[Sigia-l] Visual Balance vs. Left Leaning Layouts

[Dave Collins]

-----Original Message-----
From: Leslie Carter [mailto:lcarter3 at cox.net] 

I have to agree with you Dave, good rationale.  I wish I could find some
research or pithy phrase to convince the artsy people what we believe, but
what you say makes good sense.





Are the artsy-types just looking to use jello* format as opposed to ice*
format? Or do they really want to move all the components around in relation
to each other so they look pretty?

Ice vs. jello is not really a big deal, IMO. It just means the left-edge of
the effective web page is not the left edge of the browser, but it's all
still aligned to an edge.

The real usable web page is liquid*, BTW. The creatives will hate that. It
tends to preclude much of the cool stuff they can do in favour of
flexibility in layout. On the plus side, it's of huge benefit to the user
(and that's just *crazy* talk) Both she who has a 1,000,000x1,000,000 rez
and she who has 100x100 rez will benefit.



*Ice/jello/liquid
Ice - object stays fixed, regardless of container it's placed in (web page
is left-aligned regardless of browser rez)
Jello - object will move within container, but stays fixed in shape (web
page re-aligns to centre as per browser rez, but stays fixed in size)
Liquid - object will alter its shape to fit container it's placed in (web
page flows to fit brower rez)



If you're looking for a convincing argument, play up the scanning aspect of
web page reading. Get them thinking about how users actually use the page,
not just how the screen grab looks on the corporate port folio page. (what
user steps back and admires the page from six feet away?)


Usability is 50% politics. Convince your boss that your job is to champion
the user, which is why all other creation and development departments should
fall under your jurisdiction.


Dave Collins
User Interface Design
Phoenix Interactive
4th floor, 137 Dundas St,
London ON, N6A 1E9
V: 519.679.2913 x292
F: 519.679.6773
E: dcollins at phoenix-interactive.com