A Dirge for the WWW that was

I became a member of Webshots when I first went online in the fall of 2000. It would seem that I did so in the hey day of the Internet and things have slid steadily down hill since. I suppose I couldn't expect everything to remain free as it was back then but oh how the mighty have fallen.

So many little things have fallen by the wayside, such as the fact the Webshots didn't welcome me this morning with a happy birthday message on the home page. When I first joined I was able to customize the page to set how the page displayed on my screen, the features I wanted and in particular the features I didn't want to see. I was able to make Webshots a comprehensive homepage that had everything I needed. It showed me my local weather, world news--not just techie fluff, this day in history--with shortcuts to background information on that news, and advice on the best free software available anywhere.

The pictures available were superb and there wasn't a webshots watermark placed on all of them; even the ones I uploaded to the programme. Plus the best ones weren't reserved for an elite few that paid for premium subscriptions. And there weren't any of those infuriating ads.

Now I have no objection to paying for a service if there is something worthy of my hard-earned cash being provided; but given the present short-comings I'm at the point that I'm seriously considering terminating my daily visit to the page altogether. I can find virtually everything that's available here elsewhere on the web. Of course I also possess a great deal more computer savvy and don't need the likes of Webshots software to display wallpaper on my desktop.

One final comment. I began my baptism into the world of computers with a pivoting screen and as I have grown more sophisticated in my use of computers I find that I do almost everything in Portrait mode, save for a few cranky programmes that refuse to perform properly except in Landscape. One thing that would make me more interested in using Webshots would be the provision of more portrait shots. Obviously, under the circumstances, paying extra for ultra widescreen shots is a non-starter. I realize I may be in the elite few who have discovered the joys of using a computer in portrait mode and that catering to my special concerns may not be in the cards--but having become hooked on viewing the world wide web in this mode I'm spoiled and there's no going back. When my original IBM screen started failing I invested $600 in a ViewSonic Screen--that's a lot of money, but it's still 10% of what my original screen listed for.

One last thing, at least I should tell you that unlike so many websites the code you use does manage to display properly on my screen.