This a reply to a
topic posted by
Rania Mamoun 2 days ago about
sudanese existence on the web.
I believe it to be of
general importance so I posted it on its own.
I think
Anwarking mentioned most of the important factors that hinders Sudanese existence on the web in that
post. I also think that the problem is
not only about Sudanese sites. It's about
Arabic sites as a whole!!
When I was developing my last project (still working on it), I went through most of the big
Arabic sites (more than 50 of 'm), to get some ideas about how they design for
Arabic language since I 've been only working with American style of design.
I got this sad conlcusion:
Arabic level of design and developing as a general is so weak obviously, and requires alot of imrovements! It's beyond any doubt that
internet existence in the
arabic region is far behind that of US and Europe (half of intenet users are in US), but this
should not prevent developers from creating
high quality internet applications compared to what i'm used to here.
When we speak about
Sudan it's the same case
because the sudanese developer is inspired by the enviroment around him -Arabic enviroment- and the
result of this inspiration is what we see now.
Developing for the internet is not different from any other scientific field. It has its schools and methodologies. There are
post graduate programs that teach developement for this media. It's a
system built upon
scientific and practical, professinal learning, and for the system to be
well functioning we need
good basis.
I'm not speaking about
personal sites. I'm speaking about
big sites of high quality that can bring millions and millions of people to see(can be Arabic or English).
Developing for the internet
resemples developing Tv programms where
every element must be created in
great detail to convince people, otherwise no
one will watch! Look at our
Tv programms and u know that would be
reflected in internet sites.
Same enviroment produce same results whatever the case!!!
Inernet Sites also can act
better than a tv, since it's far
less expensive, and believe me or not, in 10 years from now
internet would be as familiar as a tv or radio and more watchable!!
We've to master developing for this media if we
wanna exist in the world of tomorrow. This is beyond any doubt
vital for us
economical wise,
cultural wise and
political wise as well.
I know it's
not easy for this to be done. To
train some one to be a
good designer and a good developer this requires
alot of spending, years of
learning and practice. working with design and developing teams of high levels for a time, and requires
total dedication. I believe it's a craft (same as carpentery). For any one to
master a craft he should be trained
as good as possible,
otherwise he 'll never produce anything of high quality for sure!
I know some of the concepts and ideas that I mentioned here may not be as clear to some people, and may seem more
exaggerated to others! But I believe I've to write my
humble conclusions for the general benefit.
I'll be posting
ideas, conclusions and tutorials about designing for Arabic language and how to use new technologies like web services, XML and Flash for our Arabic Language in my site soon Inshallah. I think this will benefit many people over there.
Wish u good luck all.
::: Posted in Sudadev same day :::
Ahmed Elsharif
Elsharif Zone
Sudanes Student Organization