[Pydotorg-redesign] Simplify and prioritize (fwd)

Aahz aahz at pythoncraft.com
Sat Aug 9 14:28:23 EDT 2003


On Sat, Aug 09, 2003, Roy Smith wrote:
>> Steve:
>>>
>>>So turn this into content ... 33.6 kbit/s = practically maybe 2
>>>kbyte/s allowing for some communications lag. So you appear to think
>>>60k is an upper limit on content?
>
> Is 33.6k dialup really a valid yardstick to measure by?  I know POTS
> modem is still what 90% of the general population uses, but we're
> aiming at a technical audience, not the general population.  My guess
> is most of our audience has DSL or Cable at home and/or T1 or better
> in the office.  In any case, I'd certainly use 56k as the number for
> dial bandwidth (line noise knocks you down a bit, compression buys you
> a bit more, figure the two are a wash overall).

There are several reasons why I picked those numbers out of thin air:

* Python is a world-wide community, and even with mirrors, I bet most
people go to www.python.org.  Network connectivity is still not something
to take for granted, and that's true even with a T1 -- never know when
the next SQL Server worm will start slamming.  While I use a modem, my
shell server is 3000 miles away, and I'm painfully aware of how often
the network laggies hit.

* Many of the non-WiFi wireless schemes still top out around 19k.

* There's a fair bit of research that indicates that people start losing
interest in web sites at the ten-second mark.

Put it all together, and I think my numbers are a reasonable compromise.
There's plenty of room to stick graphics-intensive material away from
the main pages.  I'm simply picking a relatively simple metric to judge
with.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

This is Python.  We don't care much about theory, except where it intersects 
with useful practice.  --Aahz



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