After launching Jumpshare to the public and analyzing how everyone shares files in the past few days, we have come to the conclusion that users are not used to the concept of “New” button when sharing files. The word “New” is confusing, does it add new files or starts a new folder to share?
Originally we wanted to make sure that users are only able to open one session (folder) at a time to prevent mass file sharing by spammers. After sharing the files, users would have to open a new session by clicking the “New” button. However, it didn’t work out as we wished it would. We noticed that more and more users were clicking the “Jumpshare” logo to go back to homepage. When they clicked the “New” button, they lost access to their files, i.e, they could not add or remove files later on.
By adding a simple functionality to prevent mass file sharing by spammers, we were ruining the user experience for 99% of our user base.
Having the “New” button had the following drawbacks:
- Users were confused whether to click the logo or the “New” button to start over again.
- Users confused “New” with adding new files in folder.
- Users could not save the link and go back to it later to add or remove files.
- Users lost access to the files when they went back to homepage, closed their browser, or restarted their computer, all of which expired their session.
By doing away with the “New” button, we have fixed all of the above. Users can now save their link and go back to it later within 2 weeks (14 days) to add or remove files from their folder. The recipient with whom you shared the files will see the changes you make in real-time.
It’s a small change that will have a big impact on the way users interact with Jumpshare. I hope you all like this change, if there is anything you want us to improve or fix, please do not hesitate to let us know.
