It seems that more and more sites are designed for broadband as broadband is what 56K modems were at the time. Sites are going with streaming music and videos, stuff 56K modems can't take or take forever downloading. Yet, companies like People PC keep pushing dial-up which is theretically obsolete. Using a 56K connection today is like still using Windows 3.X for your everyday computer work.

I myself have been looking to boost up my own website with lots of wonderful content. My school is about ready to say heck with dial-up users. If they want to view our site, they need to get broadband. It is true that all we want is to go faster and faster... I'm studying for an A+ certification and the study book talks about CPUs at the speed of only 2 MHz! Five years ago, we were at 250 MHz and that was for a good Pentium!

But the real question remains, should we design for broadband users and say heck to dial-up users or should we design for both in mind?

[N]F

Design for both dialup and broadband. It's better. In some cases, a broadband connection doesn't mean that this site will be provided fast. It also depends on the ISP. 2 version for the same site is always a good idea.

What makes sites big these days are large pictures and flash-based-sites.

It makes you think if flash is really such a good solution for a thing as displaying text information or as a menu/navigation bar. For instance, it's slow, it requires people to have some sort of plugin installed and you can't properly view the sites properly with let's say text-based browsers.

Having 2 versions of the same site is just a silly way to keep yourself busy. You'll have 2 sites to debug.

If you look at what you need, yu'll probably realize that there isn't any need at all to use flash animations as a component of the site. Of course, flash animations in the content are nice since they are optional, it doesn't obstruct anyone in accessing the site.

As for the big pictures, using thumbnails should avoid those problems.

Well the technology is evolving and dial-up will disapear soon because the dial up was the first way to connect on the internet , now it`s broadband . But you should design ur site for both of them because still a lot of people use dialup !