Changing our understanding of word processing.
The basic simplicity of an HTML document has probably had a profound effect on
the way in which we relate to the word processor. True, chances are good that
sooner rather than later the joys of changing fonts and font sizes and styles
would have worn off, and word processing would have become pretty much what it
simply should be - words on "paper". But the down-to-earth layout of
an HTML generated web page, its leanness, its emphasis on functionality over style,
certainly speeded up that process, and influenced the way we used our word processors.
I've typed throughout all of my adult life (and quite a bit before then as well).
Until I started preparing HTML documents I always indented, either by a tab, or
by five small spaces, each new paragraph. This was almost as strongly embedded
in my fingers as two spaces after a period. But
as soon as I started posting documents to the web I switched to simply entering
an additional line break between paragraphs - not only in my web documents, but
in everything that I write.
Yes, there was a period when decorative graphics cluttered our web documents,
but happily it seems to have been short-lived. At least when it comes to text,
today's web is primarily functional, and our word processing has learned from
that.
Go to: Even simpler?, or
Go to: Busy work, or
Go to: Me and HTML