Web could benefit from basic print rules

Remember the extra small all caps labels that were all the rage several years ago? Or the most recent black backgrounds with white or worse grey text? Have you ever wondered why interaction designers continue to plague web design with these questionable styles? Perhaps they should read 'Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes' by Colin Wheildon.

Some basics to consider:

• Headlines set in Times New Roman upper and lower case have a 92% comprehension rate. However, headlines in sans serif type (think Arial) all caps cause a 59% drop in comprehension rate.
• 80% of readers will look at a vertical shape or graphic before they'll look at a horizontal one.
• Reverse type, such as white lettering on a black background, has 0% good comprehension (that's right, zero.) Ink colors, such as bright red on a white background, aren't much better at 10% good comprehension.

Don't get me wrong I can appreciate a white text/black background site. When appropriate, it can create a sense of minimalism and elegance. Even if you do have a hard time reading the text, you can always quickly and easily increase the font via common browser controls. Nice. But my concern, however, is more with information-rich sites that respect for the user's needs. Too many times this style will be applied to information-rich sites, in which readability and comprehension is vital to it's existence. Why would you make it harder to view the site?

My current beef? The fact that wider default resolutions has resulted in the coveted 7 column layout such as those seen on http://nytimes.com/. Yuck. I'm not saying I believe in a one-column layout like reading a book, but come on -- this sure doesn't feel like the direction of "intuitive design".

Perhaps the designers needs to soul-search and re-think why they are designing -- for themselves or for the user.