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.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Graphic Design
Everyday graphic design plays a huge role in our lives. From the morning paper, the billboards you see on the way to work, and the websites your visit during the course of your day. All those items are there to attract our attention and draw us to a product or service. This leads us to CRAP; Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. The four basic elements to graphic design. Take for example a billboard, the company advertising has very limited time to make their sales pitch. If that billboard has a whole bunch of nonsense spread all over it the consumer will have no idea what they are looking at. But, if that billboard follows the four basic principles of CRAP the consumer will be attracted to it.
Print vs. Web. Both print and the web have the ability to reach out to consumers. Print gives you the ability to physically have a product in hand. This works well by sending out mailings to current and potential customers. One example that comes to mind is the Clipper Magazine. There is a whole compilation of advertisements that reaches a broad spectrum of consumers through the mail. How each advertisement in the Clipper is designed affects the ability of the retailer or service provider to effectively reach out to their consumers. The web has the ability to reach a broader market and the ability to update continually. Unlike print, the web can constantly roll out updates. A newspaper for example typically sends out a print edition in the morning, whereas the web version of that newspaper has the ability to report on demand. News could happen at 4:05pm and be reported by 4:06pm, where if you rely on the print version of that newspaper you won't be reading that until 7:14am the next morning.
Graphic design has other factors that affect the final product. File formats for instance can affect the look of an image. If an image is not in the proper format the image will look distorted. For example, if a photograph is saved as a GIF it will become pixelated and suffer from color loss.
Print vs. Web. Both print and the web have the ability to reach out to consumers. Print gives you the ability to physically have a product in hand. This works well by sending out mailings to current and potential customers. One example that comes to mind is the Clipper Magazine. There is a whole compilation of advertisements that reaches a broad spectrum of consumers through the mail. How each advertisement in the Clipper is designed affects the ability of the retailer or service provider to effectively reach out to their consumers. The web has the ability to reach a broader market and the ability to update continually. Unlike print, the web can constantly roll out updates. A newspaper for example typically sends out a print edition in the morning, whereas the web version of that newspaper has the ability to report on demand. News could happen at 4:05pm and be reported by 4:06pm, where if you rely on the print version of that newspaper you won't be reading that until 7:14am the next morning.
Graphic design has other factors that affect the final product. File formats for instance can affect the look of an image. If an image is not in the proper format the image will look distorted. For example, if a photograph is saved as a GIF it will become pixelated and suffer from color loss.
Quiz
1. Print and Web. Sending an annual report to stockholders has its benefits in each area. Through the web because accessing the information can happen anywhere. The information can be sent through e-mail or posted on the companies website and made available in a convenient PDF file. Print has its benefits because not every stockholder will be connected to the web. Sending the information in print by mail would ensure that every stockholder would have access to the annual report.
2. Print and Web. Being a graphic artist and locating from a small town to a big city it would be beneficial to have a dedicated website set up to profile your product. I would also print a small brochure highlighting your product and include your web address on the brochure. That way your product would be seen physically and lead to further interest sending future customers to your website.
3. Web. The easiest and most effective way of notifying customers of updates to software would be through the web. Most preferably through e-mail notifications or through the companies website. Updates for the software would be accessible through the web, so chances are the existing customers already are web connected.
4. Web. If you have valuable information that changes weekly the quickest and most effective way to provide that information would be through the web. If the information could be outdated by the time the materials were received if sent by print.
5. Web. The most effective way to publish a collection of small booklets would be through the web. By publishing the booklets on the web there would be a larger group of people that would be able to view the booklets. Also, the cost of publishing the booklets on print and distribute to a large group of people would be very large.
6. Print and Web. The web will be able to expand your artistic talent to a broader audience, making it worldwide. Print will be able to highlight the art more effectively by showing the true size of the art and other physical cues of the product. The web is limited to what a persons monitor can show. Print can show the true size of the art.
2. Print and Web. Being a graphic artist and locating from a small town to a big city it would be beneficial to have a dedicated website set up to profile your product. I would also print a small brochure highlighting your product and include your web address on the brochure. That way your product would be seen physically and lead to further interest sending future customers to your website.
3. Web. The easiest and most effective way of notifying customers of updates to software would be through the web. Most preferably through e-mail notifications or through the companies website. Updates for the software would be accessible through the web, so chances are the existing customers already are web connected.
4. Web. If you have valuable information that changes weekly the quickest and most effective way to provide that information would be through the web. If the information could be outdated by the time the materials were received if sent by print.
5. Web. The most effective way to publish a collection of small booklets would be through the web. By publishing the booklets on the web there would be a larger group of people that would be able to view the booklets. Also, the cost of publishing the booklets on print and distribute to a large group of people would be very large.
6. Print and Web. The web will be able to expand your artistic talent to a broader audience, making it worldwide. Print will be able to highlight the art more effectively by showing the true size of the art and other physical cues of the product. The web is limited to what a persons monitor can show. Print can show the true size of the art.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Creating a link list
Overall the link list wasn't too difficult to create, just a copy and paste process. Of the other blogs, Austin's and Ava's stand out the most. Austin's because of his background and Ava's looks overall inviting and well put together.
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