Re: UKNM: Half of UK sites are "broken"

[Robert Hamilton]

Philip wrote:

>

>And we wonder why clients don't take new media seriously.  

>

>I appreciate that not everyone has the resources that we do to get it

>right first time.  But this is still serious? Do we need some kind of

>Policing, Guild of Master Website Builders, Blacklist or other form of

>cowboy outfit killer?


Well, no I don't think we do. Many attempts to set such things up have

failed over the last few years.


Broken links and other basic faults are generally the result of human error.

If you look at sites built on top of databases, which are automatically

generated, they are far less likely to contain such schoolboy errors. Alas

the bodgers who throw a few pages together and call it a website don't

understand or contemplate such delights.


As time goes by, web development will increasingly involve aspects of

true software development. And yes, this makes it more complicated.


The thing I think we're in danger of overlooking here is that there are poor

services in all industries. I see lots of cheap, badly produced TV ads

(although I have to say Carlton/LWT suffers from far fewer of these than many other

regions), reams of terrible print work (no, not just ads, letter heads,

business cards etc.) and too much badly written software. Perhaps my rose tinted 

spectacles need new batteries, but I don't think that web design suffers any 

more than most sectors from poor work. One of the differences is that large 

client companies seem rather too pre-disposed to buying such bad work in 

new-media. Whether this is because they don't believe that you (usually) 

get what you pay for, or simply because they don't know what they want to 

achieve.


Many of us have been trying to overcome these issues for years now, with

varying degrees of success.


Clients don't take new-media seriously for all sorts of reasons.


There are large chunks of new-media that *I* don't take seriously.


<PRE-EMPT>

	And, I'm sure, there are large chunks of new-media that don't

	take *me* seriously.

</PRE-EMPT>


R


PS Wouldn't it be embarrassing if someone found a broken link on one of 

Port 80's sites...

Robert Hamilton -

robertbrandwidth [dot] co [dot] uk

Creative Consultant, brandwidth

  0171 697 0049


  0973 989 208