I had just had an interesting email 'chat' with a well known Garden Photographer. Her website wouldn't show me the images it promised to hold and suspecting it was some browser issue I emailed to let her know.
At first she explained the complicated hover and scroll set up her designer had come up with to let the viewer navigate more than 3 of her beautiful images. Sounds cool but it probably isn't for anyone but him or others who like geeky gadgets on websites and have the time to play with them.
I let her know that it still wouldn't work on my Firefox install. Now the reply was simple, but in this world of virtual comms what you say, don't say, and how you say it carries a wealth of meaning that conveys your 'tone'. And the tone???... sharp, irritated and not too polite.
Interesting as had I been a buyer, as I may have been in the future, I got a good idea of how short this professionals fuse is and how she may potentially behave in front of clients.
I love her work, but I would think more than twice about putting her forward for work.
So it is another lesson for me to be careful how I communicate virtually and the virtual tone I use with strangers.
I had a similar experience the other week.
ReplyDeleteTurned up at a website with my credit card in my hand, but couldn't get past the front page, no matter what link I clicked, not even the Contact page.
I got a sniffy message to say I needed to upgrade my website in order to view the content.
Hyuh, ok.
It's designers getting off on their own designs, but ending up preventing sales.
Silly.
(I didn't miss the point of the post, honest, just wanted to rant. :)