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Comment by mahmud | Hacker News Reader

1) Don't mess with the database. Back it up, remotely.

2) It's good to have a semanticly sane code base with all the common pages elements factored out into templates, but it's not a requirement. If it ain't broke.

3) Involve the community. Have a poll asking your users what to fix first, and start from there.

4) With a copy of the database, you can start developing the site using better technologies and processes; invite a few users to test the redesigned site, preferably on another machine. Report back to the community, publish a newsletter, show screenshots, etc.

5) Don't fuck with that database. Don't lose the server logs.

Good luck.

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Never ask your users what they think before you ask your logs what they do.

Users lie. Users misremember. Users are inexpert at describing their own use of your software.

Logs don't lie. Logs don't misremember. Logs are experts at describing your users' use of your software.

If for some reason you didn't build your web app with an eye to getting useful information from your customers, start adding Google Analytics (or one of the numerous copy/paste Javascript competitors) and give it a few weeks to start collecting data.

Thanks for the reply! I have infact been talking to users as well as watching the logs and analyzing google analytics data. I do have some insights on whats missing but as I said, the real challenge is in designing interfaces that can solve these problems. For example how do I display primary and secondary information on a profile page. What should be emphasized and de-emphasized. Since these are common problems, I was wondering if there is a book or something that I can readup to get some answers/pointers. Profile page is one example. Pages like account setting or stats page are other common pages that should have some standard design patterns.

In regards to books, I would recommend at least checking out Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, possibly some other design orientated books and then read up upon usability in general.

For example, take a look at: http://www.usabilitypost.com/ or http://www.uxbooth.com/ and http://useit.com/

You may wish to find a usability consultant too, or look for someone who hasn't used your app before with experience in this area to give you a few pointers.

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