Do-it-yourselfers caught up in Web education for improvements

The Internet has flattened the learning curve for do-it-yourselfers faster than you can drive a nail into a board.

Project neophytes can check out the business end of a hammer. Seasoned pros can log on to weigh the plusses of finishing planers with new cutterhead locks (all the better to eliminate snipe).

The Internet is fully tenured as a home project teaching and research tool. And consumers are driving cyber learning to be even faster, more detailed and more convenient.

"For customers, its all about speed. Their speed," says Meg Armstrong, Internet director for lowes.com. "What they really say is give us what we want when we want it. They can explore as broad or narrow or as deep into a topic as they want to go."

Armstrong should know. Without divulging numbers, she says traffic at lowes.com doubled in 2003. Visitors stick around too; the average visit is longer as they hunt-and-click among more than 1,000 how-to projects, project calculators and buying guides.

The marvel of the Web is megabytes of content condensed to the schedule and needs of individual Web surfers. Magazine stories pigeonholed by season are out the window. It's OK to bone up on late blooming summer plants in February or compare snow throwers in July.

The Web increasingly is the first spot people visit in their search for knowledge and products. "Once someone gets the idea, I don't like my cabinets, we want them to visit to get a grip on the project and their potential costs even if they aren't quite ready to buy yet," says Armstrong.

Web-based education has come of age just when a new generation of 20- and 30 year olds -- groups most at home in front of a PC -- are updating their first homes. "This group is so Web savvy, it is a natural resource for them," says Armstrong. For most surfers, the price is right, too. Most Web content looks to remain free.

Even seniors embrace computers in droves; they aren't afraid to click away for information and help.

Web users who like the taste of Internet learning will find it the whole enchilada for projects. Beyond improved skill sets and research, homeowners can order goods on line for in-store pickup or delivery. For the less-skilled, installation can be arranged, too.

Just as consumers warm to the Web, a behind-the-scenes race is heating up to capture consumer attention. Manufacturers who see the Internet as the ultimate research tool are rushing to bring content and promotions to the main online portals such as lowes.com.

Armstrong says that while capturing consumer attention is important, so is the challenge to integrate what visitors see online with what they experience once in the store.

Still, there's only one way for home improvement and the Internet to go -- faster and more focused. As computer processors become super-fast, and high-speed Internet access becomes the norm, do-it-yourselfers will continue to go online with projects. "As an education tool, the Web is enabling," says Armstrong, "people have a hunger to make their homes more livable, and the Web is only going to feed that drive."