For all your personal enthusiasm in the Web, there are those who will resist it with
all their might. Your challenge, which might well be titled "Mission
Impossible", is to help them see the benefits of the Web as a communications channel.
Use the table below to identify how you can set about countering the objections that you
are sure to meet.
The WWW is too slow
Minimise graphics (quantity and filesize).
Optimize your graphics with GIF Optimizer.
Don’t like reading from the computer
screen
Keep text pages brief summaries.
Use bullet points.
Link to detailed documents so that they are an optional read.
My browser can’t use frames
Don’t use frames, or if you do, be sure
to provide an optional homepage for those who are still using antique software.
Also remember to link to it from under the <noframes> tag in your frameset.
Have to wade through too many pages to find
what I am interested in
Provide a simple, direct navigation system.
Keep page nesting shallow.
Can’t find the bits I’m interested
in
Provide a site-wide keyword search facility.
Built-in feature of MS-FrontPage
Can’t find/see critical parts of the web
Use simple common format elements in your
pages.
Never create navigation aids or menus with tools that require special browser plug-ins.
Avoid any features that require special plug-ins unless they are essential to your
communications needs (such as drawing display).
For a summary of the most popular web graphic systems visit http://www.dbm.com.au/CADinfo/editorial/cadweb.htm
Already have too much email
Implement a web conferencing system.
O’Reilly’s WebBoard for WinNT/95costs under $60 and it works!
We don’t want our project information
available for all and sundry to see
Keep the URL a secret by only telling those
who need to know.
Create a robots.txt file in your web root directory that disallows spiders from indexing
your web and minimizes the possibility of your web appearing on search engines.
Implement server level security requiring username and password authentication to access
some or all of your web.
Your project web might not win a graphic design award following these
rules, but your partners will be able to use it easily and quickly. Your project web will
enable you to get on with your business, using the WWW as a means to an end. You will
quickly see the benefits of having a project team that is fully informed, empowered to
participate and building the synergy that grows when a group of people collaborate
effectively.
Originally published in MicroStstation Manager magazine www.micromanagement.com.
Re-published with permission.
