beware of this and that 11 november, 1999 by johnmichael patrick monty monteith

>>>>> Beware of this and that.
>>>>Who is this and what is that?
>>> How's that? What's this?
>>Don't you mean where is this and why is that???
> Who do you mean by that with this?
You know I've got work to do with that web site and this is very silly.

This is an actual ongoing email conversation I had today that started from the inspiration of Edward Gorey's The Epiplectic Bicycle. Partially I share this because it shows just how silly we can be around the office at times, and partially to show you how technology has drastically altered communication. We have been working the majority of the day on the See-Me web site, and we send emails back and forth to each other as they day progresses. And for whatever reason, this drastic change in daily communication somehow does not seem as strange as it should. (Although the actual conversation itself does.)

With dot com this and dot org that penetrating our ear drums continuously, it is easy to forget that the Internet is still in it's infancy. When we stop and consider that only a couple of years ago Java, JavaScript, Flash, RealAudio, and the countless other web formats being used did not exist, we might be fooled into believing that the web is maturing. Perhaps it is, but if we were to compare it to the development of a child, the web has yet to take its first step.

When developing a web site today, there are many considerations that need to be made. Many of these considerations are based on limitations of today's technology. These include the types of formats being used, the size of the files, a consideration of the audience and what their access will be, and so on. These questions mostly arise due to these major limiting factors: Internet bandwidth restrictions, the connection speed of the audience, and the software being used by the audience.

As awful to design as these restrictions are, they must be considered. If the majority of your web site audience has 56K analog modems to access your site, a 140K home page would keep most of them from visiting again. If the majority of your audience is using Mac II's with Navigator 2, use of frames and flash technology would be something your audience will never see. On the other hand, if your audience is likely to have the latest technology with high speed connections, your web site should take advantage of the best technology currently available.

Most of this borders on the obvious. What is not quite as obvious, however, is that what we consider cutting edge design today will be passé tomorrow. Or, at the very latest, a year from now. One of the biggest mistakes a web site can make today is to be unwilling to start over. As technology changes, and your audience evolves, we need to be willing to have our web sites evolve as well.

A small example of this evolution comes in home page size. In 1995 most web sites were being designed to be no bigger than 5K in total size. The reason for this is the main connection speed to the Internet in 1995 was a 14.4 modem. In 1996 a huge leap was taken to 10K, and resulted in a few more graphic files used thanks to quite a few people having 28.8 modems. In 1997, one could afford maybe a 20K site, thanks to 56K modems. In 1998 we saw home page sizes moving up to nearly 40K. Today there are a number of web site home pages of 100K or more, although these sites are pretty difficult to get through with anything less than an ISDN connection.

If one does the math, we can see that web site sizes are doubling once a year. This doubling includes better graphic files, more animation, nicer content, flash files, abundant use of JavaScript, occasional Java apps, and plenty of forms. Thanks to continuously improving access speeds, web site design can afford to double what was acceptable only a year ago. Whenever new technologies are introduced and your audience is able to take advantage of them, it requires a complete re-thinking of the web site design and layout.

Although there are rare exceptions, most web sites should be starting from scratch on their design at least once a year. Some of the more cutting edge sites have a complete re-design every six months or more.

Starting over on a web site every year is a major task. Fortunately, with a little forethought, some of the sting can be taken out of this necessary evil. When designing a web site for the first time, if possible we should use templates and style sheets on all content pages, we should have a well thought out flow chart for the design of the site, our files and materials should be organized for the future of the site, and we should use the best software available to help manage our web site. All of these elements will assist the web site in being able to conform to ever changing Internet expectations of our audience.

We should all beware of getting too locked up in the thinking of our design, or too un-accepting of the wants of our audience. Web technology will continue to evolve at an almost feverish pace. Although the web today resembles printed media more than anything else, ultimately the web will not mature until it better resembles a highly evolved Playstation video game. Limitations like bandwidth and audience connection speed will change so dramatically over the coming years that worries about a 120K home page will be laughable. The Internet in a few years is likely to resemble printed material as much as television resembles radio today. And it is likely the audiences of our web site will want our design to ride that wave with the rest of the Net.

So when starting down the road of designing a web site for the first time, or starting the big process of re-designing an already existing site, try to consider not only the limitations of today, but the lack of limitations of tomorrow. Design your site to be as accepting of change and new technologies as possible. Use the newest technology available to build your site. Most important, make certain that you are accepting of changes in web technology, and understanding this will present the need to throw away last year's site and start over again.

Oh, and do not forget to beware of this and that.