Where I used to work there was a quote on one of the doors from David Ogilvy, "When you advertise fire-extinguishers, open with the fire."
I always liked that quote because it's something often missed when people are trying to explain what they're selling or even just trying to convey. I see this happen the most on web sites for applications that have a strong visual component. I can never understand why someone who wrote an application that does X doesn't have a nice screenshot on the front page showing it do X.
This entry started because Jason pointed me towards a MovableType plug-in called BigPAPI that does something very cool and very visual (allows plug-ins to affect MT's interface), yet there are no screenshots to be found.
anonymous
I often wish that people would apply that principle when choosing names for their hyperlinks. "this MovableType app" tells me very little about what it is, what it does, or why I should visit it.
friday
july, 29 2005
Mathew
i thought that myself - if you're advertising making visual changes to the interface, why not post a screenshot?
friday
july, 29 2005
Andre Torrez
Point taken. I changed it, Mr. Anonymous.
friday
july, 29 2005
Kevin Shay
You're right, of course. In my defense, part of the reason the plugins don't have screen shots is that with MT 3.2 currently in beta, the interface is sort of a moving target. But the other, larger part of the reason is simply laziness on my part. I'll get some images up there soon, though. Thanks for pointing this out.
saturday
july, 30 2005
Anil Dash
You're totally right (I made sure most of our posts about MT3.2 have screenshots for this reason) but I got stuck on a screenshot for BigPAPI so that's why it doesn't have one.
Will add one ASAP, though. :)
sunday
july, 31 2005