Introduction

The Internet is a very different medium from traditional media, as traditional media is passive by nature. Companies use media channels such as television and newspapers to promote their products to a mass audience using set models, with the intention that a transaction will eventually ensue. The main drawback of this model is that companies can neither pinpoint any one person's needs nor focus their information accordingly.

Logging on and browsing various web sites on the Internet is transactional by nature. The basis of the Internet is one of users making a decision, seeking information by issuing requests, and receiving responses. Users effectively tailor the information they view and aren't forced to look at information that doesn't interest them.

With this increased personalization of information, it is more likely that users are going to respond. Whereas traditional broadcast media appear to have a one-to-many relationship with their audience, the Internet can be viewed as providing a one-to-one relationship. Therefore, the mass-media concepts and models may be invalid when applied to the Internet.

Users can browse through the products and services of site and conduct transactions if they wish. They decide how long they stay at a site, when they leave your one for another, and, crucially, whether they will return.

With each improvement in multimedia technology, the amount of data available over the Internet increases and the quality improves. Data-driven web content provides users with real-time information because the information is retrieved from a database at the time of the user request. Web sites that provide online banking and flight booking use this technology.

Internet developments have streamlined business processes. Intranets are used with data-driven content to broadcast changing information to employees. Extranets allow external partners and vendors to view company information and gain access to company systems through the Web.

Web versus traditional media

In the early days of the Internet, it was perceived that its production would follow the same rules as other media. HTML pages that duplicated hard-copy paper-based documentation were developed and brochures were copied to companies' web sites in an attempt to gain a proper web presence. However, this method proved to be wasteful of Internet resources.

It soon became obvious that the Internet didn't comply with the usual media models. Whereas the print medium was linear in nature, the Internet was nonlinear in that users did not have to read one page after another. Copied brochures were replaced with links to relevant parts of the brochure, so that users could read only the sections that they wanted to.

The traditional media have limited opportunities to create a direct connection with their users. Using web sites, businesses can gather valuable personal information about their users. This information can range from their hobbies and interests to the information they would like to view on the web site.

Design issues

It is natural for you to want to use all available multimedia technologies in creating a new web site. You must be careful not to prioritize aesthetics over content, however. The goal is to give users what they want. A finished web site may be technically brilliant but, if it doesn't contain the correct content in the correct structure, it will not be a success with its prospective audience. You should always have the audience's needs in mind when creating a web site, and try to gain a balance between appearance and content. A site should look good, using all available technologies when necessary, but it should still provide the content in a well-designed and intuitive manner.

Remember that some users may not have the browser capabilities to view new technologies developed with the browser's latest version in mind. Also, overuse of these technologies results in longer download times, which may result in the user leaving the site and logging on to another. In addition, very few users will take the time to download plug-ins.

Summary

Traditional mass media tries passively to generate enough interest to perform transactions, whereas the Internet is transactional in nature, allowing individual users to directly access the information they want.

Initially, the Internet was seen as similar to traditional media. However, the practice of copying documents and brochures onto web pages was abandoned in favor of the nonlinear approach that now exists.

It is tempting to utilize the newest technologies, however it is important to remember an audience's needs when creating a web site. Not all users will have browsers compatible with the latest technologies so it is best to assume that your users don't own sophisticated computers and design your site accordingly.