Chapter 10. Other Features
In prior chapters, weâve discussed edge cases, which are usage patterns at the outside edge of what a typical user might do. Edge cases are the bane of software developers because they have to be accounted for, even though they occur infrequently. And sometimes the level of work that goes into handling an edge case will equal or exceed the level of work that goes into developing something that every user does, all the time.
One of the problems with writing complicated, feature-rich software is that any individual user of the software might only use 25% of its total features. But everyone uses a different 25%. Which means that beyond the basic, core functionality, everything becomes an edge case to some extent.
Once a platformâs user base hits a significant size, every edge case can be a huge problem. If 30,000 people are using your software, and a feature is used by only 1% of them, thatâs still 300 people who expect it work with the same level of polish as everything else.
These users donât know that this is an edge case. They donât know that very few other people are using the feature. Just ask any vendor who has tried to remove a feature it didnât think anyone was using, only to be greeted with howls of protest by a small subset of users who were depending on it.
In the previous four chapters, weâve discussed the core features of web content management:
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Content modeling
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Content aggregation
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Editorial workflow
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Output management ...
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