
An electronic document can build itself
by extracting information from a
database and send itself to designated
recipients.

On-line communication solves a variety
of problems associated with paper.
• Electronic documents can be customized.
• These documents are easy to update, so they
can always be accurate.
• They
are easier to search than books,
providing improved access to topics and
cross-references.

They can be remarkably compact:
•A
laptop with CD-ROM drive can deliver a
10,000-page documentation set that would
have occupied a dozen three-ring binders.
Links vs. Fixed Paths

Traditional communication is linear.
Information is laid out in a single path,
and readers move from topic to topic in
an order determined by the writer.
• Electronic information is composed of
individual chunks of content and computersupported links among these chunks.

Readers follow topics in any order they
choose,
• sometimes guided by a map of the network,
• sometimes creating their own paths.

Elements in an electronic document are
in a perpetual state of reorganization.
• The user can start anywhere and, by way of
electronic links, establish connections
between multiple kinds of information:
• text,
• audio, and
• video.

A well-designed multimedia system organizes
data in a complex, nonlinear way and
facilitates exploration of large bodies of
knowledge.
•
At every step, the user of a multimedia system can
• see an example or a simulation,
• look up a definition,
• listen to sounds, or
• return to a previous link.
Designing Electronic Documents

On-line information needs to be
structured for the screen.
• Displayed pages from printed books will rarely
•
yield effective on-line material.
You must provide for the unique ways users
interact with on-line material, facilitating
multiple types and levels of searches.

In a good Web document, readers know
what is available and can move
efficiently from one topic to another.
Provide Navigation Aids

People are used to the physical features
of books.
• A certain heft suggests the time it will take to
•
read the text.
Page numbers are visible signals of progress.
• Pages can be marked and dog-eared.
• Bookmarks can be placed and replaced.
• Pages are present even when they are not being
read.

With on-line text, users have different
cognitive challenges.
• Moving through several computer screens is
•
nor as easy as looking back and forth
between pages of a book.
On-line information can be confusing.
• You must structure material to minimize a user’s
disorientation, providing ways for readers to tell
where they are at all times.

Organize information in a way that
makes sense to users, and provide
navigation and escape information on
every screen.
Write for the Electronic Page

Conventions for writing electronic text are
evolving, but two relatively uncontroversial
techniques for improving on-line text involve
conciseness and clarity.
•
•
Write concisely, presenting only small chunks of text to
read on each screen.
Conventional wisdom holds that readers can deal with
seven (plus or minus two) pieces of information at one
time.

On a computer screen, it appears that a
standard of five (plus or minus one)
works better to minimize confusion.
• Substitute bulleted Iists for paragraphs, and
•
use white space generously.
Use clear and simple language so that
readers get it right the first time.
• Most users of on-line documents do not want to
relocate and reread anything.

Provide a printable version of your
content;
• Many readers still prefer to learn from hard
copy.
Design for Consistency and
Quick Loading

Designers of electronic documents need
to develop style specifications, just as
they do for hard copy.
• A screen has less space than a standard
page, and displayed text is almost always less
legible than it is when printed.

Opinions conflict about
• Which fonts are most legible on screen,
• Which graphic-highlighting devices attract a
•
reader’s attention, and
What effects will have on reading
comprehension.
• color,
• blinking,
• sound, and
• animation

Consistency of design and optimizing of
graphics for quick-loading time are
crucial.
• Create a visual signature for the site, and
•
•
design all screens in the same format and
typographical style.
Use a limited number of fonts, styles, and
colors.
Select fonts that are particularly legible onscreen, and present extended text in 12-point
size.


Except for headings, use upper- and
lowercase letters.
Include images that load quickly.
• Readers of on-line documents expect visuals,
but many get impatient waiting for graphics to
load, and they move on to other sites.
Copyright Issues

Though some of what is on the Internet
is in the public domain and can be
copied at will, a large amount of the
information on the Internet is protected
by copyright.
• It is best to assume that a work is covered
under copyright protection until you have
determined otherwise.

Authors of Internet documents can protect their
own work by including a copyright notice in the
following format: © 2003 Garrett Liu.
•
•
Authors can register their work with the Copyright
Office of the U.S. Library of Congress for a $20 filing
fee.
Registration forms are available on the Copyright
Office Web site: http://www.loc.gov/copyright>.
Global Audiences

Because the audience for openlyavailable sites on the World Wide Web is
international and multilingual, Web
writers do well to think of the ways that
their material will be received by
speakers of other languages.
Accommodating Disability

Audiences for Web sites are large and
diverse and include people with physical
limitations such as vision or hearing
problems.
• Most U.S. federal agencies have been
required to redesign their Web sites to comply
with guidelines that will make the pages more
accessible to people with disabilities.

Specialized software allows visually
impaired users to hear text-based
messages and explanations of images.
• Transcripts or written descriptions of audio
•
clips assist users with hearing problems.
The Web site for the accessibility initiative
mounted by the World Wide Web Consortium
is a good source for announcements of
technical advances aimed at providing
universal access to the Web:
• <http://www.w3.org/WAI>.
Past and Future Applications

Multimedia has been with us at least since
1978, when rhe Architecture Machine Group at
MIT developed the Aspen Movie Map. This
was a surrogate travel application thac allowed
the user to take a simulated drive through the
city of Aspen. A sec of videodisks contained
photographs of all rhe streets in the city and
some of the buildings. Users could stop in froni
of many buildings and go inside! The Aspen
Movie Map even had a time-of-year knob,
giving the user a choice of the autumn or the
winier version.

By the end of the twentieth century, we
had already witnessed a dramatic
transition from paper to on-line
documents.

Why provide each of 600 employees
each a 500-page manual that needs
updates at least twice a year?
• Accurate and updated information can be
delivered
• on replaceable CD-ROMs,
• on a proprietary intranet, or
• on a handheld information appliance connected to
the wireless Web.

Enthusiasts are convinced that multimedia
applications will be the basis of a new literacy.
•
•
•
Software will diagnose a user’s abilities and learning
needs, and the multimedia book will reconfigure to
best suit each reader.
Learning will be effective and powerful because, in this
view, nonlinear systems model the associative style of
human idea processing.
Information will always be timely, because electronic
updates are cheap and convenient.

Skeptics wonder about a future in which all
texts are unstable and can he read in any
order, perhaps revised by many readers.
•
•
•
•
Which versions of a document will he authoritative?
What factors of electronic text will substitute for the
social signals that distinguish a high-quality printed
book from a carelessly prepared handout.
What is the meaning of intellectual property?
Will electronic documents become obsolete when
hardware and software change?

Electronic text is

But electronic media provides
• less legible,
• slower,
• more expensive to produce, and
• more tiring to read.
• vast storage capability
• easy search and retrieval, and
• accuracy.