RE: The Netscape / Microsoft / Future Quagmire

Peter Flynn writes:
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From:  Peter Flynn[SMTP:curia.ucc.ie!pflynn@uunet]
Sent:  Saturday, October 19, 1996 4:39 PM
To:  jaobrien
Cc:  www-html
Subject:  RE: The Netscape / Microsoft / Future Quagmire


>This is because you design your pages with appearance only in mind.
>Many of us design pages for _content_, which needs to transcend
>appearance if it is to prove durable and persistent. I cannot afford
>the luxury (and nor can my clients) of restricting their market to
>users of a specific browser.

I do not design my pages with appearance in mind -- it's content first   
(believe me, I'm a free-lance writer as well as web designer and I know   
what's important) and then appearance -- however, I do give great weight   
to appearance as well -- let me give you an example of a situation :

You're walking around hungry as can be and decide you want a nice chicken   
sandwich and fries -- you walk up and see two restaurants -- both have   
signs outside saying how great their chicken sandwiches and fry specials   
are and they are both charging the same price for this entire meal -- so   
your decision has to be made on appearance.   You open to the door to   
Restaurant #1 -- the floors are dirty, there are only a couple of seats   
so the place looks very barren, the place smells bad, smoke fills the   
air, and the rating sheet shows a 52.  You close the door.

You open the door to Restaurant #2 -- a person is there to greet you   
right away -- the air smells good, there are plenty of seats, light music   
is playing the background, the place is spotless, and the rating on the   
sheet shows a 99.

Now you tell me which restaurant you choose.

No different with web pages -- it's a known fact that people have a   
better chance of exploring your web site if it's appearance "grabs" them   
 -- when you're dealing with corporate sites and competition, that's a   
very important thing.   A potential customer will get a good feeling   
going to a page designed by a company that has an interesting style, is   
designed with nice graphics, offers a lot of new features, AND of course   
offers a lot of good textual detail of their products and services.   
  When choosing a certain company, they are more likely to quickly leave   
a page which contains only text, and stays behind the times.

Sorry for the food example -- it must be time for lunch..

Jason O'Brien
jaobrien@fttnet.com