Re: Stickin' to m' guns

by Susan Pinochet <spinochet(at)mindspring.com>

 Date:  Wed, 8 Apr 1998 11:20:48 -0400
 To:  hwg-theory(at)hwg.org
 References:  geocities
  todo: View Thread, Original
At 11.27 am -0400 1998.04.08, Charles D. Wilson wrote:
>.... Is the internet community
>really going to dis-integrate into graphics vs. text camps?

Oh no, not again. About once a quarter we go through the whole graphics vs.
text equals exciting vs. boring discussion. Somebody compares the web to
tv; somebody says it's not analogous because the web is "pull" and tv is
"push."

What I never seem to see in these endless repetitions is the notion that
graphics intensive sites can be and often are boring.

Let's say I make a new site. I'll use a starry sky background with lots of
planets and galaxies in it [98K]. I'll make all my text bright colors.
Since they don't show up well against the background, I'll need to make
them large and bold. I don't have that much text anyway and I'd like it all
centered so I'll just make everything <H1>. I need a larger than the window
picture of me [82K]. I'll put that in a table so I can surround it with
animated fire [33K]. I'll add a guestbook with an animated book opening and
being written in [40K]. I want people to email me so I'll add an animated
letter and envelope gif [31K]. I'll put some awards gifs without alt text
at the bottom [22 at an average 19K each]. Then I'll add some links to
download software like mine -- again gifs without alt text [7 at an averge
8K each]. Then I'll add a neat counter that spins and a real counter next
to it. When my buddy comes over and points out that I have no content, I'll
add my life story (how old I am, where I go--or went--to school, how many
people are in my family, and so forth). But I want it to show up in 3d in a
font called super-mysterious-cursive so I put the text in a large gif with
no alt text. Then, to match it, I make my real heading (Joe Blow's Home
Page) into a gif too, once again leaving out alt text. At the bottom, I
then add a list of links using the logos from the pages instead of text
describing them. (And all on my first day of being an HTML expert!
Tomorrow, I will learn Java!)

Three people visit my page. One has a text browser (or image loading off)
and sees [image] (or image icons) throughout the page. The sparse text
reads "WELCOME to MY world" "Hope you enjoy this cool page" "Click below
for some cool links" "have visited here" "Bookmark this page". The second
person is loading images but their browser crashes before the graphics are
loaded. The third person has great new expensive equipment and a cable
modem; they see the whole page and are bored.

BORED! I maintain that it isn't graphics or the lack of it that makes a
page boring or interesting. It is interesting content presented pleasantly
(or even unpleasantly if that is important to the message). Even just a
list of links can be interesting if it is arranged well and on a topic of
interest to the person viewing (or whatever) your page. I read the other
day that Yahoo is the most popular site on the web. I don't think it was
graphics that made Yahoo interesting to millions of people.

-- Susan Pinochet      <mailto:spinochet(at)mindspring.com>
   Gentle Shepherd MCC <http://www.geocities.com/~gsmcc/>
   Tallahassee Pride   <http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/9209/>

HWG hwg-theory mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA