Module 11 Information

Keep these guidelines in mind.

Final Project Guidelines

"Final Exam" Period
12/14 12:45-2:45: Project Presentations

= 7 minutes
+ Powerpoint presentation
+ what/why
+ clients/audiences
+ selective design decisions
+ show 'n tell

Week 11 Readings

Information Archiecture Redux
Read for Monday, 11/07:

The Zen of CSS Design, Chapter 3: "Layout"

"Visual Vocabulary," Jesse James Garrett
http://jjg.net/ia/visvocab/

"The Elements of User Experience," Jesse James Garrett
http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf

Response to Readings + One Photoshop Tip/Trick

This week's readings didn't really teach me anything I didn't already know. The Web Style Guide recommends "chunking", or the congolmeration of similar information under one category. This type of organization works well for most websites. The organization of information on websites greatly differs from the organization of information in books, newspapers, and other print media. What conventions do we see on web sites that seem to be taken from print materials? What conventions seem relatively new or different from print-based conventions?

What are the three basic organization/information structures for web sites, according to the Web Style Guide?

Why do the authors of Web Style Guide argue that "contrast is essential" to page design?

The idea of "graphic safe dimensions" means that viewers will not have to use scrollbars in order to see the entire image.

IMPORTANCE OF LINKS:

www.cnn.com

www.plannedparenthood.org

www.msu.edu

www.microsoft.com

PHOTOSHOP TIP: i was frustrated when i tried to crop my curly-haired self out of one picture in order to paste me onto another background. so i went searching and found the following witty tutorial detailing how to better crop out more detailed objects...

Good Hair Day: Maintaining fine hair details when cropping images

NOTE TO SELF: ADD WORD "CHICAGO" SOMEWHERE TO MODULE 6 WEBSITE.

Critique of Classmates' Toolbox Stylesheets

I noticed a lot of similarities between my classmates' Module 3 stylesheets, mostly in the use of borders around the content and cropped images to represent each resource site. Not very many people were brave enough to attempt a background, including myself. In particular, I really liked both of jill's stylesheets; the way she cropped her images was very effective and her use of color is fairly neutral but pleasing to the eye. Her exhibit B is my personal favorite of all the created styles. :) I also really liked Tyler's use of a black/orange gradient background in his version 1 stylesheet.

There were also many similarities to be found within our collection of awesome/sucky website presentations. As far as I can tell, a good website does not have music or utilize huge, grossly-colored fonts. Awesome websites have crisp images and a good use of whitespace.

Module 3 Stylesheets

Just thought I'd post my two stylesheets that I created for Module 3 since I am rather fond of them:

Stylesheet One vs. Stylesheet Two

Week #3 Readings

Considering "The Top Ten New Mistakes of Webdesign" was written in 1999, I wasn't really expecting the mistakes to be very new at all. Breaking or slowing down the back button? Can that be done anymore? I have never heard of such a thing, to be honest. Ooooohhh, unless it's referring to how certain websites disable the back button so that no matter how many times you click it, you keep returning to their site and can't go back to any pages you had visited before that. Aha! I now see that this is called immediate redirect. Can we say "ANNOYING"?!

this site may prove useful for my awesome/crappy website presentation.

COLOR SCHEMES

nasdaq.com: blues

415.com: grey/orange

guyshop.com: green/brown/blue

mcdonalds.com: black/red/yellow

ford.com: grey/blue

oldnavy.com: blues

cnn.com: white/blues

hp.com: grey/white/red

amazon.com: sky blue/orange

marthastewart.com: white/orange/green

coleandmason.co.uk: red/grey

jeep.com: neutrals

mtv.com: black/blue/grey

wired.com: green/blue/black

Week #2 Readings

I really enjoyed reading Gerry McGovern's "Seven Deadly Sins of Web Writing". McGovern defined the sins as follows:

1) I think I'm God
2) I go on and on and on...
3) I can't spell and I've awful grammar
4) I'm locked in a print view of the world
5) I'm not very good at writing headings
6) Actually, I don't think content is very important
7) Don't have seven points if there are only six...

I believe there are several other "sins" not featured on this list, including as pop-up ads and spyware within a website. In addition, BROKEN LINKS annoy the hell out of me. This might be partially because I have to fix so many of them at work (I work systems maintenance at the Turfgrass Information Center in MSU's main library), but hey. You shouldn't have links within your site that lead nowhere.

In Constance J. Petersen's article, she offers ten tips for successful web writing:

1) Punch up headlines
2) Emphasize key concepts
3) Harness the power of lists
4) Create meaningful captions
5) Simplify for understanding
6) Invert the pyramid
7) Write one idea per paragraph
8) Make each page stand alone
9) Link wisely
10) Be current, accurate, and credible

I believe these are all very good suggestions, mostly because the internet world tends to scan websites and other web content rather than reading them through in their entirety. I think McGovern and Petersen would get along quite well in regards to their views on web content.

Cameron Moll describes "pulling" and "pushing" technology. He states that, "pull technology refers to technology that allows users to pro-actively seek out information, whereas push technology refers to technology that delivers information to users, usually at regular intervals and without the user actively seeking the information".

The final reading assignment, from the third chapter of the Web Style Guide, presents the idea of "voice" as "an important stylistic consideration for web authors". To me, having "voice" means that the author's personality comes through in their work.

examples of sites with voice:
zefrank.com: ze's site is, for lack of a better word, kickass. his personality is blatantly evident in both the content and design of the site.

burtsbees.com: basically, someone at this company really enjoys the color yellow.

iowa.gov: very professionally designed site. i don't know if it has much "voice" in the sense of how i defined it, but it certainly has an air of professionalism.

Week #1 Readings

CLASS NOTES
What is the web?
- The World Wide Web is a network of connections that uses the Internet to access information and share resources, allowing access to millions of documents on computers worldwide.

FIVE ADJECTIVES TO DESCRIBE:
1) global.
2) interactive.
3) dynamic.
4) graphical.
5) endless.

RESPONSE TO READINGS
It is important for web authors to acquaint themselves with the history of the web because it is very useful background knowledge dealing with their field. A familiarity with the history of the web ensures that web authors will not make similar mistakes to those made in the past.

Asking if website designers need to know HTML is like asking if doctors need to complete medical school before opening their own practice. YES, DUH! You can't cheat and use programs like dreamweaver without first understanding how they work and comprehending the code behind the design.

According to the Web Style Guide, the five functions types of home pages are as follows:

menu home pages

news-oriented home pages

path-based home pages

splash screens

master page layout grid

FUNCTIONS OF HOME PAGES FOR DESIGNATED WEBSITES
amihot.com: i'm actually not sure about this one. it appears to jump right into the content of the site.

whitehouse.gov: features a news-oriented home page.

msu.edu: master page layout grid.

indievision.com: definitely a splash page.