When is the right time to switch to a new technology?

Question

I am a beginner at software development and web site development. I love using Microsoft .NET stuff but it seems like they are always coming out with new technologies that requre users to download new tools to use them. For example, many Windows Apps that I write require users to download the .NET platform 3.5. If I switch over to VS2010 and start taking advantage of all the new features, users will be required to download .NET 4.0. I have recently started looking into Silverlight development for websites but then every user has to have Siverlight installed.

Now, I realize that for the majority of people, downloading Silverlight or the latest Flash player is not a really big problem but there is probably a decent amount of people (the older crowd I imagine) that just always clicks 'cancel' when the download prompt pops up and goes on to another page. If I build an entire site on Silverlight and aspx technology I could be cutting myself out of traffic. Espicaially if I am on the leading edge of technology like those first few sites that used Silverlight.

So my question is, how do you decide when it is appropriate to switch to a new technology? At what point do you just say 'screw it' the users can download silverlight or they can't view my site. Would the type of website you are designing make a difference (i.e an e-commerce site vs. a simple informative services offered page) If I am developing a services-offered type page for a small company, I would want to make it flashy to attract customers but not so flashy that people can't view it without all these additional tools...

Answer 1

One thing to keep in mind about web technologies is that it isn't enough to convince your user base to use them, you need to make sure that the search engines can use them as well. If you build your entire site with Flash or Silverlight, then that means that Google, Bing, Yahoo, and the other search engines won't be crawling your site, and consequently your site will not be a destination for people who use web search to find things. While this may not be a bad thing for a movie site for a movie people already know of (eg: http://disney.go.com/toystory/), it's very different for a site for a unknown product. Even AJAX can be a barrier to entry for some users (vision impaired or movement impaired).

The question to ask yourself (and your clients) before recommending a new technology is:

Am I willing to exclude or ignore:

• People on a different platform (Mac, Linux, Smart phones, Netbooks, Tablets, etc.)
• People with physical challenges (eyesight, hearing, movement, etc.)
• People who can't or won't load a browser plugin.

If you're comfortable with the answer, then do it ... but don't expect me to visit your site.