Over a year ago I noticed a small surge in traffic coming from a Web site that I did not recognize. The name of the site was DZone, and a post I wrote entitled A programmer’s pocket guide to freelancing was on the front page. Rick Ross, the founder, was the submitter, and since then I have been a daily frequenter of this increasingly popular social bookmarking site.
Before getting into the analysis and review, let me point out that DZone is unique among other social bookmarking and voting sites because it is singular in focus. All posts are developer related, and the compendium of articles covers a wide range of development topics. You might consider it akin to Digg’s Technology section, with a limited concentration on tech gadgets and hardware.
Subject matter and focus
One of the complaints about Digg’s technology section is that the focus has shifted from a unique spectrum of developer topics to popular geek culture. A post that resonates with a smaller subset of “serious” programmers does occasionally make it to the front page, but most are now related to industry news accessible via other outlets. DZone, on the other hand, has managed to attract a more diverse development crowd. Two to four hundred posts grace the New links section, and users are exposed to an assortment of information.
Digg is a wonderful resource for a quick fix, but DZone continues to push topics that require a lengthier commitment of time to digest. This may be to DZone’s disadvantage in regards to loyalty traffic, since so many programmers are trained to bide their time carefully during the day. Users may choose to relax at lunchtime scanning posts about an Apple scandal (or hitting YouTube), as opposed to acquiring knowledge too closely tied to the job.
The topics on DZone are rarely recycled, but this may be a result of the Web site’s youthfulness. Overall, top submitters and the voting community have managed to maintain an unbiased outlook, which provides a more accurate snapshot of the field at large. Obscure languages are given as much headway as are posts about Ruby on Rails, Java, or .NET, so long as the content presented is well thought out and engaging.
Design and usability
Aesthetically, the DZone design is pleasing to the eye. However, the color choice is strikingly similar to Digg, which might make it difficult for the site to distinguish itself as the defacto alternative. Everything appears to have a proper place, but the use of white space is minimal. A left column crowds the browser window with advertisements, one of which blocks a useful widget on my 1280×800 widescreen resolution laptop monitor.
The primary navigation is highly visible at eye-level, and the learning curve is non-existent. It is easy to save articles in a list of favorites, post a new link, or share it with others. The voting and comment systems are familiar, and the tags and publication date associated with each post are easy to scan. The features that you would expect to appear on a site of this caliber are readily available to registered users.
The only functionality that deviates from the industry standard, is the lack of pagination. The most recent redesign and overhaul forced users into an admittedly cramped space — namely a scrollable div. Instead of browsing through pages, a nifty spot of AJAX detects the position of the scrollbar. When necessary, several more articles are served up for the user. This is an innovative technique, and I am sure it saves bandwidth, but it fails to deliver as a more enjoyable experience than paging.
Community
Popular articles posted to Digg can garner anywhere from one to three thousand votes over the course of a week. A popular post on DZone is more likely to top out with twenty to thirty votes — a sure sign that the community is much smaller. Posts receiving more than three or four comments are uncommon, and it can appear that user activity is stagnant. Observations of user habits might point toward an increase in the use of extraneous features instead of comments, such as saved items and sharing.
Peering deeper, you will find that most users prefer to comment on the site where an article originates. This can actually be beneficial, as most Digg users already know, comments typically break down into insults and petty observations. It can also be difficult to manage comments when numbers reach the level that they do on Digg, which often results in constant criticism from the community. It is a welcome change to see users post comments on DZone that facilitate discussion, but are not wrought with childish observations.
API
The one improvement that DZone could make that would significantly help to raise awareness and interest would be to introduce an API for extending the content. Mashups and blogs incorporating DZone content creatively would greatly compliment natural growth. This would compete directly with Digg, and it would further establish DZone as the programmer’s choice for all things development.
A well thought and pertinent article Brian. I have been a frequent user of DZone also for more than a year now and I have watched it grow and become more and more popular as time passed. It is true that the information found on the site is very useful and varied and offers a good overview of what goes on in the industry. Actually since I started using DZone, there were not many other places I usually go to keep informed about what is going on.
The community is also nice and only quality articles make it to the top. I hope they will be able to maintain this quality as the popularity of the site increases and more users are beginning to use it.
Hi Mihai,
Thanks for the comments.
Yes, as DZone’s popularity grows, I also worry about the integrity of the site. That is when it becomes more difficult to manage some of the community aspects.
I noticed that when spam articles start to flow in, DZone does a great job of removing them immediately. That might become more complicated in the future. I guess we can only wait and see :)
Hi Brian. Thanks for the great comments about DZone! We work hard to make DZone a place that developers want to come back to often – and most do. I appreciate the comments about the just-in-time pager and the API and we’re looking at exposing our existing API.
We also pride ourselves on keeping an eye on the spam. There are several mechanisms in place to help prevent the spam or at least keep it to a minimum, and trust me, it’s high on our list to make sure that DZone stays as free of spam as possible.
Hi Brian,
On behalf of the whole DZone team I’d like to thank you for this thorough and thoughtful posting. It is clear you have really considered and understood some of the key issues we face as DZone grows into one of the larger social bookmarking sites on the web.
I guess the proof of the pudding is that people are using DZone to find fresh, interesting developer links. DZone sent over 5 million visitors to other developer websites in its first year of operation, and the rate continues to accelerate. This metric confirms the need for a focused site like DZone, but it also reminds us of our growing responsibility to the community we serve. We are actively working to enhance the site’s usability, to make it easier to identify links of specific interest to you, and to fine-tune the social filtering process to consistently produce the best quality developer links possible.
We try hard to maintain content-quality standards and to minimize or eliminate the spam that would otherwise dominate the site. Every day we block anywhere from dozens to hundreds of spam links that would clog the queue. We also have very talented “linkmasters” who actively search for the best of the developer web, and I’m delighted that my posting of one of your articles caught your attention and attracted you to our community.
It is all about the people, and without interesting content like yours, there would be no place for DZone!
We do have an API, but we have been cowards about publishing it. I guess it is time for us to get off the stick and make a commitment on that front! Please send me a private email, or give me a call and we’ll get you hooked up.
Thanks again! Seeing your article was a boost for all of us this morning!
Rick Ross
DZone, Inc.
Hi Matthew & Rick,
Thank you for taking the time to address the post and some of the concerns raised by the development community at large. It is obvious that you continue to give serious consideration to how you can serve your users, and it is much appreciated.
As far as the API is concerned, I do not doubt that you have thousands of programmers waiting in the wings to give feedback. I know that this can be scary at times, but the “in-the-field” user testing will quickly provide you with an avenue for understanding how improvements can be made.
Personally, I would love to give it a go!!!
Hi all,
Seeing the ongoing discussions in the comments for this article, a curiosity also arose in my mind about what level of automation is there in DZone’s anti-spam techniques. Is it more done by people or more by software techniques? IMO, this would be a great place for experimentation with intelligent software that makes use of semantics in order to filter out spam messages.
Yes! I hope so, because Digg is for articles about HD-DVD keys. I would love to put a dzone badge on my blog entries instead of a Digg badge, but Rick et al haven’t made that available yet (hint hint)
The one thing I hate in dzone is screenshots in RSS, they make loading slower! I see them again when click on the link in RSS and get to the web-site. dzone developers, please, hear me!!!
I *definitely* find DZone articles much more interesting than what the Digg feed gives me.
My complaint isn’t really a complaint, but I find to fully appreciate DZone is a full time job and there aren’t enough hours days the day :)
I need to win the lottery, give up work and then I can truly apreciate it…
I dunno. I think you’re comparing apples to oranges. Now if you compare Digg in its current state to Fark, you’d be onto something :P
I love DZone. It’s the only place I can be exposed to the entire spectrum of technology and is a priceless tool to help you at least be aware of what’s in play today.
Two personal constructive criticisms for DZone:
1. On a smaller screen (aka my notebook), the rising links listing gets overlayed by the ads without any ability to see the overlayed items.
2. Items stay on “the front page” even if there are more down votes than up votes.
Good Post,
I have been using DZone randomly since 2006, but recently I have discovered it as the best resource for developers in the net. One of the things I like the most is how is focused on developers and not in geek culture. This is really valuable compared to digg or reddit.
As a blogger, a post submitted to reddit generates about 20 times the traffic of Dzone for a couple of days. After this peak, the traffic is very similar.
I experienced the ‘DZone Effect’ earlier this week on my site. I hadn’t heard of the site before but when you suddenly have 1000 extra page views in a day you’ll sit up and take notice!
If I had one concern about DZone it would be that it could become too much like Digg, for example the “childish observations” and other negative stuff.
I’ve pretty much given up on looking at Digg quite some time ago. On one hand the one thing that I think has made it so popular is the amount of commenting that goes on. I also think the quality of that commenting has been its downfall as far as people not wanting to go back (like me).
The nice thing about DZone is that it has stayed pretty much true to development, and I like that.