SCN: Dvorak

[patrick]

I think Dvorak is overreacting, but when has he not? Of course, he has to take
his view from the extreme to get a rise out of people.

Comments on comments, below:


--- Steve <steve at advocate.net> wrote:
> x-no-archive: yes  
> 
> =============================  
> 
> 
> (John C. Dvorak, PC Magazine, excerpts)---Here are solutions to my 
> top pet peeves...
> 
> ...Zone off the Net  
> 
> While the Internet 2 Project is attempting to zone the Net on some 
> level by giving academia a separate network, it's not good enough.  
> One Internet made some odd sense early on, but now the concept is 
> dated. There should be separate Internets for specific purposes with 
> different structures and gateways. There should be an e-mail 
> Internet, a streaming-media Internet, an IP telephony Internet, a Web 
> Internet, and yes, a porn Internet.   

Hey, now that sounds like a great idea. Separate internets. 
> 
> ...Limit URL length to 60 characters  
> 
> If I have a million pages online and I want to go to page 781,987, my 
> URL shouldn't have to be anything other than 
> www.dvorak.org/781987.htm. The designers of database systems 
> that produce ludicrous URLs consisting of various odd characters 
> and pointers all over the place should be punished. Many of the 
> ridiculous URLs are hundreds of characters long, and many cannot 
> be copied. Many won't work when copied, since they must evolve 
> from a specific page.   
> 
Who can disagree with limits on URLs. But his numbering system would only work
in a perfect world. He'd probably go with making a perfect English alphabet
like I used to have in my Star Trek guide book when I was a kid. One sound for
one character. No "ch", but a new character to take it's place. Perfection? 

His solution replaces one bad idea with another. How is anyone to remember
digits. It is hard enough to remember all the passwords we keep on different
systems and sites.

> ...Eliminate all pop-open windows  
> 
> A horrible recent trend in online advertising is annoying pop-up 
> windows in the form of minibrowsers. Many of these spawn other 
> windows if they are closed. This trend began with porn sites, and 
> now other commercial enterprises think it's a good thing. If you want 
> to drive business away, then keep it up.   

Well, annoying, but we know it's not going to happen. Even the phone company is
intrusive: If no one on the other line is answering, you get a voice that gives
you an option, for 95 cents, to leave voice mail. Annoying. Worse than a
pop-up.
> 
> ...Kill Flash advertisements  
> 
> I also don't like the excessive amount of Flash advertising. Too 
> much movement on the page makes it hard to read - like trying to 
> read a screen with a fly crawling on it. The new advertising models 
> simply do not work. The Flash idea came about because there was a 
> perceived need to up the ante to get readers' attention. This 
> approach gets negative attention.   

Moot point. Flash has subsided in use, hasn't it? It will probably increase
when more people get high-speed access. But web developers have discovered that
people will leave a site rather than wait for the flash bs. to load.
> 
> ...End forward jumps on Web sites  
> 
> A typical example of a forward jump is the home page that acts as a 
> quick hello. It automatically loads a real home page. First, you get a 
> big "Welcome to the site!" page that loads very fast, and then you 
> jump to another page. I suppose this makes you think you're visiting 
> a responsive site, but the problem is that you can't Back-Arrow out 
> of the site. If I go to Google to do a search, then click on one such 
> page, I can't get back to Google unless I do predictive clicking - 
> clicking the Back Arrow key numerous times, hoping that I don't 
> overshoot.   

Very annoying. But most sites do not have this. It's rare.
> 
> ...Adopt a self-cataloging system  
> 
> All informational Web sites should be self-cataloging. You should be 
> able to browse by subject the same way you can browse a library 
> bookshelf. Current search engine technology does not allow this, 
> despite the bogus and vague "More Pages Like This" link, which 
> never works anyway. One key to making this work would be to allow 
> one tag per site. You decide what your site is about and code it 
> appropriately for cataloging. Multiple tags would not be allowed, 
> thus preventing sites from being able to sucker someone into 
> visiting.   
> 
Again, living in a perfect world.

> ...Eliminate the plug-in  
> 
> It would be ideal to eliminate all plug-ins. But this will never happen. 
> In the meantime, a simple program that can show you all your plug-
> ins, with their associated files and DLLs, could work. And having the 
> ability to remove them would also be nice. I have a couple of plug-
> ins I'd like to get rid of without digging all over for them.   
> 
Plug-ins are rare these days, aren't they? There was an explosion of use for
them, but now I don't see them in use that much. What kind of sites does John
go to? 

I have a Mac, so I don't worry about DLLs.

> ...Stop the music  
> 
> Having a Web site load a MIDI or WAV file and play it was funny for 
> a while, but now the feature must be viewed as a failed experiment. 
> Nobody wants computers to begin playing music out of the blue. The 
> feature should be eliminated permanently.   
> 
This is rare. Very rare.

> ...Create a universal payment mechanism  
> 
> When are we going to get a truly universal payment system that will 
> let me effortlessly buy a two-page document for a nickel or dime? 
> Plan after plan has come and gone. Something has to give, because 
> the current system, with competing plans, minimum credit card 
> charges, and a lack of true security, is killing the e-commerce 
> golden goose.   
> 

Microsoft Passport? Isn't MS going to dominate the world with Passport?
Everyone, merchants and buyers will be paying tribute to MS through fees with
this service.

> 
> Copyright 2001 Ziff Davis Media Inc.  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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