Square Galaxy

ldsWebguy recently blogged about the growth of broadband usage. He was very wise, I think, in not overreacting to the unprecedented rates of the growth. We need to continue to remember all the dial-up modem users out there and that they aren’t able to access Internet content at premium speeds.

I think websites sometimes neglect out dial-up friends for at least these two reasons:

1. Those in the web design industry are very likely to be accessing the Internet over broadband connections. Because the creators and authors of Internet websites have such a fast connection to the Internet, they tend to forget how slow downloads take for dial-up users. The content and websites they create are then larger and take longer for dial-up users to download.
2. An increasing number of trend-setting websites sell products, and their customers who can afford their products are the same people who are more likely to afford broadband Internet connections. In free-market enterprise, consumer-producer communication happens monetarily. Thus, those who can afford high-speed Internet also have a louder market voice to commercial Internet content providers.

Only conscious efforts on the part of web designers to keep sites slim and fast will keep the web accessible for everyone.

Related posts:

1. Those who don’t want broadband Internet
2. Growth of the Internet
3. DOPA limits free speech