LYNX-DEV we are not alone

[Philip Webb]

Ms Rafter doesn't mention Lynx, but this is the follow-up piece to the one
i reported to the list earlier.  i told her Lynx avoids a lot of problems
& she sounds as if she might be open to some lobbying to write a story
about Lynx & its merits.  this should encourage Lynx developers,
hearing that there's silent support out there for Net sanity.

Reuter th 970410 1003
   
Frames, Typos Are Web Page Foibles People Love To Hate -- Michelle Rafter
   
   LOS ANGELES - If people have one message for the Webmasters of the
   world, it's this: simplify.
   
   Web technology, based on the HTML programming language, has advanced
   to the point where it's possible for Web site builders to include
   sound bites, animations, specialty multimedia ingredients, even
   miniature software applications on Web pages.
   
   But just because you can, doesn't mean you should, according to the
   often-frustrated Web-using public.
   
   The worst offenses?
   
   Pages with so much text and graphics they take minutes to download.
   Pages that never download, except for the ad banners. Non-traditional
   text and background color combinations such as red on black or blue on
   red. Web sites with outdated hypertext links. Sites offering extras
   such as video clips that only work with a "plug in" helper program.
   
   "I know of an Internet service provider whose home page is one big
   Java applet. If you can't use Java, then you can't access links to
   (secondary) pages," said Marcus Westrup, one of more than a dozen Internet
   users who responded to an informal survey on Web likes and dislikes.
   
   Frames, which divide a Web page into multiple windows that can be
   independently scrolled, are another big turn off.
   
   "I don't know who thought these things were all that great but
   (almost) every time I see them I want to scream," said Esther Choi, a
   Web user in Norman, Okla.
   
   Fancy stuff aside, other people are irked by sites' failure to pay
   attention to basics such spelling and grammar.
   
   "Don't people use spelling and grammar checkers?" Internet user Ron
   Josephson said. "Maybe they're under too much pressure. When typos are
   in large hypertext print, the results can be tragically amusing. Maybe
   a proofreading class should be added to computer programming or
   Web-constructing course work."
   
   Who cares how beautiful a Web site is if it doesn't provide enough
   information on the company or group that built it, said Net veteran
   Barbara Woltz.
   
   "The Boston Red Sox site is pretty good," Woltz said. "It gives you a
   form to fill out for buying tickets, and it tells you to print it out
   and fax it. But the site DOES NOT include the fax number anywhere."
   
   Actually, the fax number is on the RedSox.com site
   ([18]http://www.redsox.com/), but people don't see it until after
   they've filled out the ticket-order form and hit a "Format Form"
   button, said Patrick McCarthy, the site's managing editor. He thinks
   it's a moot point, though, because the site began offering online
   ticket ordering in early April.
   
   Net surfers give low marks to Web-based directories that help them do
   detailed searches but don't let them bookmark the results.
   
   "This happens with sites designed so you cannot get back to some"
   search results pages, said Internet user Nick Roosevelt.
   
   Web pages that use cookies -- software programs that reside on a
   person's PC and record their Web-browsing activities -- are a little
   too personal for some people, including Internet regular Robert
   DeFulgentis.
   
   "Try logging on to Microsoft's page and no matter if you cancel the
   cookie or accept it, the bombardment NEVER stops. Other sites are the
   same, and if you cancel the cookies, you get bounced from the site."
   
   Web pages with cutesy opening pages are a waste of time, said Richard
   Treitel.
   
   "The front page contains just one link to a "Welcome" page, which
   contains just one link to a "Hi there!" page, which contains just one
   link to a "Here's the beef" page, which contains just one link to a
   "What kind of beef do you want?" page, which contains two links, "So
   you want your beef well done" page and a "So you want your beef rare"
   page. You get the idea. By the time I get to the actual content of the
   site, I've forgotten why I wanted to look at it."
   
   "People are just too ... lazy to figure out how to use the
   capabilities of HTML to produce an attractive, useful page," said Tim
   Adams, of Huntsville, Ala., summarizing the sentiments of many Web
   users. "There should be a law that you have to load your own page over
   a 14.4 kbps connection 10 times in a row before you can post it to the Net."

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