From: Bil Kleb <Bil.Kleb@...>
Date: 2005-09-16T19:31:34+09:00
Subject: Re: Get to the Point: Ruby and Rails Presentation Slides

John W. Long wrote:
> Bil Kleb wrote:
> 
>>  From Tufte's "The Smallest Effective Difference"
>> chapter in /Visual Explanations/, I would tone
>> down the syntax highlighting contrasts by an
>> order of magnitude.
> 
> I've never read this book.

If you're in the U.S., I highly recommend making every
effort to get yourself to one of Tufte's short courses,

  http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/courses

(You'll get a copy of his books as part of the course
fee.)

 > Can you explain the reasoning behind what you
 > suggest in a little more detail?

Many some quotations from that chapter, will help?

  Make all visual distinctions as subtle as possible,
  but still clear and effective.

  /small/ differences allow /more/ differences

  In designing information, then, the idea is to use
  /just notable differences/, visual elements that
  make a clear difference but no more -- contrasts
  that are definite, effective, /and/ minimal.

  when /everything/ is emphasized, /nothing/ is
  emphasized; the design will often be noisy,
  cluttered, and informationally flat.

Regards,
--
Bil
http://fun3d.larc.nasa.gov