Chapter Four: Designing for the History Web

Rosenzweig and Cohen reference The Non-Designer’s Web Book by Robin Williams and John Tollett. The suggested FOUR elements of web design are:

1. contrast
2. proximity
3. alignment
4. repetition

These are also the same four suggested on the website MyInkBlog's article "4 Principle of Good Design for Websites."

Since I found overlap between two difference references, I am going to use AT LEAST these four elements when evaluating my HOS websites from this week as well.

Let's also look at an example from information designer Edward Tufte, included my Rosenzweig and Cohen because of its glowing approval from Tufte, its simplicity, and its presentation of historical knowledge.





"One of Tufte’s most celebrated examples of great design in historical texts is Charles Joseph Minard’s map showing the disastrous expedition by Napoleon’s army into Russia in 1812. As Tufte shows, the map (which he believes 'may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn') accomplishes all that a well-designed historical work should." What does a well designed historical work need to accomplish? The graphic depicts a tremendous amount of knowledge, while also suggesting conclusions about that history. However it also has, "An unconventional yet unmistakable beauty arises from an elegant font, careful proportions, and judicious use of white space and contrast. Minard’s carte figurative is an ideal that one suspects can be emulated, although perhaps not matched, on the web."

I was immediately reminded on a favorite webcomic creator, Randall Munroe of xkcd. Rather than writing a brilliant comic, occasionally Munroe produces even more brilliant statistical graphics like this on movie narratives.






This is the one that I was thinking of, because of its similarity in style. But as I was rereading and looking at the statistical graphics I found one recently made on US History partisanship.

You should make sure to check out his other awesome creations on Online Communities 2007, Online Communities 2010, Lakes and Oceans, Gravity Wells, Height, and Money. They're all brilliant. AND I think couldn't be consumed or enjoyed with out the web. The format and style of these is so large, that one can zoom into read the text and look at the small bits, while also getting those larger conclusions that Tufte suggests as a key element in the well-designed historical work.