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Subject:Re: "Good" Web Pages From:Eric Haddock <eric -at- ENGAGENET -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 30 Jan 1997 09:53:16 -0600
>An example would be the numerous sites hosted by C/NET. The C/NET sites
>(see, www.cnet.com, www.news.com) are densely packed with information,
>easy to navigate, easy to read, easy to scan, etc.
I avoid C/NET sites like the plague because they take too long to
download. I don't know why--maybe it's all the densely-packed graphics? I
also don't like the teeny tiny type they use on the left side. I've
forgotten if they used graphical buttons or linked text on the left, but
whichever, the type was uncomfortable to read so I never read it, and as a
consequence I don't know what all their pages had to offer.
However, Microsoft's sites are user-hostile. Some of the text is
literally too small to read at all, let alone read comfortably. I went
there just the other day to see if there was an Internet Assistant for Word
that would work on WindowsNT (there wasn't, not surprisingly) but in trying
to find out if there was--I discovered I couldn't. I couldn't read the text
so I just clicked on "download" and hoped for the best. Then I noticed that
there was actually fine print on some of the pages which I would imagine
contained copyright stuff--at least I hope. I hope it wasn't a warning not
to install IA for Word on my platform. Maybe it was a notice about a
WindowsNT version? Heck--I'll never know either way.
My eyesight isn't below normal. I can read and do detailed work like
anyone else. I don't have any troubles reading other pages--just
Microsoft's in particular. And, I used Microsoft's own web browser on
Microsoft's own operating system to view Microsoft's own web page and I
don't have my monitor set to an unusually high resolution--shouldn't
everything have been kosher?
>To support this, simply notice the number of sites that have copied
C/NET's approach.
The idea of having a wide rule running down the left margin of a page is
a common (I might argue _tired_) design element that predates the web
itself, let alone C/NET's web pages. It's most often found in letterheads
and the like. It's not innovative by any means so I wouldn't suggest people
are copying C/NET but copying their own company's letterhead, someone
else's letterhead or promotional material, or just using the design they
might've seen any number of other places before.
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