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01/23/2003 Entry: "what makes a perfect site..."
Song: Owari Nai Yume, Aikawa Nanase (Inuyasha)
Gah. I really, truely need to rant and vent my heart out about something that has to do with elitism, but I can't. There are times like these where I'm thinking a private livejournal might actually prove useful. But I have a hard time keeping up with this blog to begin with. xP Anyway, I will vent about something else that I've come across.
I went through a site recently and was quite impressed with both the webmistress's designs skills and also with her amount of content. I went to her guestbook and left a message, then scrolled through to read some other messages that viewers have left. What I found were harsh, unreasonable criticism among the many compliments. Some said the design alternated way too much, some said this and that were annoying, some said the navigation was bad. First of all, she has a low graphics version. Secondly, I don't believe "back" buttons are necessary when the *entire* site navigation is on every page and clicking on the links would direct you back anyway. Plus, what is so awful about hitting the "Back" button on your browser that you just *have* to click on the 'back' link that the webmaster provides?? There's navigation throughout the whole site on the sidebar anyway! ARGH.
Honestly speaking, I have not come across a perfect site in my years of surfing and being online. Why? There's no such thing. You cannot create a site to please everyone. If people like your site, they leave pleasing messages and encouragements. If people don't like your site (and they're mature), they usually just leave. That's why there are rarely any negative gbook messages. If any, they're from flamers or idiotic people. Here is one example. Lets say you don't want to be dull, so you create varying layouts for each section of your site. Then you get feedback that it takes too long to load, it gets annoying, etc. etc. etc. So you revert to one layout for all the sections. Now you get feedback such as: there's not enough variety to keep me interested, the layout gets tedious after staring at it from page to page, etc. Another example: If your site is all information and no media, you will get people complaining about not having anything fun to do or pretty images to stare at. If your site is all media with no information, you will get people complaining that your site needs to have informative content as well. (Viewers like me >D) This is assuming your media site isn't an image gallery but a character or series shrine.
See my point? You can't please everyone, and that's ok. It's not your goal to please everyone. (It shouldn't be) You make a site because you enjoy it, because you love a series or a book or a TV show. You don't do it to please everyone, and your main goal shouldn't be to get hits. To me, what makes a site *really* unique is opinions, insightful essays or articles as well as informative content to explain something to others that have yet to see the series your site is on. Multimedia and all that isn't that important to me, but that's just me. XD Everyone has different opinions of what makes a good website, that is why there's no perfect site. Having a perfect site would be boring as well, wouldn't it? xD If every site were a perfect site, where would the variety be? My sites are far from perfect, and I'm glad they're not perfect, because I try to be unique and have variety in my sites. I try to improve on them from what viewers have said, but I'm not going to add a free graphics section to a site just because someone wanted the site to offer free blog layouts.
A lot of people seem to be looking for perfect sites. They complain, "you don't have this, make this!" "You need more of that, and this is really annoying, get rid of it." Honestly, what's your point? You're not trying help improve the site, you're annoying the webmaster and even possibly pushing them towards shutting down the site because of all the negative feedback. Why go and do that? You can't have everything. Webmasters don't spend all day trying to please everyone. They do what they like, and if you don't like the spectacular creations they've made, feel free to leave. If you don't like how a site is presented, go make your own. Fellow webmasters know firsthand how frustrating it can be to have people nagging about doing this and that all the time. Constructive criticism is fine, most webmasters look for ways to improve and are open to new ideas and new perspectives. But when you blurt outright that "these layouts take too long to load" and there's obviously a "low graphics" version alternative, that's not criticism. That's a blatant disregard of a webmaster's hard work through rude, unthoughtful, and completely unnecessary whining.
Everything from internet etiquette to this rant has to do with respect. Yet people lack respect. =.=
On other notes, I think Bel's latest entry on elitism has got to be one of the most insightful rants I've come across, so I direct everyone over to read and raise her hits XP Also, Fiona brings up some VERY VERY good points about pluggage and the layout loading issue. I can't believe I didn't find her blog sooner. *kicks self*
Oh, and Tomato forgot to tell me it's her birthday today (until today, of course xD), so the result is that she will get a severe cyber-beating from me later. *cough* XD *huggles* HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Pffftt...I knew I was forgetting something. I promised Jay I'd do this but I keep forgetting, so here's a plug to his Feck Elitism webring, join if you dislike elitism, change "feck" to "f*ck" if you feel strongly against it, like me. XP
Replies: x6
Ah... so true, so true. And I greatly enjoyed reading your net etiquette rant; I can't believe I hadn't bumped into it sooner XD
Posted by Anthy @ 01/24/2003 05:27 PM CST
That is exactly what irritates me. I try to combine simple yet elegant layouts with good content ranging in info and multimedia. Then I get next to no comments from my visitors. What the heck? Instead I get 11 direct linkers in one week and I'm then supposed to feel special...WHATEVER!!
Posted by Nahi-chan @ 01/23/2003 08:15 PM CST
heh you are very right about people complaining about a web designer's perference for designing layouts. I also enjoyed your rant about net etiquette. DuDE SOmTImeZ We AlL NEeD To ReMEmbER tO Be MoRE ConSIDEraTe. XD
And please don't hurt me.. I'm a delicate birthday girl. XD
Posted by Tomato @ 01/23/2003 06:40 PM CST
It's ironic, eh?
Shallow sites that are neither enriching nor impressively designed have pages full of praise in comments and guestbook entries.
On the other hand, sites that are both beautiful and contentful get violently flicked off. Who has the right to demand ridiculous things from an already impressive site? They should be grateful for rare and resourceful sites made by devoted people, as opposed to sugarcoating the hell out of a popular site containing nothing but a billion monotonous layouts and a blog dedicated to 90% pluggage.
Stuff made by demand is really lifeless. I like the little extra spark and spunkiness added to content when it's done with enjoyment.
Feck elitism! O_O YES!!! *joins*
Posted by fiona @ 01/23/2003 06:37 PM CST
TRIIINNNYYY!!! GOOD RANT HERE I LIKE I LIKE!!!! *thumbs up* YES THE NET IS ABOUT ENJOYING YOURSELF FIRST then think about everyone else.
Posted by Belinda @ 01/23/2003 03:56 PM CST
Good lecture!! I totally agree with you!! I wrote a small bio once about myself, and tis is the question:
Why I wanted to start making sites in the first place :
To express myself and meet other fans! First of all, it's looking at other sites that give me the inspiration to make my own sites. I want to share the same interest among those sites and people ^_^
TO EXPRESS MYSELF, not to try to make a perfect site.
Btw, even though you said your sites aren't perfect, your sites are beautiful either way ^_^
Posted by Sachiko @ 01/23/2003 02:43 PM CST