It is surprising how often complex and difficult problems can be solved by applying sim-ple rules. You'll find many examples of this in the pages that follow. Simple rules can guide random processes toward realizing optimally efficient results. It is used to give direction to bottom-up design strategies. Evolution proceeds this way. It happens when simple rules are applied at every juncture where there is a free choice of direction.
A simple example of this process can be experienced by entering a maze. Randomly choosing paths to follow can get you hopelessly lost. However, applying the simple rule that you take the left hand path whenever you have a choice will see you quickly and certainly reaching the exit.
This same effect applies to solving any problem where the route to the solution is unknown. This book is a case in point. The object is to find ways to make profitable use of the Web. In a business environment, profit is always considered in the context of a nonzero sum game: a profit is not made at the expense of someone else but as a result of a transaction where everyone can gain.
Using this condition as a criterion, it becomes pertinent to ask, "Will this benefit the person it is directed toward" at each juncture of the design process? Straight away, such a consideration takes the mind toward the needs of the client.
In this book, we are not considering specific products, where we can ask "How will this product benefit the client and how will the client benefit by buying from me rather than anyone else?" We are considering the more generic "How can the client benefit from using the Internet and the Web?"
Turning this into a simple rule can guide us in finding new and innovative product and services within the potentially fertile environment of the Internet and the World Wide Web.