Forum Moderators: phranque
ditto, or no no
mahlon, i think you will get a heck of a lot of no's on this one
But I can't decide: Do I feel this way because Google really is close to being perfect in what it sets out to do, or does it only seem perfect because it's that much better than the competition?
Wow
That's true zen, I love it.
:)
If you would have waited a bit, I could have tooted the horn for you. ;)
There are a few sites that are close enough to perfect for my specific purposes that the gap could almost be considered a rounding error. Universally, no there is no such thing as a perfect navel... ummm website.
Almost there.
But definitely perfect.
Soon.
Perfection is in the eyes of the beholder
The person who tells you how perfect your site is, will lie to others too
Imperfections are the beauty of the web. Its like genetics. One site breaks from the norm (the mutation), and the idea spreads. If it is a good idea, it persists, otherwise it dies out (<marquee>, <blink> etc)
However, the web is not an homogenous environment, although it is all too often portrayed that way, particularly in the media.
Even a cursory examination of this board (especially the Google forum) shows that people have wildly differing experiences of the web. The same Google update produces a slew of "My site(s) sank without trace" threads, and another bunch on "I just climbed about 20 pages in the SERPs", and yet a third lot of "Did Google just update then?". A similar effect is observed when other engines make major updates.
All of these responses are equally valid, and stem from the same stimulus. The difference in reaction is partly caused by the sites being in different web "neighbourhoods", and partly by the peculiar properties of the sites themselves.
In such a diverse environment, how can any site be perfect?
The perfect site is determined by the current user's current need and the current capability of the used site to satisfy this need in no time with reliability and fun.
Since there are more variables and all those variables are variable in themselves again, I guess the perfect site can be anyone at that given moment when a user feels entirely happy with what just worked out 100% for her/him.
The major marketing goal therefore has to be to (despite of all the hype you get in your inbox thousand fold every day) REALLY do your homework on learning about your target group's requirements (that might change all the time on top) and address them with (not always state-of-the-art) solutions that do the job best or exceed what these users might expect.
Many times and for many users Amazon sounds like a site that has performed excellently in this regard and continues to do so, but there are others with similar customer focus and customer intimacy goals.
I say put your users shoes on and try to be happy with any task on your site and you will find plenty of room for improvement to steer towards perfection, that can NEVER be (by above definition) satisfied.
This is the beauty of these times - never rest, never arrive, but always be happy with any piece that completes your goals along that way.
I just love this world!
Cheers, Jens
> TallTroll: people have wildly differing experiences of the web.
Richard Lowe
