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IHUG Refocusing, Reviewing Staff Numbers To Maintain Profit
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10 October 2000 Edition
Previous Edition
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IHUG has announced that it is reviewing staffing levels in light of the
effect that a falling dollar has had on the company's operating costs.
In a statement released today, IHUG says
that the cuts could effect around 60 of the company's 350-strong workforce.
IHUG Director Nick Wood says the company will be refocusing on core activities
as part of the adjustments.
The Good The Bad And The Ugly
Yes, we're talking flavours of websites here and I've got to say that
The NZ Herald
deserves a big pat on the back for putting its site on a major diet
and improving the ergonomics.
A page of Herald without the graphics is now just over 30Kbytes -- which
compares very favourably with its competition. Over at
Stuff.co.nz
your modem will have to digest at least twice as much data to display the same
amount of news.
And if you want the ultimate in absolutely stupid websites, check out
TV3.co.nz which
has a Macromedia Flash interface that makes navigation so damned difficult,
frustrating and nigh-on impossible that I eventually gave up trying to find
a story on the pending IHUG announcement I'd just missed on the 6 pm news.
In an attempt to get around the not-so-Flash interface I cranked up my copy
of Opera -- and got
this screen. Sigh!
TV3 -- people don't go to your website to be entertained -- they go there
to get information. Anything that makes accessing that information harder
is bad. Repeat after me -- "the internet is not television, the internet is
not television..."
And, while I'm on a beat-up I found it very interesting to compare two very
different levels of quality offered by exclusive girls boarding schools.
Comparing the professional, slick, polished and info-rich website that represents
Woodford House against
the incredibly bad site representing
Nga Tawa School For
Girls is eye-opening.
Neither of these schools is what you'd call a "cheap" educational option -- but
the Nga Tawa website is decidedly second-rate. That graphic on the front page
weighs in at 180K bytes but is still very hard to read on my 17" screen --
and almost all of the other graphics show little sign of being optimised for
website use.
What's just as bad is that the site is information-poor.
I could find no sign of how much it costs to send a student to Nga Tawa and
the
Curriculum Guide is presented by way of a very large and scruffy GIF
that is extraordinarily difficult to read.
Nga Tawa -- repeat after me -- Our website should mirror our own standards
of excellence..."
That Draft Paper On The New Economy
Thanks to all those who have already contributed their comments, critiques and
suggestions to the draft paper on fostering a "new economy" I've published
on the
politics.co.nz website.
Surprisingly enough I've had several emails from citizens of other countries
including the USA, England and Australia who have all said that such policies
wouldn't go astray in strengthening their own "new economy" activities.
If you've not yet voiced your opinion then please tell me what you think.
Thanks also to those who have sent emails acknowledging that I've contributed
some help to their own "new economy" enterprises. I could do with more --
remember that I want to be recognised as someone who's doing his best to
stimulate this new economy and not just as a critic of existing
policies.
As always, your feedback is welcomed.
