Re: [OT] What makes a good miniatures web site

> Harsh maybe, and the industry might be doing fine, off the net,
> without pictures, but on the net is another world.

Depends. ;-)
I'll argue 'til I'm blue in the face that the web is a different 
medium and hence that rules worked out in other media don't apply.
And as a medium the web is not limited to visual displays anyway. 
Decent web sites are accessible with audio browsers or over limited 
bandwidth and poor display mobile devices.

But as the stock market over the past year has shown, the web is NOT 
a 'new economy' or any such rubbish. The same economies apply. If 
photos don't bring in more profits when used in non-web media then 
there's no reason to suppose that they will bring in more profits 
when used on the web. Note _profits_ not _sales_, see below. 

You are providing anecdotal eveidence that the cost may be worth it 
but saying that you won't buy from a site that doesn't have photos is 
not the same as saying that you will buy from one that does. They may 
add photos and you still won't buy, so they've wasted their money.

> And not being computer literate is _not_ an acceptable answer.  If
> you're going to be on the net, you'd better be computer literate or
> find someone who is.	The consequences are to high for everyone
> otherwise.

It is very, very easy to make a web site. This is both a good thing 
and a bad thing. I would argue that a commercial organisation should 
hire a professional to make its web site (of course I would, I am one 
of those professionals) but for many miniature firms that is simply 
an unacceptable cost. 

So they do make the web site themselves. Now, how long does it take 
to photograph 1000s of miniatures? How long does it take to prep 
those photographs for use on the web (a different set of requirements 
to prepping them for print use)? 

Now remember that this is being done by a regular member of staff 
(and there may only be one or two of those in the whole company) who 
won't be available to pack orders, sculpt new miniatures, make 
moulds, cast miniatures, do the accounts, etc. whilst he or she is 
working on the web site. For a small company that may be an 
unacceptable cost. A lot of miniature companies are very small and 
anything that costs them business today, even if it would generate 
business tomorrow, is simply not an option.

Again, in these small companies there may not be anyone with any 
photographic experience. I'm an above average all round photographer 
but my attempts to photograph miniatures have always come out 
terribly.

> Frankly, my assumption is, if you don't have pictures of what you're
> selling on the net, then you don't want me to see it.  If you don't
> want me to see it, you've got something to hide, and whatever you want
> to hide, you can keep it.

Does that apply to GZG? Last time I checked the GZG web site (which 
is only semi-official so may not count in your opinion) doesn't have 
pics of large portions of its range. So do you refuse to buy from GZG?

Irregular have been mentioned. I hate the Irregular web site, it's 
simply dreadful for many more reasons than simple lack of 
photographs. But equally annoying is the Old Glory web site (the US 
one not the even worse UK one) - they have photos of nearly 
everything but often the photos are too bad to see anything useful.

I don't know if I have a point. I think that if I do it's to say that 
it's not as easy as some people seem to think to produce a fully 
illustrated web site on next to no money.

	Steve

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