"Usability News":http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usability_news.html has a very interesting article on Paging vs. Scrolling. J. Ryan Baker examines the results from a study of the use of paging vs.(versus) scrolling in reading passage.
Results? Paging conditions took longer to read the passages than full or scrolling, with no noticible difference in their comprehension. Which is contrary to the early study by Dyson & Kipping in 1998. But they found Paging "too broken up" and that they "had to go back and forth".
My guess is that you're seeing people more used to scrolling and reading online, using a computer, and more used to the methods that have been presented.
Perhaps, then, we should change books back into long paper scrolls?
(Also, I must applaud you for your use of a grass banner at the top of your site. It seems our sites have that particular design element in common!
I always thought it would be cool to somehow link that banner to reflect the local weather, you know what I mean? Like if you could have a grass picture in rain [much like yours] snow, sun etc. and then have the corresponding banner display based on local weather reports.)
Nah, it's okay. I knew exactly what you were talking about.
In regards to the books, I believe that reading a book is fundamentally different than reading online. A book has amazing resolution, while providing a wonderful tactile response. Completely different animals.
As for the rotating image in regards to the weather...that would be slick. I'm sure it's very do-able. The hard part would be getting a feed in from a weather site and parsing it to find the weather. Even slicker would be doing a reverse-lookup of the user's location and basing off the weather at that location.
I dunno. You can hold a book, turn it's pages, thumb forward and back at an amazing speed, mark it up, hi-lite it, dog-ear it, set it aside, FEEL it. Online reading just simply can't compare to books.
But books and online are two terribly different things I believe. Yes, you could go much more dynamic with online.
Let me know when you get the weather-responsive banner. I'd love to do it, but I still have to fix my portfolio section first...
Comments
Big Picnic
Perhaps, then, we should change books back into long paper scrolls?
(Also, I must applaud you for your use of a grass banner at the top of your site. It seems our sites have that particular design element in common!
I always thought it would be cool to somehow link that banner to reflect the local weather, you know what I mean? Like if you could have a grass picture in rain [much like yours] snow, sun etc. and then have the corresponding banner display based on local weather reports.)
Posted by: Big Picnic | March 27, 2003 02:48 PM
Big Picnic, again
(Upon reloading I realized that your grass banner was actually only one of many rotating banners. In case none of the above makes any sense... sorry.)
Posted by: Big Picnic, again | March 27, 2003 02:55 PM
Tony
Nah, it's okay. I knew exactly what you were talking about.
In regards to the books, I believe that reading a book is fundamentally different than reading online. A book has amazing resolution, while providing a wonderful tactile response. Completely different animals.
As for the rotating image in regards to the weather...that would be slick. I'm sure it's very do-able. The hard part would be getting a feed in from a weather site and parsing it to find the weather. Even slicker would be doing a reverse-lookup of the user's location and basing off the weather at that location.
Posted by: Tony | March 28, 2003 08:38 AM
BIg Picnic
Books ARE high-res, but they're not terribly interactive.
One day I'll implement my weather responsive banner, but you see, there again- couldn't do that with some book.
Posted by: BIg Picnic | March 28, 2003 12:16 PM
Tony
I dunno. You can hold a book, turn it's pages, thumb forward and back at an amazing speed, mark it up, hi-lite it, dog-ear it, set it aside, FEEL it. Online reading just simply can't compare to books.
But books and online are two terribly different things I believe. Yes, you could go much more dynamic with online.
Let me know when you get the weather-responsive banner. I'd love to do it, but I still have to fix my portfolio section first...
Posted by: Tony | March 28, 2003 12:36 PM