RE: The Netscape / Microsoft / Future Quagmire

On 22 Oct 1996, Peter Flynn wrote:

> >   When choosing a certain company, they are more likely to quickly leave   
> > a page which contains only text, and stays behind the times.
> 
> Absolutely, which is why graphics play such an important part, both in
> attraction and in ergonomics, and especially on the front page. But
> once you pass the portal, it's uncertain which keeps the visitor at the
> site: the hardcore info or the glitzy graphics. My money's on the
> information every time, and especially on its reusability.

I agree with the last point, but not nearly so much the first.

When I'm looking for information, I frequently use Lynx rather than
Netscape/MSIE/whatever, simply because it's far faster to get to what I
want. As it happens, I rarely use the worldwide web for anything _other_
than looking for information, so for me the textual content is vital. In
certain cases, of course, the information content is graphical, but in the
vast majority of cases this simply isn't true (or at least isn't
necessary, whatever the people designing the sites think). When browsing
aimlessly, not something I do often I'll admit, I tend to bookmark any
site that sounds vaguely interesting, and then come back later when I've
got bored of just following links. I usually then delete most of the
bookmarks, because although they promise to be fantastic, award-winning
pages full of sexy design etc. etc., they actually have very low content,
and are therefore fairly useless.

A lot of people out there are being paid large amounts of money to design
away the fact that companies often don't have anything to say.

James

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Received on Tuesday, 22 October 1996 07:43:41 UTC