From: Adam Rifkin -4K (adam@XeNT.ics.uci.edu)
Date: Wed Jul 26 2000 - 13:12:36 PDT
Ebb and flow, we're moving back to a world where websites must tone down
their individual appearance:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000723.html
Google-on-a-WAP-phone is elegant in its simplicity: nothing but the
Google name and space to type in a query.
> Mobility drives small screens (because they are the only ones that can
> be easily carried) that will often be grayscale (to save battery).
> Mobile bandwidth will be much more restricted than wired bandwidth. Even
> though I don't believe in the current generation of WAP phones, I am
> convinced that mobile Internet will be big once we get better devices -
> but even these next-generation mobiles will have much smaller screens
> than PCs. This drives a focus on content and solutions: don't spend
> screen space on navigation features except for the most necessary ones.
> With less space for navigation, it becomes more important to stick to
> standard conventions for where to go and how to explain the options.
The lesson is clear: websites waste too much space. Less is more.
> The days of the unified website are long gone. From about 1993 to 1998,
> most websites were like Roman military camps: everything inside the
> barricades was carefully planned and constructed by the residents of the
> camp. The (fire)wall marked the end of control: everything outside was
> wilderness and not connected with the site.
>
> This is in contrast to the early years of the Web in 1991 and 1992,
> where the content on any given server was not connected with anything
> else on that server to any greater extent than it was connected to the
> rest of the Web. The Web was a unity and there was no special treatment
> of pages that belonged to a single site.
>
> Since approximately 1998, it has become more common for websites to rely
> on syndicated content that flows both in and out of the site. When
> writing content that can appear on multiple websites, it becomes
> necessary to restrict the content design to a few mechanisms that will
> work everywhere, such as headlines, bulleted lists, and highlighted
> keywords.
>
> Similarly, when a website imports many of its features and content, it
> typically becomes necessary to conserve resources and expend as little
> effort as possible on massaging the imports to fit within the site. As
> long as everything is about the same, it works. Anything too special and
> you have a conflict.
>
> Application service providers also make it harder for websites to retain
> overly distinctive design. It is getting to be common for some of the
> features of a website to reside on other sites that supply certain
> specialized functionality such as mailing lists, search, conference
> registration, shopping carts, promotions or coupons, and much more. As
> users engage outsourced functionality, they would ideally not notice
> that they have been temporarily moved to a different site for the
> duration of a certain feature. The feeling should be that of remaining
> within a single smooth interaction.
So what are Nielsen's suggestions for what should remain in Web design?
1. Users want zero learning time. Period.
2. A priori task analysis of specific users and their needs.
3. Content design that reflects a careful information architecture.
That's it. The size of Palms and Pocket PCs and Surf-phones mandates
efficiency and elegance. Don't deliver the whole page, deliver what
*matters*.
---- Adam@4K-Associates.ComOur vision, putting it bluntly, is to be the Cisco of Internet infrastructure management. If you want to turn the Internet into a utility like water and electricity, you have to have a whole range of infrastructure and management processes. People want to be at a company that will help shape the industry. That's the No. 1 reason people stay at a company. We're building out the fundamental foundation of the Internet, and that's an exciting quest. -- Kim Polese, stepping down as CEO of Marimba, http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2351339.html
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