Appearances
Obviously we’re all aware of the significance of appearances. I’ve found, however, that I wasn’t actively thinking about certain aspects of it until recently. These two videos, featuring Eugene Kan and Scott Schuman of Hypebeast and The Sartoralist respectively, made me realize how much visuals affect the consumption of a website/blog even if the content is mainly text. More specifically, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t seeing the internet in a very good way.
I have a fair number of blogs on my Google Reader, a RSS reader that displays just the text, images and Youtube links of blog posts in a plain format. I wonder how much of the experience of reading a blog is taken away when I just skim through its RSS feed. I think I’m going to stop using Reader for a while. After all, a lot of time is put into blog design. Maybe some think that stripping it all away might even be considered disrespectful. Could you go so far as to make the analogy that it’s like watching a movie with no sound and with subtitles on?
Then again, the plain white background of Google Reader is more pleasant to the eye than some of the ugly sites I frequent. I think I’ll keep those feeds for now.
Welcome back to the spaceship.
can i visit u one weekend? or is that not allowed?
CJ
January 10, 2011 at 9:36 PM
Hmmm… I read a lot of webcomics, so the idea of stripping the content away from the original site seems… off. As a visual medium, the packaging is all a part of the delivery.
Additionally, the parts of the internet I frequent that are not webcomics, are blogs and for me, comments on a blog are often as critical to the post as the post itself (ever read Lifehacker comments?)
Sometimes a comment can offer a more unbiased analysis of the situation, or expertise in a field the original author didn’t. Crowdsourcing information in a blog via the comment’s system is integral the the blogs I read, so having them run through an RSS feed just wouldn’t be the same.
My suggestion? Keep a bare minimum RSS reader, use it only as a notification system, and read the content directly from the site itself. It only takes an extra couple of seconds to open the feed’s link, and (IMO) gives a more comprehensive experience.
mmfok
January 11, 2011 at 2:17 AM
This is a pretty good point, I usually skip comments too. Yeah I have found that Lifehacker comments can sometimes be better than the actual post
Carson
January 11, 2011 at 7:06 PM
Yeah, the interface in which we get our info is pretty important. It’s like the saying “the medium is the message” – a message can change depending on how we receive and understand it.
For me, it really does speak to the subtle, but significant, importance of the designer. The appearance is important – as it plays a part in the organization and presentation of the material. Ever go to a chinese restaurant and browse of the menu? Yeah, pretty imposing isn’t it with all those items?
There’s then the visual identity/feel of the blog that gets more or less stripped away in an RSS reader too.
Kevin
June 5, 2011 at 12:03 AM