How many people would prefer a simpler web?
I do.
It's a question that continues grow more prominent in my mind over the last few months. Developing for the iPhone taught me to keep things simple. There are only so many things you can do one screen and since you have to tap with your finger, there are only so many hotspots available. While you can scroll on the iPhone, the objective for me is not to require the user to do so.
It's harder than you think. Simple is hard. The rule of web entropy is that like the bedrooms of our teenage sons, if left alone, simplicity usually ends up in chaos.
Nothing is more evident in today's websites and blogs. Given that the resolution of screens are increasing, people are adding more and more, links to flash based ads, double row tabs, links to other websites. Probably only 5% or less on any given webpage is relevant to the topic at hand. The rest is fluff and represents the paranoia of web designers and blog owners that you'll go away without consuming more content.
As web publishers we should think web cuisine, not web buffet. A little content done well goes a long way in getting that user back. A bad buffet really makes no one happy. The consumer learns to filter rapidly. If you asked me what I saw on any given page, I would struggle to tell you beyond the content I was looking for.
So why do we do it? Because the technology allows us to.
That is not to say it is a good thing.
Perhaps it's age but I grow tired of content overload. What I do seek is relevancy and experience. We have yet to learn how to take a white piece of paper and put just enough content to satisfy our hunger.
With that being said, I should heed my own advice and stop right here!
Hopefully Web X.0 will be a simpler, kinder web.
It's a question that continues grow more prominent in my mind over the last few months. Developing for the iPhone taught me to keep things simple. There are only so many things you can do one screen and since you have to tap with your finger, there are only so many hotspots available. While you can scroll on the iPhone, the objective for me is not to require the user to do so.
It's harder than you think. Simple is hard. The rule of web entropy is that like the bedrooms of our teenage sons, if left alone, simplicity usually ends up in chaos.
Nothing is more evident in today's websites and blogs. Given that the resolution of screens are increasing, people are adding more and more, links to flash based ads, double row tabs, links to other websites. Probably only 5% or less on any given webpage is relevant to the topic at hand. The rest is fluff and represents the paranoia of web designers and blog owners that you'll go away without consuming more content.
As web publishers we should think web cuisine, not web buffet. A little content done well goes a long way in getting that user back. A bad buffet really makes no one happy. The consumer learns to filter rapidly. If you asked me what I saw on any given page, I would struggle to tell you beyond the content I was looking for.
So why do we do it? Because the technology allows us to.
That is not to say it is a good thing.
Perhaps it's age but I grow tired of content overload. What I do seek is relevancy and experience. We have yet to learn how to take a white piece of paper and put just enough content to satisfy our hunger.
With that being said, I should heed my own advice and stop right here!
Hopefully Web X.0 will be a simpler, kinder web.
posted by The Idea Dude at 10:35 AM
1 Comments:
nice post. thanks.
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