Ionrock Dot Org

Today I read a small article on The Morning News. TMN (as it seems to be called) is basically a new site. Having only read one article, it doesn't seem appropriate to make any claims to its content. The article that I read was enjoyable if that is helpful. The most noticeable feature of TMN is the feeling of a regular newspaper. The New York Times does this as well so it is not a surprising design.

The type of design that emulates print media seems odd to me. On one side is the familiarity with the interface. Most people have read a newspaper, so reading a web page that looks like a newspaper should feel familiar. What bothers me is the feeling that using "print" based designs or tactics merely enforces ideas that computers are not entities to themselves. What I mean by this is that in order for computers to be viable and helpful, there needs to be some real world entry point. The "desktop" metaphor and every other user interface metaphor are great examples of this.

As a programmer I am biased, but I do feel it is time to start seeing computers as a medium in itself. Of course there are web pages and sites that do this already and it is obvious that there is software meant to handle electronic data. The point is the paperless office is a total failure because taking paper out of the office is made for using paper. The Internet on the other hand is made for electronic data, so lets move out of the office instead of moving the Internet in.