Here goes....Inverted pyramid method structures content from general to specific. Important information should be in the first two paragraphs. Information units are called chunks. The key is to organize first. Establish a hierarchy. What is most important. Usability is more important than appearance. Content is King. A Style guide serves to ensure that content is consistent, well organized, and facilitates use by the audience across the entire website. Meta data - the words we write to describe our pages.
Chapter 7
Interface - How does the page look? How do the pages work and interact with the viewer? Underlined words are always hypertext links that will send you to another page. Different browsers display web pages differently. Navigation design - the way you get around your site. Interface and navigation work together.
All good sites start with a plan. What information do you want to include? Create an outline. Horizontal format makes the most sense, because monitors are wider than they are tall. Most pages are designed to fit 800 x 600. If you can easily find your way around a site and back to home, then your site is well designed. If you get lost, not good. :( Use repetition and consistency of elements on each page. Do not use active links that take you to the exact same page you are already on. Hmmmmmm....that should be a no brainer. If you have a lot of information, then use a site map. Internal link is a local link that connects you with another part of your website. An external link connects you to someone else's website. External can make a website better, but make sure the links are relevant. External links can also be distracting too.
Chapter 8
Bad Designs - My Top 10 (Not exactly Letterman material here :)
1. All Caps
2. Don't break your lines
3. broken links
4. Don't tell people how to set their browser
5. unreadable fonts that are too small - in unreadable colors
6. Fonts that are too large can look like a children's book.
7. Don't require user to scroll sideways
8. A straight quote is the single most visible sign of an unprofessional.
9. Don't make buttons that are not real buttons.
10. Text inside of buttons should be consistent (don't use different fonts).
Now for the Good Design....
1. Working space of 800x600 for the "main visual impression"
2. Use the space below the 800x600 for less important items
3. Provide essential information as well as links without crowding
4. Consistency and Repetition from page to page
5. Use the Logo on every page.
6. Simple navigation bar
7. White or light colored background looks tidy
8. Easy to read print, font and colors
9. link colors coordinate with page colors
10. Pages download quickly
Evaluating Websites........
Let's look at the American Education Services Website.
http://www.aessuccess.org/
It has a strange identity theft advertisement at the top that kind of looks like a suntan lotion ad. I have been at this website many times and I just breezed right by the heading. It takes up a lot of space and doesn't effectively communicate the intended message. The rest of the site shows continuity as well as essential information. However, the page is very crowded. Overall it is a good site, but I just don't get why they have a heading taking up so much space that is addressing a completely different subject. Maybe, they should take a web design course. Snicker, Snicker.
Onto the next victim........Major League Baseball (mlb.com)
http://mlb.com/
This site is huge and complex. I was trying to find my way around, I could not find my way back to the home page without typing in the web address again. It is impressive with all the information on every major league team. I am sure you can purchase all kinds of memorabilia, however, it does not provide a clear road map for navigating. It was a bit slower to download because of all the pictures and videos available to watch. Again it is a good website, but not completely perfect. I am sure this was a very expensive web site to create and to maintain. Creating the perfect website may be very difficult. It seems like almost everyone will break the rules to suit their individual tastes or their agenda for creating the website. Maybe, the mlb website wants you to get lost in their memorabilia store to encourage sales.
Ya never know (Marketing 101).
I purchased Photoshop Elements 7 at Costco, it is on sale for $49.99(with a coupon for $30.00 off) if you have a membership. I was playing with it on Saturday for a few hours and today for about 3 hours. It seems like it is pretty much the same as the Elements 6. I am having some trouble with it. I could really use some help with the layers aspect. Not an easy program to learn. I hope we have some time to ask questions and get some help in class tomorrow. See you then.
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