One Value Of A Click Or A Quack

I have never been a fan of examinations in their paper formats.  The instant I am faced with what many would think to be simple questions become exotic fantasies of just how important and of what value knowing the in-depth composition of ones biology when filling out a medical form for example.  I was adopted in an era of still relative silence about the procedure and having determining proof one way or another of having a propensity or disposition to begin questioning whether or not further examination is necessary in order to…

I typically did poorly with the written essay portions of exams because I question the right to impose time frames on typically subjective subject matters and if I’m going to be measured so significantly upon my response, the question of “who discovered America?” with Columbus and Erickson being the only two options, what if a student challenges the proposition that either of them “discovered” America in the first place?

At least here on the Internet, if I want to spend 5 hours writing out something I was trying to somehow work through, that’s all fine and dandy but unlike exams in school, once something is published through The Internet…well…that’s that.  Others will have chance to learn of such an event so when I finally updated my profile on ClassMates.com today, I was confronted with far too little flexibility to modify the profile itself and instead was offered up so  many exams, quizzes and black hole questions and/or suggestions to “write your story,” I could not resist hopping over here for a moment to drop off an old thought that never made it into this particular container while I was studying web design, which are all of these ways to engage an end-user in the act of clicking their mouse.

With each and every click somewhere being counted somehow, some of the quizzes I used to come across on certain websites were quite excessive in count, even when being implemented into some sort of freedom-related promise of information, a coupon…some sort of enticement to endorse something else while on the way to securing the information.

I have also never been a fan of 20 item or less exams when asked a personal opinion, such as what my favorite anything is.

They even asked for my “favorite” song list!   Funny how the list was restricted first to their first round of inclusions…I didn’t always listen to mainstream or Top 40 music and I know how influential common ground in music can become…one of my “favorite” songs back in high school was off an album done by a collaborative effort that adopted the name “I-Ten.”  The song was called “Taking A Cold Look” and a song “Alone” was also on that same album.

Now if I could only find my account information for Pandora…I remember them once having an RSS feed I could put in my main blog…

Then at least that way I can answer some of those questions as truthfully as possible despite the design restrictions I find both quizzical and quixotic at least on their site.  I would think they would at least offer up the “other” or “alternative” option when providing publishing services for end-users to fiddle and futz with.

Valerie

Filed under: Design Element Discussions, One Value Of A Click Or A Quack, The House That Caera Built, The Legend behind Bass Players Rock & Roll, The Legend of Sarge , alone, arlyn, classmates.com, completing a medical form accurately, completing a medical form honestly, composition of ones biology, day, education, exotic fantasies, fan of examinations, favorite song list, i-ten, medical form, niles high school, pandora, paper examination, paper format, school, simple questions, taking a cold look

The Joker Role of the Mysterious 404 Page

I had originally discovered the role of a “404 Page” was to act as a signal that something was “missing.”  The general idea behind it was to keep visitors from leaving your site frustrated because as one example, the designer/host of the web site had a broken link and since there was no file by that name to display to the visitor, the visitor reaches a dead-end, blank page. 

Although there is a default page out of the control of a designer, (typically a grey background with a rounded-corner square with a white background reporting to you that you’ve got a problem…) with a little programming, a 404 page can be called upon to act as a guide back to the pages that actually do exist.

Also, when an end user does not enter an address that matches the name of a file being published by the host, one typo in the address bar means you may even avoid a custom-designed 404 page altogether, let alone missing the match-up the clicker was trying for.

I’ve always been a general fan of the idea, but it wasn’t until recently I began looking at the 404 page in a new light.

I started remembering all of the clickable advertisements I used to see on 404 pages and saw the possibility for addresses of never-existing file names being available to the players of this side band game of skipping and hopping around hoping to disconnect the motives of the visit.

Do I have a 404 page?  You bet!  And whether or not you see it because I have a broken link that leads someone there or perhaps a typo on the part of the end user will matter when it comes to the maintenance of my site, but it is one more location I refuse to put external advertising on.

Abuse of this default relies on what is chosen to be clickable on a 404 page.  Remember that word “chosen.” When you click on a link, you leave behind the message, “I am now leaving the original host displaying the 404 page and will now record my entry of a new site coming from this 404 page.” 

When a 404 page has Pay Per Click advertisements being displayed, then every single web site on the Internet becomes a convenient play-thing for PPC Masters trying to funnel click traffic through various channels and for various purposes.

Now although a service provider putting up only internal self-advertisements still has a PPC flavor to it (such as on the domains that have expired and the notice of such an event), the 404 page still has a relatively silent, but significant role due to bookmarking services.

Once a web page is named and published, people can place anchors on the page via the basics such as your Favorites list in your browser, the mid-range service providers like many of the social bookmarking services and then there’s the niche service providers who provide things like highlighting services, scoring mechanisms, etc.

The 404 PPC Scheme tends to rely on click menus containing an okay, if not hefty dose of these “missing pages” woven into the click schedule.  And the more clickable points on the page, the greater the opportunity to use a site to abuse the right to sight of advertisements promoting a reason to keep clicking per the designers/hosts instructions.

Although I have not read very many industry articles about the topic lately, I do remember some minor rumblings about this issue and thought it would be a good idea to toss out this general overview of the role of the 404 page…

The 404 page is one of the major jokers in the deck of a designer so beware of the designs chock full of links and advertisements.  It might not be a page designed to act its part properly…look for clean designs, limited links and short lists on how to get back on track, including a link to your home page.

The 404 page can also go social/viral if you are looking to make a name for yourself…it all depends on how original your message is…and promote it to the right social networks/bookmarking services…

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