How Warm Is Your Website?

The internet is awash with metaphors. We’ve got “web” “sites”, “online” “forums” and “communities”, “portals”… and lots, lots more.

Metaphors are essential to help us make sense of “the internet”. Thinking about what the internet really is – a connected mass of electrical impulses – gives us no clues about how we might use it.

(Yes, I know, “connected mass” and “impulses” are also metaphors. This stuff it tricky to write about!)

Only once we have developed appropriate metaphors for the internet can we actually engage with it.

And of course, the metaphors we have for the internet affect how we interact with it. Some people think of the entire internet as a scary place where danger lurks around every corner (I’m guessing you’re not one of them, or you wouldn’t be here.) Others think it’s full of warm and wonderful friends – including friends we’ve not yet met.

And some people have metaphorical rules which help them to know whether a particular site is friendly or not. At least one person thinks this one is “mad”, apparently (though he likes the content). Another person thinks that the website of an event I’m speaking at is “nasty” (Living Energy Workshop).

In both cases, I can absolutely see their point. And I’m not sure what to do about either.

This whole issue is an example of a recurring theme in the study of metaphor. At a high level of approximation, pretty much everyone shares metaphors. “Warm” is a positive metaphor for almost everybody, as is “up”. We all know roughly what we mean by “taking the first step” or “diving straight in”.

But one you probe beneath the surface (using Clean Language or other tools), individual differences emerge. If this website seems “mad” to you, what kind of mad is your mad? I’ll happily bet that it’s a slightly different kind of “mad” from the mad that my original correspondent had in mind.

There are broad general principles in web design that are agreed across the culture. Sites need to be clear, easy to read, easy to navigate, need to work in different browsers etc. But once we get into the fine detail, so many things are a matter of personal or subcultural preference. Young male hypnotists, generally speaking, want different website designs from older female aid workers.

How many of the people is it possible to please, how much of the time?

Comments on all of this most welcome below!