Designing for Online vs. Print

There are significant differences in when designing for online and print. According to Redshaw(2003), for print media, it is focused on how it is presented to the readers, using chronological orders, framing ,etc. For online media, according to Dr Jakob Nielsen, readers of online writings tend to skim through the passage. Therefore the placement, type and color of fonts used are very important to capture readers’ attention. Besides that, overly structured grammar is not used as this would make them boring and uninteresting.

Printed newspaper

(Source:http://paul.kedrosky.com/WindowsLiveWriter/BestNewspaperFrontPageTodayMortgagesandM_DEAD/headlines_2.png)

Online Newspaper

(Source: http://www.adpunch.org/images/news-paper-online_25.jpg)

Conclusion

Prints and online has their advantages and disadvantages in conveying messages. To say that print media is slowly dying is not accurate as it still has its audiences. The feel of flipping pages of a newspaper or a book is still in favour of some reader’s out there.

 

1.) Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 1998, ‘Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout’, in Approaches to media discourse, eds Bell, A & Garrett, P, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 186-219.

 

2.) Morkes, J & Nielsen, J 1997, Concise, Scannable and Objective: How To Write For The Web, Useit.com.

http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/writing.html

3.) Nielsen, J 1999, Differences Between Print Design and 4.) Nielsen, J 1999, Differences Between Print Design and Web Design, Jacob Nielsen's Alert Box.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html

4.) Redshaw, K 2003, Web Writing vs Print Writing, Kerryr.net.

http://www.kerryr.net/webwriting/guide_web-vs-print.htm