weblog.
Fast access to fresh, relevant information: Grazr
Some people put a widget on their site that allows readers to see the latest news. But it doesn’t allow for readers to work through sites in which they have a specific interest. Grazr overcomes that problem in a simple 2-3 click manner. You can read individual posts from other sites inside my site or you can click over to the host in which you’re interested. Simply click a source and you see a set of headlines, click on a headline and you see the content. Easy.
David Tebbutt knows a lot about this and a search on his site will provide lots of information as to how it works and how best to use it. Grazr has replaced my blogroll.
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
Technorati Tags: innovation
