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Friday, 28 October 2005
For experienced VB.NET developers this isn’t really anything new but having spent most of my time in the last five years writing web applications in PHP, I have to admit that I’m a bit of a late starter in this area. Having just recently worked on a new project using the .NET framework, I can tell you that as a former Visual Basic developer, I’m really impressed.
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Tuesday, 25 October 2005
What follows is an actual recent conversation between a customer support representative at Net Solutions (our ISP/host) and a prospect. As a matter of good taste, the names have been changed to protect the innocently ignorant:
June: I want to sell things on the internet. Is this something you can do for us?
Olya: Yes, absolutely. What do you sell?
June: I have a home based business and I do mail order.
Olya: Ok, that’s fine. Do you have a domain name?
June: Yes, I have a business name.
Olya: That’s good. Do you have a domain name?
June: A what?
Olya: A domain name is the internet web address of your web site. This also becomes part of your email address.
Nothing but the reverberating sound of silence.
Olya: It’s the part that comes after the WWW. It usually ends in “dot com dot au” or “dot com”.
June: Oh.
Olya: You will need to register a domain name before you can publish a web site.
June: Oh.
Olya: Will you need a web site?
June: Ok, I’ll have one of those.
At this point Olya nearly falls off her ergonomically-designed chair in hysterics.
Olya: Could you email me the domain name you’d like us to register for you, including your contact details, business name and ABN?
June: I don’t have email.
Olya proceeds to patiently explain about the Net Solutions internet access options.
June: OK, that sounds good, I’m interested in the dial-up option. Do I just call this number from the phone?
Olya: We will supply you with a username and password, and your computer will instruct your modem to connect to this number.
June: Oh. I don’t have a computer.
Olya politely suggests that she purchase a computer and contact her when she’s ready.
June: While I’ve got you, my boyfriend has stacks of Elvis memorabilia, over $300,000 worth, which he wants to sell on Ebay. Do you know how he can contact them?
Olya: Yes, he can go to www dot ebay dot com dot au.
June: My boyfriend doesn’t have a computer either, do you have a phone number that he can call them on so that he can describe the stuff he wants them to sell?
Olya: Hello? Hello?
Friday, 21 October 2005
Recently, while attempting to use the Westpac website for online banking, I experienced some problems. Not wanting to phone their hotline, I attempted to contact them via email. Like so many other larger organisations, Westpac don’t publish their support email addresses, insisting you use their “online feedback” form instead.
This is precisely where my troubles began.
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Wednesday, 19 October 2005
According to Jakob Nielsen’s recent article, things haven’t changed all that much in web design over the years. It seems that selfishness, ignorance and sometimes even downright stupidity still persist and are becoming a common pattern. In order of infamy:
- Fonts that are too small, low contrast and fixed in size, so users can’t control them in any way.
- Links which don’t obviously look like links or use stupid phrases like “click here”.
- Flash technology which seems to have been implemented to primarily annoy people.
- Content which has been placed on the web by people who don’t understand the web.
- Search facilities which are either non-intuitive or don’t work as they should.
- Not making content compatible with standards-compliant browsers.
- Complicated forms, with too many questions and inflexible input requirements.
- Missing contact information.
- Rigid page design which is unable to accommodate the user’s window size.
- Distracting popups, especially when they’re used to sell you stuff which you don’t want.
Jakob states that instead of focusing on the newest technology, companies should invest in improving the quality of what they already have.
Our own experience shows the above list of offenses to be widespread, even on some “expensive” websites. Which begs the question:
Who sets the website’s business goals?
Sunday, 16 October 2005
If you’re running one of the numerous flavours of the Windows operating system, you’ve no doubt experienced the continuous and systematic updates or hotfixes you’re having to apply to your computer just to keep it secure. This is normally done via Internet Explorer, via the Tools > Windows Update menu or by pointing your browser directly to the Microsoft Windows Update website.
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