Just because you can doesn’t mean you should…

Posted by Jeremy L. Knauff

When the Internet was just beginning to be used for business, we didn’t have anywhere near the flexibility that we take for granted today. I remember the early days of website design, when the <blink> tag first showed up. Everyone thought it was the coolest thing and wanted it added to their website just because it was possible. A few years later, it was Macromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash) and everyone was just dying to have an obnoxious Flash intro, again, just because they could.

Don’t misunderstand; there’s nothing wrong with being on the cutting edge of technology, especially if it gives you a competitive advantage, but it’s a bad idea to do something just for the sake of doing it. Anytime you have a design idea, do yourself a favor and ask yourself what purpose it serves. If there is no quantifiable answer, you’re probably better off passing on the idea.

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