The language of digital genres-a semiotic investigation of style and iconology on the World Wide Web

The digitalization of communication creates novel answers to familiar questions-in the form of digital products. What must be done to define the genres of digital products? What must be done to enable the user to identify the genre? Such questions are not new. Art history refers to "form" and to "content" with the methods of stylistics and iconology, while the role of "functions" divides fine arts from the applied arts. Semiotics define the genre analyzing it in terms of "function". We propose an investigation of digital genre whereby "content" is understood as a question of iconology and meaning, "form" as one of style and language, "function" as one of perception of the functionality. Thus we define a digital genre by its purpose or "function", considering the rules "form follows function" and "function follows content".