You usually buy a product based upon its feature list. Naturally, I’ve listed those but I’ve also listed anti-features. An anti-feature is a capability a product should probably have but doesn’t. You might think that works against the “sell more” ethos of business but I disagree. When I buy something I want to know what I’m getting but also what I’m not getting. An anti-feature might deter some potential buyers but I feel it removes ambiguity and instills confidence in the committed buyers.

Features

• Proxy Vote can manage multiple, simultaneous events.
• Proxy Vote 1.1 is verified to work with Wordpress versions 2.5/2.6. Version 1.0 is verified to work with Wordpress version 2.3. The administrative interface is unique to each version but features and capabilities are the same.
• Each proxy event description can contain HTML, images, URL links, and more.
• Event descriptions are formatted to print on individual pages.
• Results of the event are optimized for printing.
• Cleanly remove the plug-in once you’re done. You have the option to completely remove all traces of Proxy Vote, including its tables.
• Customize the form text then insert it with an entry like [proxy123].
• It works on posts and pages.
• Information and error messages can be localized to another language very easily.
• All submitted proxies record the IP address of the sender.
• Events can be exported to an XML file. Use Microsoft Excel or any XML-friendly application for viewing the raw data. Format it however you please. It’s your data.

Anti-Features

• Events cannot be re-imported to the database from the XML file. Arguably, what’s the point when the event has expired?
• The number of voters cannot be changed once an event is created. However, expiration, title, and description can be changed at any time.
• There is no event start time, only an expiration time. In other words, do not post your event until you are ready to use it. If this anti-feature is added, it would make the second anti-feature much easier to implement.
• Formatting and compatibility is unknown on earlier 6.x versions of Internet Explorer. If this applies to you, I highly recommend you upgrade IE.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 20th, 2008 at 11:03 PM and is archived under Proxy Vote. You can follow comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment or trackback from your own site.