Content is king; or so the saying goes. Well, as history shows, there have been some pretty lousy kings. A few have been bad enough to be overthrown.
Signs The Peasantry is Revolting
Forsooth (sorry ...I never get to write that) there are portents...
Kevin Airgid Uncovers a Web Design Trend: Monkey See Monkey Do
State-of-the-art interactivity?, by Jeffrey Veen
Quote:
There was little content and even less user science.
Many sites submitted had no concern for the user on the most basic levels. Rarely could you identify an idea or purpose behind the site, or name a possible user goal the site was intended to facilitate. There was no flow, no legibility, no usability. It wasn’t so much that the designers had contempt for their users as that they seemed never to have been taught to think about users at all.
-- Zeldman: The rebooter’s children go rebootless
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So What?
Innovative content generates links
without you having to work at it. And yet, everyone pays homage to
the queen while the king gets little respect.
Most sites use content as filler, often a reason is the purpose for the site is to have a site. So yet another "me too" site is born. When the content doesn't differentiate, it automatically works to cammoflage such a site.
You don't need fancy code or latest flash antics to differentiate. Most web users have seen the spectacle, they want the substance. Start with a site purpose which can be identified by someone who wasn't in on the design stage. Develop a Unique Selling Proposition. Most content is too long because is just isn't very good. So many sites play it "safe" with short copy. The trouble with short copy is it can never be short
enough.
Jeffrey Veen's article could be interpreted as reactionary. Veen's critique isn't a reaction against flash, or innovation. He's saying designers aren't being innovative
enough. Digital economics lowered thresholds to competition. At the same time it exponentially boosted the value of innovation and differentiation.
So the question is 1) Do you think content is the web's biggest weakness? 2) If so, what would change things?