Unit 4 - The Use of Fonts & Text as Images as Web Design Elements
	Main Topic:	Unit IV Standards of Color and Type/Font Styles
	Created by:	Leanne C Boyd on 28-Apr-00 at 5:40 am
	For:	Unit 4 Assignments

The Use of Fonts & Text as Images as Web Design Elements

An interesting subject for discussion, this was suggested in our class:
If you need to use a unique font, create an image file containing the text in that font. That way you can be assured that your text will render in the font you designed it in.

This can be a very effective way of maintaining a design element. Some sites have very much over-used this, however ... in that they have taken a image of an entire segment of text, and inserted it in place of actual HTML. This takes a long time to download, which is irritating. On some sites, it also becomes obvious that the site has utilized this technique as a means of protecting the actual written component ... if you wish to cite the text, you literally have to re-type it, even if it is for legitimate means such as a university paper. I've even seen this done on technology sites such as ZDNet, and even academic sites.

This brings me to an observation of my own job at netLibrary.com. The ability to search within a document is vital, and it is text-based. In many books that we work with, such as statistics and other math, science and computer books, we run into large segments of formulas that literally require a bitmap of the item, rather than the hunt and peck word processing situation, through a huge list of appropriate symbols. We do that to cut down on the error rate of word processing unfamiliar symbols. However — what this does is make the section totally NON-searchable. Our engineers are developing some systems that will allow the necessary search function for text that has been represented in an image. From what I understand, it will be similar to the "alt" function for images inserted in HTML code.

This is an appropriate time to stress the importance of the CONTENT within a web site ... no matter what else, the user is usually looking for information, with any kind of design element being either incidental to his/her goal, or relatively unimportant. Glaringly bad design will negatively affect the visitor. Mediocre or non-intrusive design will become invisible. Great design will also be invisible to many visitors ... they will recognize that they liked the site, but perhaps not be able to pinpoint the design reasons behind that pleasurable reaction.

But, the overwhelming majority of users WILL complain if the INFORMATION is not "findable." Whenever using an image — whether it is a design element, or a representation of text — the page should be coded in the "alt" of the image, so that your information will be picked up, in a search. The nice thing about "alt" is that it also pops up the small window, with the typed version of your info. Every good HTML/web editor has a function to insert the "alt." Every web site "mechanics" site, such as NetMechanic, or even the W3C themselves ... will alert you when you have omitted the "alt," as it is that important in the Internet world.

Let's talk!! Write to:
WebSpinner@refuge-earth.org
( that's me — Leanne! )

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