[Air-l] With all due respect to Ken Friedman

[thom]

> From: Ken Friedman <ken.friedman at bi.no>
> Subject: [Air-l] Two important books on Web design: Content Critical,
> Web Content Style Guide

> Our universities, schools and departments are spending -- and wasting 
> -- millions of dollars, pounds, kroner, lira, markka, etc., on Web 
> sites that do not work. Far too many organizations mount Web sites 
> loaded with special effects and fancy images, without attending to 
> accessible information, ease of use, or good navigation. Many 
> organizations mount Web sites that must be repeatedly redesigned. If 
> we can develop and retain key knowledge on basic issues, the future 
> investments we make will become a long-term gain.

This is not a comment on the value of the books recommended by Ken but I
think the statement above is far too simplistic and similar to the usual
Jakob Nielsen rant on usability which might have made sense in 1995 but
doesn't make any more sense today than it would to recommend that all
books be designed like text books, film like Red Cross training films or
television like news programming on PBS/BBC. The content, goal and
audience determines the structure and style. Web design is not about web
design, it is about web-d 'media' design. We are talking about a medium
of expression which will be expressed in many ways. Sometimes the best way
to get across an idea is with the ambiguity and obfuscation common to
art. A critique of the Bible and other holy documents could be that they
might have been easier understood if they hadn't been written in parable
form and just used bulleted action points not open to interpretation.

Just another POV. Excuse me while I go look up the books Ken recommends
which I might use in class but with a proviso.

--Thom, Director of the MIME program in total media obfuscation

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