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This is a web page

justinjackson.ca

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Re: This is a web page

#211

Post by scotchmi_st »

vorporeal wrote: post #182
bitwize wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web is not just a place for text / words, that is not its heart and soul, and therefore neither is that the case for web design. I'd say that text is not only the heart and soul of the web, but also of motherfucking civilization . Animation and video are nice, and great adjuncts to text. But language is still the most common and easy way to store and share information intended to be consumed by humans, and since…

Drawings are the heart and soul of civilization. For one, they originated ~37 thousand years before the first written language. Second, understanding text requires knowing how the information it contains is encoded (what language it is written in). Drawings are far more universal.

The fact that images pre-date anything vaguely similar to what we call civilisation shows that the two are not causally linked. Words /are/ causally linked with civilisation.

Re: This is a web page

#212

Post by cbhl »

wmeredith wrote: post #200
mapgrep wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The web is not just a place for text/words, that is not its heart and soul... It really never has been. I am thinking back when they named the protocol the HyperText Transport Protocol and the primary format the HyperText Markup Language, text was indeed the heart and soul of the medium. At one point, images weren't even displayed inline but via a helper app. This is why Mosaic was a big deal.

Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but what if we measure "what the web is for" in bandwidth? What do most people use the web "for"? Netflix and YouTube, I'd wager.

The heart of most TV Shows and Movies? A screenplay. Words. Dressed up with faces and costumes and animation, but words nonetheless.

I'll grant you that YouTube has a lot of cat videos, which probably doesn't have words in it. But those vlogs have a hell of a lot of words in them too.

---

A lot of video is streamed with RTMP, yes, but a lot of Netflix and YouTube content is available over HTTP now too (albeit in the contrived manner of chopping videos up into dozens of tiny files).

Re: This is a web page

#213

Post by sillysaurus »

adventured wrote: post #69

"At it's heart, web design should be about words." No. The web is not just a place for text / words, that is not its heart and soul, and therefore neither is that the case for web design. It really never has been. I see no great argument in favor of words being the core over any other form of expression. Today's bandwidth more than allows for beautiful video, animation, high quality graphics and photos, etc. Or low k…

I see no great argument in favor of words being the core of any other form of expression.

Except the novel, the poem, the play, the scientific paper, the biography, the corporate operating agreement, the rule of law...

Re: This is a web page

#214

Post by scotchmi_st »

adventured wrote: post #69

"At it's heart, web design should be about words." No. The web is not just a place for text / words, that is not its heart and soul, and therefore neither is that the case for web design. It really never has been. I see no great argument in favor of words being the core over any other form of expression. Today's bandwidth more than allows for beautiful video, animation, high quality graphics and photos, etc. Or low k…

This argument really irritates me. Apart from all of the excellent reasons that other commenters have given as to why this is false, the fact that programs such as Instagram are as popular as they are, /that do nothing other than remove everything but the text from a page/, shows this is false.

Re: This is a web page

#216

Post by [deleted] »

BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #194
sageikosa wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>"At it's heart, web design should be about words." >No. There's some strange dissonance going on in my head reading this on a site with practically no images at all. Once images went inline, the web's focus moved from content to presentation, much to its detriment (in my humble opinion). We progressively became more at the mercy of the page designer rather than the copy editor.

I don't think posting a comment counts as "web design". Nobody said "writing comments shouldn't be about words".

[deleted]

Re: This is a web page

#217

Post by Anonymous238 »

adventured wrote: post #69

"At it's heart, web design should be about words." No. The web is not just a place for text / words, that is not its heart and soul, and therefore neither is that the case for web design. It really never has been. I see no great argument in favor of words being the core over any other form of expression. Today's bandwidth more than allows for beautiful video, animation, high quality graphics and photos, etc. Or low k…

Agreed. If you want static text pages, go back to the 90s. We didn't feel very connected then, and there wasn't a big sense of community. It was mostly people publishing static pages for others to consume. Not much fun. Things have changed for a reason, and the internet has become a much more powerful place.

This article is absolutely pointless. Great, you didn't use a CMS, your content is now harder to manage. Users can't register or comment, so where do they discuss your article? Wait, they have to go to another site to do that, one that isn't completely dated.

Re: This is a web page

#219

Post by meerita »

mijustin wrote: post #39
rabino wrote: post #24

Interesting that the website where he makes money, is full of pictures and colors for the call to actions. http://buildandlaunch.net/

So is my blog: http://justinjackson.ca I'm thinking of doing a redesign. ;) To be fair, in both cases I started with a simple text file on my computer. After that I send them as a plain-text email to friends for review. And then I publish on the fancy website. I don't think there's anything wrong with pictures or colors. "If that additional styling or image gives the audience more understanding - then add it." At thi…

I changed the format of my blog many times. I came up with this http://www.minid.net and its pleasant to read even on phone. The readers love it and it loads lighting fast. I can say faster than OPs website.

Re: This is a web page

#220

Post by drcube »

vorporeal wrote: post #182
bitwize wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web is not just a place for text / words, that is not its heart and soul, and therefore neither is that the case for web design. I'd say that text is not only the heart and soul of the web, but also of motherfucking civilization . Animation and video are nice, and great adjuncts to text. But language is still the most common and easy way to store and share information intended to be consumed by humans, and since…

Drawings are the heart and soul of civilization. For one, they originated ~37 thousand years before the first written language. Second, understanding text requires knowing how the information it contains is encoded (what language it is written in). Drawings are far more universal.

And I read picture books before I graduated to books with text and chapters.
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