I got this from CHI-WEB (computer-human-interaction/WEB related):
-- begin forwarded mail --
> I got this from a mailing list at http://www.shorewalker.com/ (and called
> Lighthouse). I just signed up for the list last week after locating some
> good stuff for Usable Web at the site.
>
> Summary:
>
> David Siegel now builds Web sites unashamedly aimed at the lowest
> common denominator because consumers didn't like cutting-edge design.
>
> I believe this piece will be posted on Lighthouse later.
>
> Lots of tidbits to talk about here....
>
> Keith
>
> >From: "David Walker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: Lighthouse, October 25, 1998
> >Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 11:17:11 +1100
> >
> >Cuting-edge Web design is in retreat. If you need confirmation of its
> >setback, you need only talk to David Siegel, perhaps the world's
> best-known
> >Web designer. He's given up cutting-edge design altogether. "I am not
> trying
> >to win any design awards for my clients any more", he says startlingly.
> >
> >More than anyone, Siegel can lay claim to being the father of Web design.
> >With his 1996 book "Creating Killer Web Sites" he declared HTML's
> >transformation from a structural languageto a presentation language. He
> >defined the art, wrote the new rules, and popularised page-layout tricks
> >like the invisible single-pixel GIF. He created one of the finest
> personal
> >sites ever made. He made the best-designed Web sites famous at his High
> Five
> >site. He also set out his great expectations for the close future. By
> 1997,
> >he wrote in Creating Killer Web Sites, "Web pages will sing, they will
> >dance, they will be alive with movement".
> >
> >But now the father of Web design has dumped his would-be glamorous spouse
> >and taken up with Miss Sensible-Shoes down the street. His design firm,
> >Studio Verso, isn't pushing the boundaries High-Five-style. Instead, it
> >builds Web sites unashamedly aimed at the lowest common denominator
> >browsers - version 3.0 of Navigator and Internet Explorer. So the sites
> of
> >1998 look uncommonly like the 1995 sites that populated Creating Killer
> Web
> >Sites. The art has not advanced substantially. Most Web pages neither
> dance
> >nor sing.
> >
> >Siegel argues that Web browser technology isn't letting designers break
> new
> >ground. "Site design evolves, but it is haphazard ... A lot of these
> things
> >are stuck," he remarks, trying to sound matter-of-fact. "I wish we could
> get
> >out of this trap". You can hear the dashed hopes.
> >
> >Siegel blames the duelling browser-makers, particularly, for the Web's
> >stunted evolution, for conflicting versions of HTML that have helped slow
> to
> >a crawl the take-up of technologies like Dynamic HTML. About a year ago,
> >Studio Verso gave up creating separate sites for different browsers; it
> took
> >too much work.
> >
> >At the same time, Siegel recognises many Web pundits too willingly
> accepted
> >their own and others' hype. He recalls all those press releases "on the
> cool
> >technology that turns out to be less exciting than we thought" - Dynamic
> >HTML, Java, push and the like.
> >
> >He also notes that the focus of Web design efforts has moved to
> applications
> >build by IT specialists. "The IT department is in the back room working
> to
> >create the next big e-commerce systems," he says. "It's very much an
> >application-driven Web right now".
> >
> >But Siegel does accept one final reason why the beautiful sites he
> pointed
> >to in 1995 and 1996 have not gained ground. Consumers didn't like them.
> Take
> >Discovery Channel Online, which once boasted one of the Web's most
> elegant
> >opening pages. The site has returned to a more conventional and less
> >exciting scrollable table of contents. Most lovers of Web design would
> >deplore the change. But as Siegel notes, Discovery carefully tests all
> >elements of its site with its users - and the less beautiful site tested
> >much better.
> >
> >David Siegel doesn't even really design Web sites any more. These days he
> >advises companies on Web strategy; he came to Sydney last month to talk
> to
> >clients of Internet researchers www.consult. He wants more companies to
> >build sites focused on the needs of their different customer groups, and
> to
> >cater particularly to the most profitable customers. He's writing a new
> book
> >on customer-oriented Web sites - not killer sites, but sites that just
> get
> >the job done.
> >
>
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