Designing for online vs. print

Print media has been around for decades, but now in this new age, the emergence of the internet has led to a shift in design from print to online. There are many reasons for this shift and some examples are local newspapers which have online newspapers, this is because the internet can be considered "free" as the cost of it isn't high compared to conventional methods. More over, the internet is instantaneous which allows real time news and at the same time cover a large audience.

Print Media



According to Kress and Van Leeuwen (1998), the print media focuses more on text which is their main means of conveying messages other than pictures.

Online Media



On the other hand, online media allows readers to play in an active role as they are required to click on links to find out more information. Thus at the same time allow designers to figure out, what the audience would like to read. With these interaction between readers and designer, both parties would be able to benefit from each other.

Hence a more active audience compared to print media.

Although....

According to Jakob Nielsen (1997), people rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. Nielsen (1997) also said "In research on how people read websites we found that 79 per cent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word."

Therefore, weblogs have to employ scannable text by using:-

• highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
• meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
• bulleted lists
• one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
• the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

However, even with all of the above, if a blog is not credible, readers would not take it seriously and assume it as a ranting from someone who has nothing better to do. Thus it is crucial for the information portrayed on the website to be linked and sourced from credible sources. This allows the readers to find that the blog is credible and at the same time making the blog objective.

Thus, both online and print medias have their pros and cons, but the complimentary of both medias creates a greater source of information.

Reference

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 1998, ‘Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout’, in Approaches to media discourse, eds Bell, A & Garrett, P, Blackwell, Oxford, pg. 186-219.


Nielsen, J, 1997. How Users Read on the Web. Viewed on 30 April 2008 at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html