South African web development companies

Vincent Maher wrote quite a nice post about Are web development companies still the best place for web advice?. He speaks about how the South African web development/design companies are a bit off the mark (in general) about how websites should work, and how users should interact with the site. Once when chatting to a local company they spoke about how “We need to own the customer and to do that we need to block off all points of exit from this website.” I think they push heavy crack, and I don't think they ever actually learnt about the web, they figured it was an interesting way to put billboards up for higher margins.

I suppose it is the same attitude that sees us embroiled in yet another format war, the same market practices that exclude rather than include. These are the same people who don't understand why Amazon, et al work as well as they do, they don't understand that the web is about the people. It all comes back to jealousy and greed really...the jealous and greedy person tries to control the situation so they can milk it for everything, the pragmatic person works with the situation, moves and flows, and benefits the most in the end. This attitude of greed and control kind of works in the real world (but ultimately the greedy are brought to their knees), but on the internet the best players are the ones who fit into the neighbourhood, the ones who let you put your lemonade store on their front lawn because they know you will tell your friends to come buy lemonade, and maybe catch passing traffic (instead of kicking you off when they see your success, and starting their own lemonade stand which fails dismally).

I think a few examples are in order: how come people put google search on their website long before they would put yahoo? Google is a nice neighbour! google recognises that helping you make money helps them make money, they facilitate and help you grow, while they grow (and they grow because you grow). It comes back to the Google Code of Conduct which basically says Don't be evil. Being evil is trying to steal or control revenue streams (as opposed to dipping into the stream, or making the stream bigger so everyone can play).

The point of this ambling warble? The South African web industry needs a serious shake up, companies need to start waking up to the w3c and it's recommendations (it goes beyond just code - the w3c thinks about accessibility, etc.). The industry needs to start understanding the web as a community, and the fact that the play ground is so big it doesn't make sense to try and cordon of your corner of the web, spin some razor wire around it, and force people to use the intercom to come and play on your swings. In a related thing I have always been boggled when people talk about catering for mobile media, and reaching mobile phone browsers, etc. They build specialist websites and engines, just to make the site usable from a cellphone (don't get me wrong, I am all about sites making tweaked versions which remove stuff that is irrelevant or complex to use from a phone), when all they actually need to do is follow web standards and produce proper XHTML and CSS, and suddenly your site works on a mobile phone, looks good, and is usable for anyone and any browser. I suppose it is the hype train, and when you can charge more money to get your clients on the hype train, then greed wins.

Vincent touched on the recent spate of flash only websites (and how making flash only websites is a lot like shooting yourself in the foot, because you basically trade the power of the web - hyperlinking - for a bit of glitz). Vincent didn't name the sites, but I will (I am crazy like that):

• E-TV is the local free to air broadcaster. Does it make sense that I cannot link to an episode, day guide, etc. from a blog post? no, it doesnt. Their website is a wonderful testament to the white elephant (in the box, at the back of the cupboard in the basement, that can only be reached using the stairs).
• Ster-Kinekor is another site that probably implemented an entire toolkit in flash, just to do what html was designed for. Updates are probably a whore for some lowly paid minion, and again, how can I link to a movie I want to see? How do I put a widget on my sidebar that tracks the movies I have watched (maybe even pulled from my ster-kinekor card)? oh, right, not possible.
• Entertainment Africa is TelkomMedia's little jaunt (at a cost to the tax payer, and anyone who pays telkom for anything) into becoming an entertainment hub for ZAers. Luckily no one can actually link to any sub-section of the site, so they won't get too much additional traffic from their users. The flashing "loading" text makes me bring up a little

Any surprises that they are oldmedia houses and they clearly got sold the whole hook line and sinker? Two of those sites were made by a local company called (lol) Prezence. No surprises that they are a flash house (probably copy-pasted directly from the 90s). I guess they really have a solid prezence (sp?) on the internet. They certainly make their prezence (sp?) felt. I hope I am going to get nice prezence for my birthday (which is just around the corner).

I know I am a minimalist, and the sites could look worse than they do, but when I see all the glitzy flash, and sliding things all over the place, it makes me mock charge a bit, but maybe that is related to feeling like the sites are alive and trying to attack my eyes.

So, shake and bake SA, you have been warned.

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