Comments on: The Paradox of White Space: Some Research and Examples of White Space in Web Design

By: 7 Surefire Ways To Commit Blog Suicide — The Writer’s Round-About

7 Surefire Ways To Commit Blog Suicide — The Writer’s Round-About — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:19:36 +0000

[...] on our eyes (even when web pages are stylish and uncluttered). When you add the pressure of zero whitespace you’re causing serious problems for readers. Especially for those, like me, who have [...]

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 02:59:18 +0000

I used both as the conference was in Cairns, gateway to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Starfish and pretty fish abound!

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 01:27:24 +0000

Thanks for the link to the presentation. I thought the starfish and fish motif in your graphics was pretty clever.

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:42:48 +0000

For more research/articles about the use of white space, line length, fonts etc. on web pages, take a look at some of the resources I found when preparing for a presentation I did at two 2006 conferences: http://www.cybertext.com.au/services_edit.htm – the Resource list (PDF) associated with the “Reviewing screen-based content” presentation is the one you need. (Note: I haven’t checked recently that all links still work, so apologies if some are now out of date.)

By: Blog News Watch » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week Ending July 13, 2007

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 01:19:19 +0000

[...] Survey …Google Blogoscoped: Web 2.0? That’s so five minutes ago … I’d Rather Be Writing: Tom talks about “The Paradox of White Space” … Instigator Blog: The skinny on a [...]

By: Zo’C » The importance of White Space in design

Zo’C » The importance of White Space in design — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:59:49 +0000

[...] was reading a great post of Tom about The White Space Paradox and he cites: In western culture we associate uncluttered spaces with good [...]

By: Technical Writing Blogs Group Page - Blogdigger Groups

Technical Writing Blogs Group Page - Blogdigger Groups — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:30:32 +0000

[...] Fred Sampson’s Radio Weblog – – Tuesday, Jul 10, 2007 – Feed – Focus Monday, Jul 09, 2007 The Paradox of White Space: Some Research and Examples of White Space in Web Design by tom in Web Design White Space is a principle of layout and design well known among graphic [...]

By: Guilherme Zühlke O'Connor

Guilherme Zühlke O'Connor — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:28:06 +0000

Great post!

In western culture we associate uncluttered spaces with good taste

I think that this is not entirely true. First because some eastern cultures have a very minimalistic artistic tradition, and for the other part, western culture sometimes really likes some chaos.

While the modernist movement was cemented over Mies van der Rohe’s well know phrase “less is more”, all the punk movement was created over visual chaos.

What is true, is that white space helps us to relax and read (which is not what the punk movement was intending, of course).

White space is a relaxation area to avoid the rest of the content to fly over you like a bird of prey.

By: Gloria Hildebrandt

Gloria Hildebrandt — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:29:38 +0000

As a writer, I learned about white space from designers. Writers tend to see empty space as needing to be filled with words. Designers taught me that less can be more. Now I try to give them the room to create the balance they want. But balance is key. Too much white space can look like an incomplete design.

By: Hal

Hal — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:09:42 +0000

Outstanding article! There’s a trend these days away from this, with everyone cramming as much as possible into very busy sites (due to client requests, I’m guilty as well), but there’s a lot be learned from the excellent examples in this post.