The following is a review of unexpected results and inefficiencies of what can happen when attempting to do something without adequate and sufficient knowledge of what is being attempted. A resultant loss of conceptual focus and goals, further compounds indiscrepancies within the mission and purpose itself.
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In effect, by not fully understanding consequences and impacts of what is trying to be accomplished, and by not taking out the time to realize that the knowledge currently at hand is not sufficient to accomplish the task in the manner proposed, and by proceeding with an inadequate review of functionality of proposed mannerisms, and by ignoring the consideration of alternatives better suited to accomplish the task at need, we end up paying for a product which is far from what was originally intended, of little use, and zero value in meeting organizational purpose, mission, and goals. Quite the contrary, this end product is now an additional cost which the organization must absorb from other resources. No matter how you look at it, resources which could have been allocated to maintenance and sustenance of the organization itself must be reallocated; the organization must balance costs between living with bad products and/or fixing bad products. What should the organization do? Which resources should the organization use? Should the organization care about fixing bad products?
What was trying to be accomplished?
First we need to define what was trying to be accomplished and
why. In this simple example, an organization wishes to
extend its resource base to include coordination and
distribution of information using Internet technologies (i.e.
the organization has determined a need for a web site).
How is this task to be accomplished?
There are costs associated with the web site.
The organization reallocates resources and readjusts priorities
to accommodate the change in organizational needs.
Responsibility for the web site is allocated. Whoever accepts
these responsibilities must readjust their own priorities
accordingly.
FACT: In order to have a web-site, something must change.
QUESTION: What changes?
Changes
Needs and priorities are reassessed and reviewed.
Resources are reallocated.
A new knowledge base is established. Goals are set.
Web page design begins.
Priority and Need
Organizational web pages are a reflection of relative
priorities and needs.
By default, resources spent on web site design,
directly compete with resources
which could have been used for something else.
ANALOGY: If you don't need a $5,000 deluxe satellite response
system with 2 million channels because you can have a
$20 compact, stylized, hand-held, portable, and
sleek radio which works just as well for the purposes
intended, buy the
$20 radio, and use the remaining $4,980 on defined organizational
priorities and needs.
TO WIT, a single simple page can be created and
placed on-line within 10 minutes.
Adding images to this same page may require an additional
30 minutes. Selecting text out to
[... please use sparingly ... ],
change color,
style
or
emphasis,
also requires
time. Segregating informational content
into relative groupings on differing pages for
presentation in various formats requires more resources,
time, and effort. We can also
reach for a premium of
resources and incorporate programming techniques
for the unique presentation of informational content.
We can include metatags, key word search item terms, extensive headers,
title recognition, code compatibility, scripts, movies, music, or videos.
The list goes on and the potentials are endless. What are our options?
What do we base our options on? What does the organization need?
What are the priorities?
Balance and Need
There are many ways to design a web site, all of which require
a varying amount of time and effort.
To be useful, efficient, and productive,
it is important to recognize and realize the balance
between associated costs, productivity, and organizational needs.
Common Mistakes
A common mistake in web site design is to disregard
organizational needs
relative to organizational priorities and limiting resources.
While an organization may need a web site, hundreds of dollars
can be saved by not including unnecessary programming scripts
and code. A simple, fast-loading, introductory front page,
which is clear and concise, is far better than one laden with
initial set-up programming scripts, excessive imagery, blinking
colors and fancy fonts without content.
The Basics
FACT: More knowledge, time, resources, and effort
are required to maintain and sustain complex web page designs, than
simple web page designs.
FACT: The more you want to do, the more you have to learn. This takes time.
FACT: The time you spend learning one thing,
can be spent doing something else. You choose.
FACT: Everyone learns something relative to it be nothing.
FACT: Resources come from somewhere.
FACT: Resources have limits.
FACT: If an organization itself, does not care about quality and content
of site design,
then the organization should not be spending time and resources
on site design. Period.
The Rules
RULE 1. Do not use "code" which you do not understand; learn to understand first.
RULE 2. Do not use elaborate systems when simple tools will suffice.
RULE 3. Be considerate of your audience. Don't use 5 pages if you can use 1.
RULE 4. Recognize limiting resources such as time, personnel, and knowledge.
RULE 5. No matter what you think, someone will think it's stupid. Expect it.
RULE 6. Be concise. Super-encoding anything is braiding mains.
RULE 7. Get to the point. Call a horse a horse.
Considerations
- Black text on dark blue backgrounds are hard to read
- White text on any background does not print on white paper
- Do not expect users to change browsers
to accommodate your style.
- Do not expect users to have a collection of fancy and
multilingual fonts on their machine.
- Do not expect users to download extensions
for fancy animations and "plug-ins".
- Do not expect users to wait 5 minutes for large,
unnecessary images.
The Basic Page
The basic page is an informative text file.
Browser specificity (the ability for some browsers to do things
that others can't), plug-ins (the ability for some
people to see things that others can't), images, and anything
other than plain textual content requires additional knowledge,
effort, and resources. This takes more time.
The basic page balances simplicity, content and functionality.
If you ignore the principles of a basic page, don't expect miracles with
fancy ones.
The Users
Site users belong to three groups: "Intentional", "Circumstantial",
and "Never Been".
Three Basic Steps
STEP 1. Provide quality content for "Intentional" users.
STEP 2. Impress "Circumstantial" users into "Intentional" users.
STEP 3. Extend out to "Never Beens".
STEP 1: Provide quality content for "Intentional" users
- Define "Intentional" users as the organization itself.
- Define yourself as part of that organization.
- Define yourself as an "Intentional" user.
- Evaluate and outline organizational needs, wants, haves,
and have nots.
- Define and establish limits.
- Review and organize informational content with respect to defined and established limits.
- Present organizational outline of informational
content, needs, wants, haves and have nots in a simple, clear, and
concise format.
- Discuss organizational outline, content quality, and presentational format potentials.
- Establish priorities according to needs and limits.
- Recognize fallibility.
- Respect alternatives.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING:
Q.
If limits are not defined, and needs are not prioritized,
and we ignore fallibility, and there are no alternatives,
who do we impress with what in STEP 2?
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p.s. A lot of personal time and effort went into presenting this information to you, because I truly believe that there exists at least one person who will actually understand the concepts spoken herein and will benefit by them, which in turn, may benefit us all. Was it worth it?
Sunday, September 07, 2008