Jun 22, 2007 07:44 PM
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Disclaimer: This review / blog may be incomplete or not useful in some / many respects. I am just reliving my days of being a web programmer. So, would request you to point any mistakes or descrepancies!
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Websites are like people. You get attracted to a good interface. Then you start using it and visiting it often. You start liking it so much that you cant stop thinking about it, talking about it, at times talking TO it, you start ignoring everything else. You actually know the site map so well you click with your eyes closed and you expect something to appear on screen and it actually does in a flash. Then you read, smile, type and kiss the site 'bye till we meet again'. And return earlier than promised.
The good thing about websites is that unlike people, they are eveready. You just need to close eyes and say GO! And there it is, in front of you!
The most important aspect of any website (and even human beings!) is: W Y S I W Y G
That stands for: What You See Is What You Get
I have been a Web Developer myself for more than 3 years and I know the pains one takes to develop a decent website. Getting a good interface is no big deal. A basic HTML page with buttons and graphics is all you need. But its the dynamics of the website that makes it good or bad.
There are millions of webpages around the world with the 'contact us' page taking you to a '404 Not Found' or worse to the homepage again. First impression is last impression. You wont return to such websites until they are your university websites (sadly, a lot of .edu and .org sites are badly maintained and hardly updated) or your girlfriend's blog.
Also, a bad assumption can make a very well designed website look awful.
A site which is not scalable to different resolutions and browsers will find limited audience.
When you release a movie for example, you dont release the VCD/DVD for the cinema halls and distribute the reels in homes. So, your HTML / DHTML / Graphics / Flash / Video / whatever may look great in 800 by 600 resolution or IE 6.0. But the moment you open it in Firefox or 1024 by 768 resolution, you feel like watching broken glassware on screen.
A lot of websites look like collages of banners, links, pictures, ads, banners, links, banners, some text, ..eh..it looks like a retail store stacked with condoms, grocery and candy - ALL in one place. Don't ask me whether the kid took the candy, the housewife took the grocery or the man took the condom. Each one of them thought they did choose the right thing though!
So,
First rule: Take me where you told me you would...And, let me know where I am!
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Not the Rang De Basanti inspired website: *Tu bin bataye, mujhe le chal kahin !
Second rule: Keep the things simple. Know the target audience.
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With the advent of Macromedia Flash years ago, every site jumped upon the idea of creating something which would make the audience exclaim WOW! Its sooo coool!
But, they forgot:
Not everyone has decent speed and bandwidth to load it completely and in time.
Next time you visit a website which starts loading a flash in the homepage and doesn't have
'Skip Intro' button to take you to the HTML version or next page, you know its badly designed.
The recent fascination of uploading videos and watching them online is a great idea. But, it depends on the connection speeds and bandwidth again. So, its a BIG hit in USA but still catching up in India, where things although better are not great.
A game website for example requires a lot of plug-ins and software. So, the audience needs proper knowledge of what is required. What is sufficient to play the game and what isn't. So, the website must make sure the things are easily available for download as playing games is a universal fasciantion irrespective of the geographical and demographical aspects of the place.
Third rule: **Content is the KING.
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Until and unless you are a teenager using your dad's credit card secretly to watch home videos online, you would rather remember the text (the actual content) than anything else.
Sadly, many of the professional websites lift content from better websites in the same field. I have been victim to the same. I won't understand why certain big names wont have enough knowledge about who they are and what they do. Why would they need to borrow stuff with a lot of Googling?
Anyway, remember, CONTENT is the king. Just like a person who may look and smell great and may even take you to where it promises but talks like a moron, bad content can p*ss you off like anything. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, wrong information are some of the things that can cause death of a website.
Fourth rule: Maintenance.
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It takes a whole lot of effort to develop a datacentric website. Servers crashing with more than unexpected hits are not so uncommon. Maintaining such a website requires a lot of planning and gut feeling.
Imagine Mail websites now offering unlimited data storage. Now someone getting a message:
"Sorry, our servers are down" when he is expecting his Nth attachment to get uploaded with lot of enthusiasm would really turn him off and make him feel cheated.
Weekends normally reduce traffic on websites. A proper shutdown of the server and oiling and greasing is very necessary.
Fifth rule: Change for the good. Not the worse!
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Remember Tomboyish Kajol of KKHH suddenly dressing up as a pink-ish and making a fool of herself or the Munna of 'Rangeela' standing in an all yellow beside his matching taxi?
Well, you may be trying to gain attention and gather praises. But, the fact is it didn't go well with your personality.Same applies to websites. Websites have a huge responsibility and temptation to keep rennovating themselves. Specially the commercial ones. But there are certain things which people are used to and would rather like it as it is. Majority of them at least. So, decide carefully what are the constants and variables of a website.
Thanks for reading...Comments are wlecome!
