Using the Philosophy of Reductionism in Website Design

An online encyclopedia defines the term reductionism as either an approach to understand the complex nature of things by reducing them to mere interactions, or to its simplified fundamentals. Another definition of the term is that it is the philosophical position of complex systems, which is nothing but sum of various parts. Reductionism is reducing it into individual components. This article talks about how reductionism can be applied to website content, its code and in website design. Defining the term in context of website design, we can say that it is the same principle. Reductionism would ensure that every component of the website is crucial to its users. The three components are relative to the building and creation of websites. This would ensure that the end users are not confused. It would also ascertain that they have not lost control of the content. It is all about improving the overall experience.

The content reductionism can be defined as the simplest method of taking the copy, reducing its word count, removing redundant phrases and making it more precise. The idea is to eliminate everything that does not improve its overall value. However, content is not limited to only text. For the imagery reductionism, it is important that the kept superfluous graphics address to meet the requirements. We do understand that images speak more than words, however, to accomplish the desired result, appropriate images should be used. The process enhances readability criterion of the audience. To accomplish the process, focus should be on the quality. The message should effectively convey the desired message. Technical jargon should be avoided and it is important to be aware of the target demographics. Bulleted points and sub-headings make the content interesting.

In code reductionism, the idea is to enable simplification of code and ensuring that it could not be written better. This process may be more difficult that what it actually sounds. The procedure requires micro-decisions. The web developers should always adopt the semantic approach and ensure that they are web-accessible. The procedure is also applicable in the variety of web technologies that are used. If the desired effect is achievable with the use of CSS, JavaScript and Flash should not be implied. This process would increase the loading speed of the website. To achieve the appropriate reduction in code, it is important to devise a plan of what would be its developing areas. The code should be frequently analyzed and redundancy should be removed as soon as the developer spots it. The specifications should be carefully evaluated to ensure that the best method is applied, which required the minimum amount of code.

Establishing through simplicity, usability and obvious statement, design reductionism states that the designers should pay attention to ingenuity of the design. By eradicating the excess design elements, the design would require lesser thinking and processing from the user’s behalf. If there is any doubt on the design element, it’s probably best to remove it completely. However, it is imperative that the website maintains or improves its current state. The process is not arbiter removal of bloat, but it encourages thinking based on simplicity. To accomplish this, there should be minimum amount of mouse movement. Implementing whitespace gives breathing space. Simple is beautiful and unnecessary widgets and flourishes should be avoided.

With the increasing amount of technologies doling an amazing number of functionalities, it is important that the best website design companies employ balance. There should be harmony between the simplification and complexity. The idea is to avoid insulting the visitor’s sense of competency and thereby not endanger the user experience.

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