[thelist] link borders on a MAC

[Marc Seyon]

Message from Maisha Walker (9/22/2003 03:31 PM)
>Hi Marc,
>
>
>1. He's an illustrator, so the central purpose of his site is to get work by
>showing the work he's done in the past.

1a. He will not get work if no one cares to endure the scores of little 
icons to even get to a point where they can actually see the work he has done.

1b. Is he an illustrator or an artist or a designer or all of the above? I 
don't know, cause after the million and one images, the site still told me 
nothing of value.

A large part of being a designer, imo, is creating a product that is 
suitable to the problem it is solving, rather than something that is 
gratuitous and purely for artistic purposes. If someone interested in the 
site owner's work were to visit that site, would they be able to say that 
it is well designed, to "show the work he's done in the past" on the *web*?

Does the site reach out to his *web* audience? Or is it just cute? Is it 
something that touches him? He is not the target audience of that website 
(obviously).

>3. Because his work is so visual, what purpose would the alt tags really
>serve?

They would show whoever happened by that he is someone who understands the 
medium he is working in, whatever it may be.

>   It would help someone navigate the site in a text based browser
>perhaps, but for what purpose?

It would facilitate users on slow connections by allowing them to see which 
icons lead to actual content without having to wait for all 100k plus worth 
of little iconic drawings to load.

>4.  Since there are so many images of his work

I actually didn't see a single image of his work, except for the ones on 
the front page, and the useless exploded photo on the "about me" page, 
cause i got fed up of looking at lots of little icons before I got to the 
meat of the site.

So I ask this from a totally uninformed standpoint. Why does he need to 
post "so many images of his work"? Wouldn't a select few that demonstrate 
specific areas or competencies be more impactful and less time-consuming 
for a busy potential employer?

Is his work so great or original that someone would be enthralled to the 
point of having to view every single piece of work to get an idea of what 
he can do?

>  (each of which is further
>sliced into smaller images for quicker downloading), thinking of and adding
>alt tags for all of the images would have added a lot of time to site
>development.  I had a hard time justifying the time and energy given the
>content.

Well, there you have it. Perhaps had he known the time and energy it would 
take to properly develop and maintain a site of that nature, he would have 
opted for a different, more efficient approach?

I just realised. Every single image on the front page is a link. All but 
four of them are links for the sole purpose of having a rollover image. Is 
that really necessary? That seems like it was probably a lot more work than 
adding the alt tags would have been. Which would have added greater value 
is probably be a matter of opinion.

regards.
-marc

--
Carnival 2003 in all its photographic glory. Playyuhself.com
http://www.playyuhself.com/