Re: The Netscape / Microsoft / Future Quagmire

Abigail wrote:
> 
> You, Jason O'Brien, wrote:
> ++
> ++
> ++ Peter Flynn writes:
> ++  ----------
> ++ 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
> 
> Oh yes. _VERY_ different. You try to compare clean webpages without
> much glitz with dirty, bad smelling restaurants. That's not fair.
> Compare it with:
> Restaurant #1: The restaurant is quiet. Just a couple of people sitting
>                there, talking softly. There is just normal lightning.
>                Not much things on the walls, no fancy things on the table.
> Restaurant #2: Hard music is playing. Flashy lights in 16M colours.
>                The java-driven tables move all over the place. It is
>                crowded, and the floor goes up and down.
> 
> If you are hungry, and are interested in getting your food fast,
> which restaurant would you choose?
> 
> It's still based on appearance.
> 
> ++ 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.
> 
> Once again. I don't think the web should be there for the corporate
> sites.
> 
> Abigail

Let's keep in mind Abigail that without the *corporate* sites You might
not be having this little conversation about browsers/design.  It's 1996
- you're either a leader or a laggard.  If you want your soothing
default grey or white background, cool for you.  I don't think that is
where the *web* is headed.  Heck, we might as well bag CSS while we're
at it - it appears much too fancy and nobody wants to get the purists
angry.
-- 

Rick
infinety@saturn.net
http://www.saturn.net/~infinety
"If Horses were Dreams, We'd All be Riding To Town"


(end)

Received on Tuesday, 22 October 1996 12:54:44 UTC