Industry Web Standards (Thoughts)
Mathew E. Reuther:
This is not entirely a rant, per se, but it's not entirely simply a point of discussion.
See, I've just spent about the last six hours looking at publishing websites. Indie sites as well as the "big boys" and I've come to a conclusion.
The standards for sites in the industry are lacking something fierce.
I feel like someone gouged out the inside of my head and stuck an infinitely-spanning and tiling terribad-colored jumble of garbled text and arcane product imagery inside of it . . .
On the plus side I have seen some very cool product treatments that really lent to the theme of those games.
The bad news is that those were few and far between.
In a day and age where the internet is extremely influential, even for those publishers who do a lot of work in meatspace with real books on real shelves, is it "ok" to have such awful sites?
Shouldn't publishers be trying to hold themselves to the same standards as other professional organizations? We're not talking about a plumbing business here, after all, but an industry where a certain level of, well, beauty may be too much but at the very least something like visual propriety, would be nice to see.
It seems that all too often when a site is created it is a throw-away. Something just tossed together and never worked on again. Never improved. Which is a shame because unlike the products (at least those in print) it is very easy to rework a site.
Please note that I've got a few sites open in a browser right now that are indie publishers who seem to have a good grasp of how to make a nice site. I am not overtly pointing any fingers at anyone either. This is just me wondering aloud if perhaps there's something being missed in the process of putting games out there for people to devour . . .
Paul Czege:
Hey man,
There's a humanity to a hand-constructed 1999-ish website that isn't present in Wordpress gradient fills and template-derived sites, don't you think? The hand-constructed site is an expression of personal identity and creative effort.
Paul
Mathew E. Reuther:
Paul, I absolutely agree with you that there is a humanity to that, and I actually hold many of the more "human" sites above those that are deeply obviously blog templates. (Be they wordpress, livejournal, or blogger or what have you!)
What seems to be lacking though is the kind of basic evolution of web design that we're (at least arguably) striving for in RPG design. :)
I mean, we try and look at design ideas and theory, and that is absolutely something that is of prime import . . .
But I wonder if it is not of at least passing import to consider revising one's page once every couple of years. Not to do it mind you, but to at the very least consider it.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, and it may very well be that what I find hideous makes other people warm with fond memories of when they still had hair, or less of a gut . . . :D
I think there's a balance, that's all. And for the record, it's NOT just indie publishers that suffer from lack of design. There are some big, huge publishers that have some hideous sites.
Just to not make anyone from anywhere in THIS neck of the woods cry, I'll point out that baen.com is ugly, and has been that ugly since it was designed . . . in the 90's. :) So there you go, mainstream sci-fi/fantasy novel publisher with a good list of authors including NYTimes Bestselling ones. Still horrible. :)
Chris_Chinn:
Quote
Shouldn't publishers be trying to hold themselves to the same standards as other professional organizations?
Given that RPGs are still struggling with basic editing and including things like "Indexes", I think asking for solid web design is still pretty much asking too much.
It's probably worth remembering that most companies are a handful of people at best, and, for hardcopy publishers, most of their money is going towards printing the book and shipping it around.
Since there's both a lot of how-to guides as well as extremely affordable layout folks floating around these days, we have to assume that most companies just don't give it much priority or thought.
Chris
Mathew E. Reuther:
It is indeed that lack of thought which concerns me. After all, if one would like to be taken at least semi-seriously, it is wise to put forth an image which inspires confidence.
I am in wholehearted agreement that some print/pdf layout work is similarly poor, and that it needs even more attention than website aesthetics, certainly.
I really bring this subject up so that it maybe clicks with someone here who otherwise might ignore the basics in pursuit of a more "lofty" goal. (Getting one's baby out to the public as one example.)
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