How to convince a client to use responsive typography

Question

I am having trouble trying to explain to my client in a non techie language, on why he should follow responsive typography.

Let me give a little bit of context: The project in question is for creating a web portal with dynamic quiz based content (we ask users questions and then reveal the answers to them). So, in the backend I have setup a rich text editor for the client using which he can fill up the question box and the answer box. The rich text editor is needed because our questions need symbols/images attached inline and have ways to highlight part of the line in a different color.

Now, my client is obsessed with "fixing" which part of the sentence will be in which line. For example, lets say we have a question:

"Jack is looking at Anne, but Anne is looking at George. Jack is married, but George is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?"

My client would insist that, for example, the first line should ALWAYS start with "Jack" AND end with "Anne", second line should be from "is looking... George",third line should be "Jack...George" and finally fourth line "Is a married...person", and so would give a forced line break after "Anne", to make it go to the next line, and same with the other lines. He would check the result in his computer to ensure everything looks good, and be happy that the text would look this way everywhere.

The trouble is that the question/answer box is meant to be responsive and adjust according to window width, and forced line breaks would cause the text layout to go haywire.

I have tried explaining this to him on several occasions, but every time I do, he seems to get irritated and says "it does not look good", "There must be a way you don't know of", and would show me how its easily done in say power point, and I would strain to explain that power point isn't the same as web.

How should I go about trying to explain that what he's doing isn't manageable/maintainable? Maybe point him to a very basic article with some do's and don'ts of responsive typography ? I googled for some but all of them assume that the reader is a designer himself.

Edit for clarity This requirement is not just for the quiz section, but is for any text in the site, even plain content, like say "About us" or "How it works". He wants complete control over long each line would be.

I did not work on the content management of the site until recently, when I took over the site from the previous developer, I found all the content of the website (stored in mysql) peppered with sporadic <br> tags to make the lines go as wanted, and the previous design had all the content areas set in fixed pixel sized div tags, and simply showed horizontal scroll bars when viewed on mobile.

Answer 1

OK, first thing first: what your client wants is easily doable, more precisely because that's the whole point of responsive typography. So this isn't really a problem.

However, from your example description, it seems your client wants some specific format, and there seems to be an obvious pattern. So I'd ask her about the reasons why she wants this, if this pattern needs to be maintained and what are the limitations and boundaries of such pattern (as in what you can and what you can't do). This way, you'll be able to understand your client's reasoning and how the problem can be solved, even if the solution is to follow her instructions to the A.

I don't know if your example is real or made up, but this kind of patterns are quite common in psychology, and usually very rigid and strict in its formal presentation.

In short: in order to convince your client, try to understand her motivations. And at the same time, be ready to accept she might be right

Answer 2

Tough situation. It seems that you and your client want to optimize for different things. "it does not look good" tells me that your client wants to optimize the site for his tastes. While, you seem to want to optimize for a best practice instead. If your client believes that your position on this reflects a preference (as his does) then you will not get him to budge. Preferences are subjective, so there is no right answer. But since he's paying for the project his preferences automatically become 'right answers'.

I think to win this argument, you need to establish that your recommendation for responsive typography is not a preference and is objective and trustworthy. I would consider doing the following:

1. Provide articles from authoritative sources which explain how this practice represents a step forward for UX.
2. Since the typography of the site already reflects his preference, highlight areas or scenarios where his implementation 'breaks down' and provides either a poor experience or poor performance.
3. Get feedback from users or prospective users of the site on the reading experience. If it represents a major challenge for them, responsive typography can be pitched as a solution to a 'bug report'.
4. Provide examples of well known sites which implement this practice to show that it has traction within the industry.

P.S.

I don't agree that your client's request is unmanageable or not maintainable. It may be ill-advised but that's a different matter. If it doesn't square with your responsive implementation and he's willing to pay to change it then you should probably do so.

Answer 3

Short Answer: You can't.

What they're asking for isn't difficult. Just throw the <br> tags back in and call it a day. If he complains about it being ugly, tell him it's because line breaks defeat the purpose of being responsive.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. If your client wants the stupid line breaks and he's signing your checks, give him the line breaks. If you've made your case, at the end of the day you can at least say "I told you so."

As a developer, I do things all the time I know aren't the best way, and knowing full-well I'll have to go back in and correct it... all because the PM/Client thought he knew more than I did.

But, at the end of the day, people are gonna believe whatever they want. If you're a doctor who doesn't beleive in acupuncture, and your patient demands to be treated with acupuncture, then perhaps they would be better off dealing with an acupuncturist. Otherwise, either you're gonna do something you perceive as a waste of time, or the customer isn't gonna get his way.

Answer 4

In 131 B.C., the Roman consul Publius Crassus Dives Mucianus, laying siege to the Greek town of Pergamus, found himself in need of a battering ram to force through the town’s walls.

He had seen a couple of hefty ship’s masts in a shipyard in Athens a few days before, and he ordered that the larger of these be sent to him immediately. The military engineer in Athens who received the order felt certain that the consul really wanted the smaller of the masts. He argued endlessly with the soldiers who delivered the request: The smaller mast, he told them, was much better suited to the task. And indeed it would be easier to transport.

The soldiers warned the engineer that their master was not a man to argue with, but he insisted that the smaller mast would be the only one that would work with a machine that he was constructing to go with it.

He drew diagram after diagram, and went so far as to say that he was the expert and they had no clue what they were talking about. The soldiers knew their leader and at last convinced the engineer that it would be better to swallow his expertise and obey.

After they left, though, the engineer thought about it some more. What was the point, he asked himself, in obeying an order that would lead to failure? And so he sent the smaller mast, confident that the consul would see how much more effective it was and reward him justly.

When the smaller mast arrived, Mucianus asked his soldiers for an explanation. They described to him how the engineer had argued endlessly for the smaller mast, but had finally promised to send the larger one. Mucianus went into a rage. He could not concentrate on the siege, or consider the importance of breaching the walls before the town received reinforcements. All he could think about was the impudent engineer, whom he ordered to be brought to him immediately.

Arriving a few days later, the engineer gladly explained to the consul, one more time, the reasons for the smaller mast. He went on and on, using the same arguments he had made with the soldiers. He said it was wise to listen to experts in these matters, and if the attack was only tried with the battering ram he had sent, the consul would not regret it. Mucianus let him finish, then had himstripped naked before the soldiers and flogged and scourged with rods until he died.

The 48 laws of power, Law 9: "Win through your actions, never through argument."

Answer 5

This isn't really
about responsive design nor
is it
even about web design in general. It's really just about
standard writing style.
Point out that adding line breaks
to a paragraph that create disjointed line lengths is just plain bad typography and that
no publication would condone it
for the obvious
difficulties it adds to the legibility of the copy.

Perhaps the easiest way to communicate this to the client is to type up some sample text. Just grab some random paragraphs from article online and present it on two sheets of paper. One with random line breaks everywhere and another with proper typography where you only have line breaks after each paragraph. Ask them to pass these two articles around the office and poll their employees as to which they feel is easier to read. (I bet this second paragraph was a whole lot easier to read than the first)