Why all the tiny print?

From: Michael Kimsal <michael_at_tapinternet.com>
Date: Wed 27 Feb 2002 16:24:17 -0600

I'm going to assume you're not talking about the
'fine print' in the legal/privacy areas of many
websites, but the enforced font sizes, often times
very small, and more often than not unchangeable.

Many designers are using technology called 'style
sheets' which allows them to instruct your browser
to show text in specific colors and sizes. If you
search around your browser enough there should be
ways to override them or ignore them altogether.
Because they are visual designers, they think they
know the 'best' (and therefore ONLY) way to view
information. I'll go one step further and state
that usually they are less concerned with the
information itself than the visual aesthetics.
Is it "bold"? Does it "catch your eye"? Those things
are normally reserved for the 'cool' splash pages
which keep Flash 'designers' employed. The actual
TEXT of the message - what you and I and search
engines and text-to-speech readers (for blind users)
can read, interpret, digest and make sense of is of
secondary importance.

How many graphics designers do web design shops
have? Now, how many professional copywriters do
those same shops have? The shops that I know of
have a much higher percentage of visual artists
than 'written word artists', and when layoffs come,
the writers get the boot. I'm not saying that
visual artists never get laid off, but if you've
got 10 artists, and 2 writers, laying off one of
each has a disproportionate impact on the writing
ability of the company.

Average consumers such as yourself need to send
feedback directly to these hotels and other
companies that use type you can't read. Tell
them you WON'T be staying with them primarily
because of the type that hurts your eyes. This
is the only way they will get the message that
they need to treat their websites as an
informational tool for YOU, the consumer, not as
another portfolio piece for their web people to
submit to self-congratulatory awards sites.


Michael Kimsal
http://www.tapinternet.com/php
PHP training courses
734-480-9961





Received on Wed Feb 27 2002 - 16:24:17 CST