Re: Nielsen's Rating

Subject: Re: Nielsen's Rating
From: Dan Emory <danemory -at- primenet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 18:07:43 -0700

At 02:48 PM 6/21/01 -0700, Andrew Plato wrote:

"Dan Emory" wrote...

While the article may be a bit harsh, it is also right about a lot of
things. Graphics resolution in PDF is horrible. And don't even think of
using anything but standard fonts and layouts. And using Frame does not
make those graphics one tiny bit better. In fact, I have had better luck
going from Word (OH MY GOD NOT WORD!!!!) to PDF than Frame to PDF in so
far as graphics are concerned.

Exactly what do you mean by "standard fonts and layouts?" If you use Distiller
rather than PDFMaker, you can embed all the fonts in the document, making it
truly independent of font availability on a particular platform. I know of no limitations
on layouts in PDF files. They can be as complex as you need them to be. As far as graphics are
concerned, the display and print quality depends on a lot of factors, all of which can
be controlled to produce quality graphics using Adobe's postscript print driver and Distiller.
Also, have you ever heard of the EPSI graphic format?


Also - he is very right about another aspect. Very few users are savvy
enough to keep up to par with the latest versions of the Acrobat reader.
We still do docs in 3.0 format because 75% of the readers don't have 4.0
or 5.0 reader.

It's easier to upgrade to the latest version of Reader than it is to upgrade to the
latest version of Internet Explorer. Yet no one seems to worry about users with older
versions of Explorer when they design websites.

It never seems to occur to them that maybe, just maybe, the
reader doesn't give one-billionth of a iota about the fonts, layout,
tools, etc. They just want correct information.

If readers don't care about readability, as you suggest, then you should direct
your comments to Nielsen, not me.


Yeah, but they (non-literate web designers) could frag your sorry ass
in Half-Life Counter Strike any day of the week.

If I were like you, Andrew, I'd immediately complain to Eric about your ad-hominem attack
on the configuration of my backside. But I don't give a whack, so don't
worry about it.


Did it ever occur to you that reaching the "lowest common denominator" is
how you sell products, make money, and in turn hire consultants like you?

Depends on whether you're selling athletic shoes or high-tech software.
However, I note with chagrin that major software companies have recently been running
TV ads which emulate Nike's. That would seem to indicate that their
market analyses and focus groups have shown that the lowest-common-denominator is, in
fact, a member of the Ritalin-deprived non-literate caste I described in my original
post. Which means they've decided that the suckers who buy Nike shoes (made by children
in India and Malaysia) at double what they're worth are the same people who will
succumb to that kind of hype when buying software solutions.


====================
| Nullius in Verba |
====================
Dan Emory, Dan Emory & Associates
FrameMaker/FrameMaker+SGML Document Design & Database Publishing
Voice/Fax: 949-722-8971 E-Mail: danemory -at- primenet -dot- com
177 Riverside Ave., STE F, #1151, Newport Beach, CA 92663
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Re: Nielsen's Rating: From: Andrew Plato

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