Apologies
Responses

Apologies

There's an old story I've been told and I'd like to relate it to you now.

It's all about taking criticism and accepting feedback.

A wise man once told me...

If one person tells you that you are a horse....no big thing...shrug it off if you have a pretty good feeling that you're not a horse.

If two people tell you that you are a horse, then maybe you'd better check.

If three people tell you that you are a horse then you'd better go buy a saddle!

A long time ago, when I first began setting up this web, I wanted to be different with some things in the way of presentation, etc..

I got several tools including something called HTML Colormeister and set about doing unique things to the backround colors and link colors of the H4 pages. I never thought there was any big deal as to what colors one chose for these things.
Then I started to get mail from windows box users who complained they couldn't see the type on some pages...then I learned about the somewhat limited windows color pallette and how their system takes a standard 256 color pallette and uses several top and bottom colors for the windows system...this was causing the problems for windows users with 256 color monitors.

So, I did away with several hundred colored pages and colored type and changed page coding over to using a silver backround and red and blue link colors....only I had inverted the red and blue from what many folks might be used to.
I know this was not a concious effort to just be different...I think it actually slipped by me and I never really gave it much thought. I was able to get around and the pages looked clean and functioned ok...so I figured everything was cool.

Then I promptly got flamed by some guy for being stupid and not following the "rules" as he put it.

I didn't think much of his style and just kept things going...figuring..what the heck....

Soon after, I got tired of silver pages and the trouble they caused with gif transparencies and converted over to white backrounds on most pages. ( I really hate dull gray standard colored pages and that's why I got into colors in the first place...)

More than three quarters of a million visits to the H4 later, today I awoke to email (my second in a year and a half on this subject of link colors) from a guy outta California who professes to be an internet consultant.
Here's his mail:

Hello Mr. Abbett, I assume that you want all your web surfers to be able to get to all sites cited by your web pages... One of the first rules of marketing is "don't confuse the audience." When you use non-standard colors for your hot links, it's not clear what items can or cannot be clicked on to jump a link. The only way I've been able to traverse some of your web pages on H4 was by meandering my mouse pointer around (slowly, because the hand icon doesn't always appear immediately), to see what other things that I can and cannot click on. Most of your links seem to start red and then turn blue after having linked there. However there have been some that have started yellow and turned teal. Huh!? Unless I had happened to roll my mouse over those items I would never have known to click on them. Thanks, Andrew First off, the part about the meandering mouse or lines of text that are links but don't have the lines under them until you click on them, must have something to do with the server software and the traffic we get. I too, sometimes see lines of type that I know are links, appear on screen without the underline. I just figured it's an imperfect world sometimes and that these things happen. There is nothing in the html codes that I know of that has anything to do with making sure that a line is successfully applied under link words 100% of the time..... I really do not know what to do about that little curiosity...I'm open to suggestions...

As to the teal colored thing, he must've read Susan's Hawaiian Music Page...yeah, I cop to it...I did do some different stuff on it...and on purpose....maybe I shouldn't have been so creative...I'll ponder that for a while.

We all thought it looked sorta cool.

Anyhow, Andrew and I exchanged a few more emails and I began to think a little more about this whole link color deal.

I really don't think it's that big a deal but, I do not want to buy a saddle....too darn hot here in Hawai`i for a human to wear a saddle.

Anyhow, I apologize to anyone who has been so bummed over my link color choices that they have never come back to the H4 because of it.

If you see these folks please tell them that I apologized.

And I apologize to any of you who do tolerate my link colors and never thought it was such a big deal anyhow - just in case you may be a bit perturbed with me now for bringing it up and reminding you of your displeasure.

I never intended to mess with anyone's mind, I was only being...er... trying to be creative....

So now, I've gotten two emails and I'm pondering the situation more closely now. I've got over 1400 html documents on here to change, if I am gonna go along with this standard link stuff and I am gonna work towards conforming a bit more but, it isn't gonna be an overnight change. It can't be. I don't have the time physically to do such right now. I will however pledge to use more standard link colors in the future and re-write the coding on as many pages as I can as I move along back and forth through the web over the next couple of months.

I'll make the haven't seen 'em yet links blue and the already seen em links red from now on if I use a white backround on the page.

And you can add your two cents to this page about this issue by dropping me a quick email...and if it's a classy piece of mail, or makes a good point, I'll add it to the page down below here and we'll sort of enjoy a round robin discussion on link colors and the art of color choices for the same.

My email address is rabbett@hotspotshawaii.com and you can simply press Here if you have the right kind of browser.

Please remember that this web is a personal love affair with Hawai`i gone wild. I only try to do good things. If I create a problem for you with any part of this web, you have several choices:

1) Gimme some feedback via a nicely written and polite email

2) Never come back

3) Put up with it

4) Flame me

5) Hurl your computer across the room and mutter at me under your breath

6) Report me to the Internet Link Color Police

7) Ask Congress to hurry up with that special Internet control chip...the Clipper Chip

8) Write Surfwatch and have my site included as one to avoid in their next software update

9) Write the New York or LA Times a Letter to the Editor and publically humiliate me in front of millions of people

10) Write Al Gore

11) Write Tipper Gore

12) Send me flowers

13) Be creative and come up with something on your own

14) Run like hell and never look at another computer again

15) All of the above

I'd really prefer the feedback and your continued visits and participation.

Aloha no,
and warmest regards

Rabbett;)

Responses/Feedback/Round Robin
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 14:36:13 -1000 From: Joe Edmon Reply-To: joeman@aloha.net Organization: Real World Computer Solutions MIME-Version: 1.0 To: rabbett@hotspotshawaii.com Subject: Link Colors I think you used the wrong term when referring to the Internet Color Link Police. A more appropriate term would be "Brownshirts," a proper definition would be "people intent on the nazification of the internet." There motto is "Do it our way, just because it's our way." It is important to remember that first graphic browsers (e.g., Mosaic) were designed by college students intent on doing something cool. They had no input from graphic design professionals. These guys were computer programmers who had no idea that there really are "proper" ways of presenting information. The "rules" graphic designers use have been proven in the marketplace. People don't buy products if the ad looks bad, they don't read magazines with poor layouts, etc. The first web browsers paid no heed to what graphic designers have learned through the decades. (It is interesting to note that the best sites are running away from the imposed rules as fast as they can.) Having followed links appear in red (why emphasize something that you've already seen) and unvisited links appear in blue (why hide what you're trying to get people to click on) is contrary to what any color specialist will tell you. What any good graphic designer and typographer will tell you is don't have the damn links SCREAM for attention. When a link is embedded in a paragraph the goal should be to have the user read the paragraph, then click on the link. The implied goal imposed on us by those college students seems to be don't read the paragraph, just HIT THE LINK, but not the red one, you've already been there. Go through a little extra effort and find the blue links. Good design can always be achieved by following the tried and true rules. Great design comes from those who know which rules to break and when. But the rules aren't made up by a couple of guys over beer and pizza. They evolve over time as people passionate about their work figure out what works and what doesn't. Hopefully graphic designers will replace the computer programmers, and consultants, and one day a true set of rules will evolve as to what is the best way to present information on a computer screen. Until then we have to rely on creative people "breaking" the rules so the marketplace can show what works and doesn't work. Right now web savvy graphic artists are being payed a lot of money to design sites that are graphically appealing. They do a lot of work undoing the damage done by those college students who didn't know better. As far as being a confused consumer, give me a break buddy. It is a sad commentary about the intelligence level of society when we have to assume that people won't realize they've already seen the red ones and have yet to look at the yellow ones. It is important to take into account the wide range in quality of monitors and computer systems out there (people won't stick around your site if they can't read the text on the really cheap monitor they bought), but is it is also important that we don't continually kowtow to the lowest common denominator. The evolution of society and civilization has been the lifting up and promoting of the human species. Let's not start trying to drag down the rest of us because some people are just plain cheap. Whether or not you're a horse, all I can say is it's the horse's ass that's making the call. Keep up the great work, Joe Edmon
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 22:49:48 +0000 From: Mark Fontanella Reply-To: cls@tiac.net Organization: cls MIME-Version: 1.0 To: rabbett@www.hotspotshawaii.com Subject: Saddle? I don't need no F#*kin' Saddle! Ya know Rabbett, somewhere I recently read that 80% of all WEB sites are created on Macintosh's while 90% of WEB visitors are from Windows clones. Being one of those that had to have a Mac since Apple first started making em, I suggest that they do with their clones what I did with my first IBM PC.....use it as a door stop. I've never had the color problems you quote with my Mac and enjoy the different colors for a page. Maybe those that complain will want my monochrome green or orange (been so long I forgot what exactly it was) monitor that came with the original PC it's guarenteed not to have teal! Hell, for that matter why even bother to look at the color to remember if I'd been to a site before. I'm looking for constantly updated sites with new material and the color has nothing to do with it. Seems to me these people are just stuck in the rut in the dog and pony show..oh yeah, Microsoft will show them the way. It also seems like if they've been there before...they've done it, been there, on to the next page. Who cares if it's changes. So I guess my vote is to forget the saddle .... hele on and ride the cyber speedway....by the way, No Horses allowed, eh. Latahs......Mark
Date: Mon, 08 Jul 1996 23:17:29 -0800 From: Frank Pratt Reply-To: akkrafts@alaska.net Mime-Version: 1.0 To: rabbett@www.hotspotshawaii.com Subject: COLOR Hang in there Rabbett, your doing a great job. And if you ever feel the need for that saddle, I've got a well used one that I'll let you have. Ha, ha. Mahalo for a great site. Frank Pratt Thanks Frank, think I'll rummage around for a good saddle blanket first tho...altho I'd rather go bareback...;)