Comments on: Paul Boag: The Demise of the Website

By: Suzie

Suzie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:05:14 +0000

There is a blogpost on here about the new google Wave application. I think THAT is the ultimate website killer, and we will need to think outside the box on how to monopolize and make money off that.

By: John Wright

John Wright — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:03:01 +0000

The "demise of the website" is an interesting concept. Obviously websites will be with us for a long time to come. But customers hiring someone to build them a website so they can have a web presence is becoming less and less important I think. Also, check out http://deathtoie6.com , obviously the same goal as IE6 Update but the script will explain to the user that IE6 is bad, and will redirect them to http://abetterbrowser.org to help them use something better. Cheers

By: John Wright

John Wright — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:03:00 +0000

By: Teen

Teen — Fri, 22 May 2009 22:05:48 +0000

Paul Boag is so right with what he said. a website or a seller should not fool their clients because if you fool your client, then you would not get their loyalty. at least if you know that your consumers or clients are loyal to you, no matter what happens, you would never go zero when it goes to your clients.

By: Minute44 » Blog Archive » IE6Update: Who watches the watchmen? :: Dan Schonhaar's blog

Fri, 22 May 2009 15:32:26 +0000

[...] taken to the Internet Explorer site and shown how to upgrade. This is where the argument starts. Paul Boag, in a recent chat with Ryan Carson discussed why he feels that IE6Update is totally wrong and he’s caught a fair bit of flak for [...]

By: Vinzon1

Vinzon1 — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:21:57 +0000

It's true that other channels can be used to get people interested in our content, but I think the website is still the fundamental first point of call for many of our users and customers, both new and existing.

By: Acai

Acai — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:49:46 +0000

If a tool is not working though (examples being the Twitter outages lately, Facebook experiencing some possible technical problem, etc.),

By: John S.

John S. — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:19:32 +0000

I’ve done a lot of searching on google for this type of content. Glad I finally found this site! Great work.

By: Google Chrome Wallpapers

Google Chrome Wallpapers — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:51:22 +0000

I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. I just added you to my Google News Reader. Keep up the good work. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

By: Aceo Art

Aceo Art — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:46:22 +0000

As a noob on the subject I learnt a lot from your post. Thanks!

By: Nick Pettit

Nick Pettit — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:57:27 +0000

LOL :)

By: PaulRandall

PaulRandall — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:51:50 +0000

Good web designers make things work in IE6 – not dismiss them as 'uneducated peasants'. Maybe not 100% but so the website functions.

Some don't have a choice, some don't care, some don't know what a 'browser' is. They just double-click 'The Blue E' and think it is the Internet.

I wish people would see this and stop hating IE6. It will be around for a long, long time to come…

By: Ryan Carson doesn’t like IE6 Update - Almost Done

Ryan Carson doesn’t like IE6 Update - Almost Done — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:03:37 +0000

[...] Ryan’s post over at ThinkVitamin launched some great debate, which I love (life would be boring otherwise). And in the comments, Ryan gave a nod to IE6 Update’s innovation, which I’m humbled by (although some credit goes to ActiveBar2, from which IE6 Update is derived). Cool as Ryan may be though, I’m bewildered by what he says next: “I worry about the folks who are using an intranet or some bespoke internal web app that relies on IE6, which would then break for them.” [...]

By: Matt Hill

Matt Hill — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:41:20 +0000

I'm not sure I agree with the idea that websites are "in demise". It's true that other channels can be used to get people interested in our content, but I think the website is still the fundamental first point of call for many of our users and customers, both new and existing.

Most of us in the industry have a tendency to forget that average users don't use (and often aren't even aware of) half the technologies that Paul mentioned as alternatives. We shouldn't assume that our website is now less important simply because our own lives are saturated with alternate methods for pushing out content.

Average users aren't us. They don't use Twitter or RSS the way we do, and if they use YouTube or Facebook it's to watch videos of Scottish singing sensations or share daft pictures of cats.

By: Matt Hill

Matt Hill — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:34:23 +0000

I'm not entirely sure why you think this is an argument. It's called "discussion" where I'm from. Your comments on Twitter were about a different aspect of the debate from what you stated above, so I remain confused that you seem to have two opposing views on the matter.

By: JohnONolan

JohnONolan — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:59:59 +0000

Actually my views are extremely consistant – I said to you on twitter that if I interviewed people and asked them if they cared that it wasn't an official MS notification, they wouldn't care – which is exactly what I've just said here.

You seem intent on having an argument about it but I'm just not interested mate.

By: Matt Hill

Matt Hill — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:41:44 +0000

That's excellent news, a bit of public education through a pervasive media giant can only be a good thing. Looking forward to hearing more on this.

By: Matt Hill

Matt Hill — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:39:22 +0000

Very puzzled by your inconsistent views John. You've expressed vehement support for ie6update thing, then say it's not even important to anyone outside the industry. If it's not important, why use that script? You would do as well to ignore it, as most other responsible developers have.

One can't sit on both sides of a fence at the same time, so which side are you on?

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 13 May 2009 10:23:07 +0000

But the point is that if you run a web site and use it, one of those intranet users might click on it and unwittingly upgrade to IE7, against company policy.

Next time the user tries to bill hours, or submit expenses on their intranet-based system, it doesn't work anymore. They call IT support, and these guys will hate you for the rest of your life, because they have to fix the mess that you have created by displaying something that pretends to be a legitimate system message. (Hint: Have you ever tried to uninstall IE7 and reinstall IE6?)

This IE6Update thing is wrong on so many levels it's unreal.

By: web designers

web designers — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:24:29 +0000

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the post… I appreciate it….

By: James Bloor

James Bloor — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:39:50 +0000

I normally like most of what Paul says, but I think recently he (and others) have begun to 'preach' and focus on quantity not quality.

I think this video is a little off the mark for a few reasons:

1 – A website has NEVER been the ONLY route to your customers (as you say in point 1) – a website should always be ONE PART of a marketing plan.

2 – Integration with other mediums is not a new concept – Before Twitter there was RSS, YouTube, etc.

3 – Whilst it's clearly advisable for Paul to get a high profile on twitter, etc, most business won't benefit to the same degree from this type of online PR.

I completely agree with Paul's comments on selling yourself though. There's so many talented designers/developers out there that you have to raise your profile, which he is excellent at.

That's my ten pence anyway…

James

By: Jay

Jay — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:05:32 +0000

Demise? I think that is the wrong concept for what is happening. Maybe extending the presence of a web site is a better view of what companies should be doing. I completely agree that companies should use any new tools that further their presence. If a tool is not working though (examples being the Twitter outages lately, Facebook experiencing some possible technical problem, etc.), then a company needs to make sure their site is more than adequate and engaging to customers.

By: adjustable transfer bench

adjustable transfer bench — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:45:54 +0000

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. Everyone should know about these things. I enjoy learning new things so I subscribe to blogs like yours. Garnet

By: Ryan Carson

Ryan Carson — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:56:42 +0000

I'm getting introductions to some key people at BBC – fingers crossed!

By: Jorge Piñon

Jorge Piñon — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:08:05 +0000

Love Paul. But is Ryan Carson like 7 feet tall? Paul looks like a small child speaking up to an adult. Hilarious!

By: JohnONolan

JohnONolan — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:57:01 +0000

I'm not sure that Ryan being on the BBC will inspire large corporations to spend millions on both new computer hardware and operating systems in the middle of a recession, 12 months away from a new Windows release, tbh…. But yeah it'd be good for public awareness I guess.

IMO web designers get far too caught up in our own issues with browsers, scripts, and their importance and relevance – and forget that it isn't of much interest to anyone outside the industry.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:54:22 +0000

You hit the nail on the head about users never understanding. I recently published a blog about building the web for non-techies and this discussion may well cause me to do a follow up piece about how people perceive their browser.

I think one major pitfall of your stance on building awareness through channels they are accustomed to is it rather goes against a golden rule that they more than likely have been told again and again; Don't click on every little thing that pops up in your browser, you'll end up with a million and one viruses. Granted, most people won't be confused by this but it's a risk non the less and could stand to un-do a lot of the positive education about safe browsing people have been given.

As ignorant or un-interested as people may be I still feel that education will never be a lost cause and resorting to trickery is a step in the wrong direction.

By: get_dave

get_dave — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:51:20 +0000

Hey John. Understand what your saying. However, if Ryan could get on BBC with this then perhaps some of the guys with the clout to force people to upgrade corp system would be spurred into action?

I'm not saying it'll work, but if it helps speed up the demise of IE6 then it's good by me!

@get_dave

By: Dave Smith

Dave Smith — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:41:54 +0000

Nice one. I wonder if anyone will respond. I reckon it would do much more good than tricking people into upgrading.

I would always say that educating people as to why they should upgrade browsers is much the best way to kill off IE6.

By: Ryan Carson

Ryan Carson — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:11:20 +0000

Just Tweeted – hopefully someone from the BBC will be able to help.