http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/05/10/70-expert-ideas-for-better-css-coding
It happens to every designer. They are requested to add some "music" to a web site, whether it is just in the background, or part of a flash component on the home page. And every designer that I know cringes when that comes in. We want to make the client happy, but at the same time, we want to display the site in our portfolio and having a site with music on it there, attracts more like it, like flies on you know what. Music on a web site is bad business. Period. Unless the site is for a musician or multimeida company, where it is expected, music on a site is bad bad bad.
Why? Let me count the ways
It is rude. It is obtrusive. To force someone to listen to something they did not request is just plain rude. Many people play music on their computers, or may be listening to a podcast etc, and you interrupt them with what YOU want them to hear, without asking permission. Just plain rude. Users expect a web site to give them information not play music.
It may not appeal to their music taste. They may not think your nice background music is pleasant at all. It may have been your next biggest customer that you just sent away. Never to return. Was the vanity of having your own taste in music on your home page worth losing the customer? Your likes on a web site are not important, it is what your customer needs/wants to get from your site that is important. ALWAYS think of the end user. Not you. It's hard to do, to get beyond "I like I like" to "my users need/expect".
It is expensive. Unless you are the person who created the music, the music played must be licensed. This can be expensive. Not only the license fee, but finding the person who holds the copyright to the music, takes time, and time = money. And you certainly do not want to put music on a site that the RIAA controls. To put it in plain terms, I won't do that, I will be sued along with you. There is music out there that can be used for free, but again, finding a piece that fits your site message will be time consuming.
It is unprofessional. Show me one professional company in your niche, especially ones that you aspire to compete with, that has music. ONE. If you want music on a web site, get a MySpace profile and go crazy.
It slows everything down. Many times music will slow down the loading of your web page. People will think it is broken, and move on. If it is slow loading, they may never come back. You've lost them. If the info they want to read is not there in 5 seconds, you've wasted your money getting them there.
And so ends my rant on this. I just had to put music on a site, again. I hate it. Since they are low budget, I cannot add an on/off link for the music on the flash. I wish I could, but one solace is that the site will not go into my portfolio. It is a nice site though. Oh well.
http://thegreenwichblog.com/
A good client of mine launched a community blog just this week. She is using a blogging system that allows multiple bloggers, the various organizations who are participating, and comments are moderated by the individual organizations. This is a good way to create some buzz for your own website. And give something to your community.
So I have been so busy with work on new websites, that I forgot to keep my design blog updated... ummm oh well..
So... let's see...
http://www.classicocoffee.com
Jason had me do a new design for the new logo. He has had a fantastic success with his site since we launched it in, I think May(?), selling coffee. Of course, he promotes the heck out of it everywhere he can, and he spends his advertising dollars wisely. He has a great product as well. That helps alot. He posts in various forums, is helpful to those seeking information in those forums, even if it means telling people of other coffee roasters. Good business sense.
http://www.wirenut.net
ahhhh yellow and black... good for a designer's soul... makes you work extra hard to get it to look professional and not something a kid cranks out. I love the dog "mascot" and he'll be used more often in future promotions.
http://www.alanpickel.com
nice subdued professional looking. A world better than what was there, he had tried to use a hosting site's web builder templates, and it just did not say "pro", "trustworthy" or in any way branded for his firm. We did his site with subtle colors, yet they have a very strong feel. One of my favorites of the year.
and more coming... very soon.
IE7 has a phishing filter built in, that users can turn on, and will be
widely pushed as one of their security features. In fact, according to
an email I received from Zoe Gillenwater, they're already talking it up,
at least they did at the conference she attended recently.
There are two problems with it. The first is that it's giving a fair
amount of false positives. This brands legitimate sites as "phishers".
The false positives can appear on any page, and are often very deep into
the ecommerce payment process where most folks who own an ecommerce site
wouldn't look after initially testing out the cart to see if it works.
The only way to report the issue is to find the page within the site
which is being labelled *boldly* as a phishing site, and click the link
there for site owners to report false positives, which MS seems to be
handling quickly now, but since IE7 is to be released as a priority
download through autoupdate it could be very hurtful to a lot of
business people on the web who aren't aware of this and get nailed at
the time of the IE7 "bulk" release.
The other problem with it is that there is a link within the IE7 browser
where anyone can report a "suspicious" site, which seems to have the
effect of labelling the site in question fairly quickly, and whether the
MS folks are vetting these reports is questionable at this point. The
potential for abuse is astronomical. Anyone can report their
competitors' sites as phishing sites. Even if the issue is caught by the
legitimate site owner within a few days there may be enough residual
damage via word of mouth to put a dent in that person's business.
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/09/why_they_dont_u.html
http://pigwork.info/2006/06/28/an-industry-code-of-ethics/
more on the discussion
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