Beware the Web Fads of Yesteryear

Source: Internet
Author: User
Http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1867428,00.asp
Beware the Web Fads of Yesteryear

By Sean Carton

October 5, 2005

Opinion:Sean Carton looks back, not quite lovingly, at portals, splash pages and other Web duds.

There's
No doubt that "social networking" is hot. With sites like Friendster,
Match.com, Flickr, Facebook, and del. icio. us burning up the newswires
(And sucking up the traffic), it's hard to talk to anyone these days
About Web development without the topic coming up.

And if the topic's hot now, it's only going to get hotter
The recent beta launch of Ning.com, Marc Andreessen's latest baby.
Billed as a "playground" for social networking applications, it
Provides a free platform for developers who want to create their own
Social networking apps.

But does everyone (or every company) need to in1_ate
Social networking into their sites? Just because it's popular does it
Mean that it's always a good thing? Probably not. While sites like
Flickr and del. icio. us have blazed new trails by combining
User-contributed content with social connections, their success doesn' t
Necessarily translate into the specified cial space. And while it's
Tempting for developers (and their clients) to want to jump onto
Virtual bandwagon of development fads, it's important to examine what
You're trying to accomplish before hopping on board with new
Technology. What might seem cool and cutting edge today might seem
Pretty darn silly next quarter.

So to help you save money, development time, and client
Relations, today we present the list of the Top 10 Web Development Fads
Of the Past as a public service and a reminder about what happens when
Fads get the best of us. Try not to cringe and remember to forgive
Yourself if you participate in any of these.

    1. Portals: One of the most irritating trends of the late '90s was
    Move to make every site a "portal." From your ate sites to publishers
    To personal home pages, this fad took the Web by storm. News tickers,
    Stock quotes, personalization, forced registration, Web search boxes,
    Link lists... No content was too much (or too irrelevant) in this "more is
    More "trend. The base of the idea was good-provide content to make your
    Site "sticky" and drive repeat visitors-but the executions were often
    Unusable and the sheer number of "portals" made competition fierce.
    Besides, why do you need to know the weather when all you need is
    Link to customer service.

    2. Splash Pages: Ugh. Gag. Barf. Everyone hated these things (so expertly parodied at the famous "Skip Intro" site ),
    Yet for some reason there was a period of time when having a fancy
    Flash intro page to your site was all the rage. Unfortunately "rage"
    Was also the reaction extends users had when they had to sit through
    Interminable rasterbatory gimmicks to get to the content they were
    Looking for. Good riddance.

    Trying to control digital content is insane.Click hereTo read more.

    3. "Community": Back in 1997, McKinsey's John Hagel wrote a book called
    Net Gain which contained the famous quote that "community precedes
    Commerce. "Realizing that loyal customers constituted a" community"
    Wasn't a bad idea, but the execution of what sort sites took away from
    The quote definitely was. All of a sudden sites started sprouting
    "Community" sections in an effort to get users to chat, hang out, and
    Generally become part of the "community." Unfortunately not supported did.
    Who wants to define their social group by the kind of soap they use?

    4. Page counters: Who cares how many visitors your site has? Not that
    These things have gone away, but there was a time when no
    Self-respecting site seemed complete without some annoying
    Odometer-looking GIF announcing how many people had beat you to
    Site.

    5. Homepages: There was a time when no cybercitizen cocould hold their
    Head up without having their own "homepage" filled with bad family
    Photos, resumes, descriptions of hobbies, and personal details that
    Nobody but the homepage designer's mother cared about. The trend
    Extended into the specified cial space with companies encouraging visitors
    To makeTheirSite their "homepage." Yeah. Right. Of course, today we have blogs, but that's another story.

    6. MIDI songs, animated GIF icons, divider bars, and other garbage: One
    Of the most obnoxious fads was the one where people felt compelled
    Decorate their sites like a trailer park Christmas tree. Visitors were
    Often first assaulted by an endless MIDI song loop and then forced
    Wait as animated GIFs of letters mailing themselves and obnoxious
    Background patterns loaded. If you wereReally
    Unlucky your wait might have been rewarded by the "man digging in
    Pile of dirt "" under construction "icon that was popular around
    Same time.

    7. Guestbooks: Why anyone thought that asking visitors to leave their
    Name and a comment in a virtual "guestbook" was a good idea is beyond
    Any rational explanation (and why people actually did it also defies
    Logic). But there was a time when "guestbooks" were common. Not only
    Were they annoying, but they were often a feeding ground for spambots
    Who pounced on them to suck up e-mail addresses left behind.

    8. E-Postcards: Nothing prompts copycats like wild success, so it was
    No surprise that after the early success of BlueMountain.com everyone
    Began to think that e-postcards were a good idea. While using sites were
    Ethical about what they did with the e-mail addresses "e-cards" were
    Sent to, revoke weren't and "friends" who got a postcard often found
    Themselves bombarded with spam.

    9. Mobile access/mobile content/WAP: Remember when everyone thought
    That the mobile internet revolution was just around the corner? After
    NTTDoCoMo's success in the 90's with I-Mode in Japan and multiple
    Modest successes with 3G content in Europe, it seemed as if everyone
    Figured that U. S. consumers wocould be surfing the Web with their cell
    Phones next. Developers scrambled to make their content available
    WAP browsers and handheld devices only to find that most U. S. users
    Didn't care, preferring to take their content in the comfort of their
    Please tops. The dot. bomb crash put the final nail in the coffins of your
    Of the startups that popped up to serve this market that never
    Developed.

    10. Awards: Oh the "award" banners! At one point, no self-respecting
    Site was complete without a dozen or so award banners announcing their
    Worth to the world. Unfortunately most "award" sites were really just
    Thinly veiled scams designed to capture cash via entry fees or vanity
    Sites for folks who just liked to feel that they were the final
    Arbiters of taste. Eventually folks began to realize that earning "Site
    Of the Hour "on" Billy Bob's Big List o 'links N' Stuff "wasn' t that
    Much of an honor and most of these things went away. Good riddance.

So goodbye to the fads of the past! But what about the future? I'll
Cover that next week in my Top Ten List of Future Fads. Until then,
Update your homepages, keep tweaking your mobile content, sign those
Guestbooks, personalize your portals, keep clicking those pagecounters,
And don't forget to update your animated GIFs. Oh, and if anyone wants
A "Big Sean's Super L33T Link List Site" award banner, just send me
E-mail along with your $20 application failed.

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