Which do you prefer?

Let us pose a hypothetical question to you. Say you are a writer, you have an idea for a book, or some other publication. How do you pose to get this published? Will you go through the normal means and get it published in print form, or will you in fact go and publish it online? Note however that whichever option you choose, there are different ways in which you need to design your piece of work. There are also things that need to be taken into consideration, as in realising that your work, if placed online, is now public.

One of the first things that many people will notice about the differences between designing for print versus online is that designing for print is a lot more expensive than designing for the online arena. Another key factor in this decision would of course be the fact that a publication made in print is final, it cannot be changed unless another edition is published, thus adding to the cost of the project as a whole. This contrasts with designing for the online arena in that it can be changed at any time. It would seem then that the online arena is the way to go right?

Yet there are a lot of good things about designing for print as well. For example, having a printed version of a text gives the reader the ability to read it at their own pace, they do not have to read it all in one go, this could be the same of the online version as well, but the printed version provides a more leisurely feel to the reading, it is harder to read online texts than it is to read printed texts. Another thing to consider is that many people prefer having books, its that simple. Some people want to have the printed version so they can display it in their bookcase, the online version does not allow this to happen. A person could come into your house, see an empty bookcase and think you are illiterate. Of course this is not the case but having the printed version lets you show off your reading capabilities.