- set up a complex web 2.0 platform from scratch including all aspects of the product’s development, design ergonomics and evolution
- localize the product, i.e. adapt all applications towards new markets via a purpose-built language interface
Launched in 2007, London-based Kindo is an internationally focused family social networking platform that spans generations and cultures. Available in 14 different languages including Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Turkish and Russian, Kindo is where families get together, build and share their free genealogical tree, communicate and grow. Alongside new web-based communication platforms such as Skype or Facebook, Kindo provides families with a simple tool that is 100% focused on them and has been designed exclusively for that purpose, making it easier to keep in touch and learn more about your relatives wherever you are around the world.
Getconfused was at the very start of this venture building it from scratch and being part of the core development team providing our expertise in developing the application. We also took on the challenge of adapting it towards new markets with specific language requirements which demanded taylor-made programming solutions.
The concept of "Web 2.0" began during a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly (as link) and MediaLive International (as link). Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly senior executive, observed that far from having receded, the importance web had grown more strong than ever, with exciting new applications and sites popping up with surprising regularity. Besides, the companies which had survived the ”dot-com” collapse all seemed to share a common added value in terms of content offer. Retrospectively, this collapse marked a turning point for the web, one for which the label "Web 2.0" stood out as a new call for action. Kindo is a project that emerged from that call for a new generation of websites, standing in sharp contrast with the old traditional websites, of the sort which limited visitors to viewing content which only the site’s administrators could modify.
Kindo features a user-friendly interface based on rich media solutions (Ajax, Flash, PHP, AMFPHP, MySql, etc..) which allow users to do more than just retrieve information. It provides a social-networking platform that allows users to run software applications entirely through their own browser. Around an easy-to-use genealogy application, we have built an entire "architecture of participation" that encourages users to add information to the application as they use it. Uploading photos album, editing your profile, getting news about distant relatives are options which Kindo makes simple and instantly accessible. Users can not only own their data but also exercise control over it and share it with other chosen users.
Using the seagull framework and a mix of the latest technologies available (Ajax, PHP, AMF PHP, Graphviz, PEAR lib, Flash, ActionScript, JavaScript, jQuery and MySql), GetConfused acted as in-house consultants to provide solutions and tackle all challenges encountered. The main objective that has been achieved was the establishment of a cross-browser web 2.0 application that is easy to use, stable, scalable (towards a large number of users) and easily maintainable.
Initially launched in 4 European languages, Kindo now offers family networking in 14 different languages, an offer which has been made possible by the overcoming of several serious technical challenges due to the particular demands of certain languages.
The rationale behind this move is clear, though. Kindo is one of an increasing number of European Internet startups that have realized the big potential of booming Asian and Arabic markets. According to Internet World Stats, the growth in Internet users since the year 2000 amounts to about 620% in China and 490% in the Middle East, as compared to a European growth of only 170% during the same period.
To make this release a reality, Kindo’s development team has managed to overcome important challenges with innovative and ground-breaking purpose-built solutions. For Arabic, for instance, we had to make Flash render Arabic correctly as it doesn’t support right to left languages by default, as well as getting the whole interface to switch completely when you choose Arabic. Turkish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese also presented a specific challenge linked to the handling of special characters, especially the embedding of more than 5,000 characters in Traditional and Simplified Mandarin Chinese.
==> After only 6 months of existence, Kindo - that is at the time this case study is being written, can already pride itself with more than 100,000 users and an average growth of 2500 a day, figures which have placed it ahead of all its direct competitors in a record time.
For getConfused, Kindo has been an instrumental by the sheer size of the project and its massive consumer success. It serves as a demonstration of the technical expertise we have gathered which allows us to tackle even the most ambitious of projects with a set of challenging technical issues. All solutions brought about by getConfused on this project, especially that of language operability and programming stability are now reusable on any other project.