Criterion A Websites

In this unit our final product is a website that we will create until the end of school, probably. The topic is ours to choose and we will see who made the best website at the end of the unit. This is a really interesting and fun topic as we learn how to actually create a website and gain more information on the topic of our choice.

This unit allows us to use our imaginative and creative side of our brains, which we only use seldom in our every day lives. It will not only trigger our creativeness, but we will also learn a lot of new things such as the basic 'how to create a website' and more information on the choice of topic you are doing.

The Internet has changed our lives in the past decade. At first the Internet may have been just a luxury, but now it is a necessity for almost half the population of the world. We do everything on the Internet nowadays; shopping, learning, entering our bank accounts etc. It has made life a lot easier. Not only the Internet did, the Internet is just a tool for this. The people behind all the work is the secret to our easy lives today. They have put their effort and time to do what they have done, and of course for their own benefit. Like them, we will create a website on the topic of our choice and lay it out on the Internet for people to see and learn things, and our benefit is getting a good grade on IT class :D.

Which websites appeal to you from a design standpoint? why?
I really liked the LEAD leadership website. Somehow it was really 'warm' to my eyes with all the colors; yellow, white, purple etc. It was also really easy to navigate, the tabs were really clear and eye catching. The whole site was just interactive, with a personal profile that you can create, personality quiz etc. And their were instructions of what to do if you get lost.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/o2289

I also thought the Portable Partners website had a pretty good design. It also had clear tabs, pictures and everything was very organized.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01589/home.html

Which website subject are interesting to you?
The Leadership site really appealed to me the most both in design and subject. The site had full of information; about past leaders, leadership theories, why people cant lead etc. It is a subject i have some difficulties in so i liked it a lot.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/02289

The second week we have to look at 3 websites and make comments on them.

What Design Scares You?
http://webdesign.about.com/u/ua/webdesignbasics/what-design-scares-you.htm

All websites have designs, and some of them are terrible. If you have a design that is 'frightening' to the viewer, you will have a low chance of visitors actually staying on your website. Design is a crucial thing in the making of a website, so we should be careful not to make a bad design.

The comments made were all very helpful in a way so that i will not create a 'scary' website. The major downturns of a website are:
-white text on black background
-bad contrast between text and background
-no links (link is just text)
-loud audio advertisement, announcement, music
-entirely flash-driven
-too much frames
-cant leave when 'back' button is pressed
-automatic movie starts

Even though white text on a black background sounds cool, when you actually see it, its terrible and it looks as cheap as a Chinese Rubik's Cube (Kyu said it :D). Instead a simple 'picture' background would be far better, but you must keep in mind the color of the text. Whats more worse if someone cant read what you are trying to tell them? Bad contrast between text and background is a big issue, and common colors are yellow-white, red-pink, blue-purple. However most people prefer the standard black text on white background because of its simplicity.

The stupidest thing that can happen is when there is a link, but its not actually a link, but just text and when you press on it nothing happens. This is usually caused from typing errors in the HTML, so we must be careful about it because it would be embarrassing.

One thing that turns a lot of people off is the loud hardcore music that just pops up. You can put music in if you want to, but it MUST be relevant to the topic. If you're talking about Gandhi, and a Metallica song in the background, priceless. Similar to this, the first thing that comes up is an automated movie/clip, which is also very annoying. Depending on the bandwith of the person, he may not be able to access the other parts of the website. Entirely flash-driven websites are also bandwith enemies. So its a good thing to keep animations and stuff minimum.

Some people have problem with the back button, when you press it, you don't go back but back to the page you were at. This makes people not want to come back. I dont know what exactly causes this, but i will try to not make that happen on my website.

Accessibility
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/accessibility/

It wouldn't be really nice if someone tried to access your website and instead what they planned to see, they see a bunch of HTML text. If you're talking about good accessibility, then it must include:
-a clear and easy website navigation
-must be available to the widest group of people
(user-friendly to deaf, blind people etc)
-can be accessed on any browser
-be able to fix mess ups when something goes wrong

The most important thing is that your website should be coded well, so that the minimum amount of errors will occur. Good coding will eventually lead to good linking; if you cant code the HTML properly then the links and navigation can be a total mess.
What i mean by must be available to the widest group of people is that your website can be seen or used by anyone, it must allow people with incapabilities access the website with ease along with normal people.
Some HTML codes are nmot recognized by some browsers, because of the browser itself, or because of which version of HTML you're using. Its a good idea to use the lates version of HTML which is version 4.01.
When testing the webpage, and something goes wrong, you must able to fix the code. I dont think there will be a problem because most errors are usually because of typos.
After reading some of the points, I got some good tip and had a clear vision of my website, but don't know how to do it at the moment, i still need to learn more about HTML.

Sidebar: A List of Reminders
http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/1-process/5-list-of-reminders.html

These tips were so helpful that if i haven't read it my website would really suck. They were all very important tips but the ones i found very useful were:
-Place yourself in the background; think about other people's interests, if your site does not contain what people want then no one will visit it.
-Prefer the standard to the offbeat; instead of trying new things on your very first website, do the standard and easy ways first then try the new stuff when you're comfortable with HTML.
-Do the visuals last; everyone starts the 'drawing' part before the writing part. It can ruin your whole website if you start the visuals first.
-Do not affect a breezy manner
-Make sure the user knows who is speaking; as it said on the tip itself, 'a good communication is always a person-to-person transaction'. In order to make a good website i need to include my mail address etc, and make it clear where to find it.

Design Specifications
-No flashy and/or cheap images
-Simple background and good contrast between text
-Relevant information to the topic, no other random stuff
-Easy navigation
-Include pictures (and videos if possible)