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Date Posted: Mon, September 20 2004, 20:14:00
Author: 91
Subject: Re: Great java applet for all the new UTA/sports sites going up
In reply to: GBM 's message, "Re: Great java applet for all the new UTA/sports sites going up" on Mon, September 20 2004, 13:36:21

Interesting questions.
Pardon me while I drone on from my experience:
1. You ask who wins: the programmer or the web-viewer.
As hard as it is as a webmaster, the webviewer must win out, not merely .501, but 1.000. The visitor should be our number one concern as a webmaster.

It's very easy from a creative standpoint to develop all sorts of ideas that are really satisfying and I go "too cool, 91" but you realize it doesn't really fit the theme or style of the website.

I do a church website (fblakeside.org) and we recently developed a new logo and image for our stationary and website and all our marketing materials. After doing a fairly colorful, hip site for two years with lots of bright colors, the new logo and direction lent itself to changing the "feel" of the site to "warm and inviting". So now I had to redesign the site from scratch, the main goal to tone down the special effects/java/bright colors in favor of doing the job at hand. It was hard to do. I liked showing off. But the job dictated a different style. The visitor wins out. But meeting the challenge was really rewarding (how can I make these colors and styles and fonts work best?)

2. About Flash and intro pages
It's been my experience that flash intros work well on
some machines but not on others. I think the new
browsers and such handle it better, but when folks run into
sites where there's a need to load plug-ins to make it
view your content, they are so outta there.
If your site is good and the content is updated fairly
regularly, I'd say don't worry about the flash intro
because good content is better than just a spectacular
intro page.

Plus, I found people OVERWHELMINGLY bookmark the main
news/info page and your intro page will only be seen
by first-time visitors. And if people send a link to
friends and such, it's likely the news or roster or
whatever, not in the intro. Hence, I find it to be a
lot of trouble considering how few hits the intro page
will get. Of the two websites I do now, neither of
them have big intros, just a static .jpg logo and an
explanation of what the site is about.

Plus, the more info you have on your first page, the
better chance you have of the search engine spiders
picking up good info about your site and getting it listed in a higher ranking. An opening page that's big on flashy graphics and such (unless you've got great META tags (a whole other discussion) in your code) may be less appealing to search engines compared to your first page being full of information.

There's lots of good simple java applets that browsers are more likely to run well rather if you want a special effect.

If you look at that javaboutique page/link referenced
earlier, they have lots of good applets that you can
use that maybe take the school logo or your website
name and have it bounce or get zoomed in on or
something. Again, no plug-in needed. A lot of applets are free, some are only free to try (but will show a permanent link or copyright notice that can't be removed unless you pay to register it.) And then some are free for personal sites, but not business, etc.

3. More unsolicited advice (user testimonial):
I found for *QUICK, PROFESSIONAL* web graphics and
drop shadows and other low-res stuff for web work, a
relatively unknown program works great called
"Becker Draw". You can get a copy brand-new,
sealed on ebay for about $8 or so (I checked, it's
available as of today from a couple of different
vendors). Don't know why it never really caught on,
but I use it as much as I use Paint Shop Pro 8 or
whatever. If I'm doing a higher-DPI or bigger logo
that goes on T-shirts or something more complex, there
are better programs. But for 72dpi web work, buttons,
beveled edges/cutout type/drop shadows/titles/web
banners/etc. and quick .jpgs and .gifs and stuff,
Becker Draw can't be beat. It relies more on a couple
of easy, key menus rather than manipulation of layers
and layers of filter effects. And you see your results
instantly. It's also got a billion or so (it seems) of
different colors, textures, patterns etc. too. I LOVE
IT. But truthfully, I would say it's worth much than
what I paid had I known it was so good.

sorry to get wound up, I enjoy talking webmaster stuff

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