The future of the Web, or something like that
It’s been my contention for some time now that most (all?) news sites have been blind to the fact that their determination to recreate “pages” on the Web is a mistake. I can navigate any major news site OK. But it never seems like it’s quite right. In fact, it is often a frustrating experience. So I was relieved and excited to see the NYT’s “article skimmer” the other day. It is a small, but significant, step in the right direction. It is the future of news. Here’s what it looks like:
You’re not overwhelmed, are you? OK, I oversold it. In fact, they don’t make a big deal about it. This simple prototype is not the future of news. But it points us in the right direction.
The Web is but a conduit for information. It is interactive. It is visual. It is not a printed page. It is a view upon the knowledge of all mankind, or it hopes to be. And that is how we need to think of it, as a view, a porthole, a frame through which to look at all that our fellow travelers on this earth want to share with us. The Web is not a moment in time. It is an ever evolving imprint of who we all are at once.
OK. Enough BS. My point is that people come to the Web looking for information. They’re only looking for depth and embellishment when they find the topic/information they’re looking for.
So the entry point for a specific producer’s “Web site” should demonstrate that the producer understands the consumer’s need for information. A site, or entry point, should understand that the seeker is looking for information. The information architecture and interface design should be focused on making it easy for the user to find what they are seeking.
The article skimmer prototype on the NYT seems to understand that. If only everyone did. Oh well. It’s a start. This is just another thought in a series of thoughts I’ve had on this subject.
It’s intriguing, though it seems to lack the appeal of the Sunday browsing experience. It seems more oriented to the quick scanning mode of reading. Sunday browsing is more leisurely. The very notion of sitting at a computer vs. sitting at the breakfast table puts us in a different posture and frame of mind.
I like your thoughts about the idea of the frame, the viewport. I’m thinking of Carl Sagan navigating the universe in his fake spaceship in Cosmos. But, this is just one form or metaphor, and the web is a joyful chaos of communication forms and metaphors: static web pages, dynamic pages, interactives, ads that fly around like mosquitos you can’t swat away, beautiful images, information graphics, simulated book or magazine, digital libraries, databases, virtual worlds. It’s all good! I don’t see that any one of these has pride of place (though it all started with Tim Berners-Lee’s WWW Virtual Library, an HTML page, so static web pages and the metaphor of a library have deep roots).