[thelist] Jakob Nielsen [was Anti-aliasing]

dan donaldson dan at omnivore.ca
Mon Feb 25 19:12:01 CST 2002


On Monday, February 25, 2002, at 06:28  PM, Erik Mattheis wrote:

> Reading a bit of his site reveals an inconsistent philosophy based on
> outdated information.

Is this really fair? He's been at it for seven years - a lot has
changed - to his credit, he keeps his old articles up and available, and
how many people can expect that what they write today about fast-paced,
quickly changing business like web communications would not lead to
errors, inconsistencies seven years hence? Obviously, some of what's on
the site seems outdated - it is outdated. But he has a comittment to
standing by content which is important in the slippery world of online
content.

His site isn't hard to use, but it has very different premises from some
(most) sites. He believes that you should cater to the interested
visitor, not the casual one. He believes sites are best read, not
viewed. These may turn out to be errors, or they may not. But to suggest
that a different point of view from your own, carried to a thoroughly
worked-through conclusion is fraud is unsupported.

IMHO, the man makes a valuable contribution to a business that is all to
often susceptible to its own hype. I don't have to see him as a 'guru' -
the word only means teacher, anyway, and he is one of those - to use his
ideas as an input. Accusations of fraud just sound intolerant and rash.

dan




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