Member-only story
To Medium Usability Design…
I like the new “design” functionality for the profile page, as limited as it is, but I propose the site goes a little further, adding more useful functionality instead of appearance-based frills?
Could we consider the possibility of treating the profile page as a publication site — you already have the template functionality for this, after all, and it would enable writers to allow their followers to see older works easily, instead of the step-by-step tedious scrolling that they have to do now (a rather diabolical means of deliberately curtailing any chance of new readers discovering older works).
Design might incorporate simple, CCL templates — Scientific or Journalistic, Illustrator, Literature, Natural History and so on — to help writers create standout profiles that reflect their main interests? Helping writers and illustrators, photographers and journalists create more presentable and functional “web sites” within the Medium aegis could add a professional patina to the site’s members and the publications. Writers might even be able to utilise a blog page on their profile — another slot-in template possibility — and an easier way to facilitate communication than private notes but without the overheads of forums or chat rooms or messenger services.
