[Sigia-l] Subdomain usability

[Andrew]

Kenneth Bryson wrote:
> I've found the verbal test rather unreliable.  In dealing with both my
> spouse and coworkers, if I tell them to go to a URL that starts with a
> sub-domain, they'll invariably type a www in front of it despite the
> fact I didn't include that in my verbal instructions.
>
> In these cases, some people just assume that every site starts with a
> www and assume that I'm assuming as much in my verbal instructions.  And
> don't even get me started on telling someone how to type in a URL for an
> SSL enabled site!
>
> -kb
>   

Hi Kenneth,

I think people do this because of the evil stupidity of sites that 
insist on it. There are, sadly, enough of them around that 
404/equivalent out on just the domain name
that people are wary. 10 years after AOL and friends brought access to 
the great unwashed, billions of pages later, and there are still sites 
that do not work without the 'www.'. I think that if we guillotined a 
few of the main miscreants publicly, the rest might work it out. Or not.

Best regards, Andrew