Designing infinity

It occurred to me today that newspaper design consists of all sorts of different kinds of design disciplines.

For instance, the overall design of a newspaper is rather like architecture. Part of the architect's job is to provide different spaces for different uses, to obviously guide the eye (and then the feet) through a space. All this is rather like anchoring certain sections and features in certain parts of the paper. Both activities are geared toward making the interface easy, obvious, and even pleasureable.

Then I thought individual page design is comparable to interior design. Both fields are dedicated to making a visit comfortable and pleasing to the eye. The colors are meant to complement one another and fit into a plan -- they aren't just tossed in as an afterthought. On an individual page -- as in a room -- space is finite and often smaller than you would like, so the idea is to utilize the space available to its best advantage.

There's more, but that's the idea. Space is the common thread, and it is here that the web becomes difficult.

A newspaper is finite: it is thick on Sundays and thin on Mondays. By heft alone, the readers get an idea of what they are in for. There is a beginning and an end. The pages have edges, beyond which lies only the ink-stained kitchen table.

But the web.... Someone (Wurman?) has already said that the never-ending onslaught of information availability is one of the problems with the web, and perhaps even the cause of some anxiety.

Website visitors can't really get the "heft" of a site from a home page, even if they pay attention to the number of links. Who knows how deep those links go? And what about the links that take you off site. Given the kudzu-like growth of web pages, those links, for all practical purposes, lead you off into infinity. It would be like finally getting to the last page of the New York Times only to find A-1 of the Washington Post, under which was the Miami Herald.

How do you design for that? No wonder there is so much discussion and disagreement from so many groups and individuals about web design.

How would an architect design infinity?