My comment today is related to the use of photographs on websites. A good photograph can greatly improve the aesthetics of a website. As the old saying goes, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. I have seen thousands of websites with poor photographs; this includes grainy photos, amateur or outdated-looking photos, and just simply bad photographs. (Heck, in one company I worked at, two popular client-facing websites were littered with group photos of employees stood against a white wall, and judging by the hair and clothing styles, it looked as though they were photographed in the 1980s!) As a side-note, I have also seen websites use popular stock photography, but this is forgivable albeit often a cliche.
The reason I have brought up this topic is due to an article I read in the Metro newspaper about Dover's Town Council website using an image of a white cliff taken in East Sussex (1). According to the article, they believed it would be too costly to commission a photograph of the famous white cliffs of Dover. (At least they have now called for members of the public to submit their photographs of the white cliffs to use on their websites.)
I find the reasoning to mislead (even unintentionally) silly by not using a proper photograph; photography need not cost a fortune, and a good photograph can make or break a website. Perhaps a lot of companies or individuals do not understand this, but I believe that website design, in general, is much better aesthetically now than it was a few years ago. And, a note to all companies; if you cannot afford to commission a photograph or you do not have those skills in-house, set up a public competition.
Attewill, Fred. The Metro, 'Welcome to the white cliffs of...er East Sussex'. http://www.metro.co.uk/news/848058-the-white-cliffs-of-dover-are-actually-the-white-cliffs-of-er-east-sussex [November 23, 2010].
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