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This is a web page

justinjackson.ca

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Re: This is a web page

#281

Post by thejosh »

teh_klev wrote: post #271
simpleglider wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great anecdote. Out of curiosity, how did you find the site? I had just turned four at the time, so I don't quite remember what browsing the Internet was like then.

Back in the day you bought magazines like ".NET" (a UK publication) that told you where the hotspots were on the web. There were other physical publications like the "Internet White Pages" or some such thing (no seriously) which I remember seeing in UK bookshops and thinking "that's gonna be outa date in a week or two". Back then you felt you could contain all of the websites (or pointer sites) in your head. It was t…

Ah yes, you are probably referring to the Internet Yellow Pages[1], use to be one of my favourite things to use at a library and write down websites..

http://i.imgur.com/1n6mH4N.jpg

Re: This is a web page

#282

Post by pseut »

adriand wrote: post #262
CodeMage wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet you chose to present your ideas using words. At the heart of the Web is the communication between humans. At the heart of that communication are words. You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. You can argue that we can communicate using sounds, but unless those sounds are words, the communication is limited in the same way as when using pure…

> You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. Like so many other things, it depends. When people are online looking to book a bed and breakfast, buy a pair of shoes or find a date, they tend to find images very valuable indeed. In fact, in the absence of images, many of the web's transactions would simply not happen. It's not for nothing that we often…

"It's not for nothing that we often say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'."

This sentence can support either side of the argument. I love it. Draw that sentence.

Re: This is a web page

#283

Post by coldtea »

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.

Porn and cat pictures.

Re: This is a web page

#284

Post by ErrantX »

adriand wrote: post #262
CodeMage wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet you chose to present your ideas using words. At the heart of the Web is the communication between humans. At the heart of that communication are words. You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. You can argue that we can communicate using sounds, but unless those sounds are words, the communication is limited in the same way as when using pure…

> You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. Like so many other things, it depends. When people are online looking to book a bed and breakfast, buy a pair of shoes or find a date, they tend to find images very valuable indeed. In fact, in the absence of images, many of the web's transactions would simply not happen. It's not for nothing that we often…

It's funny but this is not really true. We've just finished a massive UI test involving a choice our users have to make during sign up.

Various graphical images illustrating the choice caused more confusion than a short sentence for each.

We also found replacing text links with icons increased support requests from new users by a noticeable margin. AND when keeping the icons and restoring the text it was still above baseline

My view is that for length and complex ideas images or video can be illustrative. But for 90% of interactions text is always clearer.

Re: This is a web page

#285

Post by awhitty »

bitwize wrote: post #150
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…

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…

Isn't there a difference between text and language? I see a lot of these comments getting them confused.

Re: This is a web page

#286

Post by Pitarou »

True, but don't for get, IF IT LOOKS GOOD, MORE PEOPLE WILL WANT TO READ IT.

That's why, for instance, even with the driest of academic textbooks, they still spend a few extra dollars on a cover design.

Re: This is a web page

#288

Post by adriand »

ErrantX wrote: post #284
adriand wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. Like so many other things, it depends. When people are online looking to book a bed and breakfast, buy a pair of shoes or find a date, they tend to find images very valuable indeed. In fact, in the absence of images, many of the web's transactions would simply not happen. It's not for nothing that we often…

It's funny but this is not really true. We've just finished a massive UI test involving a choice our users have to make during sign up. Various graphical images illustrating the choice caused more confusion than a short sentence for each. We also found replacing text links with icons increased support requests from new users by a noticeable margin. AND when keeping the icons and restoring the text it was still above…

Your example doesn't invalidate my point at all because it's restricted to one particular situation: signing up for something. If you were selling shoes online instead, I think you'd be much more likely to agree with me on the importance of images, which would simply prove my point that "it depends".

Consider what works better:

* a description of a place and how to get there or a map

* a description of a floor plan or a diagram

* a description of someone's appearance or their photograph

* a description of a piece of clothing or its photograph

The OP said, "the most powerful tool on the web is still words". That might be true, but I disagree with CodeMage when s/he said that "words are at the heart of whatever you're trying to do on the Web". I don't believe that words are at the heart of Google Maps or Flickr or last.fm or countless other web properties that revolve around sound, images and video.

If pornography were wordless, would people stop watching it? Do people watch it now because of "communication"?

Words are important, but they are not of sole importance in general and in many cases are not of primary importance.

Re: This is a web page

#289

Post by gbog »

That's what I'd call responsive design.

No snarks: it displays perfectly on phone screens and large monitors and loads fast. How could it be made more responsive.

I think the key to responsiveness is to remove all javascript, all unnecessary styling, and most importantly to remove all dynamic social features. Then you have an html static page with long cache life.

Re: This is a web page

#290

Post by chris_mahan »

gbog wrote: post #289

That's what I'd call responsive design. No snarks: it displays perfectly on phone screens and large monitors and loads fast. How could it be made more responsive. I think the key to responsiveness is to remove all javascript, all unnecessary styling, and most importantly to remove all dynamic social features. Then you have an html static page with long cache life.

Yes, and no js and css means it works beautifully on lynx, and search engines love it.
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