July 3, 2007

When Minimal Technology is Required

Sometimes we forget how advanced technology is - the hardware we use and the software that runs it. Of course the most important thing we really need is just the information. Being able to download mega-bytes of email at one time is nice, but when you're traveling - all you care about is the headers (from, date, subject) so you can look at the message that's most important to you.

When browsing the Internet, and you come across some bandwidth hogging site - don't you yearn to just have access to the data you need?

Clickz writes Microsoft Outlook lets you download just message headers when a connection is slow. This has been a saving grace for me when I travel. Web sites should be able to do the same thing. I usually check my friends' MySpace pages every couple days. I haven't looked for a month, however, because their pages are too slow. They all have fancy (and large) background images and songs that automatically play when you load the pages. MySpace loads these elements first and page content afterwards.

As you build your web site, or revamp the current one most likely, it's fine to have a lot of fancy images, sounds and other features. But it's also important, especially if you have critical information for customers or others, that your web site and all digital content is easily accessible.

I'm sure most of your users will be visiting your web site through high-speed Internet lines, but what about the few who might still be using dial-up or those who are blind?

You can't be all things to all people - nor can you please everyone who visits your web site. However, you MUST at least keep these things in mind as you are building your web site. We live in a global world, where your next customer could very well be in Pakistan and your partner tomorrow could be in Egypt.

We also live in a world of people who might not be like us. Your customer market could be seniors, youth, hard of hearing, using a dial-up modem or accessing your web site via a cell phone.

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