Jim Regan - Site Reviews
The First Nine Months
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Of course, as with so many other enterprises, the Web has elbowed its way into birth announcements, and increasingly, personal sites are informing a (let's be honest) largely disinterested world about another single digit addition to its population.
However, when Joseph Moore wanted to share the birth of his daughter, Emma, with the world, he had two distinct advantages in getting its attention. The first is a talent for Web design. The second, that he was able to appeal to the masses (that's us) by emphasizing the universal - in this case, "the miracle of birth." Or more accurately, The First 9 Months.
The First 9 Months is a Flash-based site, and if you haven't added this MacroMedia plug-in to your browser yet, sites like this are the reason you should. Apart from such aesthetic advantages as smooth animations and transitions, there is the added benefit that the full site downloads to your desktop in one 'package.' So although there's a three or four minute wait at the front end of the visit, the rest of the presentation (with one optional exception) is available for immediate access. (In fact after downloading, you can even disconnect from the Internet and view the site offline.)
Design is simple and elegant, with the browser window functionally -- though not visually -- divided into two halves. On the left, columns representing the first 5 days, 4 weeks and full 9 months of gestation allow the visitor to access, and keep chronological track of, the information presented to the right. The right side also provides a link at the bottom of each entry for linear navigation through the presentation.
The content of the site follows Ms. Moore's progress from egg, to embryo, (meaning "to team within") to fetus, ("offspring") to Emma ("full of energy"). General facts about development, from the gee-whiz to the mind boggling, are punctuated with more specific milestones of mother and daughter, and accompanied by photographs representing each stage. (The photographs themselves are high quality stock images - the only 'pre-birth' images of Emma are from an ultrasound, which, in the form of a QuickTime movie, is the only part of the site that requires additional download time.)
The photographs are not only high quality, but used with imagination. While most are small, (but clear) they are punctuated with full height, or even full screen images. In other cases, an Emma stand-in 'floats' behind its picture frame, and the ultrasound movie is reached through an image pulsing with its own heartbeat.
On the debit side, the text, while not actually difficult to read, is unevenly blurred -- some letters sharp, neighbours not. (I've seen this before on Flash sites -- perhaps it's a limitation of the vector-based technology when drawing very small images.) There is a music track that could get tiresome by the ninth month, but its volume places it well in the background, and it's easily turned off. Finally, a note not to use your browser's Back button while viewing the site. It will close the window, and you'll have to open the site again.
The First 9 Months is not, nor does it intend to be, an encyclopedic examination of the subject -- there are many books, videos and, no doubt, Web sites for anyone wanting more detailed information. Instead, this site simply reminds the visitor that every one of those single digit additions to the world's population is it's own extraordinary event.
The First 9 Months can be found at http://www.first9months.com/.
Jim Regan provides 'Today's Links' to the e-Monitor. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.