Content first
Re Weblife (27/1) - Matt Martel admits to being a beginner at web design. Not surprising then that his article raises a number of issues.
His company "provides web content for sites". He suggests that it is alright to create pages even if the content "is not the real content" Twice in the last few days I have had demonstrations of web sites where the proud demonstrator disclaimed all responsibility for the content. Never mind the content, feel the graphics.
He has obviously been too busy to read the recent Online article where Jacob Neilsen, the creator of Google.com, made a case for graphic-free sites where the visitor just might be able to find the information required. Alertbox.com and it's top ten mistakes in web design would give him pause for thought.
At the nuts and bolts level, Dreamweaver is not free, cheap or easy to use. How do you do your maintenance after 30 days are up? Frames are not an unmitigated good, especially for someone who would like to pass on some of you information in an email say or print it out. They reduce the usefulness of a site. Photos are better saved as jpgs not .gifs
John Ashurst
Didsbury
Web peril
It is certainly true that programs such as Dreamweaver allow web sites to be quickly and easily built. However they do not guarantee that the result will be any good.
A lot of skill and experience (of many different disciplines) go into creating a good web site. Just being able to use a web authoring package like Dreamweaver does not make someone a web designer.
Companies need to realise that their web site is as important as their corporate identity. Unless you want your brand to suffer, spend the money and get it done properly.
I don't mean to be critical, but www.contentgenerators.com is a case in point - it looks unprofessional and works badly, which is a shame because the content is actually quite interesting.
Jonathan Hirsch
New Media Consultant jon@hirsch.co.uk
Deluged
Since you published my letter about email and mobile phones on Thursday, I have had a handful of letters of thanks (many expressing amazement at the wonderful facility they now have) and DOZENS of letters asking for trouble-shooting tips. You might like to point readers towards an expanded explanation of the service which I have posted at www.freespace.freeserve.co.uk
Michael Hampson
michael.hampson@bigfoot.com
C'est terrible
I tried the Systransoft website with our family Christmas letter, translating it into French and the result back into English. I expected the end result would need some editing - and how!
The opening lines were: "For us this was the Year of Jenny's Hip. At the end of January, Jenny had a bad fall in the garden: nothing broken, but plenty of discomfort which increased over the following weeks & months. Our doctor was baffled".
They were rendered into French as: "Pour nous c'était l'année de la hanche de la bourrique. A fin janvier, la bourrique a eu une mauvaise chute dans le jardin: rien cassé, mais abondance de malaise qui a augmenté au cours des semaines et des mois suivants. Notre docteur a été dérouté.
Put back into English, it read: "For us it was the year of the hip of the she-ass. At at the end of January, the she-ass had a bad fall in the garden: nothing broken, but abundance of faintness which increased during weeks and by the following months. Our doctor was diverted."
There's scope for human translators yet!
AndrewPatrick
a_j_patrick@compuserve.com
