Thursday 1 August 2013

Removing Social Features

I started the Carbon Diet project just over six years ago, in 2007. I do still want to do things with it as an Open Source project, but it's overcomplicated and unfocused, that complexity makes changing things harder.

So, with this in mind, I've been looking over how people are using the site.

First, not many people are; that's not a surprise at all. What is a little surprising to me is that the core features of energy purchasing and meter readings are still being used on a regular basis. Somewhere out there, some of you are finding those features useful, which is great!

The other aspect of the site is the social side. The social features built in were useful in 2007, but today they are outdated and completely unused. These days, new projects hook into existing social networks, not force people to build their own again. Not a single comment, friendship, or group has been created in the last 2 years. To me, that says we can safely remove those features.

Another feature that's not being used are the energy-saving actions. This was always a bit badly implemented, and as there is a lot of energy saving advice around these days elsewhere, we can safely remove that too.

That will clear out a lot of the more complex code within the application, and let me focus down onto the bits people are using, and which I want to explore further.

I intend to remove the social features and actions, and refocus the app on allowing users to track their direct emissions. I also want to reconsider the reduction side, adding targets (possibly via some sort of quota system).

I hope that this will make the app more useful and more usable for those of you who are using it, and maybe take it in a more interesting direction for the future.

1 comment:

Eva C. Li said...

This is amazing! Might consider giving it a more user-friendly interface:)