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But the printed page always has physical constraints, and this sets up a battle between the artist/designer and the marketer/content creator (even when they're the same person.)
FREEDOM FROM THE PHYSICAL PAGE
When the web came around, the tyranny of the physical page was effectively gone, in theory at least. But the prevailing wisdom in the beginning was that users weren't comfortable with scrolling. And so we had an even worse tyranny: "above the fold" screen design.
That concept generated some extremely cluttered, closed in pages - or else content that was so terse as to be inscrutable.
As time went on it became clear that people will scroll, if you give them a reason. And the innovation of the scroll wheel also helped out a lot. But still there's always a kind of fear that makes people cram in too much content at the top of the page, and not consider the elegant balance of space and what it contains.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
And that's where I sat for a long time, in the middle of that fear, but not consciously realizing what I was doing. I think the epiphany came while I was reading a fascinating article on a major newpaper's website. Not that it was a visual beauty of a web page, not at all.
But the newspaper was extremely comfortable with the fact that I would scroll. And there it was, one column of text, about 250px wide, with huge amounts of empty screen real estate on both sides of the column, as soon as the nav and advertising were done. And guess what, I DID read the whole thing, scrolling all the way and never minding it one bit.
A WHOLE NEW LOOK
I've worked on three websites since that moment, and they look extremely different from anything I ever did before. They have an extremely uncluttered look, and they assume that people will scroll. And the clients love it - their sites stand out from the crowd. And with the control that CSS now offers, the content can be very easy on the eye.
I'm standing by, ready to split these long pages in two or three if the stats demand it. And I've put "BUY" buttons at the top and bottom, as well as other logical spots along the page. [aside: I've always wondered why Amazon only puts their Buy Buttons at the top]
But it looks like this approach is working. And finally I feel free to create a layout that is unique to the web - where you don't need to add four pages at a time, the way you do with catalogs, or worry about cramming the message into a 1/8 of page like you might with a newspaper ad.
SPACE AND CONTENT
In esoteric philosophy, space is considered to be the same as consciousness or light, and content is parallel to matter and darkness. There's something powerful in that understanding. Intentional creation of space brings a feeling of fuller consiousness to the design. It breathes and it lives.
And now, thanks to the web, space can also be large enough to hold full content. It's like a marriage between the "direct mail" style of copy heavy pieces and the "pure creative" branding style which wins design awards, but usually doesn't sell a darned thing.
It's like black clothing - everything else is just fashion.
TJ
I have my Google preferences set for 100 results, and even on those long "content" pages, the attention to space and balance is there.
Now if someone would bring a bit more of that mindset into the AdWords management pages, I would be a really happy camper.
You know what you're there for, how to accomplish it, and you're not distracted, not even for a moment.
Another good example of the design philosophy of form through function. Particularly well executed in the case of google I think.
TJ
another area where the print mindset must go
Very well said. It's hard to tell print-minded clients, sometimes.
I would add:
At top of pages with long content some short statements (with enough white space around) saying what the page's about do a pretty good job. They help users to 'scan' (Steve Krug). And if they're interested in that they will scroll down the page while reading without any problems.
A well designed page uses the copy and headers as and integral part of the overall "artistic appeal of the page while separating the most important selling points from the body copy.
It's funny though, the concept of white space is indeed a print concept, carried over to the web.
the concept of white space is indeed a print concept, carried over to the web.
While you may think its a print concept ... its actually an artistic concept which is as old as art itself! ;)
I even had to scroll to read the whole post!
I agree, and particularly the wheel mouse has changed everything, IMO. I believe that Jakob Neilsen's usability standards were written prior to the invention of the wheel (mouse). No pun intended!
Keep up the good work. WFN :)
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Yes, I forgot there was art before print! Thanks.
Love the post Tedster - I've always like the word epiphany! ;)
