Here's an interesting set of questions to stretch your mind over...
> I went to the library to get some info from a D&B book, and there was a guy
> checking out an armload of books onhow to design a Web page. We starting
> chatting and he started asking me questions. I felt like I was talking to a
> brick wall. He couldn't seem to grasp even the simplest concept. Even as
> simple as why he couldn't design a Web page on a typewriter. Or why it
??? (Image of grey haired Grandpa sitting at his typewriter twenty
five years ago, writing articles for various European newspapers...)
What is wrong with designing a web page on a typewriter? I mean, aside
from the practical aspects of getting someone to retype it?
Oh, sure, if your main focus is art and graphics, it is nearly
impossible.
But... if your focus is CONTENT, as with most newspaper articles,
novels, technical papers, etc.; the power of words can far outweigh the
power of images! Grandpa's writings were read over Vatican Radio and other
international (short wave) radio stations we to listen to, printed in
newspapers across Europe, and reprinted in books. Plain simple text typed
with a fading ribbon. Content! (They would complain about his ribbons
every once in a while.)
And even his writings pale when compared with two old and fading hand
written documents in some library in Washington, the original Declaration
of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States. Content that
shook the monarchies Europe and changed the face of this world!
How would you present that content today? How would you Evoke the
power of that MEANING with images alone?
Or take the opening of The Bible. Can you say those things in
pictures?
Can you truly enhance any of those documents with graphics? Or
would the graphics be distractions to the mental scope those documents
present?
Bold headline to draw you in, a few lines to peak your empathy and
interest, and then a skilled wordsmith can set a stage and a Viewpoint far
beyond the grasp of any camera or microscope! For an illustration, see my
Lake Erie story at http://www.mall-net.com/javilk/erie.html . Then tell
me how YOU could illustrate that without making it look smaller! (Not
that it is good writing, it isn't.)
Yes, graphics CAN help, but they often hinder READABILITY. Time and
time again, I visit web pages that are virtually UNREADABLE because of
gross background problems, water marks and "sandpaper" granularity that
obscures text, etc. Or pages that fail at setting a mood, making one
trip over the download time and leave.
I will agree that when a typewriter mentality collides with tons of
graphics, bad choices are probable. But they are not necessarily a
consequence.
> might be difficult for him to design his Web page on the computer at the
> library. Finally, it dawned on me that this aspiring Web page designer had
> *never* used a computer! I led him to the library shelf with books like PCs
> for Dummies, and told him not to even dream of making a Web page until he'd
> learned how to use a computer.
That would certainly help in the creation of optimal web pages! But
even that is a long, loooong way from competence.
But actually, graphics and formatting... even content is not as
important as the roadways leading to the page. For whether you have a
stunning graphic, or stunning headline, or just a mediocre page with
useful information; nothing is seen till someone hits your page. That
means meta tags and search engine submissions, allied page links and
promotion. The only thing you can hope for via content alone, is allied
page links.
A well promoted mediocre page will get far more hits than a stunning
but poorly indexed design.
You remember images, but talk about what pages say.
It helps if you have both. But if you don't, the words will still
win. My arthritis page, http://www.mall-net.com/arth/ , page gets two to
three hundred hits a day. My rubber room mad scientist page,
http://www.mall-net.com/javilk/madsci.html , gets a few hits a month. With
Jokes being the eleventh most popular query people enter, and arthritis
only 1844th, it should be the other way around, no?
So why is it this way? Promotion, keywords, summaries. (Never
thought to put the word joke in the page... Didn't promote it. And
won't, as I don't want the bandwidth loss for such a useless page.)
Comments? Discussion?
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