When we first heard about the dontclick.it project we were excited to see what it had to offer and whether this might just be the start of an entirely new way for websites to work. Driven by my passion (and if I’m honest geeky desire) to search out the best of Web 2.0 projects and emerging internet technologies I first came across dontclick.it through a random Stumble and at first site was pretty impressed.

Not wanting to stop at my own first impressions I felt it was time to let the site do the rounds of the office and see just what the designers, techies and normal polite members of society thought about a site that doesn’t need (or allow) to be clicked.

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John Thornton… resident PHP Programmer and general ‘codehead’ at uknetweb

The user interface is definitely a novel and very innovative one; however this kind of site operation is likely to prevent site visitors suffering from motor control problems or other special needs due to the nature of the programming employed.

The various button control techniques shown, set about destroying some of the only positive arguments for an interface control system of this kind. i.e. that you don’t need to keep clicking or pressing buttons!

The delay while you hover waiting for an action to start makes the site clumsy to use, confusing and slower than clicking. The continuous mouse wiping and waving motion is more likely to cause Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) than a single movement and a click.

In all it’s a great theory which unfortunately lacks any forethought (but it does look lovely).

Score: 2 out of 5 – awarded for innovation and looks.

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Richard Collett… resident CSS expert responsible for making client sites ‘look pretty’.

What an annoying site! OK, so on first impressions it captures every aspect of the Web 2.0 style – bold colours, reflections, crazy page structures and so on but come on is there really any need to remove the click function?

Within minutes of hitting the site I couldn’t help myself, I pressed the button on my mouse, sending me to some strange page of snow that told me I shouldn’t have done that. The site creators just can’t help themselves after all this site is more about standing out from the norm and doing something different rather than anything useful.

My annoyances in the site didn’t stop there. Try using this site with a laptop touchpad, I beg you to!

OK so lets be serious here for a moment. What does this site achieve?

Very little I’m afraid. I have spent my time putting together sites and ensuring ease of use for site visitors but this site is just so confusing. You are never quite sure where you are or where you’re supposed to be going, that’s fine for a crazy test site but it just isn’t applicable to any real world scenarios.

Score: 0 out of 5 – because it’s so god damn annoying!!

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Esther Caulfield…a rose amongst the thorns, she handles all the lines of communication coming into the Engine House.

Ummm. I’m confused why do you want me to go to this site?

Hey, what’s the point of all this.

It just told me to click and now I have been told off for clicking! Oh, how annoying is this!?

I’m bored can I go now… ah, wait a second I’ve just found a giveaway!

Score 1 out of 5 – it has a giveaway!

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So at the end of the day the team here at uknetweb were not impressed by the dontclick.it project giving it a final score of 1 out of 5. Our end message to the developers has to be ‘Why? – If it isn’t broke don’t fix it!’

While I have sat around wondering what the next blog should be I have learnt a couple of things that I thought justified maybe just a quick intermission blog to show I hadn’t fallen off that amazing balcony into the sea. (see ‘about uknetweb’)

The importance of regular new content

Without regular new content on your blog reader figures start to dwindle and before you know it you’re on here speaking to the word processor. I make regular visits to my stats page and have witnessed any figures I was developing disappeared (hopefully momentarily) in the time I have been absent.

If you’re starting on a blog my advice would be that you try and plan your next blog, or at least have an idea about what it might be about, some days in advance.

Don’t just fill the blog with any old junk

I could have probably filled the void in my blogs by ranting on about something, or talking about something else; however, I didn’t want to take my new blog off in strange directions. Why you might ask? Well for a couple of reasons I suppose (are you beginning to see a trend here?): this blog is my chance to share with others my ideas on a particular area and invite interesting discussion from it. If I start to ‘fill in’ with stuff that’s off the mark then the audience I was looking to attract might get bored and run away.

Secondly, I started off as a journalist and realise the importance of the reader. As a writer we have a responsibility to write to that audience. A responsibility to inform, entertain or educate them with content they are likely to appreciate. If we start writing badly or about stuff of no interest to anyone but ourselves are we being fair on that audience?

It’s quite possible that I might be on the wrong track here. Maybe blogs are different and I am needlessly ‘filling in’ just like I said I wouldn’t. I welcome any comments you have on that one.

While I have been away I found the following useful directory of Web 2.0 sites – check it out, you might find something new. click here

A dedicated user of the Mozilla Firefox system, I had my reservations of moving to yet another browser and all the issues in cross browser compatibility on badly developed sites I was sure to have.

On download, I found a browser well beyond my expectations and one that I believe enhances my online experience and my efficiency in carrying out research and networking online. Using the same image rendering as Firefox (according to my techie friends in the office), I don’t need to worry about any new browser compatibility issues at all.

So why do I recommend Flock?

Flock is, to use their words, ‘The Social Web Browser’. It has built in functions to make your social networking, blogging, RSS feed experience the best it can be.

When I want to see what’s happening on Facebook or Flickr, its all one click away with a simple bar down the side showing my friends pics and status. Notifications of waiting group requests, messages etc are shown at the top of the bar too.

When I want to blog I push the little quill and up pops a little window (I am writing this there now), write my blog and press publish to automatically upload to which ever site I have registered.

Through ‘My World’, a personal home screen a little like the iGoogle set up, I see my favorite sites and RSS feeds all in one place.

I could go on listing all the functions but I will leave you to find out the rest by downloading it and testing it. I am sure it has it’s downfalls too, I just haven’t found them yet. If you want to leave me a comment with positive or negative comments about Flock feel free. Happy Flocking!

Never one to miss an opportunity to test a new web application, I created a group for members of the network and referral organisation, the BNI, and joined a local business network created by friend, Alan Jones, for business people in the South West (UK).

So will sites such as Ning lead to the creation of ‘nethoods’, a trend prediction from Trend Watchers extraordinaire – Trendwatching.com, where smaller networks are likely to focus on small real life suburbs, villages or even streets as people search to merge life on and offline?

If you have your own social network why not include it in a comment on this blog? I have.
Visit BNI

My role within the company is to research emerging technologies, liaise with clients and potential clients, and manage some of the projects coming in.

I have started this blog to share some of our work with the world and help businesses locally or further afield tap into the many new tools emerging on the web. I will post as often as I can with links to great sites, information or tools for those interested in the internet, other emerging technologies or growing their business.I want to start by adding the following slideshow (available for download) which was a presentation we prepared for our local Chamber of Commerce featuring hundreds of embedded links to more info.

I am keen to hear any thoughts you have and welcome anyone to get in touch. You can find me on Skype, Facebook or Plaxo. (Click here for links through ‘About Aren’)

Aren

The new site has been built for Redruth based Cornwall Kawasaki Centre and currently holds more than a million motorcycle parts, making the site the most comprehensive web based store for motorcycle parts in the UK.

Uknetweb’s Managing Director, Toby Parkins, commented on the launch, “Many web developers tend to supply off the shelf systems and packages which are not suitable for more sophisticated web based shopping systems. With each of our sites we take time at the beginning to consider the customer’s needs and identify methods for making their shopping experience the very best it can be.”

“In the case of Cornwall Kawasaki Centre we found that many people experienced difficulties in linking diagram numbers with parts numbers and taking this forward in locating the part for sale. We developed a unique system which allows users to view detailed parts diagrams, identify the parts number, and then order the part, all from the one site.”

The plan for the site is to continue adding to the present catalogue with the aim of providing one site for all bike parts and accessories. The site went live on the web at www.cornwallkawasaki.co.uk on Monday and is expected to be a welcome relief to thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts who often need to spend hours searching for parts for their motorcycle and visiting garage after garage in search of them.

Ends