The World Wide Web Without Ws

It amuses me when I hear people say, "Go to this web address: www...".

I still see people open their browser and type a url with www before the address. And I guess sometimes that makes a difference... I guess. On the other hand, it feels very "Web 1.0". The web has grown up a bit since the days of AOL and paying by the hour. And one of those changes is the fading of the "www".

In fact, Production-Now.com doesn't have a www at all. Sure, www.production-now.com will go the same page, but there's no longer a need for the "World Wide Web" prefix.

Why?

I think it's because people finally figured out: Where else would people be going on the web except to the "world wide" version of it? Besides the people going to a specific IP Address, who already know where they are headed and so aren't browsing, and the few sites now that are "www2"s (huh?), people are sticking with the web of the world wide flavor.

What does this mean for web delivered media?

Not too much. But it should influence how we talk about web addresses in our media. Today I created a promotional video for a client that then ended in the clients web address... complete with the "www". Is it needed? Not at all.

Are we afraid people won't get the message that it's a web address without the www?

Even in the audio files I've produced for clients they want, "Visit our website at 'www. ...'" That adds time to your presentation that is unneeded. Not that people can't handle the two seconds and are off to the next thing due to a severe lack of attention span, but because it makes your presentation less smooth and adds superfluous material to your spiel.

At this point in time, the www is like asking, "Where is your website at?"

<shudder>

~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor