Publishing for the web -- massaging the message

[HawaiiBill]

Several decades ago Marshall McLuhan published, The Medium is the Message, the first serious look at electronic media and its implications for society. His primary subject was television which he thought would create a 'global village' where instantaneous communication would put us all in the same room, watching television.

Marshall could not have foreseen how terrible television progamming would be.

Nor did he have a vision of the World Wide Web which -- SPAM and other junk notwithstanding -- may be closer to his vision.

I think that writing, editing and publishing for the web has or should have different techniques than those used in any other medium. Black type on paper isn't the same as type presented on a bright monitor, even if the 'message' is identical.

Have you thought of this? If you don't know about McLuhan, see http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html
for an introduction. There is a lot more iinformation available but the idea, without much detail, is powerful enough to get you thinking.

It is my suggestion, as an easy example, that text on the web should be in narrow columns. And that it have more paragraphs than might be used in print on paper. Both of those are for easier readability.

Why don't we have more illustrated material? Shold we? With the capability at hand, it seems we would get more erotic films, very short, online. What about use of links for unusual purpose?

What makes stories easier to read on Literotica? What do you enjoy about reading online that is better than reading from a magazine or book?

And what is the difference in the web and television as a source of information that is or was traditionally text-based?

In short, what would make material on Literotica better, more enjoyable, more powerful? Or is it perfect as it is?

 

[cantdog]

More illustrations sounds very nice to me; I illustrate! There's a small community of artists right here in the Lit. band, shamelessly hawking their stuff in the Illustrator's Hangout .

So you have a certain amount of support for that idea.

I like not paying, by the way.

I like being able to interact with the writer.

I like being able to pretty much count on getting published.


All these things are very cool.


cantdog

 

[dr_mabeuse]

A great and very important topic.

I go back to McLuhan's time, and for me reading off a screen is still unpleasnat and uncomfortable. I don't like those photons slamming into my eyes, and don't like that very subtle background flicker, and it doesn't help that most stuff on the web is printed in some sort of sans serif font that makes the words harder to recognize (do we still think that Helvetica is the font of the future? They've been telling us that since the '30's. Have you ever looked at an entire page printed in sans serif? It's very hard to read.)

I have no doubt that I'd read a lot more stories if they were in hard-copy in something like Times New Roman or Bookman or something that makes word recognition easier. But serifs don't reproduce that well on the screen so we're stuck with this. Really I think it's because the letter weight is so monotonous in Verdana or whatever font this is that white space is so welcome. It gives us a place to rest.

I'm sure you're right about columns too. I guess they found oout years ago that text in 2.5-3" columns is the easiest to read, and that's why most textbooks adopted that format. Printed novels are kind of different, and the liesurely full line seems to suit them better than columns.

As for pictures, I've started writing for a BDSM site that's experimenting with illustrated stories. The webmaster posts a series of suggestive photos to a speacial author hangout, and authors are invited to write stories that incorporate some of the photos to illustrate the story. The webmaster sees great profit potential in illustrated erotica, and so do I, which is why I'm doing it gratis for now. Here's a link if you're interested:

http://www.bdsmillustrated.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=2

Unfortunately, my first effort didn't come out all that great because I was just learning how to use the technique. I just submitted another one that I think is better.

There are some legal problems associated with illustrated BDSM. Apparently, showing sex with someone tied up is interpreted as rape and is not allowed by some communities, and so getting decent picture sets is not easy.

Personally, I had a very bad experience with trying to incorporate pictures into a document in an eariler version of MSWord some years ago, and so I hesitate to even try and use that feature now. (On the BDSM site, we just write [Pic 100-1 here] where we want the picture to appear and the Webmaster takes care of it.) I just don;t feel I have the technical expertise to use that feature here. Try as I might, I still don't understand what Lit does to formatting, or even how to guarantee that my italics come out in italics, so I'm not about to start messing around with graphics here.

---dr.M.

 

[herecomestherain]

Just a quick reply, more later, but this is an interesting topic. I reckon I'm reading a million words a day! Or maybe it just feels that way. I just wondered if people manipulated their computer screens for ease of reading ? I've got a couple of preferences, just wanted to know if others did.

For instance, I generally read Lit Forums/a with my Favorites List open (Windows 98) on the left hand side. This reduces the screen width and can be increased/moved, thereby reducing column width to a size that is easy on the eye. Late in the day when my eyes are tired I press control and the scroll button on the mouse to increase the font size, I feel my eyes "ease" almost immediately. Maybe I should just read like that all the time? Duh!

Doc, I think Arial is the new contender to take over the world with Helvetica a close second. We had a major news piece about it recently. There is even an anti Arial lobby! I quite like Verdana. Typeface is like fashion in some ways. For some reason Times Roman is starting look old fashioned, heavy and dark to me. I guess I've come to associate the sans serif types with computers.

At the moment I'm particularly grateful to folks who write in decent size paragraphs. I hardly ever read a story written in vast blocks of text. I think it shows little regard for the reader.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

It doesn't help that this vBulletin format is kind of outdated. I have no idea what would be involved in an upgrade though.

I'm a great believer in paragraphing. My watchwaord is: when in doubt, start a new paragraph. It usually can't hurt.

I also double space everything I post here. I guess most of us do.

It's interesting, but in reading Lit stories I've noticed a definite tendency for people to increase the size of their paragraphs once the sex starts. I don't know if they just think that all the sex action is one 'subject' or whether they think that cramming all those lines together gives the sex a more exciting feel, but it's something I see a lot.

It would be interesting to see some other people's ideas of reader-friendly formats. Anyone got a link?

---dr.M.

 

[minsue]

I agree with 'Rain regarding Times New Roman. Too heavy is quite right. I'm used to Arial. Everything seems to be in Arial anymore. Verdana is alright.

I would not like narrow paragraphs for the stories, though. I find the current width of the paragraphs for the stories here is already too narrow for my taste. I know I'm in the minority with that, but for me it's more work to keep dragging my eyes back and forth reading narrow columns of text.

I'm torn on illustrations. They can enhance a story when done well, but all too often they just detract from it. It's a distraction.

 

[imarrja]

good topic!

I agree that "narrow" (6" or so) columns are good, and "long" paragraphs (>4") are hard on the eyes.

I've set up my Windows and IE preferences to allow for low eyestrain, but many webmasters override my prefs with their page design. To minimize eyestrain, I've begun to wear my reading glasses rather than my regular glasses while surfing and that's helpled. I will probably have a new Rx soon; if so, I will get the computer anti-glare coating on my new glasses.

"Blinking" images are a pain (literally). Images are good, but it's easy to overdo them. "Less is more" comes to mind. However, we can't do without them entirely. The 'net's really jazzed up since I first used it almost 10 yrs ago--back when it was mostly bulletin boards, fixed-pitch fonts, next to no images and very little color. I didn't like it and didn't use it again for another 2-3 years.

 

[snooper]

Re: good topic!

... The 'net's really jazzed up since I first used it almost 10 yrs ago--back when it was mostly bulletin boards, fixed-pitch fonts, next to no images and very little color. ...

Ah, the good old days, in the golden age, when all contributors to all bulletin boards were as sensible as I ...