4 ms·

And yet you chose to present your ideas using words. At the heart of the Web is the communication between humans. At the heart of that communication are words.

And yet you chose to present your ideas using words. At the heart of the Web is the communication between humans. At the heart of that communication are words. You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. You can argue that we can communicate using sounds, but unless those sounds are words, the communication is limited in the same way as when using pure images. You can argue that the Web is not only about communication between humans (e.g. we can do shopping online), but the communication is indispensable for all those other services. You can argue that the Web is not only about communication between humans, but all that machine-to-machine communication is ultimately there to connect humans. Web design is there to help you achieve whatever you're trying to do on the Web in a way that's more appealing and easier to interact with. I think that Justin's assertion is that words are at the heart of whatever you're trying to do on the Web. And I think he's dead on.

adriand 13y ago
> You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. Like so many other things, it depends. When people are online looking to book a bed and breakfast, buy a pair of shoes or find a date, they tend to find images very valuable indeed. In fact, in the absence of images, many of the web's transactions would simply not happen. It's not for nothing that we often say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'.
- pseut 13y ago
  "It's not for nothing that we often say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'." This sentence can support either side of the argument. I love it. Draw that sentence.
- ErrantX 13y ago
  It's funny but this is not really true. We've just finished a massive UI test involving a choice our users have to make during sign up. Various graphical images illustrating the choice caused more confusion than a short sentence for each. We also found replacing text links with icons increased support requests from new users by a noticeable margin. AND when keeping the icons and restoring the text it was still above baseline My view is that for length and complex ideas images or video can be illustrative. But for 90% of interactions text is always clearer.
  - adriand 13y ago
    Your example doesn't invalidate my point at all because it's restricted to one particular situation: signing up for something. If you were selling shoes online instead, I think you'd be much more likely to agree with me on the importance of images, which would simply prove my point that "it depends". Consider what works better: * a description of a place and how to get there or a map * a description of a floor plan or a diagram * a description of someone's appearance or their photograph * a description of a piece of clothing or its photograph The OP said, "the most powerful tool on the web is still words". That might be true, but I disagree with CodeMage when s/he said that "words are at the heart of whatever you're trying to do on the Web". I don't believe that words are at the heart of Google Maps or Flickr or last.fm or countless other web properties that revolve around sound, images and video. If pornography were wordless, would people stop watching it? Do people watch it now because of "communication"? Words are important, but they are not of sole importance in general and in many cases are not of primary importance.
- sageikosa 13y ago
  I don't think anyone is completely devaluing images in communicating things; they just assign images to a lower priority in the communication order, one that is supportive rather than primary. Without the context of buying shoes, pictures of shoes tell me nothing. I can fill those shoes with all sorts of stories. (Static) pictures usually don't have implied ordering of information, unlike words, and videos, which require serialized focus to perceive.
coherentpony 13y ago
One word (pun intended): Hieroglyphs.

adriand 13y ago

> You can argue that we can communicate using images, but that communication is limited when compared to words. Like so many other things, it depends. When people are online looking to book a bed and breakfast, buy a pair of shoes or find a date, they tend to find images very valuable indeed. In fact, in the absence of images, many of the web's transactions would simply not happen. It's not for nothing that we often say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'.

pseut 13y ago
"It's not for nothing that we often say, 'a picture is worth a thousand words'." This sentence can support either side of the argument. I love it. Draw that sentence.
ErrantX 13y ago
It's funny but this is not really true. We've just finished a massive UI test involving a choice our users have to make during sign up. Various graphical images illustrating the choice caused more confusion than a short sentence for each. We also found replacing text links with icons increased support requests from new users by a noticeable margin. AND when keeping the icons and restoring the text it was still above baseline My view is that for length and complex ideas images or video can be illustrative. But for 90% of interactions text is always clearer.
- adriand 13y ago
  Your example doesn't invalidate my point at all because it's restricted to one particular situation: signing up for something. If you were selling shoes online instead, I think you'd be much more likely to agree with me on the importance of images, which would simply prove my point that "it depends". Consider what works better: * a description of a place and how to get there or a map * a description of a floor plan or a diagram * a description of someone's appearance or their photograph * a description of a piece of clothing or its photograph The OP said, "the most powerful tool on the web is still words". That might be true, but I disagree with CodeMage when s/he said that "words are at the heart of whatever you're trying to do on the Web". I don't believe that words are at the heart of Google Maps or Flickr or last.fm or countless other web properties that revolve around sound, images and video. If pornography were wordless, would people stop watching it? Do people watch it now because of "communication"? Words are important, but they are not of sole importance in general and in many cases are not of primary importance.
sageikosa 13y ago
I don't think anyone is completely devaluing images in communicating things; they just assign images to a lower priority in the communication order, one that is supportive rather than primary. Without the context of buying shoes, pictures of shoes tell me nothing. I can fill those shoes with all sorts of stories. (Static) pictures usually don't have implied ordering of information, unlike words, and videos, which require serialized focus to perceive.

coherentpony 13y ago

One word (pun intended): Hieroglyphs.