Last night I bought a new computer online from Apple.

This morning in my inbox there was a message from Apple: "Thanks for purchasing your Mac." Wow, a thank you! In the e-mail were links to tutorials on how to get the most out of my new purchase, with the statement, "We can wait to show you around."

Three years ago, I proclaimed Fido Communications as “the Best of 2005” for their well laid out and appealing materials. I even described the user manual as something I wanted to read.

It appears the adorable pooches of yesteryear have become guard dogs.

Recently I had the need to research wireless high-speed internet services. I went to the Fido web site for three reasons. First, I was so impressed with them in the past. Second, I am a customer. Third, I received something in the mail about the service. I pointed my favourite browser to their site and, Bam! What a shock. The gentle, light-hearted domain of the dogs has been replaced with bold, bright yellow and black graphics. I wondered if this was the right place, it was so different. (A few cute dogs are still there, though. Phew!) This is the “New” Fido’s new look. After the initial shock, I considered the merits of the look. In spite of it jarring me, it certainly has that cheap and cheerful feel. Considering the bargain basement prices the home page is promoting, this seems appropriate.  But I don’t know if it fills me with confidence. Anyway, I had to look for the information on that wireless service…

Hmmm. No mention of it on the home page. Odd, they were promoting it through direct mail, why isn’t it front and centre here? After a lot of hunting, I found information under “Ringtones & More”. Huh? I’m still shaking my head over that one.

Once I found the part of the site with the information, I learned the modem is free with a new plan. Great. But, since I already have a phone with a plan through them, what is my status to add this service? If I don’t qualify as ‘new’, how much is the modem? The site is strictly mum on the topic. In my attempt to find out the answers to my questions, I ended up on the iPhone page. I still don’t know how I got there. Maybe if I were to call and talk to a salesperson, they could tell me. But I couldn’t find a telephone number! Eventually I found it buried in the middle of the page in rather small type. That’s just bad.

Alas, most wireless providers in this part of the world seem to have confusing sites. However, the New Fido site takes the cake – er, doggie treat!

Roll over, Fido. Play dead.

Thanks for your nominations for the best and worst in design and marketing communications. This is becoming an annual event!

The Worst
Thanks to Charles Waud of Waudware for his nomination of rogerart.com. This is an artist's site with an anarchist style, so I'm giving it lots of latitude. However, he is trying to sell his art too, so the rules still apply. There are many obstacles to getting the artist's message across. Here are a few:

* run-on pages - The home page goes on forever ... and ever ... and ever! This is an extreme case, but remember that viewers inevitably give up on pages that require them to scroll down more than one or two screens.
* poor navigation - So, where do you go once you get there? Many of the images are links but go nowhere. Much of the text is underlined for emphasis. Is it a link or not? Who knows! If there are other links, you probably can't find them. Which leads me to
* text styles - or lack of them cause confusion. In this site the use of multiple colours, sizes and styles - even within a single sentence - is reflective of his anarchistic style, but results in a page that is so overwhelming it is never read. As far as I'm concerned, no readers, no message. Remember the K.I.S.S. principle.