Re: average surfers [was: Tables vs. Frames]

Although your assumption of the average surfer has your design going a
certain direction, how can you say that just because they are computer
professionals/students, that they would be willing to /cope/ with frames?

Just because a person is knowledgeable in the field of Computer
Science/Technology/Etc... doesn't necessarily mean that person is Internet
savvy. Defining you target market is a risky business.  To be satisfied
with what is thought as the target market is only deceiving ones perception
of the Internet itself, as a whole.

Additionally, were I be interested in the advert for a computer degree,
it's possible that I haven't even broken ground in the field as yet,
therefore ... I wouldn't yet have the knowledge of computers, nor, quite
possibly, the knowledge you perceive me to have in the Internet arena.

Before frames came into the picture, there were successful sites.  There
are still sites that don't use frames that have done well.  My work
incorporates frames only as a last resort ... and even then I continue to
explore other alternatives.  I don't think that it is a mistake to try and
determine who your target market is when designing for the Internet, I just
think that if you are satisfied with the number, then that would be the
mistake.

That is my opinion, partly based on fact, some on experience and the rest
just plain personal preference.

cmj


At 07:54 PM 12/30/97 +1100, Christopher Higgs wrote:
>I believe it depends very much on your target market.  Being in the
>educational field, if I wanted to advertise a computer degree then I would
>expect the intended audience to cope with frames.  If my target audience is
>likely to contain a large number of newbies then I must take this into
>account.  Given the current "age" of the WWW, then there are a LOT of
>newbies out there.
>

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