Thx, but...
I could write a (small paperback) book why the cisco website has, IMNSHO, gone the way of the dodo bird. The website was 100% better in the year 2000. Why then ? Because, like a road, it was built, it was good, and it was right. Since then it was changed, modified, improved (not) and it now has all these great functions, all this new information and all these new dodads that are helpful (not).
The site is OVERDONE. It was simpler, faster, easier to use, in 2000. I'm an Engineer. Either the plane flies or it doesn't.
The Cloud has 'infected' cisco too. The industry infatuation with the Cloud (I'd rather have it SUNNY) is sad. The cloud, is a black/gray cloud hanging over us all, ready to bring the web to a crawl; it's slow, choppy, slow, choppy, and it just plain stinks. Put 2 websites side by side, cisco's from 2000 (I have it on my PC) and todays...2000 wins in every category.
1st, I will define what and why.
* you say you will take up my suggestions with the 'web team'. That's like asking the bank robbers if they think what they're doing is ok.
How should you, or any company, evaluate whether it should be changed, or if the changes are what the People want ? A survey maybe. or, do like some co's used to do 20 years ago, keep the old website (not hard to do) active and then see how many want the new one. Almost all the time, the old site wins. partly because people are used to it, even if it was confusing, at least folks know what is where. The 2nd reason people would rather use the old websites is that newer websites offer nothing improved but only allow the programmers to experiment with and learn new tools they can put on their resume (money).
A few examples re this webpage are in order:
- the Main Function of this page is only this; text entry for a message. yet, how much of the page/screen is devoted to this Main Function ? W/o measuring, and I'm on a PC (smart people do not need smart phones) I'd say about 10%. That's what we use to call in Engineering PITIFUL. An F. You FAILED. Go back to the drawing board in other words. That's like building a road for the cars of today, only 4 feet wide. How can even one car drive on it ?
- 2nd design error; the 'disclaimer' doesn't need to be on EVERY single page that we see, as it is now, AND, it takes up just about the same amount of space as the Main Function, text input. the disclaimer should be part of logging in, the 1st time, and once that function is done, it's DONE, it's over, no one needs to see it every single time they press a key. Imagine that, a webpage that can display the Disclaimer every time you press Enter, as a reminder. Stupid that would be we might all agree, but the web page is doing almost the exact same stupid thing currently.
- next, the page is too big, which I'll bet is so that smart-phone junkies will be better off for some reason. 20 years from now people will realize, smartphones are almost USELESS. They are an emergency item only. They are less capable than a laptop, less capable than a Pad. Smartphones are a fad, they do a lot of things in a small package but when we don't need it. I'm older than most, I remember life b4 smartphones, and it was better. Websites have lost their focus, the focus on the GREAT product, the IDEAL customer 9for that web page) the PC, NOT the smartphone. When we go to work, in IT especially, we use a PC because they screen size is bigger, the keyboard is bigger and easier to use, the network connection is easier to filter and control, to manage. Wireless is for emergencies, for temporary functions, not for everyday use. What we have evolved as a society into is USELESSNESS, inferiority, as the smartphone is good at what it does, but not very good at anything. It's an emergency device, for people who are on the road, away from home, away from their desk. Smart people do not need smart phones.
And there is again the issue of MONEY. You're making a mistake right off the bat by asking the folks that MADE the pages/site to change the way they think, in order to make it better. They won't. Not in a 1000 years, never. Why ? Follow the money. Because web programmers need to get paid. Web programmers cannot leave well enough (like year 2000 websites) alone because they need a job. The entire Web programming industry is somewhat unique. What they're supposed to do is; build a site/road, and then go home, leave it alone, if it aint broke don't fix it in other words. Instead, because of MONEY, not because pages get better, every year web pages get changed, because they CAN, because the Programmers need something to do. They cannot be fired after they're done. The entire web programming industry is looking for something to change with some new feature we don't need.
Web programming has evolved into what they would like to think as AI. It's NOT. In order to have AI, one needs to have the I part too.
What is I ?
Speed, simplicity, nothing more than what is needed, no dancing poodles just because you CAN put dancing poodles on the page. there is such a thing as a Perfect Web page. Cisco doesn't have any.
And, reason #56, I'm old enough to remember after a webpage was loaded, it was DONE, and one could actually move up and down and the page would move up and down. cisco's website has evolved into something SO INTERACTIVE, or SO BUSY, that it never stops doing something, even when it's not. I can be on your site, on some pages, and I cannot even scroll up and down.
Cisco's website will never be great again, as in order to 'fix' the site, orders will have to come from the top, not from the UI/UX dept, and that will not happen.
Inferiority is the word of the future. The greatness of America is gone, never to return. I wish we/you, could all be around 500 years from now so I can tell you i told you so. America is going down, there is no good/great music anymore, and it all is related to cisco's website, as it is also going down. it's a mentality, a way of life, a general feeling within a society almost like a religion, a belief.
You want one last example (as I need to get back to C programming I'm working on, VPNs, and the books I'm writing on the US) here it is:
Get a non-IT friend and go to cisco's home page. Ask them to look at the MAIN PAGE (remember Main Function) and then ask them; what does cisco do, what do they sell ?
An F.
I only wish I was major stockholder so I could fire that whole team.
