Effective Use of Active Space on Web Pages

How do you feel when you open a web site and it’s a mass of clutter, or as Ginny Redish would say, a “wall of words” (Redish, 107)? I know I just want to close it and go on to one that has a cleaner look - one where I can easily find the information I want quickly and efficiently. In many cases, this is a response to a design that does not utilize space well.
Redish offers guidelines in her book, Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works that help web designers create web sites that are not only aesthetically appealing, but also usable. She writes, “When people come to a web page, they form an impression of the page before they read anything. They react first to the appearance (layout, fonts, colors, and so on)” (127). “Creating that appearance (designing the web page) is about more than aesthetics. It’s about usability. The design of your web pages can help people find what they need and understand what they find. It can also hinder them” (128).
So let’s look at some of the guidelines Redish writes about; specifically those that help us to make effective use of space.

Use Patterns and Alignment
Her first guideline is to use patterns and alignment to make page elements obvious. Cluttered, busy web sites usually do not have the elements (such as content, search, and navigation) aligned well. People are pattern-oriented and expect to see these elements in consistent places where they are instantly obvious. One of the best ways to form these patterns on the web page is through alignment of the elements whereby text and boxes start at only a few places (129 – 130). And the best way to achieve consistent placement across your web site is to use templates (137). For example, the Godiva web site maintains consistent patterns and alignment across its pages. Notice how the banner is consistent and the galleries of products are aligned in a similar fashion.

Godiva Chocolate Collections and Treats page – Retrieved from http://www.godiva.com/Catalog/category.aspx?id=131

Godiva Bakery Shop - Retrieved from http://www.godiva.com/Catalog/category.aspx?id=139
 
Keep Active Space in Your Content
Another guideline is to “keep active space in your content” (137). What is active space? How is it different from passive space? As shown in the image of a draft page from Redish’s book, active space is space inside the content area (such as space between paragraphs and list items), while passive space is space outside the content area (like the margins).

Draft book page with active and passive space labeled (138).
Both active and passive space work together to help visitors skim, scan, find and read information on the web page. For the web, we want to minimize passive space and focus on active space. Active space separates and groups content.
How do we achieve effective use of active space (137 – 139)? Redish points out several ways:
 Break the text up into small chunks
 Use lots of headings
 Keep paragraphs short and space them
 Use visuals like lists and tables rather than paragraphs
 Set off images and graphics with space around them
Break the Text up into Small Chunks, and separate those chunks with active space. We can break the content down in various ways, such as provide the steps to accomplish a task in a list, or present directions to perform a task on its own page (like online help manuals). In the examples below, which set of directions to set a phone alarm clock would you prefer to follow? Of course the second set – the content is broken into small chunks and surrounded by active space; the first illustration is one long paragraph – a “wall of words”.

Nokia phone instructions to set the alarm clock in one paragraph - Retrieved from http://www.nokiausa.com/search?page=1&cat=support&qt=alarm+clock&np=services&cnt=1&fullcontent=true

Nokia instructions to set the alarm clock broken into small chunks (72).

Use Lots of Headings to help communicate content and to separate sections of information. By putting spaces between headings and paragraphs, we make the information seem less dense and more readable. For example, when we compare the blood pressure information on two web sites, iVillage and FamilyDoctor, we find that headings and active space make a big difference in readability. The iVillage page lacks headings and active space; it appears as “a wall of words”. On the other hand, the FamilyDoctor page appears less dense and more readable because of its effective use of headings and active space.

Village web page on checking your blood pressure – Retrieved from http://www.ivillage.co.uk/health/agestage/30and40/articles/0,,181165_183082,00.html

FamilyDoctor web page on high blood pressure – Retrieved from http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/heartdisease/risk/092.html

Keep paragraphs short and space them. In fact, Redish writes that on the web, a one-sentence or two-sentence paragraph is fine (191). And space them … as on this web page:

Short paragraphs on this ESPN page works well. Retrieved from http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=344149&cc=5901

Use visuals like lists and tables rather than paragraphs. According to Redish, “a great way to let go of the words without losing essential meaning is to use lists and tables” (205). For example, visitors know to click on colored underlined words – in the following illustration, the sentence with links to visit the zoo is improved by converting it to a list (which has lots more active space).

Visit to the zoo in sentence form and in list form (187)

Set off images and graphics with space around them as are the images on The American School of Ballet Overview page.

The American School of Ballet Overview page – Retrieved from http://www.sab.org/school/overview.php

But Beware of Floating Headings and False Bottoms
Mismanaged space can hinder visitors from effectively using your web site. So, beware and heed these two guidelines –
Don’t let headings float and
Don’t create false bottoms.
What do these mean?
Headings float in space when there is the same amount of active space before them as after them; in essence, a visitor cannot tell what content goes with what heading. To avoid this problem, be sure you leave more active space above the heading than below it (141 – 142).
A false bottom is created when a horizontal line or large block of space is placed across the page. They tend to stop people; people think they have reached the end of the page, they tend not to scroll down. For example, visitors to the Franklin Institute web site may be misled because the search box is all the way on the bottom of the page below several horizontals (140 – 141).

The Franklin Institute home page – Retrieved from http://www2.fi.edu/

Effective use of active space is just one element in a series of several that Redish covers in her book.

Works Cited
American Academy of Family Physicians. FamilyDoctor.org. http://familydoctor.org. Web. 28 April 2010.
ESPN Internet Ventures. ESPN soccernet Europe US. http://soccernet.espn.go.com. Web. 28 April 2010.
The Franklin Institute. http://www2.fi.edu/. Web. 28 April 2010.
Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. Godiva Chocolatier. http://www.godiva.com. Web. 28 April 2010.
iVillage Ltd. iVillage.co.uk. http://www.ivillage.co.uk. Web. 28 April 2010.
Nokia Corp. Nokia Connecting People. http://www.nokiausa.com. Web. 28 April 2010.
Redish, Janice (Ginny). Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works. Canada: Elsevier, 2007. Print.
School of American Ballet. The School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center. http://www.sab.org. Web. 28 April 2010.

Writing for How People Read on the Web: Audience and Web Site Structure

How do you read on the web? I know I don’t read long paragraphs of text… 

Ginny Redish describes reading on the web as “skim and scan” (2). We go to the web to do a task or to get information, not to read for pleasure as we would a book.  If we don’t find what we want, we move on.

Two typical web users. Image from Redish p. 2.

So if you’re writing for the web, what constitutes good web writing? Ginny Redish answers this question in her book, Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Canada: Elsevier, 2007). Her book is comprehensive with lots of examples, yet an easy read.  

She says, “Good web writing

·        is like a conversation

·        answers people’s questions

·        lets people grab and go” (4)

But, before we begin writing that content we need to understand our audience and the structure of websites …

In terms of our audience, we need to understand who will come to our site, and what tasks they will want to do or what information they will want to find.  And we need to write our content using their words.  To get this information it is best to actually watch, talk to and listen to our audience.   For example, we can watch and listen in your physical place of business, through a questionnaire, or interviews. We can also talk with other groups in our organization that are in contact with our audience like Marketing or Customer Service.  Other considerations about audience are their level of expertise, what technology they have available, what their state of mind is when they visit our site and what’s important to them.  As we gather this information it is helpful to create personas and scenarios that we can refer to throughout the website development or enhancement process. (Redish, pp. 11 – 27)

Now for the structure; Redish identifies three types of web pages - home pages, pathway pages and information pages. 

“Information-rich web sites set up pathways to the information through the home page and one or more layers of pathway (menu) pages.” Image from Redish p. 29.

First, home pages – in general, people read very little on the home page, “they want to grab the information they need and move on” (Ibid, 30).  But home pages serve very important functions. According to Redish, they identify who we are (via our logo, name and tag line) and what our site is about (for example, what business we’re in); they portray the site’s personality through visual design; they direct visitors to the information they seek (via short descriptions and links to that information); and if appropriate, they provide ways to start the task right away (for example, they provide a form). So home pages must be content-rich, but concise; they must live up to the title of the book by letting go of the words (Ibid, pp. 29 – 41).

Second, pathway pages – they too must live up to the title of the book.  “Busy site visitors are trying to get to the ‘good stuff’ – to whatever they are looking for – as quickly as possible. They don’t want to stop and read along the way. They are still navigating. They aren’t ‘there’ yet (Ibid, 53).”  The best pathway pages are like a table of contents, with short descriptions if appropriate.  They provide links.  It’s important that the pathway be quick and smooth, eliminating the need to think along the way. Many people will choose the first plausible link, so it’s also important that key information is on top (Ibid, 53 – 66).

And third, information pages - “[m]ost people come to the web for information, not for a complete document. They don’t want the user manual; they want instructions for the task they are doing. They don’t want the handbook; they want the answer to specific questions. They want usable, manageable pieces” (Ibid, 69).  To satisfy these needs, we need to break documents down into topics and subtopics, and provide premium navigation and search functionality. When deciding how much information to actually place on a page we need to think about our visitors; for example, how much do they need, will they print it, and how long will it take to download. Then we need to think about our message – even on information pages – visitors initially “skim and scan” – to determine if they’re in the right place.  So we must trim our message down, then trim down again, and perhaps again, to what is absolutely necessary. We need to write in “inverted pyramid style”; place the most essential information first, followed by less and less important information.  And then we need to break that information up into short paragraphs set off with headings, and incorporate bulleted lists where appropriate (Ibid, 93 – 107).

Now that we understand the structure of websites and our audience, we can begin writing content ‘that works’.  That’s a subject I will take up in future blogs.

Works Cited

Redish, Janice (Ginny). Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works. Canada: Elsevier, 2007. Print.

Images at the Met - not just paintings

This blog is about the images on the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) – website – and not just the paintings. Since the museum is a place to view works of art such as paintings and sculpture, it is only fitting that the website be rich in images too.

The splash page http://www.metmuseum.org (which changes daily), shows on this day, the Great Hall or lobby.

The Great Hall is huge, as the people are quite small in the photo. But the photo depicts it as a nice place to begin your visit to the museum. A warm, rich tone is used as the background of the page; it gives the photo a warm, rich feel as well. The home page also displays a different work of art at the museum each day. On this day, a photograph of an openwork stamp seal was chosen. Its grays blend nicely with the photograph of the museum lobby. Both photographs working together draw us in and entice us to click the ‘Enter here’ link.

When we click the ‘Enter here’ link we are presented with the home page http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp (which also changes daily) – ‘Now on View’ and ‘Selected Highlight’s’.

The ‘Now on View’ section includes illustrations of the posters for three current exhibitions. To help visitors, these illustrations are the same as those used in other advertising media. By clicking on an ‘exhibit poster’, the main page for that particular exhibition is displayed. Here one will find an illustration of the poster as well as a link to view pieces in the exhibition. Clicking the link to view pieces in the exhibition brings up a gallery of photographs. These photographs of items in the exhibit are just that, a photograph of the item – as you would expect to see it if you were to attend the exhibition. There is also an enlarge feature to enlarge each photograph.

The ‘Selected Highlights’ section presents six categories, ‘Now at the Met’, ‘The Met Store’, ‘Membership’, ‘Ways to Give’, ‘MuseumKids’ and ‘My Met Museum’. Each is prefixed by a square image. The image is a logo or a thumbnail of a piece (cropped in some cases) in the museum.

In the cases where the square image is a cropped view, the full image is presented when the corresponding link is clicked. For example, the ‘Now at the Met’ thumbnail reveals the full painting when clicked (along with a list of current events). The thumbnail for ‘MuseumKids’ changes daily. When clicked, a banner with thumbnails, some with kids, of art works from various collections in the museum spans across the page. Again, as on the home page, these are cropped views. If any one of these thumbnails is clicked, a gallery of photos opens. The gallery includes a host of photos of items within the associated collection. Each photo, again, is as it appears in the museum (minus frames on paintings). A user can zoom in and enlarge the picture as well.

Museum branding through the use of logos occurs in combinations on the museum web site. The museum logo has text forms, ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’ and the Renaissance M. Both are in the banner of each web page. The logo also incorporates the ‘dot’ (with and without the Renaissance M) in a variety of colors to mimic the button one receives after gaining admission to the museum. The museum also has a mascot – Hippo William. All of these elements come together in the ‘Selected Highlights’ section of the home page.

The thumbnail for the ‘Met Store’ link depicts a shopping bag. The name logo is used alone. This image is a representation of the actual shopping bags used in the store and helps individuals associate the bag with shopping at the store. Upon entering the ‘Met Store’ and performing a search on ‘logo’, a variety of products are displayed sporting the various forms of the logo – Renaissance M and dot.

A thumbnail image of the admission button is used to link to ‘Membership’ and William the Hippo is used to link to ‘My Met Museum’.

Icons are used on the website to call attention to particular features. For example, accessibility icons such as pictured: left to right: wheelchair, assistive listening devices and sign language interpretation,



and, guided touch and verbal imaging tours:

are easy to decipher. These icons are used throughout the website as a short hand to inform those who have special needs about events, programs and features that cater to them.

Share and services icons are used to share, email, tag, etc. gallery photos. As shown here, gallery pictures can be shared in a number of Web 2.0 ways when the share icon is clicked.

All the services icons are concisely displayed in the pop-up window. Four “pages” of icons are available, such as, G Bookmarks, Digg, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Blogger, to name a few.

Garamond – the typeface with Legibility, Readability and Personality!

One of my favorite typefaces is Garamond. Garamond was first designed by Claude Garamond of France in the 16th century. Since his death, the Garamond typeface has proliferated into many interpretations, but all share distinctive Garamond characteristics. “For example, character stroke-weight stress in every Garamond design is canted, with the heaviest parts at approximately the two and eight o’clock positions. Head serifs (those at the top of character strokes) look like banners, and baseline serifs tend to be long, slightly cupped and (in most Garamond designs) have soft rounded ends. Another feature shared by virtually every Garamond face is the bidirectional serifs on the top of the capital T” (Illuminating Letters).

This blog will talk about the Garamond typeface which comes with Microsoft Office Word 2007, Garamond 2.40 MS. Garamond 2.40 is Monotype Garamond TM (a trademark of Monotype Typography, Ltd (Microsoft.com). The alphabet looks like this:


There are basically two branches of the Garamond typeface; American and European. Monotype Garamond TM is of the American branch and “is one of the most elegant interpretations of the Garamond style” with “its marked contrast in stroke weights, open counters and delicate serifs” (Illuminating Letters).

In her article, Avoiding Typeface Terrors, Kathleen Burke Yoshida discusses the importance of using appropriate typefaces in documentation. She says one must consider “a typeface’s legibility (how distinct, clear, and recognizable its letters are), readability (how easy it is to read in a text line), and personality (what feeling it conveys).”

Legibility
Burke Yoshida says “[l]egibility refers to a typeface’s degree of letter recognition” and to determine legibility look at “the tops and bottoms of the letters.” She offers this simple test:
“Place a piece of paper over the top or bottom half of a word or sentence. If you can read the word or sentence easily by looking at half of the letters, then the typeface is likely to be perceived as legible.”

So let’s try it!



By looking at just half of the letters in the sentence – we can read the sentence:

Therefore, Garamond is perceived to be legible.

Readability
According to Burke Yoshida, “[r]eadability refers to how easily a text line can be read.” Serif typefaces, like Garamond, are easy to read because the serifs guide the eye across the text. “Selecting a typeface with a large x-height (the letter body is large with shorter ascenders and descenders) can enhance readability because the type appears to be larger with more space within the letters. Garamond fits the bill for readability, in addition to its serifs, it also has a large x-height as illustrated:


Personality
“A typeface’s personality is related to its letter attributes, such as stroke weight and the presence or absence of serifs” … but, “is ultimately determined by a reader’s perception” (Burke Yoshida).
There are general guidelines, according to Burke Yoshida, that help to define personality:
1. Typefaces have a flavor based upon when they were created. Garamond was created by Claude Garamond in the 16th century. The Garamond typeface has an old-world feel.

2. Typefaces which have serifs are considered more formal. Garamond has distinctive serifs, such as the “bidirectional serifs on the top of the capital T” (Illuminating Letters):


3. Typefaces with cupped or rounded serifs are considered more informal. Garamond “baseline serifs tend to be long, slightly cupped” (Illuminating Letters) as in the letter i:

4. Typeface “[s]troke weight can convey a sense of lightness and boldness” (Burke Yoshida). Monotype is balanced. “[C]haracter stroke-weight stress in every Garamond design is canted with the heaviest part at approximately the two and eight o’clock positions” (Illuminating Letters):


To me, the personality of Monotype Garamond TM is elegant and gracious.

References

Burke Yoshida, K. (2000) Avoiding typeface terrors. Society for Technical Communication. http://www.stc.org/confproceed/2000/PDFs/00006.PDF

Garamond – Version 2.40. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/OpenType/fonts/font.aspx?FMID=1305

Illuminating Letters Number One. Will the “real” Garamond please stand up. Retrieved from http://www.fonts.com/NR/rdonlyres/EF8A90A6-66C8-40D5-95F8-AEF62BB05705/0/ILGaramond.pdf

Crayola is for Kids, Royal Talens is for Adults

http://www.crayola.com/ (Crayola LLC) and http://www.talens.com/ (Royal Talens), will be used to demonstrate these styles.

Crayola, maker of the classic crayon (plus more) caters to children; the Crayola website encompasses what kids want.

Kids want to:

• have fun,
  
• learn new things,
  
• create, and
  
• share with their friends.
  

Crayola.com includes a wide range of activities for kids from coloring books, to craft projects (in written and video form) to games at different levels of ability. Email capability allows kids to share their creations with their friends.

Crayola.com has links to Crayola international sites – Canada, Australia, UK and Mexico.

Royal Talens, maker artist paints, colored pencils and pastels, caters to adults. Their website gives adults what they want.

Adults want to:

• learn about the product(s), such as:
  
  
  
  • where to find the product,
    
  • what other products the company makes,
    
  • how to use the product,
    
  
  
• have fun, create and learn new things, and
  
• communicate with others.
  

Talens.com offers product information both at a high level and at a technical level for the amateur artist and professional artist. It has a ‘How to Paint’ section where the budding artist can learn to paint, or a seasoned artist can learn a new technique. It also has a forum for discussion and a gallery of company and artist work (that can be emailed).

Royal Talens is based in The Netherlands; the site is available in many languages. The user can select to see content based upon European country or language.

Pedagogy vs Andragogy
Research in pedagogy (the teaching of children), andragogy (the teaching of adults) and learning styles has practical uses in website design.

Crayola understands that pedagogy is teacher directed. The website has sections devoted to teachers and parents with relevant information on how they can direct children to think creatively, interact with activities on the site and use Crayola products in the home and classroom.

The For Parents link features Arts & Crafts projects, Coloring activities, ideas for parties, ways to interact with teachers, tips on how to encourage creativity and traveling with children.

The For Educators link provides Lesson Plans, ideas on how to incorporate creativity in subjects such as math and science, as well as a place where students can post their work, to name a few.

The Royal Talens website illustrates principles behind andragogy with the How to Paint section. Adults learn best when they can link the knowledge they already have to new skills. They are “autonomous and self-directed” (Hoffman), they want to know the application before the theory and they benefit most when they are actively involved in the learning process. The teacher serves to encourage and nurture. ‘How to Paint’ is a step-by-step set of instructions on how to paint transcriptions (a copy of a painting by another artist). Royal Talens encourages the adult learner to begin painting: “We offer you step-by-step plans in most techniques and in different styles. So whatever your choice, you’ll be amazed at your own talent.” For example, transcriptions to learn about Painting with Oil:

Learning Styles
Four Learning Sytles are demonstrated on the two websites:

• Verbal/Visual Preference
  
• Tactile/Kinesthetic Preference
  
• Visual /Non Verbal Preference
  
• Auditory/Verbal Preference
  

Best Practices suggest that information be presented on a website to accommodate the broadest number of learning styles. This means each message should be presented in several ways so that users can choose which way they want to get the information.

Verbal / Visual Preference
These users prefer to get information through words.
Crayola.com accommodates children of different ages and reading levels. The use of the visual in combination with the verbal addresses these differences.

Crayola.com uses a combination of verbal and visual to make choices in what traditionally would be a drop-down list. Through the Create and Color link coloring pages can be created and printed. For example, in the ‘drop-down list’ of tools below; when the hand pointer (controlled by the mouse) points to an icon, the icon name appears in the green bar (‘Move’ is partially hidden by the hand) and a bubble offering more detailed information (“Allows you to move stuff around”) is displayed.

Talens.com uses words and illustrations to describe How to Paint steps; these explanations assume a novice level user is performing them.
For example, Step 2 of the Italian Landscape painting:

Each step includes a detailed explanation and an illustration of what the painting should look like at the end of the step:

Tactile/Kinesthetic Preference
“Creative Play”, being physically active, hands-on is what these users prefer.

Crayola.com is packed with hands-on activities. The Coloring Books link has many coloring book pages in many categories that can be printed and colored, it has functionality to create one’s own coloring pages (“Create and Color”) and print them, and many other creative activities such as “Digi-Color” (online coloring), “Certificate Maker”, “Card Creator” and “Idea Generator”. These activities require more advanced level of technical ability.
Coloring Page link:

Create & Color link:
Digi-Color, Card Creator, Certificate Maker and Idea Generator links:
Royal Talens How to Paint is hands-on instructions that can be printed. (See screen prints above.)

Visual /Non Verbal Preference
Visual/Non Verbal users like information to be presented visually in pictures, video, animations, icons, etc.)

The Crayola site is very visual; icons and pictures are used throughout. Icons are large and more realistic than the traditional icon; for example, the printer icon (‘Print’) shown below. Also shown below, the line drawing for ‘Create’ mimics the line drawing that can be created and the photograph for ‘Color’ shows a real person coloring the printed coloring page. The blue arrows show the progression of tasks in a visual, non verbal way.The Talen site uses pictures and icons with a minimum of text. The product listing below for pastels is mainly visual. The user can click the icon to enlarge the photo.
The detail photo below is displayed. This picture is also displayed when the text label is clicked. To find out which colors are in the box, the user has to open the Color Chart link or the Folder link (which is a brochure about these pastels).


Auditory/Verbal Preference
These users prefer information to be presented through the spoken word as in podcasts and lectures.

The CreaTiVe tm link on Crayola.com has videos demonstrating a variety of craft projects by a child/adult team. Each video features one craft project and runs about three to four minutes.

Royal Talens does not have video or auditory capabilities.

In conclusion, the Crayola site is rich in accommodating all learning styles discussed while the Royal Talens site covers many, but not all styles.

References
Hoffman, B. Andragogy: Teaching Adults. Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved from http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/androgogy/index.htm
Knowles, M. Andragogy. Retrieved from http//tip.psychology.org/knowles.html
Turns, J. and Wagner, T. (Feb. 2004) Characterizing Audience for Informational Web Site Design. Technical Communication.

A Poem Set to Typography

Fireworks night is nearly over
All over the city
I am warm in bed
In the afterglow
You have gone to the bathroom
A late flurry of stars lights up the window
I watch them go out with a bang
They have only just come
Down from heaven

“The Lover’s Tale – Typography” is an animated poem from mamamsonic, http://www.flushleft.co.uk/, that very convincingly translates the words (and letters of the words) of the poem into the “stars” of an aerial fireworks display. Through typography, the words of the poem, above, are enhanced through video presentation:

The overall design is well-done, incorporating many design principles. As a whole, the primary principles of Unity and Variety are used to great effect. The same font is used throughout – Century Gothic – but it is presented in a variety of ways to depict fireworks stars. Just as stars do, depending upon the type of firework effect, the letters making up the words in the poem change size, boldness and color. Sometimes they free-fall like a “waterfall”, other times they slowly tumble in a trail like the Kamuro effect; they shine brightly, then fade; they pulse and overlap in a “bang” (as in the finale).


Supporting the principles of Unity and Variety; the design incorporates Rhythm and Balance. The rhythm of the letters moves the eye along the lines of the poem as the fireworks display unfolds. The display is balanced symmetrically as well as asymmetrically; fireworks shoot up from the left bottom of the screen, from the right bottom of the screen, and from the middle. The letters linger and fall more on one side of the screen than the other at various points in the video.


Another important element of design, Color, is used to great effect. Just as fireworks stars burn bright shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and silver against a darkened night sky; the letters of the poem take on varying saturations of turquoise, blue, magenta, pink, orange, yellow and white against a black background.


So, even though the “fireworks display” of the poem is not an exact representation of fireworks, but rather an abstraction; the typography is manipulated so effectively that we know it is a fireworks display, and we can enjoy the poem that much more.

Blogging in the Corporate World

I came across two corporate web sites in the art world - the paint world, to be exact - that have a blog: Winsor & Newton, http://www.winsornewton.com/, and Golden Artist Colors, http://www.goldenpaints.com/. Through this new form of "nanopublishing" (McClellan, 2003, p. 2) the companies talk about their latest offerings (and other topics) providing a vehicle for you, the artist, to learn about their products and company and to share your comments.

The goal of the Winsor & Newton blog (http://www.winsornewton.com/community/our-blogs/) is to "provide personal views on painting, techniques, personal artist's histories, art critique and technical information about artists materials." Their blog is actually four blogs; two by employees - Cassandra Fairman (http://www.winsornewton.com/community/our-blogs/cassandra-fairman/) and Ian Maginnis (http://www.winsornewton.com/community/our-blogs/ian-maginnis-/) and two by individual artists - Gly Macey (http://www.winsornewton.com/community/our-blogs/glynmacey/) and Adebanji Alade (http://www.winsornewton.com/community/our-blogs/adebanji-alade/).

Golden features 'Mark's Blog' (http://www.goldenpaints.com/blog/). Mark Golden, son of the company founder, conducts his blog according to a Blogger Code of Ethics based upon that of General Motors (http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/).

Both blogs welcome your comments. But the Winsor & Newton bloggers have stopped blogging. It has been over a year since all but Glyn have posted. And they are not responding to recent comments either. There weren't many comments to begin with; probably because in order to leave a comment you have to be registered and logged in. On the other hand, Mark answers all comments promptly (in accordance with his Code of Ethics). And he gets many comments - no need to register, no need to login; just fill in the boxes at the bottom of his post and click Submit.

As I mentioned earlier, Winsor & Newton has four individuals with a blog:

• Cassandra Fairman, a technical team member at the company, wrote several paragraphs to introduce herself and the new water-mixable oil colors. Although she says she wants to hear from you, she directs you to the FAQ section of the website if you have questions, and hasn't responded to the couple of comments received.
• Ian Maginnis, Artist's Materials Technical Advisor, the other employee, blogs about paintings he was commissioned to do for the Game Lodge in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. His posts are a page or two; each post discusses a different painting for the Game Lodge. He briefly gives some background information about the painting, then jumps right into the technical - like "fat over lean" and varnishing - and shows the painting in progress. By the way, this technical information is also repeated in the FAQ's.
• Glyn Macey, an artist, blogs about his tour of the English Coast. He is painting a scene from each city and town he visits; the paintings are to be auctioned as a fundraiser. His posts are very short; just a sentence or two, giving the essence of each place and an image of the painting.
• Adebanji Alade, the other artist, won first place in two competitions sponsored by Winsor & Newton. Adebanji's posts are long (a page or two), very informative, step-by-step explanations of each painting or sketch and a bit of advise too. He includes lots of intermediate images as well.

Blogs evolve, but Winsor & Newton's blog just died. If you want product information there's the FAQ's; if you need even more information there's the Contact Us page (which makes no mention of the blog). As for the two artists, Adebanji Alade has his own blog (http://adebanjialade.blogspot.com/) and Glyn Macey is represented by the gallery Gullova Studios (http://www.gullova.co.uk/); he has a links on their website his website (http://www.gullova.co.uk/index.asp/).

Mark's Blog works; it is "based on candor, urgency, timeliness, pithiness, and controversy" (Sessum, 2005, p. 1). His posts are less than a half page. Earlier posts talk mainly about the features of Golden's newest paint. Later posts comment on comments (both complements and criticisms) from artists who tried the product. Most recent posts address corporate issues raised by comments like Golden paints are 'Made in America' - not China. Mark's Blog carries on a "true dialogue"; which is important as Bob Lutz, Vice Chairman of GM advises: "It's important that we run the bad with the good," "We'd take a credibility hit if we posted only rosy compliments, and credibility is the most important attribute a corporate blog can have. Once it's gone, your blog is meaningless. If you filter the negatives out, you don't have a true dialogue" (Sessum, 2005, p. 2)

Although Winsor & Newton calls it a blog, it is really more like web pages. The page design is basic, basic - white space. I don't think blogging software was actually used even though the entries mimic information given for a blog such as title, post order, post time, number of comments in reverse-chronological order. Permalinks, links "to the permanent location of the post in the blog's archive", "allows for precise references, creating a way for authors to link to the specific piece of information to which they're responding" do not exist (Hourihan, 2002, p. 3). The posts are in tables. Only part of the first sentence in each post is shown; the rest can only be accessed by a link to 'Read More' for each row in the table. I found myself losing my place as I read through the posts as the color of the unvisited 'Read More' links does not differ from the visited. The artist's work is also embedded in the tables - it would be nice if the work was readily displayed. Features such as sidebars with links to other posts and comments are non-existent.

In contrast, the Golden blog has the design of a blog. It mimics closely the elements of the GM blog from which the Mark's Code of Ethics was taken. Elements of good design are incorporated from the image to the color palette of background and text. The main page lists each post in abbreviated form like the Winsor & Newton blog; but within each post, there is a link to the previous post and the next post by title. Mark has set up five subject categories for his posts. The blog makes good use of the Permalink (Hourihan, 2002, p. 3). There is a sidebar with a Search function as well as many other ways to access previous posts - a list of Recent Posts, a list of Recent Comments, and a list of Categories as well as a one-month calendar and an Archive. The Archive section provides links to months for which posts and/or comments exist.

To me, the Winsor & Newton blog lacks commitment. Perhaps it started out as a corporate initiative to get in touch with the customer, but then lost its way. The employee blogs just failed to evolve naturally; they met an intended purpose and then just quit. Rather than take the more personal approach of the blog, the company has encouraged the use of their FAQs; and if you can't find the answer there, send an email to tech help or the webmaster.

Mark's blog projects a professional corporate image, one that strives to communicate the company's latest news while engaging their customer, the artist. Mark Golden understands that "blogging is about expressing yourself and how you feel - whether it's your market, industry trends, current events, or some topic, it's not about selling product or writing a sales pitch" it's writing "about things they know about, to be personal, to understand that this is not your 'company' speaking - it's you speaking" (Sessum, 2005, p. 5).

References
Hourihan, M. (2002, Jun 13). What we're doing when we blog. Retrieved from http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/2474/.

McClellan, J. (2003, Jan.30). New biz on the blog. The Guardian.

Sessum, J. D. (2005, Sept. 19) Adding your voice to the conversation. Why CEOs should blog. Retrieved from http://www.globalprblogweek.com/2005/09/19/sessum-why-ceos-should-blog/.