The Right Tool for the Job

Everywhere in Life, we struggle with the difference between what we can do, and what we should do.

In many cases, there is settled Law to help guide us. No matter how much an individual needs killin’, it isn’t up to us to carry out that obligation. Most often, there isn’t quite as much Black and White involved in the equation, though.

As it pertains to the Web, there seems to be no end of people who just bought a selection of fonts and are bound and determined to use them all, to get back the maximum value, I guess. Where two or three would be perfect, they need to sprinkle in six or seven. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then nineteen pictures would make a Web page worth a novella, right?

Two Olde Sayings come to mind, here. There is no accounting for Taste. And, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

You can write a bestselling novel in Microsoft Excel. It wouldn’t be fun, or easy, but you could do it. And just because you just learned JavaScript, you can animate your form buttons, have images slide across pages and trail a flock of geese behind every page visitor’s cursor. But that doesn’t mean that’s a good idea, either.

I always try to keep in mind the purpose of a Web page, and ask how this or that change or technology or feature might or might not fit in, given that choice.

I cannot imagine a need for Flash on a Web page for, say, a mortuary. If they are having a sale, should animated angels fly across the screen, carrying a banner saying Twenty Percent Off Cremations in January! or something similar? Maybe that’s too easy. Can I shop for caskets online—Do I really need to do that? But, if so, should the images be animated so clicking on the lid opens it up to reveal the fabrics on the inside? Should a site like that play mournful music at low volume by default?

I’ve been involved in sites where people had some idea of something they had seen elsewhere and wanted incorporated into their new site. The site they had seen was trying to sell something and was full of all kinds of razzle-dazzle effects. But their site was actually more of an informative page, barely even a brochure. Any of that would have gotten in the way of their customers finding the information they wanted.

It’s not like anyone would come back, just because the page navigation flew out from the side, tore itself off of the main menu and danced around the screen before artfully transforming itself into the newly-selected page. The people just want to know how big the gizmo is and if they can get a green one. They’re not going to tell their friends to come and check out this new Web site and even if they did, those friends aren’t interested in a new gizmo and wouldn’t come back later, either.

It’s early days, yet. A great many people making Really Important Decisions are not the ones who actually use the technology, still. Or care much about what it is and what it does. Somehow a rule is needed so one gets implemented. I was four years from my first Web page when I sat on my first committee. There, I was the most-experienced Web Guy on the panel—many people had no Web experience at all beyond clicking on the latest viral link of the day. But I was told that “Our logo needs to be somewhere on every page” and “Everything on our site needs to be accessible in three clicks or less” and several other chestnuts. Sometimes we still have to do things the way The Boss wants them done. Damnit.

Sure, you can. But should you? Is it really the best use of the time and talent and resources? Maybe step back a bit and try to see the bigger picture, and how your site fits into someone’s Webby day. Not every page needs to be Euro-design, spare and featuring acres of White space. And not every page needs to have a row of dancing piglets in ballet tutus high-kicking across the screen carrying a “Welcome!” banner to some Souza march. Choose the right tool for the job, please.