preface

At Alibaba headquarters, there is a saying that it is not technology that changes the world, but the dream behind it.

Unconsciously, I have been working on technology for three years. During these three years, I have experienced many projects’ development and launch, as well as product disputes. Many colleagues often say that unlike a technical person, you should do what the product asks you to do. At most, when the technology is difficult to implement, you can just say that you can’t do it. Why do you always argue with the product about interaction? I often argue that I don’t think a technology can’t knock at the code, but a good technology can’t just knock at the code, but also have some thoughts about the product.

Determine the requirements

One day, while chatting on wechat with a friend, I suddenly wanted to add the phone number of the other party to the address book, so I asked him to send the phone number, email address and company name to me. Then I copied the phone number into the address book again and again, and it took me quite a while to complete the addition, which was very troublesome. If a whim, this time I will have a product can be directly by the other party to all kinds of information input (for example, name, phone, company, email), then generate a qr code is sent to friends, friends long press qr code identifying information or scan sweep function can be added directly into the mobile phone address book that it is a matter of convenience. That’s when I came up with the idea of designing and developing a product.

The product selection

The demand is clear: to make a product that can generate two-dimensional code according to user input information and add it directly into the phone address book by scanning. As I do Android development, so the first thought is to make an Android client for everyone to download and use. However, on second thought, there are demand scenarios for this kind of thing, but it is not used in a high-frequency scenario. Is it really necessary or will users deliberately download an APP that they do not know when to use it again after using it once? The answer is clearly no. Time is at a premium, data is at a premium, and memory is even more valuable, and users are not going to keep an app that doesn’t have a lot of usage on their memory phone. APP development costs are very high, so it’s obviously not appropriate to make an APP of this kind. So low frequency use up the application and Zhang Xiaolong promotion of micro channel small program simply happen to coincide, do not occupy memory space, think of the use, run out of the go, small program obviously meet all of this. After this piece of thinking, decided to do from an Android APP to do a small wechat program!

Specific functions and interfaces

After deciding not to do android APP but to do wechat small program, the next thing you should think about this small program will have those functions and what the interface should be.

First of all, the core function is one, input personal information to generate two-dimensional code to scan code to add users. Therefore, I split the interface into two, the main interface is similar to Tencent ride code small program, there is only a TWO-DIMENSIONAL code interface, the other side directly through a scan to add information. The other interface is user information interface, which allows users to add personal information. After adding, click the button to generate TWO-DIMENSIONAL code to automatically generate two-dimensional code and jump to the main interface.

So this is what happens when you build the interface

It can be seen that the small program is divided into two main interfaces. The TWO-DIMENSIONAL code page is responsible for providing the two-dimensional code scanned, and the personal interface is responsible for filling in personal information by users, including name, mobile phone and email information. When the user clicks the button to generate the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code business card, the data will be saved locally and the two-dimensional code interface will be automatically jumped.

thinking

Here I have two thoughts on the main screen,

  1. How to deal with the format of information in the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code?
  2. Do YOU need to add a scan function to scan the QR code?

What format should I use to save the content of personal information, how to make the program better parsing operation? Is it necessary to develop another scan function to scan the QR code inside? These questions are plaguing me. My thinking is that when the user gets the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code, the first reaction is certainly not to take the small program inside the scan to scan, but directly take out the phone to open wechat, using the wechat inside the scan to scan the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code to view the content inside. And how to solve the problem in front of me to let wechat scan automatic recognition of my TWO-DIMENSIONAL code inside the content is now must think about the problem.

Fortunately, my colleague helped me solve the problem. He said there is a format called e-business card that wechat supports by scanning code. So I go to know about this, the original WeChat scan code is to support a vcard format of qr code card, it will according to you hide in the qr code for automatic operation of this format, identified and add the analytical information directly to the address book to, so in this way can solve the problem of the first personal information format. Please refer to this article for more information on the format of wechat e-business cards.

So the first problem solved, now to the second question, is there any need to build a scan function into the applet? My thinking is that there is no need. There are two reasons:

  1. Users do not have to go to the applet marketplace to find a applet to scan the code in order to add a message. The user’s intuition must be to see the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code directly open wechat to sweep, rather than open wechat, open the small program and then open the small program in the scan function. My idea of product interaction has always been that the things that can be done in one step must be handled in one step, and the things that can be done by users must be broken down into two and three steps and put into small programs. This interaction is very stupid in my opinion!

  2. Wechat scan function has been very powerful, there is no need to have such a powerful and convenient function in front of their own to write again, and write is not good wechat.

Considering the above two points, I decided not to do the scan function.

Then there is another problem. Generally, when we give contact information to others, we seldom do it face to face. In most cases, we send it directly through online chat or wechat. So what I need to do at this time is to share the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code out so that friends can automatically identify and add after long press, this kind of scene will see more.

Therefore, I changed the button that was supposed to be added with the function of scanning and replaced it with the function of clicking to share the TWO-DIMENSIONAL code. The two-dimensional code was directly sent and shared and the interface was modified to look like this:

All right, all the product thinking is done, all that’s left is to roll up your sleeves and get to work. The function is very simple, I only took half a day to complete the development. However, I think it is a problem to solve the actual pain points of users. It is a very interesting process to start from this practical problem that we often face in life, and then determine the functions and interfaces, and finally turn the idea into reality by using the technology I have learned.

Write in the last

In fact, in today’s era of major functions have been completed, it is indeed difficult for us to do something, but it does not mean that there is no opportunity to do it. Just like I made this product, it is also because there is such a pain point in reality that bothers me, so I wonder if I can use my own technology to help solve this pain point. In my opinion, a good product never needs to be complicated or have a cool interface. Miscellaneous and many functions, will let the user do not know how to use, do not know what to use; The cool interface will only make users stay in the cool effect, but ignore the use of the product itself, just like The Venus of Rodin, a pair of too perfect hands will hinder the overall beauty of Venus, so Rodin did not hesitate to cut it off. The interface of wechat has never been so cool. Its open screen is always a picture of the earth taken by satellite, but you can never leave it. A good product is simple, complex functions and cool interface in my opinion is just to cover up his flashy inside. If interested in experiencing my small program, welcome to scan code experience. If you have any comments, please leave a message.