Browsers and the quality of web content
Wednesday, 29. March 2006, 00:48:21
Yesterday, I posted an article (on my other blog) about the way content on the internet might be getting 'thinner' due to the way popular content gets more popular while less popular (but sometimes just as good or even better) content gets ignored due to the way search engines work combined with the fact that people tend to repeat or directly replicate the most popular sources of information. To make sense of what follows, here's my original article: Counteracting Sameness on the Internet
Here is a question that came to mind:
Can anything be done at the browser level to encourage independent website owners to publish high quality original content on the internet, and to help out those who already do? After all, if Opera's vision "is to deliver the best Internet experience on any device on all major platforms" through its browser technologies, it makes sense that the content on the internet also needs to be of the highest quality.
My first thought was, "No, browsers don't have anything to do with the quality of internet content. It has more to do with individual users and the choices they make, irrespective of which browser they use."
Yet, we all know that design influences behavior. Perhaps there isn't much Opera can add to help this particular cause, but I do know there are some things Opera can avoid.
Here are two examples of what I mean:
1. Do not add (especially by default) search fields or menu options that run "I'm Feeling Lucky" searches on Google. Even better, Opera users might consider changing the default number of search results shown per page from 10 to a larger number, like 30. On a healthy internet, for any given topic, there ought to be a whole bunch of useful and interesting websites, each with original content depending on the speciality of the site author. A Web that can be reduced down to one useful site per topic goes against the whole spirit of encouraging diverse voices and opinions.
When researching topics, don't just go to the first link on Google. Take a look at the 5th link, the 20th link, or even farther down. That's where the real gems are often hidden. Encouraging people to only visit the top link(s) jeopardizes the health of the internet, in that people lose incentive to produce high quality informative sites that don't make it to the very top of Google searches.
2. Do not enable link pre-fetching features. This is a controversial feature of the Fasterfox extension for Firefox, in that it eats up bandwidth that small website owners (who typically do not have a ton of resources) have to pay for.
Are there any other ways that browser makers can encourage diverse and high quality content on the Web?
Here is a question that came to mind:
Can anything be done at the browser level to encourage independent website owners to publish high quality original content on the internet, and to help out those who already do? After all, if Opera's vision "is to deliver the best Internet experience on any device on all major platforms" through its browser technologies, it makes sense that the content on the internet also needs to be of the highest quality.
My first thought was, "No, browsers don't have anything to do with the quality of internet content. It has more to do with individual users and the choices they make, irrespective of which browser they use."
Yet, we all know that design influences behavior. Perhaps there isn't much Opera can add to help this particular cause, but I do know there are some things Opera can avoid.
Here are two examples of what I mean:
1. Do not add (especially by default) search fields or menu options that run "I'm Feeling Lucky" searches on Google. Even better, Opera users might consider changing the default number of search results shown per page from 10 to a larger number, like 30. On a healthy internet, for any given topic, there ought to be a whole bunch of useful and interesting websites, each with original content depending on the speciality of the site author. A Web that can be reduced down to one useful site per topic goes against the whole spirit of encouraging diverse voices and opinions.
When researching topics, don't just go to the first link on Google. Take a look at the 5th link, the 20th link, or even farther down. That's where the real gems are often hidden. Encouraging people to only visit the top link(s) jeopardizes the health of the internet, in that people lose incentive to produce high quality informative sites that don't make it to the very top of Google searches.
2. Do not enable link pre-fetching features. This is a controversial feature of the Fasterfox extension for Firefox, in that it eats up bandwidth that small website owners (who typically do not have a ton of resources) have to pay for.
Are there any other ways that browser makers can encourage diverse and high quality content on the Web?
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WIDGETIZE
WillYum # 29. March 2006, 06:59
I do not believe Opera has plans to pre-fetch (at least anywhere that I've read being an O-Fan) but there is User JavaScript available to do it. As far as small web site owners go, well... I'm not sure how I feel about this, no you don't want prefetching and no one actually looking at your content but if you have limited bandwith (especially this day in age) and you have large pages, well, you are kind of asking for your own problem.
Besides, if you are listing in the top 10 links of Google for a specific search the chances are you are going to be really visited a lot anyway. Or am I totally off on this?
As for your big question... That is tough. I don't think Opera can really do anything unless there was something like easy meta ranking for web sites that could be an add-on to the browser. Where we could constantly be ranking pages based on relevancy to what we were searching for... but would that even work? I just don't know enough about human nature when interacting with websites to know for sure.
I agree it is an important question.
Mihai Sucan # 29. March 2006, 09:02
Alexey Feldgendler # 29. March 2006, 09:10
As for Opera... well, Opera IS doing much for small web sites and especially personal blogs already by supporting RSS. Many people would visit Slashdot on a daily basis, but will someone remember to check back to an interesting small website they found? Most won't even remember the name. But with RSS, if one sees an interesting site which offers a feed, he can subscribe and thus stay a regular visitor of the site.
Alexey Feldgendler # 29. March 2006, 09:25
Stop The Funny # 29. March 2006, 21:43
Neither Google nor Technorati et al, have got much beyond the authority and relationships angle. Working out who deserves attention isn't easy. If it was, they would've done it. Then there's finances - money buys attention regardless of merit.
Another thing. If I did have the answer, I wouldn't post it in here for two reasons. I'd get no royalty from the invention, or I'd get shot by vested interests who'd lose out. On the other hand, why does it matter? Authority and popularity are illusions.
Just do the best you can. That's all anyone can do.