I wrote:
> > Is there anyone doing something similar based on just, say, phone
> > number lookups?
> > I.e., why not go with a number that already "locates" the person/
> > business/institution via a site-associated "resource", more or less
> > "universally"?
Ben Hutchings responds:
> National numbers aren't universal; a single organisation may have a
> lot of different public phone numbers; numbers aren't very memorable
> (do you try to remember the IP addresses of servers instead of their
> names?).
It wouldn't matter that national numbers are not
universal, because they are universal for most
practical purposes for most users. One reverse-
lookup site per country is all most people would
need, most of the time.
And numbers being relatively less memorable is
beside the point; the problem we were talking
about is how to do efficient URL input/lookup
from a numeric keypad. Nobody's talking about
memorizing numbers instead of names - they are
talking about how to get those names entered
in the first place.
> The only reason I can think of for using numbers for sites is to
> make it easier for people to enter a site address written on dead
> trees.
My address book (1.74 microdeadtrees in weight,
last I checked) has the usual 200+ phone numbers,
and - more important for the purpose - it has
dozens of meishi in a side pocket. Most people
are carrying around something like this. Dead
Tree technology has a long life ahead of it.
> .....an address like mobile.example.com is much shorter than
> an email or text-message, so it's hardly a great challenge to enter
> it!
Challenge, schmallenge - it takes time to enter
"mobile.example.com" alphanumerically. (Just timed
myself - 1 minute, 15 seconds. With more practice
I could maybe cut that in half. But why bother?)
> To use the number you'd have to know about and bookmark the
> number-to-site form.
Yeah? One-time-only cost, many-times-over savings.
I'd never use the number for lookup ever again.
> And if there were multiple competing
> numbering systems, you could get very confused!
Or it would be more convenient - if one system didn't work,
you could try the next. Anyway, how confused could you
get if the site was called, say "faxtourl.com"?
To be clear: the idea is not to use numbers INSTEAD
of names, but to use numbers to look up names,
which could then be bookmarked.
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Wed Mar 7 15:36:10 2001