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web design in the modern era
I can't actually tell how much my hatred of horizontal design online is an actual accessibility issue vs. how much this me being a grumpy, opinionated bitch with some idiosyncratic neurological quirks. But the fact remains that if you put your blog into a horizontal design, I will -- probably not read it. Not even if you've got an RSS feed.
An example of the kind of horizontal design I'm talking about can be found here. I followed a link declaring this to be an awesome blog by an awesome person, and I'm honestly sure that it is. I just can't deal with that design long enough to find out. Genuine accessibility issue or just my idiosyncrasies, it doesn't really matter: I'm out of there, either way. And that is why design still matters.
Technology continues to develop to allow the reader to have greater and greater control their environment and the display of information. But that first impression still matters because while RSS means that I can access your content without dealing with your design, I'm certainly not going to subscribe to your RSS feed until I poke around a bit and see if you really do interest me. And if your design means I don't feel comfortable going to that much trouble then, well, you've lost a reader.
And, frankly, if your design is unwelcoming enough to my aesthetic and quirks, then I'm probably going be ill-disposed towards you, anyway.
So, dear reader, I ask you: what's your philosophy on webdesign? What do you think violates all good sense? What rules do you hold dear?
Mine are pretty simple: don't, for the love of little green apples, bring a print aesthetic onto the computer screen. Keep it simple, stupid. Keep the colour contrast high and the kibble low (kibble includes fonts, colours, pretty pictures and other shiny). Remember what your content is. (In most cases it's text. Do not attempt to deliver text in a graphical, shiny environment because it will just be fucking annoying.)
An example of the kind of horizontal design I'm talking about can be found here. I followed a link declaring this to be an awesome blog by an awesome person, and I'm honestly sure that it is. I just can't deal with that design long enough to find out. Genuine accessibility issue or just my idiosyncrasies, it doesn't really matter: I'm out of there, either way. And that is why design still matters.
Technology continues to develop to allow the reader to have greater and greater control their environment and the display of information. But that first impression still matters because while RSS means that I can access your content without dealing with your design, I'm certainly not going to subscribe to your RSS feed until I poke around a bit and see if you really do interest me. And if your design means I don't feel comfortable going to that much trouble then, well, you've lost a reader.
And, frankly, if your design is unwelcoming enough to my aesthetic and quirks, then I'm probably going be ill-disposed towards you, anyway.
So, dear reader, I ask you: what's your philosophy on webdesign? What do you think violates all good sense? What rules do you hold dear?
Mine are pretty simple: don't, for the love of little green apples, bring a print aesthetic onto the computer screen. Keep it simple, stupid. Keep the colour contrast high and the kibble low (kibble includes fonts, colours, pretty pictures and other shiny). Remember what your content is. (In most cases it's text. Do not attempt to deliver text in a graphical, shiny environment because it will just be fucking annoying.)
no subject
Anything that makes me scroll up and down, or side to side back and forth, is right out. I shouldn't have to scroll down to read, then scroll back up to keep reading. Nor should I have to scroll down to read, then back up to find the navigation button I want next.
It shouldn't give me a headache by glaring at me or flashing at me.
no subject
I'd agree with most of what you say about web design. I'm looking forward to when the AO3 has skins.