How we view words
on the web
We're so bound to print
Regardless of age, each of us has been brought up and conditioned to print. We automatically view written communication from a print perspective.
An extract from the New York Times in January 1995 reflects how bound we are to print:
'Some people believe the Web is the most important advance in publishing since the printing press. Why? Because the World Wide Web makes it possible for anyone to publish electronic books, brochures and other documents with a potentially global audience.'
We now need to regard 'publishing' as both a paper and screen facility. Although web publishing mostly involves text and images, it is increasingly beginning to include multimedia that do not connect with paper — such as video, sound and animation.
Text documents are often classified by paper function — newspaper, magazine, letter, brochure, flyer, leaflet, pamphlet, poster, etc.
Web channels are not so clearly defined. The terms 'e-books', 'e-mail', 'e-zine' and even 'e-newsletter' are now well established, but note the experimentation in 'weblications', 'webzine' and 'webinar', for example.
Often original print words are simply prefixed, in a rather clichéd way, with 'e' or 'web'. But there are some comparatively original descriptions, such as 'brochure-ware' — a pejorative term referring to the earlier trend of putting pre-printed sales literature online without any changes.
Use of 'web page' is perhaps the most confusing term of all. What exactly do we mean by it?
Under World Wide Web, the Oxford Dictionary of New Words explains that 'A single "document" is usually called a web page … even if it is longer than can fit on a computer display screen. … A collection of such pages is called a web site.' But many people disagree with these definitions.
The problem sums up one of the fallacies of online communication. Readers read off screens that vary in size, rather than standard pages. They normally access 'chunks' of information through hyperlinks in a random rather than sequential order. They are not usually conscious of pages unless they choose to print anything out — and this could be either for reference or easier assimilation on paper.
The web therefore has a surface screen structure but an underlying page structure.
The concept of 'web page' is convenient as well as familiar, but it's important that screen and paper perspectives tally. Treating computer screens as an alternative form of paper inevitably results in less effective communication.
Next: Text first
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