The websites are completed and the end is near . . .
This class has both reinforced skills that I already knew and also given me new skills. In my opinion the most helpful skills that I received in this class would be in photo editing, especially for the web. Now having the skill set to edit and manipulate photos to my liking will make printing photos from vacations so much easier.
Of the two websites that were designed I believe that designing on wix was a bit simpler and easier. The use of web 2.0 technology gives you the ability drag, click and drop. Expression web was not too difficult either, it just has certain nuisances about it that can make things difficult at times. Overall though, both websites have the same design and feel to them. The wix site is more interactive and animated, including sound on the home page.
Looking back at the storyboards, both websites keep in line with the original plans. I removed the top banner from every page. The site still contains 6 pages according to the original design and the overall feel and color scheme stayed the same also.
Wix Site
http://www.wix.com/andrewsgrim/in-the-money
Monday, February 13, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Week #6
When designing a website and deciding on the layout the best way to organize your ideas is through the process of story boarding. By laying out your ideas and designs on a storyboard you are able to visualize your ideas before they are an actual webpage. This helps cut down on design and layout changes to your website, especially if you are strictly using html code to build your site. For example, If you use html code to build your website you are spending a great amount of time to type in that code. If you do not have a storyboard made for the design you could code out the website and end up not liking it. Your whole process will have to start over again because you do not like the design of the site. By creating a storyboard this will help eliminate that from happening.
Writing for the web differs from writing for print because you have a smaller area to capture your audiences attention. Some tips for writing for the web are: Write relevant content; people are viewing your site to read about a specific topic. Don't falter from the topic or your audience will be less enticed. Use lists instead of paragraphs. People are better able to follow a list on a website than a paragraph, they are easier to read and scan. Write short sentences. Make your sentences brief and to the point. Too much information can overload the reader. Put your conclusions at the beginning of the sentence. Use the inverted pyramid concept. Post your conclusion and than expand on it from there. Write only one idea per paragraph. Loading up a paragraph with more than one idea will lose the readers interests.
After reviewing the web 2.0 website building site, I believe I will give wix at try. After reviewing my website topic, I believe that by using wix I will be able to create a more interesting and interactive website than on the other traditional programs.
Writing for the web differs from writing for print because you have a smaller area to capture your audiences attention. Some tips for writing for the web are: Write relevant content; people are viewing your site to read about a specific topic. Don't falter from the topic or your audience will be less enticed. Use lists instead of paragraphs. People are better able to follow a list on a website than a paragraph, they are easier to read and scan. Write short sentences. Make your sentences brief and to the point. Too much information can overload the reader. Put your conclusions at the beginning of the sentence. Use the inverted pyramid concept. Post your conclusion and than expand on it from there. Write only one idea per paragraph. Loading up a paragraph with more than one idea will lose the readers interests.
After reviewing the web 2.0 website building site, I believe I will give wix at try. After reviewing my website topic, I believe that by using wix I will be able to create a more interesting and interactive website than on the other traditional programs.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Week #4
As technology has advance, so has the ease of use for technology. Now anyone that has access to a computer or a smart phone has the ability to post to a website or have their own web page. This, in some opinions is a good thing and in other opinions it is bad. While the good leads people to have the ability to post their personal opinions, and for the most part just to share their lives with family and friends. The bad gives people the ability to say whatever they want. This leads to people posting whatever they want and whenever they want. The first thing that I think of when it comes to people creating their own websites or posting their opinions online is from last summer when the riots in surrounding London were happening. People were using Facebook to post events to riot at a certain place at a certain time.
Having the ability to create your website comes with some advantages. The ability to layout the design yourself and the ability to update the website instantaneously. The downsides to creating your own website are that you may not be 100% capable of creating a professional looking website. If you hire a professional they are able to make the website look the best it possible can. A professional will also be able to complete the website in a shorter amount of time due to the fact that they will know more about designing them. But, having a professional puts you at the mercy of the designer. Updates will have to be sent to the designer first and than added to the website.
Usability and accessibility. Usability is a measure of how easy something is to use. For example, Learning Expression Web 4. On a scale of 1 to 10, for the average user it would rank around 7 with 10 being the easiest. Accessibility is used to describe equal access to websites, programs, or operating systems. Accessibility gives people with disabilities the ability to easily use a computer. For example, if someone has difficulty with their vision they can use the magnifier to increase the size of the computer screen.
Having the ability to create your website comes with some advantages. The ability to layout the design yourself and the ability to update the website instantaneously. The downsides to creating your own website are that you may not be 100% capable of creating a professional looking website. If you hire a professional they are able to make the website look the best it possible can. A professional will also be able to complete the website in a shorter amount of time due to the fact that they will know more about designing them. But, having a professional puts you at the mercy of the designer. Updates will have to be sent to the designer first and than added to the website.
Usability and accessibility. Usability is a measure of how easy something is to use. For example, Learning Expression Web 4. On a scale of 1 to 10, for the average user it would rank around 7 with 10 being the easiest. Accessibility is used to describe equal access to websites, programs, or operating systems. Accessibility gives people with disabilities the ability to easily use a computer. For example, if someone has difficulty with their vision they can use the magnifier to increase the size of the computer screen.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Week Three
After reading the articles and viewing websites, I have become more critical of the webpage's design. From viewing the webpage from "above the fold", to the placement of the graphics and the page title. Poor placement of components on a webpage ruin the flow and look. A webpage can be beautifully designed but poorly arraigned and implemented. For example, A webpage can have perfect graphics, text, and colors. But, if those items are not laid out right on the webpage, the whole design is ruined.
Evaluated Websites
http://www.readingeagle.com
After evaluating the Reading Eagle website the site scores an overall good rating. The navigation bar is clear and above the fold, letting the readers choose what section they would like to navigate too. The colors are very appealing, and they coincide with the colors you would associate with the paper print version of the Reading Eagle. The loading time is very quick, other than the occasional ad that pops up before the home page but that does not happen all the time. The website offers the same material as the traditional newspaper but with added benefits. Some pages allow you to comment and link in with your facebook page, added the convenience of social media.
http://www.miniusa.com
The MINI website is very interactive, the whole site is based off of a flash design. The navigation bar is well laid out and easy to use. The navigation bar is also interactive, just as is the rest of the website. At the bottom of the webpage thumbnails of the different MINI models are shown. When you hover your mouse over those thumbnails the different options are shown on the screen, thus making them interactive. The whole page is laid out well, and very easy to use. The graphics, color choices and fonts are very appealing to the eye.
Evaluated Websites
http://www.readingeagle.com
After evaluating the Reading Eagle website the site scores an overall good rating. The navigation bar is clear and above the fold, letting the readers choose what section they would like to navigate too. The colors are very appealing, and they coincide with the colors you would associate with the paper print version of the Reading Eagle. The loading time is very quick, other than the occasional ad that pops up before the home page but that does not happen all the time. The website offers the same material as the traditional newspaper but with added benefits. Some pages allow you to comment and link in with your facebook page, added the convenience of social media.
http://www.miniusa.com
The MINI website is very interactive, the whole site is based off of a flash design. The navigation bar is well laid out and easy to use. The navigation bar is also interactive, just as is the rest of the website. At the bottom of the webpage thumbnails of the different MINI models are shown. When you hover your mouse over those thumbnails the different options are shown on the screen, thus making them interactive. The whole page is laid out well, and very easy to use. The graphics, color choices and fonts are very appealing to the eye.
Quiz
Quiz Page 154 of Non Designer's Web Book
Of the two websites on the page, B instantly strikes me with a visual impression of having a better interface and navigation. B's website is laid out better, with a well placed navigation bar on the left side of the page. The images are also more visually appealing and laid out nicer. The page does not go "below the fold", the entire webpage fits perfectly in the browsers window. All in all, B is a better designed and laid out webpage. From the colors, to the graphics and font. The whole webpage is more appealing to the eye.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Polling
Adding the poll to the blog website wasn't too difficult. The whole process was similar to setting up the link list. The most interesting poll was probably the question about books for class. From being a traditional student at the beginning of my college career, knowing how much of a pain going to the bookstore for books is, having the ability to have your books waiting for you in class on the first day is a great convenience.
Week #2
If I took a picture of Niagara Falls with an 8 megapixel camera and want to include it on my website about famous USA landmarks, but the image includes unwanted tourists on the right side. The first thing I would do would be crop out the tourists from the right side of the image, leaving just the picture of the falls. The next thing I would do would be to scale down the size of the image. Being that the photo was taken with an 8 megapixel camera the resolution will be very high. That will cause the picture to take up a large amount of space on the screen. Lowering the pixels per inch (ppi) will help out with the size. Also, I would chose the dimensions of the photo, this will also ultimately affect the file size and resolution. For example, maybe I would set the photo at 200 x 550 resolution. Next I would chose what file type I would save the photo as. I would most likely chose to save it as a JPEG, that way the file size would be lower but not diminish quality to much. Lastly, I would chose to save the image for web use. If I was using Photoshop I would compare the image quality while choosing the lowest possible file size. That way the image will load quicker on the website.
Readability is how easy it is to read a lot of text, or the whole page of text. To be readable, generally the text should not be too large or too small. There should never be a large group of bold, Italic, ALL CAPS, small caps, or script lettering. In short, the text should be appealing and easy to read. If your eyes are spinning in circles it probably is not a readable website. Legibility is how easy it is to recognize short bursts of text, such as headlines or buttons. Generally a sans serif typeface will be used. ALL CAPS are not used unless that look it desired. Generally words typed in all caps have the same look, whereas in lower case the words are distinguished.
Additionally, using web safe colors is something that should be practiced when designing a website. By practicing the use of web safe colors you guarantee that on every browser your website will look the same. And to add to web safe coloring you can create hybrid colors that are blends of web safe colors. Cascading Style Sheets are another way to influence the way your website is designed. They offer a bit more control over your website than does typical HTML coding. By adding CSS you can change a websites design completely and override default browser styles.
Readability is how easy it is to read a lot of text, or the whole page of text. To be readable, generally the text should not be too large or too small. There should never be a large group of bold, Italic, ALL CAPS, small caps, or script lettering. In short, the text should be appealing and easy to read. If your eyes are spinning in circles it probably is not a readable website. Legibility is how easy it is to recognize short bursts of text, such as headlines or buttons. Generally a sans serif typeface will be used. ALL CAPS are not used unless that look it desired. Generally words typed in all caps have the same look, whereas in lower case the words are distinguished.
Additionally, using web safe colors is something that should be practiced when designing a website. By practicing the use of web safe colors you guarantee that on every browser your website will look the same. And to add to web safe coloring you can create hybrid colors that are blends of web safe colors. Cascading Style Sheets are another way to influence the way your website is designed. They offer a bit more control over your website than does typical HTML coding. By adding CSS you can change a websites design completely and override default browser styles.
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