Site design for broadband
| Site design for broadband | |
10 May 2006
A good starting point is to discuss what we mean by broadband. Currently, the standard landline broadband connection is 2 Mbps, but a transition is underway to increase connection speeds up to a theoretical 8 Mbps. The key phrase here is theoretical; the quoted speeds are the maximum achievable under optimum conditions. In reality, very few broadband users are able to hit their maximum download speed as throughput speed is influenced by a whole range of factors including line conditions and physical line length from the exchange.
In practice, a 2Mbps service will manage download speeds of around 220 – 240 kbps and an 8 Mbps service, of the order of 880 – 960 kbps. Of course, these are average figures, the further you live from the exchange the more dramatic the drop off in the speeds attainable. So, while there may be near 100 per cent broadband coverage from local exchanges in the Highlands and Islands and across the rest of the UK, the end user is not necessarily enjoying the internet connection speeds they would have wished.
Maximum velocity Designing your site for broadband must acknowledge, then, that not everyone is surfing at maximum velocity. For, whatever we do to exploit the presentational possibilities of broadband, we must not lose sight of the fact that our site must be accessible and useable to the maximum number of users as possible. Building – or revamping – a site for broadband is, in common with web design in general, about compromise and offering visitors an “easy to use” experience. It is about inclusion, not exclusion, about getting your sales message across and closing the deal.
What this means is giving users choices, getting the visitor on the site and offering them different ways to view your information - as text-only, as HTML for slow connections and an option to enter the full-on broadband version. The first two options shouldn’t cause too much trouble, the latter, though, does require some forethought.
Leaving aside, for now, debate on file formats, let’s concentrate on what broadband can do for our web site.
As mentioned earlier, the whole point of broadband from the web site owner’s perspective is the ability to provide richer content to site visitors in terms of audio, video and Flash-type movies. This is, of course, long overdue. Until now, the perennial problem with buying goods and services online is that the buyer has often had to rely on text descriptions and fuzzy, postage stamp-sized images to gain any idea of what might land on their doormat.
Purchasing insight Now, broadband users can get full screen-sized pictures, 3D images, walk through presentations, movie clips, full length video and live messaging with sales people to help them with their purchasing decisions. Feeling and smelling the goods aren’t quite there yet, but, no doubt, someone is working on at as we speak.
A whole new world of informational opportunities has undoubtedly opened up. The challenge is to ensure whatever we serve up as multimedia has a purpose, is focused, relevant and adds value to our information and the site user’s experience. Broadband content must serve a purpose in the eyes of the site visitor, it must explain our goods or services, it must put them into context, show how they are used and, most important of all, why the viewer needs to make the purchase.
What our broadband content shouldn’t do is come across as an ego-massaging marketing blurb. Or as a pointless “me too” vehicle that is more about the fact your site is cool and hip to all the latest technology.
From a hard-nosed business point of view, it is important not to get too carried away or you could end up spending more than you’d planned for, with little in the way of extra return on investment. Expenditure for any small to micro-sized business has to result in the maximum bang for your buck, so a well thought out plan is vital before you start.
Web-savvy users Likewise is the rationale for signing off the work in the first place. Are you convinced a significantly large enough slice of your target audience have the browser plug-ins, the connection speeds or even the inclination to view your broadband content?
For every web-savvy site visitor there will be five or more at least who are online with their monitor set at 800 x 600 pixels, using an outdated browser on a computer that’s five years old.
And, for that matter, even a fast broadband connection is no guarantee of an appreciative audience. Yes, the visitor may have tons of bandwidth, but they could just as easily be sharing the connection with ten others in an office, or be at home with their spotty teenage children who like to spend hours downloading MP3s, chatting to pals, or using their games console for online gaming.
The site visitor permutations are probably as countless as the possibilities presented by broadband itself. As a site owner, our best hopes lie in keeping our content relevant and our site focused on doing well the job for which it was intended to do in the first place.
Next time: getting it right – a guide to broadband content
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