Looking through the headlines today, I ran across an article that reminded me how blessed those of us who live in Western democracies are to have systems of government that allow citizens to share information. Whether it be instructional, humorous, entertaining, critical, or praiseful, the right to create and disseminate thought and opinion is a blessing we, or at least I, take for granted.

Conversely, citizens of China would not be able to have blog sites like Michelle Malkin’s or Michael Moore’s. Even for blogs of a non-political nature, China has tight restrictions on the content and distribution of blogs within its borders. Among other things, it is unlawful for Chinese bloggers to maintain anonymity, which has created international backlash from some of the world’s most prominent technology firms and media watchdogs.

Regardless of the various opinions on the effectiveness of blogging, most of us can agree that we’ve been blessed with systems of government that allow businesses, organizations, and individuals to collaborate and communicate without the fear of authoritative reprisal. To that end, I’m more thankful upon reflection as I exercise my freedom by publishing this message. You should be too.

Labels: Blogging

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Posted by Erik Jon Warila @ 8/26/2007 03:58:00 PM | 3 comments

I just ran across an article that I have to share, the Last Dance of the Web Bologna.What is Web bologna you might ask? According to Dan Century, the name given for the witty young man who wrote this article, it's "superfluous and garish web design elements that marketing departments love, but the average customer will ultimately loathe."

Like spam, Web bologna is a different type of intellectually insulting processed product that we get served up on occasion whether we ask for it or not. But instead of coming through email it comes at us from the pages of web sites.

Now in Dan's definition of Web bologna, he says that "marketing departments love" it. I'm not sure what marketing departments he's talking about, but I can guarantee that this marketing department is top on the list of bologna loathers. As a matter of fact, I've recently vented my disgust of a newer evolution of Web bologna (the "Site Pal") on this blog.

I think a key principle of life that applies to this topic is that just because something can be done, does not mean it should be done...e.g. if one can belch one's name, that does not mean that it's a good idea to do so when meeting potential customers.

So aside from just being plain cheesy, what's so bad about bologna? It's bad because it exists on the opposite side of the spectrum from good usability—the design principles that have been researched and proven to facilitate visitors to your site becoming customers. In other words, bologna takes away from the whole purpose for a business to have Web site. As a side note, to learn all you need to know about usability, pick up a copy of Steve Krug's classic book, Don't Make Me Think.

I encourage you to take a read through Dan's humorous article. While much of the bologna Dan mentions in his article is extreme and from the past Internet era, the same misguided mindset of "this looks cool, we should put it on our Web page" still exists today with newer technology and tactics.

Labels: Web-Development-Strategy

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Posted by Douglas Case @ 8/18/2007 01:15:00 PM | 0 comments