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Print
vs. Web
The World Wide Web is a fascinating mix of great
convenience and great limitations. The limitations are mostly
in the realm of our design expectations, and our expectations
tend to come from the printed world, a world we know very well.
Below is a list of a number of things you just have to understand
and accept about web design that are so different from print design.
Realize there are areas over which you have no precise control—then
let go.
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| In print: |
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On the web: |
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Everyone sees the same color.
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There are a limited amount of colors that are “web-safe,”
or relatively consistent on all computers. Even among this limited
color palette, the color looks different on every monitor in the
world. Walk into any computer lab and open the same page on each
computer—the same page will look different on every machine.
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Everyone sees the same typeface and size of text.
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Users can change their own default fonts. Browsers display text
differently. Computers size text differently. Your designer can
use style sheets to make text more consistent, but there is no
way to guarantee that every user will see the same size and typeface.
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Everyone sees the same graphics and the same quality.
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The user can choose to display or not to display graphics. The
monitor can determine the quality of the graphics. Different computers
show graphics darker or lighter.
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Everyone knows where to find the beginning and the
end of the document.
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Users often drop into a site right in the middle, rather than
at the home page, and need clear markers to get “home.”
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| Everyone knows how to
turn a page, get to the table of contents,
use the index, etc. |
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Users need a clear navigation system, one of the most challenging
and important tasks for the designer. This navigation system needs
to be consistent throughout the site—don’t ask your
designer to redesign a new navigation bar for every page. They
are not being lazy by using the same “nav bar” on each
page—they are providing a clear, understandable pattern for
the user.
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| Everyone knows how big
the printed piece is simply by looking at it, and we all have a
clear idea how much of the document we have read at any time. |
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A web site is amorphous—it is good to give users some clues
as to the size. And it’s good to give them clues as to how
much ground they have covered once they start wandering through
your pages. This takes time, thought, and creativity from your
designer, which costs you money (this feature is typically built
into the navigation system). Don’t cut corners here.
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| Designing documents
for print is fairly predictable: graphics stay where you place them,
text doesn’t change all by itself, you know who is going to
print the job and exactly how to prepare it for that particular
press, etc. |
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Designing web pages is actually rather frustrating: elements
move all over the place; elements (especially tables) seem to
change their minds all by themselves; objects appear in different
places in different browsers; the designer has to take into consideration
a huge variety of possible systems that the pages will be displayed
on, as well as take into consideration all users’ possible
defaults and how they will affect the page. It takes much longer
to design and build a web site than it does to create a comparable
print piece. (Although it is just as easy to build an ugly web
page as it is to design an ugly flier.)
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| At some point,
the print project is finished, complete, done, over, and all wrapped
up. You pay the bill and move on. |
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A web site is never finished. Sigh. You have a commitment to
updating and renovating for the rest of your company’s life.
And you have a commitment to constantly publicize your site and
submit/resubmit the information to search engines.
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