Posts

Showing posts from June, 2006

Why corporate web sites stink

Image
This post was also published in BusinessWeek . There's a raft of new tools for improving the way sites interact with users — but many businesses have yet to learn how to use them Why are so many new consumer Web sites so cool while business sites just sit in the Internet ether, flat and lifeless like old magazines stacked up in a dentist's waiting room? It has a lot to do with some tools with names like LAMP, AJAX, and enterprise mash-ups. More on these in a moment. First, sit down while I explain why these new sites are hot, and your site is not. In case you haven't noticed, consumer Web-site features and functionality have evolved dramatically over the last few years. Industry wags have labeled the new Web-development craze as "Web 2.0," and point to the likes of Google Maps, MySpace, and Zillow as examples of where the consumer Web experience is headed. These new Web sites rock. They have rich user interfaces. You can move maps around with a mouse cli