Websites: the new bloatware

I have been doing all my browsing on mobile phones lately and it has made me realise just how bloated websites have become. Although most smartphone browsers can cope with pages that are not optimised for mobile phones and zoom in on content features, the sheer amount of page furniture on the average web page today makes those pages slow to load and confusing to navigate.

Some of this bloat is due to bad design: poor information architecture, overly large images, needless use of Flash or animated images and sound and simply loading too much on one page. Much of the bloat comes from online advertising, which usually features all of these bad design "features". All of these things point to a fundamental misunderstanding of what the web is and how to leverage it most effectively.

I first discovered the internet in one its first incarnations as JANET, the Joint Academic NETwork that is still operational in the UK. This was in the "green screen" days before Berners-Lee had devised the World Wide Web to give us a graphical way of navigating the wealth of content that was already out there. This mine of information was freely available and freely shared, something that enabled me to research papers for the software engineering post-graduate diploma I was studying at the time, empowering me with access to knowledge and advice that was invaluable.

I can still remember when Mixmaster Morris showed me the nascent world wide web on his computer back in 198? Although it was nothing much more than a graphical file management and reading system it certainly sped up the task of searching and navigating through all that content underlining the fundamental aspect of the internet that people so misunderstand, that it is a service, not merely another incarnation of print and audio-visual media. Much of the bloat on current websites stems from this fundamental misunderstanding, attempting to deliver either a televisual experience or push content at people when the web is an information medium that is pulled down by the end user according to their needs.

As more and more businesses develop a mobile presence for their enterprise, understanding of this fundamental difference will determine whether their mobile strategy is successful or not.

If you are contemplating implementing a mobile service, whether via a mobile web site or app and are interested in learning more about how you can ensure you adopt the right approach please contact me via the form below for consultation and advice.