[thelist] Re: is web design dead?

[Christopher Orth - HQ]

I think web design is just about to wake up and become something!  Look at
printed books; how many years did it take to finally reach a point where we
all agreed that text would move from one side to another, they would only be
about so big, and what not.  With a few minor differences such as certain
cultures text moving from right to left, the basic "design" of a printed
thing is pretty much set and agreed on.

So that's what's been happening with the web.  We have all come to a sort of
consensus on what will work and what will not when it comes to interfacing
and actually being productive with a web interface.  And within those
guidelines is a whole world of opportunity.  You don't see many print
designers bitching because they want round pages instead of square.  And how
many books are printed on black stock?

And as far as interactivity goes?  Lets get real.  An entire culture dancing
around a huge stone idol after the fall harvest was interactive.  A link
that changes colors when a mouse rolls over it is not.  Do we watch basic
eye candy on Television?  The Movies?  Even though most of the plots are
horrifically stupid and repetitive, we still have a plot none the less.  Eye
candy alone is not enough.  That is the difference between "art" and the
delivery of information or transactions.  

We must stop and really understand where the interactivity lies..... the
customer or user is usually looking for the interactive experience from the
thing they buy or the information they retrieve, not the mechanism used to
achieve them.  In other words, what is more important to you;  enjoying the
meal you make out of the groceries you buy at the store, or having and
"interactive experience" with your shopping cart?