Online Vertical Layout: Chinese Characters, Images and the Web

Nowadays the share of the World Wide Web in storing, organizing and disseminating information has expanded to such a degree that conventional librarianship seems to have less and less to offer. The foundation of traditional library services—cataloguing and classification—is called into question. The Web itself is also evolving, as there is growing interest in its being a two-way interactive front between content providers and users. Amidst these soul searching and questioning processes in our library field, it seems justifiable that we may also explore more on the potential of the Web in accommodating international contents at the cultural level. An instance of Web empowerment in this direction is its support of vertical layout. Digital preservation of traditional texts may be an area in which vertical layout would be adoptable. Naturally, once technical possibilities materialize, their practical applications are open to our creativity.