[IxDA Discuss] Usability of Multicolumn text

[Anthony Armendariz]

I think in most cases a multi-column actually has more usability/ 
readability benefits, as the user has a visual reference as to where  
to focus their attention. Also multi-columns aid in readability as  
the reader can digest smaller chunks of information at a time, as  
opposed to reading from left to right on a 1024 width layout.

I agree that the news.com site is poor example of a balanced grid,  
but http:/www.alistapart.com, has a great gird and well balanced  
articles, touts, and advertising components.

Anthony Armendariz



On Jul 24, 2006, at 12:54 PM, Jeff Howard wrote:

> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted  
> material.]
>
> John Grotting wrote:
>> Thanks for the pointer to the International Herald. If we look at the
>> reason why newspapers do multiple columns, it makes the discussion
>> even more complicated. Basically, there is a rule of thumb in the
>
> I agree. I was a print designer in a previous life; examining why (and
> how) newspapers do what they do could be a good technique for deciding
> whether or not to do it on-screen.
>
> Newspapers design their articles so that the bottom of one column  
> and the
> top of the adjacent column in that article are always within  
> eyespan. For
> the most part you can read the columns of any page of the story  
> without
> constantly flipping the paper over. That principle translates into no
> scrolling for online multi-column layouts.
>
> Your other observation about story vs stuff is interesting. In  
> technical
> terms sidebars and navigation are separate columns. But they're also
> separate information. I don't really mind multiple columns unless they
> interfere with the flow of the main narrative. In the case of  
> news.com,
> their sidebar competes with the main story since they're both  
> essentially
> the same width.
>
> Here's another example with three (!) columns. One main and two  
> meta. This
> one doesn't bother me at all since there's clearly a dominant column.
> http://www.airbagindustries.com/
>
> But now we're starting to get more into visual hierarchy and less into
> usability.
>
> // jeff
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