Dynamic vs. Static web pages

A discussion tonight about dynamic vs. static web pages made me think about how some people believe dynamic web pages are inherently “better” than static. Often, dynamic web pages are prettier, but they are not necessarily better.

Take Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, for example. It dynamically render’s beautiful images on the background of the page. It looks terrific, but it also takes about 5 times longer to load than Google.

If I want to search the net, I don’t need pretty pictures. I don’t need to see great background images. I need a search box, ang Google gives me that as fast as it can.

Sites like Bing and Google actually blur the distinction between dynamic and static–parts of Google’s home page, for example, are static and parts are dynamic. But really, the discussion here is not about static vs. dynamic, it’s about user interface design.

Make your page static. Make it dynamic. Either way–it just doesn’t matter. What matters is something called User Experience. UI design is one element of that. Site performance is another. If your User Experience is crappy, your users don’t come back.

And that’s what you should be concerned about.

24 October, 2009 | No Comments »

Excuse me, sir. Your flood has arrived…

Last night I was heading home from a tutoring gig. It was quite hot, and a gentle rain began to fall. I recall thinking “How nice–a cool rain.”

Soon, the drops began to *hurt*. At that point, I pulled under some shelter and got into my rain gear. While putting on my poncho, the skies opened up. In moments, water was streaming down the road and the drains were overwhelmed.

Cold, dark, wet. Three not-so-great driving conditions when you’re on a scooter. I’ve not travelled the particular road I was on a lot, so I was unfamiliar with the topography. I had to resort closely following other scooters and observing water depths as they fought their way through ‘puddles’. Often, the water was over my footpegs and I was concerned about the engine flooding.

In the end, a 20 minute drive under normal conditions turned into an hour+ slog through the cold and the wet. Several lessons learned:

1) Timbuk2 bags rock. The outside of my messenger bag was soaked. The insides were dry. As it should be (but often isn’t).

2) The normally ‘charming’ habit of Vietnamese drivers who like to drive without headlights takes on a terrifying new meaning in a major rainstorm. WTF? If you’re going to insist on driving without lights of any kind, the very least you can do is avoid *me*. *You* can see *me*.

3) Disc brakes on scooters. Seems silly, but, trust me, well worth it. Especially if the idiot from point 2 *doesn’t* avoid you…

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Windows 7 ship date…

Here in Viet Nam, it’s October 22 already. That means it’s the official ship date for Windows 7, and the whole world is holding its breath to see if Microsoft drops the ball (again).

When Vista was originally released, I did not get caught up in the fiasco because I was strictly a Mac OS/Linux guy. I didn’t have any active Windows systems at home. At work, the whole fracas was avoided by simply not upgrading XP systems. I read about all the fuss, but never experienced it.

I now have a PC again at home, and it’s been running Vista just fine for a little over a year. I never had any troubles with Vista and so, still, have no idea what the big deal is/was. A couple of months ago, I started running Windows 7. Access to MSDN means that I also been able to run the release code for the past month or so.

Is it better than Vista? Yes. Aesthetically, it’s much more pleasing. The new eye candy is not just pretty, it makes tracking open windows easier. It also makes arranging windows much simpler. The task bar is a much more useful tool and, because of the way program icons are now displayed in the task bar I can move it to a vertical orientation (preferred) without it looking goofy.

Has it been problem free? No. I’ve had a couple of Blue Screens of Death in the time I’ve been running Windows 7. To be honest, I think it’s a question of driver maturity. New drivers haven’t been vetted in the wild a lot. Now that the product is actually shipping, I expect this to change and I expect driver updates to resolve these issues.

Am I happy with it? Yes. Overall, I think it’s a better experience than Vista. Maybe not a lot better, but better. If I’d had a world of hurt with Vista, my opinion might be stronger, but I was unscathed by the Vista fiasco. Since Microsoft has gotten smart and is offering Family Pack Pricing on Home Premium ($149 for a limited time), the cost to upgrade is not as onerous as I thought it’d be.

It just might be worth it. This time.

21 October, 2009 | No Comments »

Looks like a little rain…

Over the past few days, storys of Typhoon Ketsana have been causing all our friends back west to write or call with concern. Is everybody OK?

Happily, everybody is doing fine. Ho Chi Minh City didn’t get hit very hard at all. We were mostly dealing with high winds and a couple of serious rain showers as the storm cell skirted past.

There are a couple of more typhoons heading this way. It’s that time of year, so it’s expected. We’re in a good, solid house that we can button down pretty tight. Our neighborhood is new and drainage is solid. We’re not worried about flooding.

Oddly, I first heard news of the devastation in the Philippines and central Viet Nam from friends in the West. Since I don’t (can’t) read Vietnamese newspapers, my news intake is a little delayed.

1 October, 2009 | No Comments »