After looking at SpiderPro 100 Dos and Don’ts of Web Design and Lynch and Horton’s Web Style Guide, I have found a number of similarities between paper style and web style. Out of the many, I think that the most important is that of good organization. Everyone can appreciate clear and structured writing much more than unorganized, disheveled pieces whether they’re online or on paper. In my personal experience with writing as a student, I know that I’m always concerned about my organization in essay assignments and other written work that I produce, and I’m always appreciative of clear writing during peer reviews/edits as well. Readers simply have better understanding of text when the information is given to them in a simple and structured format. The same goes for web users. One of the best stated quotes in Lynch and Horton’s Web Style Guide is: “The best information designs are never noticed.” I find this to be so true because if I am on the web and am able to navigate a site with ease, even if I’m accessing it for the first time, it’s obviously one that was designed carefully. However, when I come across a site that leaves me puzzled and scrambling around, clicking on several different links in order to find what I’m looking for, I’m much more aware of the inconvenience and poor design of the site. No matter how you look at it, if the paper/web is simple to follow and organized well, the reader/web user will gain more understanding and benefit more from the information provided.
On the other hand, there are several differences between paper style and web style as well. One interesting difference between the two is the amount of information that is in front of the reader at one time. When considering paper style, it’s most common for all of the writer’s information to be in one single page, book or file. On the other hand, with web style information is separated into different links and pages so that the user can easily jump from here to there without rummaging through information that he/she is not concerned with. Web style allows for users to look at the content in the order that they wish to view it and if the web design is effective and simple, the users can do this in a very easy fashion. I like this idea, because often when I’m reading or skimming a text, I would like to be able to pick out the information that is most vital immediately; however, this is difficult to do. Therefore, this is one difference between paper style and web style that definitely makes me appreciate the web a bit more than paper!
In addition, I think another difference between paper style and web style is the use of imagery. As far as paper style is concerned, unless the writing is in the form of a magazine or children’s book, most written documents aren’t going to have many graphics or use of colored text. Instead, paper style requires that the imagery take place within the text itself—descriptive words and colorful language. But for web style, imagery can be used very easily in that the use of colored text, backgrounds and graphics are common and actually encouraged. While both uses of imagery are effective, they are certainly very different.
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