Re: Web site up!

Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
03 Jul 1999 22:05:45 +0200

"den Otter" <neosapient@geocities.com> writes:

> ----------
> > From: Eugene Leitl <eugene.leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
>
> > More provocatively put: do _we_ want the people who want flashy graphics?
>
> Well, do you want transhumanism to remain obscure, or do you
> want it to grow? If you want the latter, you better start using some
> flashy graphics. Good-looking webpages simply get (a lot) more
> traffic and media attention, just like good-looking people get more
> attention than ugly or plain ones.

There is a difference between looking good and being flashy.

Berrie Staring brought up a good point on TransVision: advertising transhumanism doesn't seem to work, we don't convert people easily. But people roughly sharing our values and ideas often get interested when they run across information about us in magazines or on the net, read more, and eventually seek us out. That might not be the way to become a huge movement, but it might be a good way of getting dedicated, interested members and build a base of credibility.

> Frankly I've never understood what's so transhuman about making
> minimal use of webpage-enhancing technologies.

A theory: many transhumanists were very early with building web pages, in the good old days before Netscape started crashing standards. Then the core structures have remained unchanged, partially because it is easier to add stuff than change paradigm, and partially because many of us are so busy. Besides, many of the enhancing techniques aren't that enhancing.

> IMHO, a "perfect"
> webpage is not only fast-loading and informative, but also visually
> pleasing. The design has to enhance the desired emotional impact
> of the text. Transhuman pages should ideally icorporate the latest
> in web technology and artistic design; a boring text-only page
> (some people don't even bother to set a background color) is fit for
> Luddites and Amish, not for technophiles like us.

Using the latest enhancements is usually a good way of ensuring that people can't read your page. There is a tradeoff between using everything available and providing reliable service.

I agree that pages should look good - I'm addicted to good visual design - but in the long run content wins over style.

BTW, any suggestions on how you would like to improve my web? I will be doing major updating this summer (I even have hired a friend to help me), so here is your chance to influence it. 

Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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