Clio 2 Begins…Intro CSS and XHTML readings
For this week’s HIST 697, we have read a few interesting things about design–both conceputal and practical–and there were a few worthwhile nuggets in each text. Most interesting, and least surprising, to me was the conclusion of the Stanford University study on evaluating a web site’s credibility: that users base their decisions on design more so than on any other feature of a website. I am conscious of my doing this as I surf the web–I won’t buy things from sites that don’t look nice, I won’t choose a doctor with an ugly website, and I’m more likely to revisit sites that are visually pleasing (and not just for inspiration in my design work). I commented on classmate Misha’s blogpost Readings on CSS issues, where she noted that in the pdf version of the article “Who Are You” by Luke Wroblewski the text was too small to read and there was too much white space. I have a large screen and, as Donald Norman’s article “Attractive Things Work Better” says, I must have been in a good mood so I was able to overcome the minor obstacle that was a poor format for the article (as opposed to the likely quite attractive book form).
January 30th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I think the most attractive site I’ve been directed too thus far for both Clio Wireds is Luke Wroblewski. Rozenwig and Cohen’s site for “Doing Digital History” was good, but I hated that you had to go back to the main menu for each chapter to get to the next section of the chapter. I couldn’t help but appreciate the irony that a majority of the sites I’ve been directed to for reading in both Clios would fail the “attractive site test.”
January 30th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I agree with you, it is both tempting and satisfactory to stick with websites that look nice. Ease of use, visual appeal, and However, I think this can also be an easy trap to fall into, and works against some of the lessons on being critical we learn even at early ages (Don’t judge a book by its cover coming to mind here). This isn’t to say design isn’t important, but rather we must remain wary of its influence.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
Laura,
Thanks for all of your help in class last week. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have helped me at home. However, I am better than I was last year at this time…scary thought.
February 5th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Have you considered increasing the size of the font on your blog? I hit increase font size once to make your post easier to read.
Bill
February 6th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Bill, I’ve been editing my site almost constantly all week, so it is possible I’ve changed the font size since you visited. One thing about web design is that you design the site with an idea for how you want it to look, and you allow people the flexibility of adjusting the font size if they choose. I like the way it looks on my screen, and I design with relative font sizes, so that users like you can adjust as you see fit. That’s what you’re supposed to do! You may also want to check your default font size in your browser.