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| Thread ID: 58887 | 2005-06-15 03:14:00 | Netguide webchallange fails webdesigners over graphic designers | netchicken (4843) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 364064 | 2005-06-15 03:14:00 | I thought, for a bit of debate, I would post here my email to netguide over their schools competition . . netguidewebchallenge . co . nz/site/" target="_blank">www . netguidewebchallenge . co . nz I was enthusiastic this year about entering my students into your senior group web challange . I have some very talented and creative students . They are skilled in MS Frontpage, and in CSS . They are becoming adept in creating clean fast sites optimised for search engines that will achieve high rankings in Google, and download quickly on 56K modems, of which the majority of users have . However upon looking at the websites that won last year I was shocked at their quality . I realise that under the present rules my students will have no chance of winning, no matter how well they work, no matter how high their sites index, no matter how clean their code and design . Why is that? All your winners use Shockwave, the top 2 use it exclusively on their sites . Unless you have the software in your school, which runs at about $1000 per machine, you are disadvantaged and obviously out of the running . This means that every school that cannot afford the software is immediatly disadvantaged and may as well not enter . This also means that clean simple design is not as appreciated as animations and glitz that requires broadband connections to view it . This is not webdesign, this is graphic design . There is not even a criteria for good code, or if there is it is totally missed from the winners . To say I am angry is an understatement, The top 2 winners in the senior division made websites that would never be found on the internet . They are unindexable in search engines . Therefore they are the WORST that you could create . Who cares about the glitz and glamour of the site? its practically useless . The winners ( . netguidewebchallenge . co . nz/site/2004winners/TeamCatt/" target="_blank">www . netguidewebchallenge . co . nz ) made functionally useless sites, and students who DID make sites that have a future on the net, lost . At least the 3rd place winner should be first . The winning senior site didn't even have any meta tags in it . A basic and important consideration for a site, especially when it has nothing else for the search engines to index . Now this saddens and angers me . What we are teaching our children is not webdesign as it should be taught . The Consumer Magazine, of which i co-authored an article on poor webdesign in NZ, looked at this issue . People think that what is glitz is good, when its not, and it is crippling us as a nation . I know that my complaint will not be addresed for this year, however for the sake of webdesigners as a body, I implore you to reconsider your judging criteria for this competition . We need designers who create good sites, and so far this competition is not meeting those needs . |
netchicken (4843) | ||
| 364065 | 2005-06-15 03:20:00 | Right on the money, But probally condemned to be read by some idiot with no concept of the issue your bring up, which means it will probally just be dismissed by the said idiot as an imcomprehensible rant. Full points for writing the letter though, Lets hope it makes its way to someone who understands the issue, That said if they understood it they should be well aware of it already....and are probally suportive of their existing criteria. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 364066 | 2005-06-15 03:22:00 | Hopefully they might change that this year, but I have to say I agree with you there netchicken, I was also shocked to see how many winners site where in flash! & most of them had entered pages (I thought enter pages & flash where not the in thing at this time & I also thought flash has started to go out of fashion thanks to those flash ads!) I was also surprise at the quietly of the (winning) sites, the 2003 sites imo where better then 2004! My 5 cents on this. |
stu161204 (123) | ||
| 364067 | 2005-06-15 03:24:00 | PS: With MS been a supporter I am Not surprised the code sucks, I bet half the sites where done in MS FrontPage!. | stu161204 (123) | ||
| 364068 | 2005-06-15 05:05:00 | The page looked boring to definitly did not deserve to win. i hate flash websites they are totaly unesisery and take to long to load i just dont bother with them (dial up takes to long to display them and i normaly lose interest waiting for them to load) |
sambaird (47) | ||
| 364069 | 2005-06-15 05:21:00 | I thought it was prety cool. Altho the scroll bars didnt work with my wheel, I had to drag them, so it would be 8.5 otu of 10. | Rob99 (151) | ||
| 364070 | 2005-06-15 05:23:00 | I got a plesant reply from the person at the end of the webmaster address The theme of the challenge is "Teach us about . . . " . Basically your students have to create a Web site to "Teach" people what they have learnt in school . If their site does not teach us anything, no matter how much "glitz and glamour" it has it will still not win . Although to a certain extent we judge the functionalities of the sites entered, we do not have strict rules regarding coding and search rankings because it is not the Web challenge is about . Your sites will not be there for google to spider it . It is there to teach other people (students/parents/teachers) about a subject they've learnt in school . This competition also encourages students to use the computer to learn and research information . However, in saying that you can have an entry site about Web design and development if this is what you teach in school . There you can talk about the importance of performance, search engines, coding, etc . I hope this answers your questions and clarifies a few things . NetGuide does have an awards competition called NetGuide Web Awards (will run later this year) . If you have a well designed site that falls into the categories (to be announced later) we have, feel free to enter your sites . Unfortunatly I think the competition has lost the plot . Sad, a school competition ABOUT making a good website is a great idea . Just need someone to run with it . |
netchicken (4843) | ||
| 364071 | 2005-06-15 05:31:00 | Yep, Thats a joke. They should drop the entire website angle, and call it a presentation competition. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 364072 | 2005-06-15 08:48:00 | I have actually looked at doing this for a couple of years. But I looked at the winners, and thought exactly the same thing. Basically, one way I saw it was, our school doesn't have Macromedia Flash, so we can't win. They should drop the entire website angle, and call it a presentation competition Yup, dead right. |
mejobloggs (264) | ||
| 364073 | 2005-06-15 09:13:00 | I knew there was a reason I didn't do it ;) | Edward (31) | ||
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