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ISSUE #16
Date: Apr 22 1999 02:48:33 GMT
From: WebWord.com Usability Newsletter <WebWord-owner@listbot.com>
Subject: WebWord.com Newsletter #16
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WebWord.com Newsletter
"Usability & the Internet"
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List Owner
John S. Rhodes
John@WebWord.com
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April 21, 1999 Newsletter #16
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Table of Contents
1. Making Money on the Internet
2. Simplified WebWord.com Home Page
3. LearningFOUNT, Part I (sponsor)
4. LearningFOUNT, Part II (comment)
5. Take a Ride on the Cluetrain
6. When "Undo" Can't "Save" You
7. Yale Web Style Guide (Recommended Book)
8. Drumbeat 2.0: The Death of My Computer
9. How Much Money Do Web Professionals Earn?
10. Lend A Helping Hand
11. What Can You Find at WebWord.com?
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ITEM #1
Making Money on the Internet
Should we always care that our web sites make
money? I don't think so. There are certainly
cases where a web site won't make money. And,
there are cases where a web site doesn’t need
to make money.
Recently Jesse Burst, the ZDNet AnchorDesk Editorial
Director, posted a column asking who the major
Internet players would be in the next five years.
I told Jesse that I thought his question was
misguided.
The Internet is certainly more commercial now,
but the motives we have are not always built
on money. There *are* non-financial reasons to
create and maintain a web site. If you want to
read more, here is my posting:
http://zdnet.com/anchordesk/talkback/talkback_163044.html
Let me know what you think <mailto:john@webword.com>
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ITEM #2
Simplified WebWord.com Home Page
This isn't really big news, but I thought that I
would mention that I tried to clean up the WebWord.com
home page. Since you mostly care about my articles and
expert interviews, I tried to make the site reflect
your preferences. Based on my quick and informal testing
you should be able to navigate a little bit better than
before. And, novice readers should now have an easier time
getting around the site.
<http://webword.com>
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ITEM #3
LearningFOUNT, Part I (sponsor)
Join LearningFOUNT,
An email discussion list for executives
and entrepreneurs.
Discuss experiences and issues about
Business Strategy
To subscribe, send a blank email to:
<mailto:subscribe@learningfountain.com>
Please support our sponsor!
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ITEM #4
LearningFOUNT, Part II (comment)
Paul "the soarING" Siegel recently contacted me
about his LearningFOUNT newsletter. It looks
interesting, so I signed up. It comes out about
every other day. It is a discussion list where
like-minded folks send in suggestions, ask
questions, and so forth.
Perhaps more importantly, Paul and I had a nice
little discussion about building online communities.
Paul and I decided to trade advertisements. So, I am
asking folks to subscribe to my newsletter in his
discussion list, while Paul is asking folks to subscribe
to his list in this newsletter (which you can do by
using the email link in ITEM #3 above).
And...
If you are also interested in trading ads with me, send
me an email <mailto:john@webword.com>. Let's
work
together to form a network of shared advertisements. I
am very serious about this idea.
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ITEM #5
Take a Ride on the Cluetrain
Craig Marion, a wise and trusted WebWord.com reader,
has brought the "Cluetrain Manifesto" to my attention
<http://www.cluetrain.com/>.
Here's what Craig sent me:
"A group of marketing people have launched something
they call the Cluetrain Manifesto that challenges
companies that are 'clueless' to the whole Web
phenomenon -- the ones that don't listen to their
customers and obstruct communication among their
employees rather than encourage it -- to change their
ways.
They've posted '95 theses' the way Martin Luther
did when he attacked the Church."
I took a look at the manifesto and, given my biases,
it seemed like a great group of usability statements.
At the least, it gets you thinking about how the
Internet is changing communications, and value
systems.
In some ways the Cluetrain Manifesto mirrors my Open
Company Manifesto, which can be found at
<http://webword.com/moving/opencompany.html>.
This
makes me happy of course, and it reinforces the idea
that old business models won't hold up for much longer.
Those companies that don't turn to the Internet will
very likely die a slow death. And, in contrast, those
companies that embrace an open model will prosper.
Please let me know what you think of the Cluetrain.
Also, if you haven't read it, let me know what you
think of the Open Company Manifesto. Finally, please
stop by Craig Marion's Software Design Smorgasbord
<http://www.chesco.com/~cmarion/>,
it's a great
resource.
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ITEM #6
When "Undo" Can't "Save" You
As I was making the final edits to this newsletter I
saved over it with an old version. I lost about two
hours worth of work. I have always wondered why software
is designed this way. I realize that there are warnings,
but so what? I should be able to get back a previous
version of my work. I want an "Undo Last Save" option.
Has anyone ever seen such a thing?
Tell me about it and I'll share it with the other
WebWord.com readers <mailto:john@webword.com>.
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ITEM #7
Yale Web Style Guide (Recommended Book)
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300076754/wedwordcom
Authors: Patrick J. Lynch, Sarah Horton
Length: 160 Pages
Price: About $12
This is a handy little book that can help you build
intelligent and consistent Web sites. While I'm not
really a fan of style guides, this is the best. The
book is based on the online Yale C/AIM Web Style Guide.
<http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/contents.html>
The site is very good, but the book is better: It is
easier to search, there is fresh material, and it is
more handy than going online.
Find out more at Amazon.com
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300076754/wedwordcom
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ITEM #8
Drumbeat 2.0: The Death of My Computer
Drumbeat 2.0 is a Web development package this is
a competitor of NetObjects Fusion. Supposedly, it is
very good at developing sites that are driven by
database considerations. I wanted to try it out, so
I installed the demo version of the software (a 30-day
fully working trial).
This was a bad move. Very bad.
Things were fine the night that I installed it. I had
fun trying out the various features of Drumbeat. It is
a lot like Visual Basic, which I am used to using. I
was very hopeful!
I turned my machine off, woke up the next day, turned
my machine on, and that's when I realized that things
had gone very bad. ALL of my shortcuts were useless, my
MS Office toolbar wouldn't work, and even my Start Menu
wouldn't work. For the past week I have been fumbling
around in Explorer and DOS. I will need to reinstall
all of my software, as I am told that there are no fixes
for this problem.
What went wrong? Some helpful folks told me that there is
a very nasty bug in the program. You are supposed to have
MS Internet Explorer 4.0 installed to use Drumbeat. I did
not know this. It was not any place in the documentation
that I could find.
Needless to say, I cannot recommend Drumbeat to you. I
am furious about this problem and I am furious that I
have to nuke my machine and start over. This is certainly
a grievous usability problem.
If you have feedback, comments, or similar stories, tell
me about it <mailto:john@webword.com>. Perhaps
you can
save your WebWord.com friends from a usability nightmare.
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ITEM #9
How Much Money Do Web Professionals Earn?
Here's your answer:
Jenn's Web Professionals Salary Page
<http://www.planetx.org/~jenn/producers/salary.html>
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ITEM #10
Lend A Helping Hand
Recommending WebWord.com is easy. Simply go to
<http://webword.com/cgi-bin/birdcast.cgi>
and fill
out a few lines on a form I set up. It is a snap!
Also, feel free to forward this newsletter to a
friend. If they find it useful, like you do, they can
subscribe by going to <http://webword.listbot.com>.
THANK YOU for your support!
By the way, here is some Open Company information:
There are currently 590 subscribers!
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ITEM #11
What Can You Find at WebWord.com?
Articles (Moving WebWord)
<http://webword.com/moving/>
Expert Interviews
<http://webword.com/interviews/>
Recommended Books
<http://webword.com/books/booksindex.html>
Recommended Web Sites
<http://webword.com/hotsites.html>
Free Stuff
<http://webword.com/freestuff.html>
---- End of WebWord.com Usability Newsletter #16 ------
(c)1998-99 by John S. Rhodes. All rights reserved.
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