The 9 Types of Web Page Creators
Joe/Jane Average College Student
Traits: Owner of a new university-supplied
computer account with httpd access. Complete lack of originality.
Multiple references to beer/Disney movies. Several photos of
Student with college buddies (high school, if freshman Student).
The Good News: They don't know how to get
their page linked to the outside world, so only they and their
friends download their 16.7-million- color pictures from the last
party.
The Bad News: They, their friends and their
16.7-million-color pictures might be on your server.
Mr. "Enhanced For Netscape"
Traits: The second thing you see on his page
is a Netscape logo and a link to an ftp site where you can
download Netscape NOW!. The first thing you see is about 80
different < TITLE > scrolling back and forth across your
screen.
The Good News: You won't have to look at
their pages for long, because there won't be much there to see.
The Bad News: Half of the rest of the people
who look at their pages are going to think "Hey, that's
cool!" and copy the source.
The Old-Timer
Traits: Pages compatible with HTML 1.0, no
graphics and very few attribute tags. Normal-text-size message at
top says "This page not enhanced for Netscape. Cope,
whipper-snapper."
The Good News: He's likely there because he
has something of importance to say.
The Bad News: Whatever it is will likely be
boring or far too technical for you.
The 5-Year-Old
Traits:
Pictures of their parents, the family
pet, etc. More data about the daily life of a kindergartener than
you thought possible. Cute "kiddy-talk" dialect to the
text. < ADDRESS > contains the note "such-and-such's
mother helped her build this page."
The Good News: The first few of these you see
give you a warm, fuzzy feeling.
The Bad News: The last few dozen of these you
see all look the same.
The Computer Science Major
Traits: Links to the linux FAQ, the Geek
Code, Star Wars theme music and DOOM .wad files. Cautious use of
Netscape enhancements. Picture of Darth Vader instead of personal
pictures. HTML 3.0 (Beta) compliant seal-of-approval at bottom of
her page.
The Good News: If you're a geek, you'll find
what you're looking for here. Even if you're not, you'll like the
page design.
The Bad News: Complete lack of socially
redeeming qualities. Unfortunate tendency to upload specs of
their home PC.
The Businessman
Traits: Pages without fancy backgrounds and
with only one nice, clean, imagemap. Unfortunately, there are no
text-links for those using Lynx.
The Good News: You won't go blind staring at
his pages.
The Bad News: You might wish you had once you
see the prices of the goods/services he's offering.
The Newbie
Traits: Very little created text on their
pages, it's almost all links to other people's pages. Missing
right brackets in < A HREF > kill whole lines of
information. Several image files are not able to be loaded.
The Good News: They'll almost have to get
better.
The Bad News: They just might not.
The Egotist
Traits: Large image of themself greets you
when page is loading. 1/2 Meg .au file of him chatting with his
dog. Access counts shown for every page. Several lengthy pages
devoted to his compact disk/Magic card/beer bottle collection.
More personal details than you'd ever want to know.
The Good News: There isn't any.
The Bad News: Frequently friendly with Mr.
"Enhanced for Netscape."
The Maniac
Traits: Last counted 1267 .html files in his
public_html directory and 100+ CGI scripts in his cgi-bin
directory. Is known as a "Close Personal Friend of Bob
[Allison]." Thinks the people at Yahoo! "don't keep up
with the Web fast enough." Will be the first on his block to
have an ethernet cable hardwired into his brain.
The Good News: You could go through all his
pages and never find an error.
The Bad News: You'd never make it through all
his pages.