Article - How website design differs from print design
1) Resolution or Image quality
When designing graphics for a print project one can use the highest quality image available. The “quality” or resolution of an image is measured by its DPI count and print images are set to 300 dpi. Images used for the web need to be optimised to load quickly and therefore should have a lower resolution of 72 dpi.
2) Fonts & Typography
For visitors to your site to see the same font as was used to build the site, they must have that font installed on their computer. If they do not, their browser will show an alternative font that may have no relation to the one you intended them to see. This limits the font choice for websites to something called a “default font” (a standard font that virtually every computer will have installed). The reality of web design is that you actually have very little control over how your site looks to visitors. It is much less sophisticated than print media. All the aspects of typography, such as font, size, text breaks, page breaks, etc., are actually determined mostly by the web browser and not by the site owner.
3) Navigation
Interactivity is possibly the biggest difference between a print publication and a website. The viewer controls the sequence of pages and jumps around the site using links. The result of this is that a web designer must present the content of the site in a very different format from print. A website is not a physical product or document and it is not a document waiting to be simply printed. It is a dynamic, interactive and exciting content delivery tool. One cannot assume that a visitor to your website lands on the home page and reads the site sequentially. They can enter the site from any point and go where their interest takes them. Every individual page must be able to stand up on its own.
4) Computer Screens
A site that looks nice and clean on a big screen with millions of colours may look jagged and broken on an old monitor with just 256 colours. Colours that look bright and sharp on one screen can look dark and dull on another. The size of the screen also has an effect. A site that looks great on a 17” monitor will be cut off on a smaller one. Most websites are built to fit a 15” screen which is considered the “lowest common denominator” of screen size today.
5) Colour Output
In print everyone sees the same colors. Apart from that portion of the population who have one or other form of color blindness, all printed documents look the same to everyone who sees them. On the web you cannot be certain what people see. While the vast majority of people now use computers capable of viewing millions of colors, there are still some who surf with just 256 colors available to them. This is as nothing compared to the variation caused by different equipment. If you have both a laptop and a desktop computer you will be familiar with the difference in color appearance on each. In fact there is variation between just about every single monitor in existence. Quite apart from the type of monitor and itsbrand there are the matters of individual choice in contrast and brightness, of the use of protective screens, the amount of daylight in the room and the cleanliness or otherwise of the screen. All will affect the way the color appears to the end user and you have little or no control over any of them.
6) Updating
A website is generally less expensive to update and can easily be kept up-to-date with the most recent developments in one’s products, services and with industry-related information. Print media is only current on the date of printing and so incurs greater costs to maintain as an advertising medium in rapidly changing industries.
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