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Home > Rants > Web Text = Content + Interface > Your words are virtually there. |
Your words appear and disappear in a moment Some of your words are just signposts
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Your words are virtually there.As a medium, the Web is a storm of electrons generating light and sound. Moving through circuits, networks, and servers, guided by machine code, operating systems, and applications, and displaying our text alongside images, animation, video, and audio on a brilliant screen, electrons are mobile, uncertain, erratic, and fast--quite different from ink on paper. But many of our ideas of text still derive from our experience with paper documents. (In fact, our names for many documents assume that they will appear in that medium--term papers, newspapers, corporate white papers.) And even though many of us grew up with all media blaring--the radio on, the TV going, the CD playing in our headset, and the video games live in the next room--many of our ideas of text come out of the older culture--the tradition of print. Where do you imagine your words are going to appear--virtually? |
Bonus What will the web do to my text? (Full chapter from Hot Text in PDF, 700K, or 12 minutes at 56K)
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What we tend to assume about text Think of some of the assumptions that our culture tends to make about text, even in the Internet Age.
Time to throw those assumptions away!
The web, as a medium, affects text in many ways:
Before you write, consider the situation. That's why I say: Your text is virtually there.
For background, see: Apple (1999), Black and Elder (1997), Bolter (1991), Bork (1983), Bricklin (1996,1998), Broadbent (1978), Cooper (1995, 1999), Dillon (1994), Doherty (2001), Haas (1989a, 1996), Heim (1987), IBM (1997, 1999), Johnson-Eilola (1994), Keeker (1997), Keep (1999), Kilian (1999, 2001), Krug (2000), Lanham (1993), Levine (1997), Lynch and Horton (1999), McLuhan (1962, 1964a, 1964b), Microsoft (2000), Morkes and Nielsen (1998), NCSA (1996), Nielsen (1997b, 1997d, 1999f), Ong (1982), Price and Price (1997), Siegel (1996), Spool, et al (1997), Spyridakis (2000), Uncle Netword (1999c), Veen (2001).
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Who is that behind the grid? Remember that you are only virtually there, onscreen.
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