Watchman for Dummies

Why I'm grumpy about apps that aren't browser based

Application implemented in the browser automatically have these feature (unless the designer actively disables them, which alas, they sometimes do):

• use anywhere - it's hard to find a computer that doesn't have a browser
  
• variable font size - really small fonts are really annoying
  
• text search - I expect it to be available - it it's not, it's annoying
• copy and paste from the text - with formatting
  
• multi-platform - Windows, Mac & Linux, obviously, but also, in may case, Palm
• spell check on text input
  
• view source - I like to know how things work
• save page - it's sometimes convenient to have a local copy
  

iTunes is a good example of this problem. I'd like the text to be larger. It's search is good, but being able to search the visible text of the screen would be even better.

Why Google Sites & Blogger over proprietary system?

• Goals?
• Who updates?
  
• Email posts to blogger.com
• Categorize posts via tags
• Relatively infinite design, programming and hosting resources
• Easier to maintain (?)
• I don't like the way the proprietary system paints the page with every link.
• The proprietary sites I've seen are very rough.
• How many people in the proprietary organization?
• If the proprietary organization doesn't work out, we can't can't someone else to work on the site for us because it's a proprietary system. We'd have to rebuild the site.
• Here are a couple sites:
• Saint Andrew and Saint John
• Saint Andrew's Newcastle
• Example
• Dr. Mel Levine in Bangor - April 30, 2008
  
• The pages are slow to load.
• Caveats:
• I am not a designer
• I am not a copy writer
• I understand function
  
• Spencer suggested that we look at the Acadia Senior College web site here.
• Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
• Service times should be first and formost - that's mostly what people want to see
• No fluff language.
• Money