C&C

Web Page Design Inspired by Edward Tufte

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Translation into Portuguese for https://www.homeyou.com/~edu/ The following set of questions and answers about Web design forms the basis of an article in the French magazine "Influx" where I was interviewed about the influence of Edward Tufte's design principles as they apply to pages on the World Wide Web.

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Index

Question: What are the issues from Edward Tufte's works that are relevant for a Web site?
Question: What are your recommended web sites in terms of content, graphic relevance, aesthetics and effectiveness, and why?
Question: How can a site be effective, interesting, and attractive for the Net surfer as well as for the in-depth user?
Question: Should a site be beautiful, to be effective ?
Question: What affects do screen size and resolution have on graphics on the Web, and how do you develop effective graphics under these constraints?
Question: What new potentials are offered to design by web technology ?
Question: What are the most common errors found in Web design?

(Q) What are the issues from Edward Tufte's works that are relevant for a Web site?

The issues I find most relevant are: Back to Index

(Q) What are your recommended web sites in terms of content, graphic relevance, aesthetics and effectiveness, and why?

Among the sites I like best are: Back to Index

(Q) How can a site be effective, interesting, and attractive for the Net surfer as well as for the in-depth user?

A good Web site incorporates the following: Back to Index

(Q) Should a site be beautiful, to be effective ?

To some extent beauty is in the eye of the beholder in that a user trained to interpret certain patterns may see beauty in a site that makes sense to them, but appears ugly and disorganized to someone without their background (often we see what we expect rather than what is there, rather like a Frog that is largely blind to anything that is not small, dark, and moving jerkily -- a fly).

However, for sites that do not require specialized knowledge, I believe aesthetics can be achieved through a clear design which emphasizes usability, especially if aesthetic additions are only added when they are consciously justified in terms of their utility

Back to Index


What affects do screen size and resolution have on graphics on the Web, and how do you develop effective graphics under these constraints?

This is a large and important topic and is perhaps the reason for the major differences between design on the Web versus paper: Back to Index

(Q) What new potentials are offered to design by web technology ?

The Web can provide a richer information environment than is possible with static pages on paper, such as: Back to Index

(Q) What are the most common errors found in Web design?

Among the more annoying design defects I frequently see are: Back to Index

© Copyright 2000 University of Washington Computing & Communications.

Larry Gales