Point of view
Both realistic and ironic web designs will be experiments in perspective and point of view. They will be attempts to give the user the freedom to control her point of view--to move at her own pace throughout the visual space of the text. Virtual reality is a paradigm here. Virtual reality is nothing but an exercise in controlling one's point of view. This is true not only of immersive virtual reality, but all the "two-dimensional VR" that we see in computer games (think of Myst ) and graphic interfaces on videoscreens.
The almost universal goal of graphic interfaces now is to empower the user to move through a visual or conceptual space and to explore that space from one or more points of view. The VR paradigm too suggests that the viewer can occupy points of view successively -- that to understand something or someone is to occupy its (his, her) point of view. The viewer is supposed to learn about a computer environment through empathetic involvement. Web design will ultimately accept this paradigm and find ways to enrich the viewer's empathetic experience. It should also move beyond mere empathy to a more critical engagement: it should combine graphic presence and hypertextual interactivity to encourage the viewer to explore perspectives with a critical eye.
Jay David Bolter
Program in Information Design and Technology
School of Literature, Communication, and Culture
Georgia Institute in Technology
Some Thoughts on Web Design