Re: Front Pages

At 06:25 p.m. 08/28/98 -0400, MIchael Channing wilson wrote:
>> The web isn't a magazine, and trying to make a website look and work
>> like a magazine (or a book, or a television show, or a radio program,
>> or a telephone call) seems misguided.  The magazine paradigm simply
>> doesn't work on the web.

>Well that is a perfectly narrow minded view.

What's narrow-minded?  Claiming that experience has consistently
shown that trying to ape physical paradigms, such as magazine or
books, is somehow "narrow minded"?

>Think back 4-5 years ago.
>Did you think the internet would be used to conduct credit card
>transactions, listen to radio broadcasts, conduct long distance
>telephone calls, video confrenceing, or real time chat?

Yes, I did.  What does this prove? :)

>Probably not.
>Most did not see it coming and some still haven't a clue that it's here.

How does this support the idea that the magazine paradigm works
well for web publishing, though?

>What works on the web is just "what works for you". The web is great
>because we create it as we go, adding in the things we want when we want
>them. I have developed one site that directly emulates a companies
>brochure, online. http://www.rotolok.com I think it looks good, the
>company loves it, their clients love it and it looks like a magazine or
>brochure.

This page doesn't look anything like a magazine.  It looks like
a web site.

I agree that it looks good, and from a quick glance, it certainly
appears usable and workable.  But it is _not_ built on a magazine
paradigm.  There is no "cover page", no "table of contents", no
"columns", no "masthead".

It's a lovely page -- but it doesn't prove your point!

>The web has far, far surpassed this stage of development and
>by stating that "this - insert whatever here - doesn't work on the web"
>only limits our capabilities.

No it doesn't.  It's important to learn what works and what doesn't,
rather than claiming that examining failed strategies and learning
from those mistakes will somehow "limit our capabilities."

In general, trying to ape the physical properties of a magazine or
a book just does not work for web pages.

>Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. You may not need or wish to see it
>again, but I would hardly give up on a site because of a splash page.
>Hit the stop button and wave the mouse around 'til it gives ya the
>finger then click. So much for the wait.

The wait came when I had to load your splash page in the first
place, and determine that it _didn't_ have any useful content
at all.  That 10 seconds was worthless time for me, since I want
to get to your site, not get a "teaser" for it.

--
Kynn Bartlett  <kynn(at)idyllmtn.com>             http://www.idyllmtn.com/~kynn/
Chief Technologist & Co-Owner, Idyll Mountain Internet; Fullerton, California
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