4. The Road To More Compelling Web Presentation

First, nothing is going to happen until everyone involved in the web publication process accepts the idea that better web presentation is a necessity. Both web publishers and those who build and sell web design and management tools must understand that there are strong competitive reasons to commit required resources to new ways of presenting content on the web. Editorial staffs must recognize that, as in all media, the best of content goes unnoticed if it isn't compellingly packaged and that editors will have to learn to use tools beyond a word processor. And, web designers and managers must come to the realization that their futures lie not in doing the same old same old, but in learning new web design concepts and technologies.

Briefly, there are some answers on the technological side of web design and implementation. Adobe Flash provides tools for some pretty, well, flashy presentations. It also can deal with larger more active, even interactive presentations better. In fact, for a variety of reasons, including better protection of assets, some websites have been done entirely in Flash.

On the very near horizon is Microsoft's new browser enhancement module codenamed "WPR/E" (Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere). It supports rich content including animation, graphics, audio, and video using a subset of XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language). WPF/E runs in MS Windows and on the Mac OS and is compatible with Internet Explorer 6.0 and 7.0 and also with Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.8+ and 2.0+. Some early adopters say it is far easier to work with than Flash. Thanks to Geoff Swenson for reminding me about WPR/E.

Remember, however, significant personnel and technology costs are associated with moving to tools such as Flash and WPR/E. So, if you're a developer now is the time to take begin taking Flash or WPR/E seriously and if you're an end user, keep your expectations low for a while. It could be a year or so before impressive and compelling new content makes it into even the first lake in the web presentation mainstream.

Web presentation technologies need the best, most efficient image and sound compression techniques. Some of these have found their way into web design and implementation tools, many still have not and many are likely still to be created. Another possibility is pre-downloading content during off hours with the permission of website audience members.

Every time I write a Who Designed This Crap? article that questions the most favored technology of the day, I get an email from this guy who usually closes his message with something like "And the world won't change until you and all your fellow baby boomers are dead." Those emails always make me feel so fine. I guess I'm comfortable with the idea as long as he means "die off" and not "I'll kill you all".

I hope it's clear here that I'm not attacking the internet. Rather I'm trying to motivate a lot of people to begin considering a new approach to the web; an approach that will make me comfortable restoring the initial capitals to that great network of world wide computers and once again calling it the "Internet" and the "Web".

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