Ia:ipad Edition "Wired" is a paper tiger

This is the second Western review of the IPad version of Wired, from the renowned user experience/information Architecture Research Station IA (information-architects). While some of the criticism in this article is for English typography (for example, the use of hyphens), most of them are still worth reading for Chinese ipad content software developers. --Editor

First, they stuck cardboard magazines into the tiny ipad screen. This beautiful but doomed software lacks interactive logic and provides a bizarre way to make up for this. In the end, it turned into something that was full of internal links, plus a few videos and audio ("interactivity"), and was sent to the market. Damn, the 1990 's revived again.

Good pictures can be justified. But the text is different. To fulfill one's mission--communication, words require superb rhetorical skills and typography. On the screen, it's all the more complicated. Wired's journalists and graphic designers are still the industry's top players, but the IPad version of Wired's fonts and interactive designs are far from being designed. Here's what IA's evil opinion of Wired software is.

The IPad's vertical state itself constitutes a reasonable column width, and it leaves a blank. The horizontal version leaves more white. Why not? This is a medium with infinite vertical space, and there is no need to design a tight layout of multiple columns. I know that many columns look very classic texture, but the heavy black runner phone is also very classic. In practice, the use of multiple-column layout is similar to that of the runner phone. The size and resolution of the IPad are only half that of the printed paper in the magazine, which means it has only one-fourth of its granularity. So you have to change your mind.

The reasons for multiple-column layouts are as follows:

First, the text will be broken, so that the page becomes chaotic, reduce breathing space.

Second, the number of lines will increase, so that the right side of the text like a dog gnawing.

Three, will be a long article cut into many disconnected blocks of text, which will increase the difficulty of reading direction.

Four, will increase the number of hyphens (-) to form more empty text, which will make the scrolling area longer.

Five, will lock you in the paper thinking, the height of the page will be fixed.

Six, this design out of the layout, read often think: Next how to do?

Seven, will increase the reader's navigational perception load. For example, they would think: on the second page, what happens if I slide to the left? Will jump to the second page of the next article? or the first page?

Multiple columns are compared to one-column layouts. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

I would like to stress once again: the current size and resolution of the IPAD, the design of long articles into a multi-column layout is simply a nonsense of nostalgia design. The more columns, the worse.

The fonts that are optimized for the screen are more readable than the old standards of the type and paper age. If you don't understand this, you should at least keep enough space between the columns and the columns. (Tip: As with line spacing, you must be larger on the screen than on paper because the words on the screen are more blurred.) ）

The effect that the author simulates with InDesign. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

Effect on the IPad. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

The issue of Wired software is not limited to the article page. On some pages, the width of a column makes it easy to get tired when you read. The following layout is beautiful, but to read those words is torture.

The effect that the author simulates with InDesign. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

Effect on the IPad. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

(The New York Times software has the same problem.) If you use an easy to read font size, the horizontal five-column mode and the vertical three-column pattern will result in a row of only three to five words. It looks like a classic nostalgia, but it reads as if listening to the silly, hasty soundtrack of the 1920-year comic. The New York Times software uses card mode, and navigation is a slide to the right, which also poses other problems. [There will be many dead ends.] ]）

Fonts that are good on paper do not have a good effect on the screen, because anti-aliasing makes them unstable. Hoefler+frere-jones's tweet is a bit ironic:

The IPad version of Wired is great, congratulations to @sdadich and wired team! It's not just because they use a lot of @H_FJ fonts.

Yes, it really is "a lot of fonts" ah. But the font company is happy, the reader may not be.

One, (so far), using a non-screen font on the IPad is still not a good idea, unless the font size is large (which leads to other problems). The IPad screen's font display technology is hard to get. But if you want someone else to read your content, it's hard to get it.

Generally speaking, mixing a variety of fonts is like writing sentences very long. Don't do this unless your control reaches the level of genius. The bad news is that you can't fully control the way fonts are displayed on the IPad, and the current resolution erases the nuances.

The effect that the author simulates with InDesign. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

Effect on the IPad. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

Beautiful print design can not be directly converted to a beautiful screen design. In print, page decoration elements can reflect taste and brand value. On the screen, they become confusing things.

The effect that the author simulates with InDesign. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

Effect on the IPad. Drawing: IA. (Click to see the big picture.) ）

First, in the old 640 x 480 small screen, visual decorative elements occupy valuable screen space. The density of these elements is high, and the IPad's 1024 x 768 screen looks smaller.

Second, the IPad screen itself is about the same size as a half-page magazine, and its Huakang border makes it claustrophobic. If you use the content and the elements other than the white space, it will make the whole space appear smaller.

Third, the electronic equipment navigation operation is not as simple as flipping pages. Every element on the screen-as long as there is no explicit semantic or structural feature-can be misunderstood as a navigation control. Once the user realizes that it is actually just a decorative element, it is consciously ignoring it. Important navigation elements are then ignored, and the entire software becomes a rug. (Who would have guessed that the words marked yellow were internal links?) ）

The IPad version of Wired is full screen advertising, and there is no annoying advertising bar in the content, which is commendable. But it still has a lot of big problems with its current way of advertising.

One, the content part of the design is good, but it is difficult to differentiate with advertising. Gruber for some reason or gave it positive evaluation, but also mentioned: "... Most of the time, especially when you have a few pages of advertising, there is a lack of visual cues on the page, telling you that there are several pages below the current page. "Basically, every page needs to look at the second or third eye to see whether it's advertising or content." You often need to scroll to distinguish between the two. It's not just a matter of usability, it's a matter of journalistic ethics. When I turned to the last pages, I had no interest in distinguishing them, but I quickly turned the remaining pages over and did not read them at all.

Two or one stacks such flat picture sell five dollars (about RMB 35 yuan-editor) really not cheap. (Don't tell me to insert a few videos into the interaction.) And 75% of these JPEG pictures are ads, I think I am simply too two, spend five of dollars to buy a bunch of ads, a group of unreadable content, navigation is still messy, okay?

I know that wired costs more than five dollars and the efficiency of their entire system needs to be improved. "Cooks illustrated" does not advertise, sells 7.95 dollars. (And it's great.) )-@nevenmrgan

Most of the issues noted above (column width, font selection, decorative elements, paper thinking) and many other issues (cannot be copied and pasted, cannot be magnified) appear to be due to the use of InDesign, which is optimized for paper design.

We should use raw tools to write IPad software. It's not because of what jobs said, but because the tools allow you to make flesh and blood products. In other words, it gives you an idea of the purpose, potential, and limitations of the IPAD technology.

Is it necessary to worry about Wired? After all, they've sold 24,000, and IA's software hasn't come out yet. But while Wired is likely to make more money a day than our software, I'm very pessimistic about their long-term sales.

The success of Wired software when it was released was not surprising. This is the reader is blinded by the brand Aura ("Wired" Oh, it looks like Wired) Oh, it must be cool, it's as cool as Wired. "), the reporter was guided by inertia thinking results. Adobe's own--the 1990-generation smell of the nonsense propaganda is a good way to present this inertia thinking:

The future of the magazine is now.

No, it's not. The future is not now, never. The future of the news will definitely not = use a print design software output of a stack inserted video ads picture. We're going to have to make a good effort.