Chapter 12

Find a page where the text bumps up against the left edge. Do you find your eye bumping into that edge every time you go back to the next sentence?

http://www.members.tripod.com/ectoolbox/6th_social_studies.htm  Yes, I find my eyes bumping into that edge every time I go to the next sentence.

Find a page that is set in all caps. Read it, pretending you didn’t notice it was all caps. Did you read all the way through? Or did something make you not continue? Did you notice how you have to work harder to read lots of all-cap text?

I couldn’t find a web page that is set in all caps.  I don’t think this web pages like this exist anymore as the Internet has matured and more people learn what not to do.

Experiment with the default font in your browser. Find a font and size you feel most comfortable with. With your default set, keep an eye out for a page where the designer has specified the font to be smaller than your default. What do you think?

Changing the fonts in my Internet Explorer browser caused the text to wrap around and overflow in Yahoo.com.  I was still able to read the text and see the pictures.  It wasn’t so inconvenient as it seemed.

Find the button or the menu command in your browser that lets you enlarge or reduce the size of the type on the screen. How does it affect the carefully designed layouts of web pages? Remember, this will happen to your pages as well!

When I enlarge or reduce the size of the type on my screen I noticed that Yahoo.com and many other websites were still readable.  In the past, I had done this before and it caused things to overflow and go out of proportion, but so far, it works for me.  I always set my browser to enlarge type on the screen by 125%.

Change the resolution on your monitor and notice how it affects the size of the type on web pages. Remember, many people have their monitors set at a higher resolution so they can see more on the screen (but everything looks smaller) or a lower resolution so everything looks bigger (but they see less at one time).

I dislike having too high of a resolution on my laptop LCD because icons and buttons become a lot smaller.  I like the high resolution part, but not the tiny objects.  As a matter of fact, I don’t have a problem with seeing less at one time.  The high resolution is no replacement with visibility.  I rather have visibility that high resolution.

Keep an eye open for a web site where you think the designer has broken the standard rules of typography, yet the site “works”—it’s clear, you know what is going on, the typographic contrasts help structure the hierarchy of information, you can read it, it even looks good.

Put two things into words: 1) What “rules” were broken?

I couldn’t find any websites that break the standard rules on typography.

2) Exactly what is it that makes the typography still work? Is it the spacing? Line lengths? Size? Composition, or control of how your eye flows through the design from one important element to another? Typeface design? If you can put it into words, you gain the power to incorporate the discoveries into your own work.

What makes typography still work is the feature that allows text to wrap.  In addition, there is a small space around text and when text is expanded, it fills in the small gaps nicely.  I also believe that the overall design of the web page helps ease typography that breaks all rules.  The placement of graphics and pictures and tables or borderless tables give a boundary that holds everything together.

Chapter 12 Quiz

Decide whether the concept suggested below should never be applied, or can perhaps be applied sometimes.  “Never” means just that-it is not an option.  “Sometimes” means you can sometimes get away with it, but you must be conscious; you’ll probably have to compensate for the technique in some way, but the design effect can be worth it.  If you choose “Sometimes,” explain what you would do to make the suggested effect most readable or legible.

1. Choose any old typeface on your hard disk and set really cool default headlines (HTML text, not graphics) with it.

Never because old typeface is obsolete.  Many if not all the fonts used in standard Word Processors today don’t match the typeface from an old computer.

2. Let the text stretch the entire width of the web page.

Never because stretching text across the width of a webpage will result in a big picture but low resolution.  Also, if you don’t stretch the vertical and horizontal sides of the text in proportion, text will be out of proportion.

3. SET LOTS OF TEXT IN ALL CAPS SO PEOPLE WILL BE SURE TO SEE IT.

Never.  This constitutes shouting or yelling at someone.

4. Put red text on an orange background because the subtle yet “dazzling” color combination looks artsy.

Never, because orange and red are warm colors and the red text will not contrast against an orange background.

5. Make the type really large so people won’t miss it.

Sometimes.  Making text really large so as to draw attention to it can be useful in some situations, but doing it as the norm would be no-no.

6. In the code, specify that none of the links should be underlined.

Sometimes.  You can specify that some links not be underlined provided that you place a caption or subtitle heading indicating that it is a link.  If you don’t do that, most people will not know it’s a link and will miss it.

7. Make the main text smaller than the visitor’s default so it will look really small and trendy.

Sometimes, but rarely.

8. Use a busy background even if the type can’t be read because it’s more important for visitors to see that you know how to make cool backgrounds.

Never.  It would confuse the visitor’s eyes and become a distraction.

9. Use italic on the entire web page because it is pretty and gives an extra flair.

Never because italic doesn’t stand out as well as regular text.  It’s probably better to use a different font style or different colors to give something extra flair.

10. Use really grungy typefaces, not only in your buttons and graphic headlines, but throughout the entire text because who cares if people read it or not—you’re going for a contemporary “look” on this site.

Never.  Using grungy typefaces and having an attitude that of indifference is going to drive people away.

11. Make some text very, very small, but set it in all caps to compensate for the small size.

Never.  This is a bad idea as all caps constitutes shouting or yelling.  It also doesn’t look good as there is no variation in text size.