Accessibility rant

[Adrienne]

I just have to say this.

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

The other one that bothers me is "Log on to www.example.com ", when its a
site that doesn't required any log on, like the local news channel. It's
probably confusing for people because they think they're going to be going
to a site where they DO have to log in, and they either a) don't understand
what that means , b) are frightened , c) don't want to spend the effort.

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

 

[Michael Wilcox]

I just have to say this.

<snip rant>

There's one channel arround here in St. Paul that really bother's me with
their site. First of all, it's bad (aren't they all?). Second of all,
everytime there's a mention of a site in a story, they say, as though
they've taken great pains to do so, "We've set up a link to their site".
Honestly, that's the least I'd expect, but whatever.

 

[Marvin Miller]

I just have to say this.

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

The other one that bothers me is "Log on to www.example.com ", when its a
site that doesn't required any log on, like the local news channel. It's
probably confusing for people because they think they're going to be going
to a site where they DO have to log in, and they either a) don't understand
what that means , b) are frightened , c) don't want to spend the effort.

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

Better yet - add a pointer in the DNS for the site and drop the www all
together. I can't believe how many sites still HAVE to be accessed by
www.x.y

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?brucie?=]

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

i could be listening to a radio via a PCI card. extra info could be
encoded into the transmission for my PCI card to decode into something
like a URL to be displayed in the radios control panel on screen.

hmmmmm....

brucie copyright © 2003 all rights reserved. patent pending

 

[Art Sackett]

I just have to say this.

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

The other one that bothers me is "Log on to www.example.com ", when its a
site that doesn't required any log on, like the local news channel.

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

That's one of my favorite rants -- everyone who knows me has heard it
at least as many times as it takes for them to scream at me, "Shut up
about it already!"

 

[m]

I just have to say this.

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

The other one that bothers me is "Log on to www.example.com ", when its a
site that doesn't required any log on, like the local news channel. It's
probably confusing for people because they think they're going to be going
to a site where they DO have to log in, and they either a) don't understand
what that means , b) are frightened , c) don't want to spend the effort.

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

TV. My local channel just reported the Nigerian Scam like it was
a brand new discovery and they were doing a great service to the
community by bringing this new threat to light. Sheesh.

 

[EightNineThree]

I just have to say this.

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

<snip rant>

Hehehe. I just had to educate my company's marketing department on that
this morning.
They just wrote a piece on a new online service we're providing and it was
"Click on __________" all over the place.

 

[SeeSchloss]

I just have to say this.

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company),
and I thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to
click on something on the radio?

The other one that bothers me is "Log on to www.example.com ",
when its a site that doesn't required any log on, like the local
news channel. It's probably confusing for people because they
think they're going to be going to a site where they DO have to
log in, and they either a) don't understand what that means , b)
are frightened , c) don't want to spend the effort.

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"?
What's so difficult about saying the correct thing?

Same thing here in France : always "cliquez sur...", like
you could "click on a site". You can click on a site when
you are on another website which provides a link to it, but
what they want to say is obviously "go to...".

 

[Whitecrest]

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

When they say "click on" you see your self doing it.

 

[Mark Jones]

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

You need to get a life, real quick.

 

[Adrienne]

When they say "click on" you see your self doing it.

No, I don't see myself doing it. If I am going to click on something,
there had better be something to click ON. If I were watching some sort of
interactive television, and somewhere it said "Click on www.example.com",
and I could use my remote to so, I would.

Click on is really meaningless, especially in this instance for people who
do not really know anything about the Internet. That is why sites using
the AOL keyword actually say "AOL keyword XYZ", it tells people who use AOL
to use keyword XYZ to get to that site. Someone who is unfamiliar with the
Internet, and thinks the Internet means that blue E on their desktop, might
actually be looking to click on www.example.com.

Most people, even the least Internet savy, do know if you say "Go to
www.example.com" that they need to type that in the address bar, or a
search bar or something.

 

[Talc Ta Matt]

"Click on

www.example.com" (don't remember the name of the real company), and I
thought to myself, how the Hell is someone supposed to click on something
on the radio?

Maybe it's not the exact reason they are saying "click on", but...

Certain internet users who frequent a site and don't actually bookmark it but
do know the web address for some reason won't actually type in
"www.whatever.com". Ever. Instead they go to a SE and search for "whatever.com"
(or just the whatever part), and click on the top listings.

I don't know an exact % of surfers who do this, but check your logs for SE
keywords containing your actual address.

I suspect sites with constantly updated content (thus, visited often) and easy
to remember domains are more prone to this. Which isn't really a bad thing, but
you'd rather have them bookmark it on the first visit.

 

[Toby A Inkster]

Today I heard a commerical on the radio that said "Click on
www.example.com"

Yes, I know. I don't know where you are, but they've been saying this in
the UK for about a year now and it's one of my little gripes.

I don't see where accessibility comes into it, it's just a silly and
nonsensical way of saying things.

 

[Mark Nobles]

Why can't commericial writers just say "Go to www.example.com"? What's so
difficult about saying the correct thing?

Recently I said something about going to a website, and I was rather
sharply corrected with the comment that you don't really *go* to the
website, since that would be physically impossible to travel to all the
sites. What you do is send a request for the data from the website.

So, how about this for an advertising slogan:
"Have your web browser send for the data from example.com"?

Nah, me neither.

Mark

 

[Whitecrest]

No, I don't see myself doing it.

You are not typical. The people in this forum are not typical web
users.

Most people, even the least Internet savy, do know if you say "Go to
www.example.com" that they need to type that in the address bar, or a
search bar or something.

Most people? Most people? You are trying to think like a typical user,
but keep referring to your personal useage. You are not typical. You
have a better knowledge of how the web works. You distinguish between
"go to" and "click on" They don't.

 

[SeeSchloss]

"Whitecrest" a pensé très fort :

You are not typical. The people in this forum are not typical
web users.


Most people? Most people? You are trying to think like a typical
user, but keep referring to your personal useage. You are not
typical. You have a better knowledge of how the web works. You
distinguish between "go to" and "click on" They don't.

If they don't distinguish, then why use "click on" ? If you
use "go to", not only typical users will understand, but
also more advanced users won't be pissed off. The problem
is only that people who make these ads do not know anything
about Internet, and they just think that "click on" sounds
more 'technological' than "go to".

 

[Nick Theodorakis]

Recently I said something about going to a website, and I was rather
sharply corrected with the comment that you don't really *go* to the
website, since that would be physically impossible to travel to all the
sites. What you do is send a request for the data from the website.

Perhaps the phrase "Visit www.example.com" would be clearly understood
by most people. I have also heard "Point your browser to
www.example.com".

Nick

 

[Whitecrest]

If they don't distinguish, then why use "click on" ?

See the first line, because they "see themselves" doing it.

 

[SeeSchloss]

"Whitecrest" a pensé très fort :

See the first line, because they "see themselves" doing it.

But how can you see yourself clicking on a website ??
You imagine the site opened in Internet Explorer, and
yourself randomly clicking on the page ??

 

[Daniel R. Tobias]

But how can you see yourself clicking on a website ??
You imagine the site opened in Internet Explorer, and yourself randomly
clicking on the page ??

Speak for yourself... whenever I imagine myself going to a Web site,
it's naturally with my preferred browser, Mozilla.