Comments on: Designing for the long read on Inside Government http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/ Putting the public first in delivering digital public services Fri, 17 May 2013 09:57:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Foden Grealy – A very good thing… http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-35493 Sat, 13 Apr 2013 18:10:32 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-35493 [...] English that I can read quickly and understand readily. I love that the pages look smart and that huge care has been taken about the layout and small things like the choice of typefaces. I think it is great [...]

]]> By: Ben B http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-22961 Sat, 05 Jan 2013 10:17:33 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-22961 There’s mention here of 30+ content types/templates. Without wanting the complete details, could you publish the list of the content types? I ask only because smaller initiatives (say, a town council) could use the list as a way of grouping the information types they publish.

Thanks

]]> By: A quick tour of Inside Government | Government Digital Service http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-15366 Thu, 15 Nov 2012 10:37:33 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-15366 [...] Designing for the long read on Inside Government [...]

]]> By: What we know about the users of Inside Government | Government Digital Service http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-15176 Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:56:23 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-15176 [...] want the latest information and to be able to get an overview quickly, but they are also willing to engage in the depth and technicalities. That said, they will not tolerate jargon or [...]

]]> By: mhurrell http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-15106 Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:00:55 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-15106 Hi Gerry, agree with both your points – for those reasons I deliberately chose to scope this post to the tone of the interface rather than the mechanics of typographic legibility. I don’t think Transport itself is any more or less readable than other typefaces of similar proportions, but it does carry a cultural expectation of the type of information that it should convey.

That said, many web fonts are both badly spaced and not especially suited for the screen, which is compounded by CSS not really offering much in the way of fine-grained tracking control to compensate. With New Transport the high quality of Henrik’s redrawing in addition to his openness to feedback about the spacing has made a difference.

]]> By: Gerry Leonidas http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-15022 Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:48:00 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-15022 You seem to be suggesting that Transport made texts less readable than Times, which prompted authors to rewrite. It could be argued just as easily (with perhaps more anecdotal evidence, for the general point) that Transport made the texts *more* readable, since the authors were able to detect that the language needed editing. Either is open to investigation.
As you note in your last paragraph, readability is, ceteris paribus, a compound of typeface, layout, and style – so a simple typeface swap may be misleading. (For example, the ratio of x-height to linespacing in your image above is different for Times and Transport, which is a critical factor for paragraph typography.) I applaud your efforts, but I would like to make the point that a more nuanced approach when considering typefaces may be helpful.

]]> By: Frances Berriman http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-14951 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:44:09 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-14951 In this case, I believe “affect” is actually correct. Affect can generally be replaced by the word “influenced”, as in… the influence of the typefaces on sentences. Effect is generally used as a noun which would mean “the impression of typefaces on sentences”. Essentially, you could use either in this sentence and it would have relevant meaning.

]]> By: mhurrell http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-14945 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:11:37 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-14945 Hi Graham, you’re right and we’re working towards that. Our content designers have contributed a lot to Inside Government and all writers will be encouraged to follow the GDS Style guide. That said, we probably won’t see a huge change happen overnight. You can read more in this post.

]]> By: frankieroberto http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-14919 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:30:14 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-14919 “The affect of typefaces on sentences” – ouch. Embarrassing mistake for an article on writing… :)

]]> By: Graham Lee http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/11/13/designing-for-the-long-read-on-inside-government/#comment-14896 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:51:26 +0000 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/?p=7265#comment-14896 Sorry – meant to say ‘hence should be…’

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