see what a bad web site can do?

?articleID=210603590

Pity. The new site is much improved. Time for a lifetime buy of BFG25A/X, SA605, and BF862?

Cheers,

Phil Hobbs

.

Thinking of bad websites, a few days ago, someone was poo-pooing Casio PDA's, so I decided to go to their site to see if it was true. I was appalled at what I saw:

I clicked on the "English (other countries)" link. My skills in graphic design are not only lacking, they are non-existent, but this site is downright ugly. All that prison-wall-blue. It looks like it was designed by someone who never ventures out of the confines of his own mind.

For the first time "Look, I have been a Casio customer for 23 years. I like Casio products. But your site is ugly. And someone lacking in basic marketing skills is doing a disservice to the entire company with that nasty blue. I am probably not the first person to tell you that. The only reason you are defending it so well is because you probably have no control over it, which is understandable, but if I were to go to my blog and blog about it, then do a poll among Americans and ask them if they think it is ugly, I bet you'd be ready to Fed-Ex me a Package of Objectivity overnight."

The blogging threat perked her ears up. Resitance turned into submission. She quickly agreed to notify Mr. Obstinate in Japan. Apparently someone over there really likes that nasty shade of blue. The fact that most of the people looking at the USA site are Americans and might find it detestable does not seem to bother him.

Yet.

-Le Chaud Lapin-

I don't mind this shade of blue. I find the site very responsive, you get to the particular product very fast. Overall I don't see the problem. I've seen much worse sites, ok initial page where you select the country is kind of ugly.

If you were my customer I'd think you're a real asshole to go through this much trouble to express unfounded opinion.

M

| | >Thinking of bad websites, a few days ago, someone was poo-pooing Casio | >PDA's, so I decided to go to their site to see if it was true. I was | >appalled at what I saw: | | >

| >

| >I clicked on the "English (other countries)" link. My skills in | >graphic design are not only lacking, they are non-existent, but this | >site is downright ugly. All that prison-wall-blue. It looks like it | >was designed by someone who never ventures out of the confines of his | >own mind. | >

| >For the first time in my life, I decided to notify a web master about | >how ugly his site is5. But...[warning: prejudicial remarks | >forthcoming]: ...I suspected that, in Japan, this nasty-looking color | >might be a favorited, so anything said to webmaster would probably | >fall on deaf ears. I decided I would call the USA subsidiary instead. | | I don't mind this shade of blue. I find the site very responsive, you get | to the particular product very fast. Overall I don't see the problem. | I've seen much worse sites, ok initial page where you select the country | is kind of ugly. | | If you were my customer I'd think you're a real asshole to go through | this much trouble to express unfounded opinion. | | M | |

The blue is the wrong color no matter what. This is based on rules for contrast. Its very hard to see the text, is almost as bad as light blue text on a purple background.

Cheers

The Philips and later NXP sites were notoriously engineer-hostile. You're probably too young to remember.

If you tell me what you sell, I'll make sure we don't buy any.

John

I'm not a big fan of white/light text on a dark background for any value of "background" but the follow-on pages are okay ... even though I still hate Casio for discontinuing the CFX-20.

--
Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA

yes, it was really bad, the sort of site you had to leave as soon as possible. it didn't help sales at all, only hindered.

I don't mind the casio site, find it easy to read and navigate, and I am an older person. A lot worse around.

Don...

--
Don McKenzie

Site Map:            http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
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http://www.wizard-from-oz.com 1000\'s of electronic items

Yep, after 20 years I couldn't stand it any longer so I came up with this:

I'd rather have my CFX-400 back though. The shitty thing is, they still sell the exact same physical watch, just not in a scientific version.

Dave.

My coment refers to casio (Le Chaud), not NXP. I fully agree with you there regarding NXP / Philips.

M

Nice work! My hat's off to you, sir.

--
Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA

Wow, you did that? That's really kick-ass! I collect watches, usually wind-ups, but I definitely want one of those. I got this unmoslested beauty for $10 at an estate sale:

For those who don't know watches, here is one that isn't quite as clean as mine: I know that I have passed over one or two of those old Casios, I won't anymore. ;-)

The CFX-40 was far more usable (due to the "direct entry" of functions), even though the keyboard wasn't as good. It also had the highly annoying limitation of only dealing with *signed* 8-bit binary numbers, so if you wanted to convert 252 decimal to binary you had to subtract 256 first.

I sold my old CFX-200 a few years ago. My parents tossed out my CFX-40 while cleaning up the basement, thinking it was just another cheap digital watch with a dead battery. :-(

Yep, I remember that the '20 needed a ton of button presses to grind through transcendentals. Still, pretty amazing device for its day.

Wonder if it's possible to modify the firmware on their Databank watches? A 'net search doesn't turn up any hints, so maybe not.

--
Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA

Here's a nickle, kid. Go buy yourself a web browser that lets you pick whatever colors you like and stop trying to impose your preferences on everybody else.

Here's a dime, kid. Web sites, at least ones attempting a commercial venture, should be readable _without_ any tweaking.

Go home and tell your mommy to spank you and stand you in the corner with a dunce hat.

Plonk!

...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |

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discovers that it can bribe the public with the public\'s money."

                 - Alexis de Tocqueville

Sorry. Wasted a perfectly good insult.

The NXP site is better now, but they were almost unusable for years, and that had to have done some damage.

John

I did indeed, just for fun. The first scientific calculator watch since the CFX-400 20 years ago, that was the last one ever produced. BTW, it's a real chick magnet :->

sale:

The CFX-400 can go for well over $1000 in good condition these days. I sold my old *broken* one for like $300 many years ago, and that was before the Ebay craze sent prices through the roof. I only paid $20 or so for mine back in the 80's.

Dave.

Unfortunately they aren't re-programmable.

I do have a scientific calculator app loaded into my Casio Data Link USB watch:

But it's a tad hard inputing numbers with a dial!

Dave.

Mine is the CFX-200 which my late wife gave me in 1983 when we were married. It cost $40 (US) then.

It is a bit scratched, but it is fully functional and I still wear it every day.

John