[Update: it appears they've already re-worked the "age verification" entry page, making a simple pair of radio buttons. But the Back button is still broken.]
Here's an interesting story about a microbrewery going online to reach its customers. The beer biz shares some characteristics with wine: boutique producers and behemoth conglomerates, a heavy regulatory environment, and lots of taste and image issues.
<begin rant>
The New England Brewing Web site uses Flash for its interface (not just to show pretty pictures like most wineries using Flash), which makes it more painful to use. For example, you can't tab into the input fields of the "enter your birthday to prove you know how to subtract 21 from the current year" front page (which I must suffer through every time I hit the home page - a session cookie, please!). And there's no attempt to capture the e-mail address of fans of their beer for further interaction. Worst of all, the Back button is broken (a common problem for sites which use Flash-based navigation)!!! I note that this Web site was designed by an "interactive marketing firm," and I bet it cost some money. I only wish it were more effective.
(And even though they have a blog, they haven't bothered to fix its About page)
Don't people even *try* to use their own Web site? Visit for yourself and add a comment.
<end rant>
There are some good things: they do tell you where you can buy their beer. And the "Brews" page is not bad (this would be a better home page than the one they've got, IMHO), as it invites interaction and is visually bold.
So, ineffective Web sites are not just a problem for wineries. And it all starts because the person in charge of the site isn't thinking like a visitor.
(No, this is not a teaser for The Microbrewery Web Site Report. I've got my hands full just dealing with wineries!)
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