Editorial
No, No, Don't Tell Me... I Can Guess...
Now that NZoom.com has launched with its catch-cry "The homepage for New Zealanders" I've been wondering -- what does it take to make a page worthy of being your browser's startup page?

Of course TVNZ got the nomenclature somewhat wrong -- a "home page" is generally accepted to be a personal Web page created by an individual or organisation -- not necessarily the default startup page for your browser.

Anyway ... what is it that a site would have to offer in order for you to make it your browser's startup page?

Right now there are literally thousands of Internet operators who are dying to know the answer to this question -- but the methods they're using to find out are farcical.

It strikes me that just about every site I see which is trying to grab your loyalty is prepared to try an amazing range of different features, options and service to try and discover the "magic secret." You can just hear them saying after each failed attempt "no, no... don't tell me.. I'll guess... is it...?"

I have to wonder however why they all appear to have missed the bleeding obvious... why not just ask? (as I am doing here)

Time and time again I am absolutely gob-smacked that so many Web ventures crash blindly ahead, designing sites and services without any kind of survey or focus-group activity. "We know best what YOU want" seems to be the philosophy -- and the results are easy to find -- unattractive, poorly organised sites with content nobody wants. They're littered all over the place.

I don't know of a single car maker, electronics manufacturer or other company planning to spend large sums of money to address a particular market would even consider acting without the results of some fairly serious market research.

Why do so many Net companies think they're immune to the laws of good design and marketing?

Those sites that are "getting there", such as XTRA, NZoom, NZCity, Out and About, NZ Herald and the like all seem to have evolved from shaky beginnings into the products you see today. Imagine how much time they could have saved if they'd just USED the Net to ask the customer what they were looking for.

So, tell me what you think that "magic secret" to becoming someone's browser start-up page. You can also tell me where you think so many of these sites have gone wrong.

Once I've collected your responses I'll publish them and we'll see if the "wannabe homepage sites" are watching.

The Anderton Factor
It has now been five days since I sent my email to Jim Anderton with suggestions on how to encourage the "new economy" and requesting a reply from our Minister of Economic Development.

Still No response.

A reader emailed me yesterday and described the frustration of his experiences in trying to contact a minister using email -- what a fiasco! I think he put it quite succinctly when he said "I think that this government do not know anything about e-mail."

Come on Jim -- each day makes you look a little less like a serious architect of NZ's hi-tech future and more like a bumbling buffoon.

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