Lights out
There is plenty of chortling when dreadful sites such as Boo.com fail, and no shortage of sites that deserve to follow - the sort of rubbish put online by most British commercial TV companies, for example. But in the past week, the web has lost some award-winning sites that were treasured for what they contributed when they were younger and fresher. FEED magazine, co-founded by former Online contributor Steven Johnson, is the saddest loss because it was one of the few to tackle serious issues with serious thinking.
Suck will also be missed, if only by those who remember the antidote it provided to the garish over-enthusiasm of Wired. For the background, see More lights go out on the Web (see www.salon.com/tech/col/rose/2001/06/09/suck_feed).
But the site that may be irreplaceable, at least in the trade, is a humble weblog, Tomolak's Realm. Lawrence Lee announced he was going to stop producing the site because it was taking up too much time. We are waiting to see if he goes through with it.
TNBT
But if you have not made your fortune on the net by this time, don't worry. All you need to know is what the next big thing is going to be, and then avoid it, oh sorry, jump on the bandwagon. Whatever TNBT turns out to be, it will inevitably have been featured on TNBT, the website devoted to the new new economy. The interviews are interesting, which is what people used to say about Playboy a couple of decades ago.
Musical bent
Turn up your speakers, rush to Piano Graphique, and start pounding those keys now! This Macromedia Shockwave site downloads samples and assigns them to the keys on your keyboard, so just pressing X in Rude Boy will start a funky backing track. Want someone to say "Break it down"? Just press K. And so it goes, until you press the space bar, for erase. There are five styles - angular entropy, compulsion, rude boy, luv' techno, and cargo - and they are all worth a go. (Don't worry if you get lots of script errors: keep pressing Y.)
Yes, it is a very old idea, but this French version is brilliantly done and also adds animated graphics. It is fun for children of all ages, and no musical talent is required.
The authors have also produced a Piano Graphique for the Beatles site at www.thebeatles.com/lovemedo/treatment
iMovies
Apple is giving digital video cameras and iBook notebook computers to a bunch of creative types, with the idea that they will produce short films on the theme of 24 hours, and finish them within 48 hours. The result should be an interesting series of iMovies. MTV promo directory Elliott Chaffer has produced the first, about yawning. You can follow the series on the organiser's site at www.creativebase.com/imovie or on Apple's site at www.apple.com/quicktime/hotpicks
Fresh start
The first issue of an intelligent new British webzine, OpenDemocracy, has been launched at www.openDemocracy.net, and part of the strategy is to stimulate social and political debate. You have to register to read articles, many of which are, unusually, available as Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files for printing out.
Note: don't try to read PDF files on screen; they are too cumbersome. I have whinged about this before, and only mention it this time because usability guru Jakob Nielsen has come out against them in his latest Alertbox column at www.useit.com/alertbox/20010610.html. He reckons "PDF documents can reduce your website's usability by about 300%."
Safety
Safeweb - which lets users visit websites without their employers, teachers, internet service provider's or local dictator's knowledge - is planning to target the corporate market as well. This is being kept separate from the Safeweb and Triangle Boy consumer sites at www.safewebinc.com.
Bring the baby
Tigerchild is an interesting site, put together by two mothers. But it is not what you might expect from the name, nor from two ordinary mums. It offers high-level material produced by specialist researchers, with a design by Bluewave, a prominent London studio.
Unfortunately the pages are slow to load, hard to read, and have the sort of muted colour scheme you would use for a faceless Swiss corporation. The result is a site with a curious fascination, rather like watching a large balloon deflating. See: www.tigerchild.com
New & noted
• Amnesty International has published its 2001 report: at http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf
• Patchwork quilts may not sound interesting but the site at http://womensearlyart.net/quilts is well worth the visit.
• The stars of country music are honoured online at www.halloffame.org
• It's not the biggest marketing event on the web, but at least the Beeb has made an effort.
Six of the best Usability sites
Jakob's wisdom
W3C guidelines
The basics
The user interface
The horrors!
www.webpagesthatsuck. com/suckframe.htm
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