Erin Kissane’s Typography Matters was a revelation. I had been blaming myself for poor attention span when trying to read online content (see my previous post from Clio 1), but the readings this week and last week’s seminar discussion let me off the hook! I’m now convinced that writing online content has to be different.
The habits we’ve fallen into like scanning, spidering, and the temptations of quick and interesting detours through our browser put a tough mandate on the online authors back: “structure thy writing for quick sampling lest you quickly lose the reader’s interest.”
The contrasts between Kissane’s “Typography Matters” and Himmelfarb’s “Where Have all the Footnotes Gone?” were striking. Kissane was optimized for the web, had a maximum of two sentences per text block, and less than a dozen words per line. It was easy to hang with her.
Himmelfarb’s article suffered greatly in the print to web transfer: The 30+ word long lines were a slog, and the white-black contrast was harsh. The only redeeming aspect of the presentation was the fat vertical slider indicating I wouldn’t have to hang on very long.
The difference reveals a daunting task for new-media historians: translate dense monologues to something that stands a chance of being read!
