Re: FLASH: Site Check: ITVerge.com

[Tom Green]

David Jacobs wrote:


> Thank you, Tom. You are always very "generous" in your criticism.


I thought it was quite succinct and I see it got your attention.


> I was

> waiting to see what kind of fun words I would hear from you this time. (It

> is strange that you always seem to crawl out of the woodwork with smoke

> bellowing from your horns every time I post a site check, but the rest of

> the time you are relatively silent. I guess it's just me. : )


Nah, it's my wolverine. He is a real stickler for typography. BTW I don't crawl

out of the woodwork. I tend to ooze.


>

>

> I will work on the typography.

>

> Do you believe justifying a block of text is inappropriate? I think left and

> center alignment are even worse.


Now that I have your attention, I will put on my "teacher hat".


David, the proper use of type is extremely important. The ability to embed a

font into Flash makes the proper use of type and fonts an advantage not the

hinderence it is in the HTML universe. Helevetica is becoming terribly over

used. There are tons of really nice sans faces out there - Frutiger, Gill Sans,

Albertus, Univers - and they are tremendous replacements for Helvetica, Arial

and Avant Garde.


Justified text works if you take the time to kern and track.  The big holes

between your  words are called "rivers" and in the print world are completely

unacceptable. At least you don't have access to force justification. This would

make the word "cat" on a line by itself look loike this: c

a                t. Not cool. If your line is looking a bit too ragged using

flush left, then force a word or two down to the next line using "Shift-enter".

As for center alignment, don't get me started.


The point size of the text is also important. The point size you chose is that

used in books for the visually impaired. Really, David, you don't have to fill

each pixel of space with words. Even a simple thing like dropping the size down

to 11 points but putting it on a 20-point lead can be just as effective as

using 16-point type on an 18 point lead. If you want to learn about typography

in the digital medium, read any Type  book written by Robin Williams . Her

"Grunge typography" book is my personal favourite.


I will not retract my comment regarding cutting edge. I am really getting fed

up up with companies calling themselves "cutting edge" designers and they turn

out a bland site that is all technique with little design. The text is not that

coloured stuff that goes around the pictures. It is just as important a design

element as the images.


In your case the typography was "bush league" when compared to such Flash sites

as the poems in the  the Riffen area of  http://www.bornmagazine.com/  or a

real cutting edge design studio such as  http://www.hillmancurtis.com or a type

site such as  http://www.studiomotiv.com/counterspace/ . Counterspace has a

tremendous type tutorial done in Flash. Note how they use small type. It works

because they pay attention to two important aspects of typography- readability

and legibility.


As for the overall design, Mountain Mike made some valid points. Balance your

typography with Mike's suggestions and you will have vastly improved the site.


> Anyway, I will take your advice (along with the more diplomatic follow-up).

>


Diplomatic enough for you?



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