Paper-thinking, and disappointed expectations
Or: The W.W. Web is not made of paper.
Surfers, web-designers and customers – just about everyone experiences the web with expectations based on their experience.
The author using a piece of paper has full control over the appearance, regardless, if he is designing a high gloss brochure, or if he gets his feet wet with his first invitation card.
After coming back from the printer, the paper will be static. Will not change, with the exception of coffee stains, bleaching, fading or other marginal changes. It will look the same, no matter who looks at it, when and how.
Paper-thinking means two things: control over the layout, as well as a static appearance. But a website is not made of paper, and it behaves differently than printed media.
The author of a website has no absolute control over the appearance. Quintessentially it is up to the user and his/her browser, how the website looks (and behaves). The Author can only make requests. After the website is complete, it looks different for any user.
We are unaccustomed to this simple fact, and it is easy to be disappointed or frustrated with the result, if it is based on paper-thinking.
Paper-thinking + Website-design = disappointed expectations
Does this sound to you as if I make excuses? – Let’s take a look:
On a paper, the author knows the size of his medium: Say „letter size“ – legal, business card, poster… the author will decide. On a website the user will decide if it will be displayed on a 32“ monitor, a smartphone or something in between.
Second example: On a paper, the author decides on the font, and the sizing of the letters, the colors…
Not so on the web. The size can easily be adjusted on the browser with the Zoom function: It can be very helpful to read the smaller print on your monitor. Thus, a website created with paper-thinking will fall apart right then and there, but a media-appropriate designed website will remain rock solid.
But the influence of the user goes MUCH further!
Somewhere in the properties section of your browser, you can change the default settings, and thereby effectively override the instructions originally given by the Author regarding: Font, Fontsize, Color, etc…. (*)
Some websites will become almost unusable, others may actually improve!
The upshot is that the user determines the look and feel of a website. The user can disable the picture functionality, the JavaScript, can zoom in – and out of pages to his/her heart content.
Websites are not written in the same way as a static piece of paper, it is written in source code. the browser interprets this source code to the best of it’s abilities and displays it based on its instructions.
(*) If you don’t know how to do it, please feel free to request a simple step-by step instruction guide. I will need the following information:
Operating system i.e. (Windows/mac)
Version i.e.
(OS 10.9.1, Windows 7…)
Browser used: i.e. (Firefox 27.1)
This article is based on „Little Boxes“ by Peter Müller.
This book was incredible valuable to me over the years! Thank you Peter Müller for this treasure. As this book was published only in german, I translated the above excerpt to english. Please credit Peter Müller for his wisdom, please blame me for any errors.
I have now been informed by the author, that Little Boxes is now out of print, and was replaced with “Einstieg in CSS” (CSS For beginners)
– Here is an excerpt:
