The Web Archive
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
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Just to be clear, I have no plans to sell the domain, but it's an interesting topic.
To set the stage.....back in July of last year at a BBQ in Seattle an un-named Microsoft employee was talking about the domain acquisition market. One of the big factors is if the word is a 'dictionary word' or can it be found in the dictionary. According to this person a five-letter dictionary word might fetch six or seven figures. A friend of mine at the BBQ said I need to get the word 'hyku' in the dictionary and cash out :-)
I have had a few people comment on the fact that I have a four-letter .com domain name. The question remains, what is a unique, non-dictonary, simple four-letter .com domain worth?
Great quote from the audience during Ethan Kaplan's session at Gnomedex:
When I see a Flash site with skip intro, I read it as skip web site.
Yahoo released a major redesign to their homepage last night (details from Richard). Currently it's only available for users of IE or FireFox. Safari users receive the following message, but support is promised soon.
I spent most of the day in Jacksonville, FL hanging out with the nGen Works gang talking about blogs and other web-stuff in addition to eating some great Thai food. (some pix here)
Carl, Bruce, Travis, Joey and Varick are a cohesive unit that focus on building standards-based web sites. They launched a group blog, In the Garage, a month or two ago and wanted to talk shop so-to-speak. They're off to a good start but they just wanted to make sure they were heading in the right direction before really ramping things up. Each of the guys have some diverse interests that will really make the blog an entertaining read in the next few months.
What is version 2.0 of being dooced?
Step 1. Scott Adams of Dilbert fame uses your story about your boss/co-worker in his comic.
Step 2. A few million people read and laugh about your boss/co-worker in the Sunday paper.
Step 3. Bloggers everywhere search for the original source, just because it's something they like to do.
Step 4. Within two hours your identity is discovered and blogs everywhere say "X from Company X mocks boss/co-workers in Dilbert!"
Step 5. Five minutes into your Monday morning you're fired.
Step 6. Next Sunday's Dilbert mocks you for getting fired. (how meta)
Talking with a colleague on the phone the other day he relayed a story that was very insightful. He said that a few years ago when he was thinking about doing something different with his business he called about 10 other contacts with similar firms within the state. He just wanted to chat with them and learn a bit more about what opportunities might exist, or perhaps how they could partner in future projects.
Out of the firms he called, quite a few called him back and were more than willing to talk, while others never returned his call. Of those that he talked to he has built a few good relationships that have resulted in some collaborative projects. What is telling though, is a few years later, the ones that never wanted to talk are no longer in business.
Throwback jerseys from designers like Mitchell & Ness have been all the rage with the sports set (or the wannabe sports set) for some time now, but how about some gear for geeks?
Nothing says 'I was hip before the web was' like a throwback URL t-shirt. The first shirt I'd come out with would be: http://akebono.stanford.edu/:
For those of you that don't know, that was the original address for Yahoo. I can remember it so clearly, using my Telnet account and Lynx to visit the pre .com version of yahoo.
Like all other throwback gear we'll do a limited run and jack the price way up....say $120 per t-shirt. The question for you is what are some other throwback URLs? Remember altavista.digital.com?
I received a web brief for a project I have been asked to consult on. One line in particular sticks out (when discussing the attributes of the web site):
break through the clutter with a WOW and COOL web presence
That's just the problem, WOW and COOL usually end up becoming Flash-based, lame and foster no long-term relationship with the user, just like every other 'edgy' site. Making your web site WOW and COOL means you are the clutter.
Web 2.0 is a popular topic, but how soon before somebody starts to talk about Web 2.1 or even Web 3.0? Who will be the first to say, 'Our product draws on the social networking capabilities of Web 3.0' We always talk about 'internet time' being so fast, yet it's taken us 10 years to get to Web 2.0. A quick Google search shows:
Web 2.0 - 9,230,000 results
Web 2.1 - 19,700
Web 3.0 - 38,300
Web 4.0 - 16,100
Looks like there is plenty of opportunity in Web 2.1 or Web 3.0. It reminds me of the scene from There's Something About Mary where Ben Stiller and Harland Williams discuss Harland's ideas for '7 Minute Abs':
Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.
Ted: Right. Yes. OK, alright. I see where you're going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted: You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
Ted: That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
Ted: That - good point.
So folks let's start talking about Web 3.0: all the taste and satisfaction of Web 2.0 but half the calories.
Update: Jeremy Zawodny found a Web 2.1 conference.
Am I in a time warp? Is it 1997?
Sitting at a coffee shop and at the table next to me are two guys talking about a web project. Vendor is attempting to sell client on buying listings on his local web directory. I have never heard of the local web directory he's talking about, which tells me it's not worth anything.
There is discussion about 'premium listings', i.e. making the business name bold, for an extra fee the listing can have a link. The vendor is quoting traffic figures that I know he's pulling out of his ass.
I am so tempted to lean over and tell the client to run, run as fast as he can.
Update: Wait, now he's talking about search engine optimization. Shoot me now!
Update 2: If the client refers other business to the directory he'll get a percentage of revenue!
Update 3: It just gets better! The directory site is not a database, just flat HTML pages so there is no searching or faceted classification. Vendor uses FrontPage to manage the site, but they did recently buy some, "Adobe software, so we can make it look more fancy."
Sports Illustrated has launched a new daily online version of 'Scorecard'. The page, located at: www.si.com/scorecard/ is an expansion of the 'Scorecard' section that appears at the front of the print publication.
In the first two days it's been worth the few minutes it takes to read it. There is a daily 'blog' section, but it's not much of a blog since it does not allow user commentary.
The other must read I have at SI.com is Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback (MMQB).
Much of what goes on behind the scenes with this site is experimentation with various web technologies. When the site was initially developed I contemplated using a simple dynamic page structure based upon .ASP or another scripting language, or perhaps using templates based in dreamweaver. In the end the first go-around was standard HTML with stylesheets.
As a quick exercise, I wanted to recreate the structure of the web site using Cascading Style Sheets and the latest XHTML spec. It started as one of those, "let's see what we can do" that turns into a, "wow, it's 4:30am!"
I was able to quickly develop the wrapper of the site completely in CSS and XHTML. Looks similar and is proof that CSS is the wave of the future. But the future is not here yet!
The problem, as it always is with the web, is standards implementation among the various browsers. Depending on the browser, version and platform, implementation is different. For example Mozilla 1.2 was awful, but 1.3.1 was better. IE 5.5 on the PC had some issues, which an upgrade to IE 6.0 fixed. IE 5.2.2 on the Mac was tricky, Safari though was a dream. One could assume that if you have a Mozilla user that they are somewhat avante garde and will constantly upgrade their browswer to the latest version, but of course we all know when you 'assume'....
Of course the power of CSS is that you may develop separate stylesheets for various browsers, but considering that I would need to develop 10+ stylesheets for a web site that has less than 10 pages of content, seems like overkill.
It's only natural to turn the critical eye towards our own site. It may not be perfect but we think it hits the mark for our audience and goals. Often during the development process our former design roots would surface and say, "it needs more photography!" But we're not a design firm; our purpose is organization and structure.
Obviously it is easier to design a clean interface without a large amount of content, and that was our goal. But don't be fooled, what you see is only the publicly available content.
Prior to launch we had a simple splash page with our logo and positioning statement, a rather clean look. The 'design devil' on our left shoulder said, "keep the splash page, it works with the clean look and feel." The 'usability angel' on our right shoulder said, "splash pages are a waste of a click, why force the user to download another page." Ultimately you can see who won. No Flash, thank goodness, and no unnecessary graphics, nothing worse than those Photodisc stock images that say, "we're in the technology business." There is a standard tab bar navigation structure, maybe a bit cliche, but it's simple and effective.
Taking into account our scope of services, the site achieves our goals; clear concise delivery of content, with a simple navigation structure. Download times should be quick with a very light graphical load. Effective use of CSS and Dreamweaver based templates creating .htm files also increases efficiency.
What's bad? Perhaps a bit too copy heavy, and will an audience who is not savvy understand what we do? This is the major battle that many web sites face, writing in a tone that will appeal to a variety of audiences. The other major issue is font size, perhaps a bit small, we're going to get some feedback, and perhaps offer a dynamic option similar to wired magazine.
There is a clear plan for the growth of the content on the site, this will allow us to avoid the sprawl that happens on many web sites, the expanding navigation bars that soon become too crowded.
Then there is the ever popular question, what does 'hyku' mean? Well, nothing, it's just a name. Just a short simple name that is easy to remember. Of course as people begin to question this answer, the imagination starts to create alternative stories. One idea that fits with our mission is: helping know your users. Sounds plausible doesn't it?
We recently attended Tour de Georgia cycling race in Georgia. The inaugural event marks the return of true stage racing in the U.S. Something not seen since the Tour DuPont in the early '90s. The initial site was developed by a rather savvy group out of Atlanta (ant farm interactive). Although the site contains all the core elements, it tries to impress too much.
First off a Flash intro. Like all Flash intros, cool to watch the first time, if you have the time, the plugin etc. Then it becomes old the next time and we're searching for the 'skip intro' button.
Interior design features consistent global and local navigation. Sidebar links to Cycling 101 and a Glossary are good ideas, especially when educating the many visitors who may know nothing about the sport of cycling. Course maps are animated, which once again, catches the eye the first time, but if you are visiting the site frequently to follow the race, it gets in the way.
Link off the home page for Tour de Georgia merchandise goes to a page with no co-branding, it's a scary looking store. Also once you leave the home page and navigate around the site, there is no link back home, the user is forced to use the back button, often repeatedly.
Pop-ups are used for the photo gallery, which has become almost a standard usage. One strange thing is the 'downloadable' photos which are offered in PC or MAC format. They are JPG files that are either zipped (.zip) or stuffed (.sit). But the compression offers little file size savings. So why zip up a single photo?
Results are now online, but usually not in a timely manner, but that's not the purpose of the site. CyclingNews.com offers the most up-to-the-minute coverage of all major cycling events, so that's where we went for our results. As an aside, VeloNews.com also covered the event, but it's sad when a web site based out of Australia (CyclingNews) does a better job of covering a US cycling race, than a US based site (VeloNews.
I understand though that one major goal of the site may have been to attract sponsors, and there is nothing a would-be sponsor will fall for more, than a slick looking web site.
All in all, Ant Farm does some cool stuff, and I like there logo.
