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7. Only Ask for What You Need.<br />
Last but not least, this is a rule that could make so many web forms so much<br />
better. If the information you're asking for isn't absolutely crucial to your<br />
dealings with me, don't ask for it. Every second I spend filling in a form is a<br />
second I spend getting more frustrated with your website, and more likely<br />
not to finish what I've started if something goes even slightly wrong. Your<br />
site should be set up to figure out as much as it can about me automatically.<br />
Don't ask what language I want to use – my browser tells you that in its HTTP<br />
headers. Don't ask which country I'm from – you can detect that with my IP<br />
address. Save me time, and I'll be much more likely to appreciate your site.<br />
Chapter 31: The Web is Not Paper.<br />
The web is a relatively new medium – in fact, it's often referred to as just that,<br />
'new media' – and practical graphic design on the web is still less than ten<br />
years old, by all accounts. This fact means that plenty of so-called web<br />
designers are really just print graphic designers trying to transfer their old<br />
ways onto a compuuter screen. What you have to remember though, is that<br />
the web is not paper.<br />
Paper Doesn't Scroll.<br />
If you design a site as if it had to fit entirely onto one sheet of A4, you're<br />
doing your visitors a disservice. Text on the web has a potential infinite<br />
amount of space. Why make me press a button to go to your next page? Are<br />
you stupid? Are you just trying to increase your page views and ad views, or<br />
what? Stick to the rule of one page for one article, and you'll do much better.<br />
Paper Has No Bandwidth Issues.<br />
You can cover a sheet of paper in all the pretty pictures and backgrounds<br />
you like, and it still doesn't take any longer to pick it up and read it. That's<br />
just not true on the web. I'm sure you abandoned dial-up years ago, no<br />
doubt, but there are still plenty of people out there using the web at those<br />
kinds of speeds. It's downright rude to make them sit and wait while your<br />
design loads, when all they wanted to do was read some text.<br />
Columns Work on Paper.<br />
The Web Design Guide for Newbies |109
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