Chapter 7 - Key Ideas
One more (i.e., last) time...
Add AT LEAST ONE comment to this post about the KEY IDEAS you found in Chapter 7 of "Visual Design for the Modern Web."
The earlier, the easier it will be to find unique ideas... No Repeats!
posted by Dr. John @ 11:09 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
I enjoyed the section on texture. Using a little bit of texture can help make a web page more visually interesting. It is best, though, to only use them on headings or small amounts of text that need to stand out--using them on an entire paragraph will be distracting to the reader. The book recommends only using textures, or things like bold and italics, for text that needs emphasis, which is a good rule to follow so that things don't get too busy.
While it's all good to think about all the different types of text and how we can use them; I think it's important to remember that it might not always look that way. Over the weekend I made all the text in a web browser bigger so I could sit back and read it. Though in doing this it made the whole web page odd and blocky so we should think about people who have poor sight and who sit back from the screen and don't want to see every pixel.
I liked the section on formatting and contrast. The book warns us not to get too carried away with over-emphasizing all of the texts on a page. The author mentions there should be just enough contrast to draw attention to the structure. She gives a good example of testing to see if your site is too busy -- she says to stand back from the screen and squint, and if too many areas of text are standing out then certain elements may need to be toned down. Yet again another important concept to think about when designing a site.
the section over graphic text had many things we should keep in mind when designing our webpage. Most importantly I found that wiritng the body of my page in photoshop is not a good idea. Text embedded as an image drastically increases the download size of a page. Also, text embedded as an image is not visible to search engines, visible for the visually impaired and not easily updated.
I thought the section on absolute and relative text sizing was informative. Absolute text sizing is used to override the text sizing of the visitor's browser. Relative text sizing increases or decreases the current font by a proportion. You could increase the viewer's font size by say 15%. If you use absolute sizing with a text that 24 pixels, it results in a 1/4" on a PC and 1/3" on a Mac. If you use relative sizing then you can get it to be very close in size.
The section discussing "Emphasis" and "Decoration" was interesting and very applicable to every day web viewing. The book describes situations to use bold or italics, but then they move to ALL CAPS. I HATE ALL CAPS. Perhaps in my mind this translates to someone sitting right in your face screaming words at you. Not to mention it is difficult to read. The book recommends using ALL CAPS for short heading. I would agree.
Something to remember that i found interesting was the section on spacing. the author had a good point in saying that wider spacing doesn't lead to greater legibility. you want to make sure that you leave some room between lines and enough space between words, but you also don't want to leave too much space. too much space can make your site uneasy to read through quickly.
the section on Justification and the different uses for different styles. It makes the point that you always Left Justify body copy, and Center Justify headers. It also makes the point that you never use Center Justify and Right Justify on body copy. The Fully Justify doesn't really look good on websites that can be adjusted by the user.
The section on special characters and punctuation was fairly interesting and not something I had really thought about i suppose. For instance the use of excessive exclamation points, question marks, periods etc, dillutes the power of the mark to the point that it is nearly meaningless. The side bar next to that paragraph brings up another basic point and that is the all important spell checking. Have a friend read over your page before printing. Spelling mistakes in my opinion ruin a website and irritate me. Everyone needs an editor.
Though typography is important, I didn't really think chapter seven had any new ideas to offer. Everybody knows that you want to use text that is big and easily read. You want to avoid odd coloring, keep good contrast, and keep things simple.
I agree with the above post that chapter seven did not really have any new ideas to offer. However, I found it a refreshing reminder of certain things to keep in mind when considering text for a website. It was just a good overview of characteristics of text/font that make a site user friendly or not.
The author brings up a good point when discussing the section on decoration. She talks about how visitors who encouter underlined text on websites get confused and annoyed if the text isn't clickable. I agree with this I dont know how many times I have gone to click something that was underlined, only to be extremely disappointed when nothing happens. This trickery has affected us all at some point in our lives on the internet. So if you need to emphasize a word, dont underline it unless you plan to link it. The end.
I can sort of agree with Seth and Andrew on this chapter, a lot of it was common sense but there are a couple things that should be emphasized. Don't go overboard with the graphics and fonts. Just because there are hundreds of fonts doesnt mean you have to use each one. Lastly, just keep it accessible and don't let the excitement of pretty colors and fonts hinder the usability of your the site.
I agree with maureen up on the top of the age, emphasizing only a few styles for emphasis, such as bold or italics. It's important to keep a consistency when using typography so that when you do want to emphasize a point, or draw attention to something like a link, the viewer understands what sort of weight is being added to the text.
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