On Sun, 2003-10-26 at 20:46, Daniel Crookston wrote: > Hey gang, > I wrote an article about how to make a good (popular) web site, and was > hoping some of you might read it and give me some feedback about it. Here's > a link: > > http://www.hyperion-data.net/agoodsite.html
Thanks for not making me hold back.
Punch it up. Instead of
There are a few sites that have impressed me with their
usefulness and success at attracting a lot of traffic. Here's a
list of the sites I could think of that are successful in the
sense that a lot of people use them
shorten it to something like
The following are very popular sites. From their example, we can
learn tips for making a site more sucessful.
I don't care if they've impressed you. Do they impress me? Popularity is
more concrete and measureable. You can explicitly state that popularity
is the measure you're using to gauge success, and sometimes it is good
to do so, but I think in this case it is obvious from context.
I hate the second sentence. I read it as "I didn't feel like doing any
research, so off the top of my head..."
The list of sites should be in <ul>, preferably with the full url and a
matching <a>. If a reader isn't familiar with one of them, make it easy
for that person to go check out the site you're referring to. Most of
the time, if you feel you need a <br> you're probably not designing the
page correctly.
I think that these sites have a few important things in common
with one another, and I think that by creating a site that has
these attributes, you'll automatically be making your site more
successful (meaning popular) than it would be otherwise. Here's
a list of the five things that I think they all have in common:
When you're trying to persuade or inform, phrases like "I think" are
killer. What do I care what you think? Obviously almost everything
you're about to say is merely your opinion. You've declared yourself an
expert, don't go half way. It is generally the reader's responsiblity to
read critically. If they automatically believe everything you write
without thinking about it for themselves, that's their problem.
(Similiarily, something like "Fulan de Tal thinks that the slow, painful
death of the Internet began when the <blink> tag was removed from
browsers." is a good way to distance yourself from an opinion and weaken
it in the process.)
Short, simple sentences are easier to understand. They are also more
powerful. Don't be afraid to use short sentences--they don't look as
short to the reader as they do to you, the writer. Of course, don't
limit yourself to short sentences unless you want to reach the widest
audience possible. Make your writing more interesting by mixing it up.
Vary sentence structure and length. Avoid passive voice at all costs.
Remember, 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'. Read pages twenty through
thirty for tomorrow. Class dismissed. Bobby, I want you to stay, we need
to talk about your last assignment.
They don't have any of their own content, or if they do, there
isn't much of it. Nobody goes to these sites for the content
that's being provided by those that host and run the site.
So? Content is good. People want content. If your point is that they
allow visitors to contribute, thereby reducing their operating cost,
just say so. Don't imply that original content isn't important. It is
key. Nothing else matters. The source of the content may be different,
but content is still the secret to their success.
They all provide a framework for user-provided content to be
submitted and be made a part of the site. The only one that's a
bit of an exception to this is Google, where the content is your
own web site as opposed to a book review, interesting article,
or journal entry.
I read this as "My rule applies except, uh... for just this one case.
But it really isn't an exception." You could try something else like:
Most of these sites allow users to submit content for the site. Google
does something similiar by going out and finding what others have
already created. All of them are trying to add value to someone else's
creation instead of creating value by themselves."
A way to connect with other users to discuss or rate the content
in question. Again, Google would seem to not conform to this
rule, but they do - part of a site's rating takes into account
how many other sites link to it. By linking to a site, you're
"voting" for it, and Google keeps track of that when it's
deciding which sites to put first.
Your first sentence has no verb. This reduces the clarity of the entire
paragraph. This paragraph is stronger the previous one, but I would
still suggest strengthening it by shortening the second sentence to
something like: "Google, again, achieves the same result slightly
differently..."
Your fourth pargraph seems to wander. Perhaps a footnote would be more
appropriate for some comments. At any rate, shorten it. Get straight to
the point.
Slashcode isn't an API or web service in the same sense as those
provided by Amazon, Google, and LJ. It does, however, provide an RSS
feed.
"Dumber" is too informal for my taste. Why should I listen to an eight
year old calling his little sister dumb? Just shorten it to: "Good
designers allow their end users to use their site in ways they didn't
anticipate."
Again, I think the fifth paragraph can be shortened to tighten it up.
Consistency. I actually prefer the last three bullets where you start
each paragraph with a noun. Do it with all five bullets. This is one
place where mixing things up isn't appropriate. (I also like your use of
one short, direct word to start the paragraph.) Signal that the usage is
deliberate. Wrap the first phrase in <emp> to set it apart from the rest
of the paragraph.
Lose the commas, swap them for period. You have nice, hard hitting,
short sentences screaming to get out.
Capitalize correctly: Slashdot, eBay, etc.
I like "There's no reason to try taking over Amazon - Barnes and Noble
has been trying that, and failing, and I'd wager that they've got a lot
deeper pockets than you do." I'd make just a few tiny changes: "There's
no reason to try taking on Amazon--Barnes and Noble has been trying and
failing. (And I'd wager they've got much deeper pockets than you do.)"
1) I've changed some words to the form I'm most used to hearing.
2) I use "alot" in my email, but I'm in the camp that thinks both "alot"
and "a lot" are inappropriate for more formal writing.
3) The "--" should actually be the typographically correct dash. (I'd
have to hit a grammar book to remember which one that is.) A good site
on web typography will be able to tell you the entity code for the
correct dash. It is not correct to use plain old "-".
4) You generally can't start a sentence with the word "and." Except when
you can. Doing so, in moderation, says to the reader "I know what I'm
doing; I'm in control of this language."
5) I removed a few words to get at the strong heart of these sentences.
I don't like "Don't pick a niche that is too small.... There are no
niches on the Internet that are too small." You can't have it both ways.
It's a pretty tall promise to say "you can't really go wrong". (BTW,
lose the "really," it's redundant. Almost anything ending in "ly" is
redundant. Your writing will be stronger without it.)
Of course, your paper boils down to just a couple things: "Come up with
an innovative idea and you will be successful." and "Allow your users to
to add value to the content you provide." The first isn't news to
anyone--and it has been demonstrated to be insufficient. History is
littered with the smouldering remains of great ideas that failed for
other reasons. The second is more insightful. Thankfully, many sites
have already learned it. What do you have to add? Or are you simply
trying to educate clueless management that wants only a simple
"brochure" website? What is your audience, and why should they care
about what you have to say?
Check out <http://creativecommons.org>. It's the hip way to license your
web content.
--
Stuart Jansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED], AIM:StuartMJansen>
Programming in Java feels like C without the sense of accomplishment.
signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
