Comments on: Sites are like billboards not books

By: ann

ann — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:59:00 +0000

So true! People that surf the internet look for things that are eye-catching and things that leave an impression. The attention span of an online surfer is extremely short, so scannability is a must

By: daniel

daniel — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:26:00 +0000

i would second your point, that most clients do not understand why they should use their own copy and pictures.

but: i do not think it’s as simple as reducing websites to billboards (or books for that mather). a (commercial) website has a purpose. to communicate in the best possible way in order to fullfil this purpose(s) it is not enough to code well or have nice design. the content needs to be adjusted as well.

at some point content by the customer (read: user generated content) is fine or even inteded, for a billboard style advertising website good copy by professionals is needed though.

i suspect clients wanting to make their own content, as the do not understand it is (equal) important to other parts of a website, they are not able to create on their own (e.g., code) – “but why should i spend $$$ on photos, i do have a camera on my smartphone” – some clients rather have one more fancy (and potentially not needed) feature than spend the money on professional content. those clients might be better of if we consult them how to use facebook right instead.

imo we must educate our clients to understand, that a nice suit does not make a gentleman.

By: Jeff Croft

Jeff Croft — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:42:00 +0000

I agree in some cases. But in others, it’s not practical and don’t make good, logical business sense to have the content/copy before you create the design system. For example, take a newspaper site. With new content being posted several times an hour, it’s just not practical to do anything other than create a template and flow the content into it.

Some sites are like billboards, yes. Some are more like books. Some are like newspapers. Some are like magazines. Some are like apps.

The answer to this, like pretty much every other design question in the world is: it depends.

By: Jeff Croft

Jeff Croft — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:42:00 +0000

Some sites are like billboards, yes. Some are more like books. Some are like newspapers. Some are like magazines. Some are like apps.

The answer to this, like pretty much every other design question in the world is: it depends.

By: Neal Chester

Neal Chester — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:18:00 +0000

I totally agree! This has become my stance on web design as of late. It’s more about the message the design just wraps around it. So what I’ve been doing is working on the message first and then creating a web presence that caters to that message. This also eliminates the number one problem in web development: clients taking forever to give content. if we start with a copywriter the most important part is taking care of and the process can continue to flow from there. Excellent post. I thought I was the only one who was thinking like this.

By: chronicler_Isiah

chronicler_Isiah — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:44:00 +0000

I disagree as it depnds entirely on the client’s business model and content requirement as to the type of site that best suits their needs.

The BBC for instance – would not want a purely ’billboard’ site I don’t think as it couldn’t accommodate the rich drill-down of comments, blogs, reviews etc. They are very much a ‘repository of information’.

Whereas for a self-employed photographer or designer say – the billboard option would be more the ideal.

Horses for courses I think.

By: brendan murphy

brendan murphy — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:13:00 +0000

Like this view point Paul, It is very true, but with the web now being developed on products like WordPress, for client usability and this can be developed to be engaging on may levels.

But how would you describe this billboard development process, when we are clearly moving into “app” based design for many sites? You will know the figures that there are now more internet ready mobiles than board band users.