Weekly Blog Activity Week 3 Questions 2 and 3

I think these were two good websites. After reading the resources in this assignment, I know what to look for in the design features and content of the websites I view. This information will help me in the future to design a website that will allow me to communicate effectively to my audience.

When I do my website project, I will use the evaluation criteria as a guide to developing a website. I will also use the CRAP principles and apply all that I have learned so far in this class to convey my message/purpose to the audience. As long as I organize the content for my project and use what I have learned, I should be able to produce a good website with good website features.

Website Evaluation

The second website I chose to evaluate is http://www.outsideinrestaurant.com/ (The Outside In Restaurant and Bar)

Authority & Responsibility: There is contact information listed and reference to the designer of the website as well as who manages it at the bottom of the page.

Purpose and Objectivity: The purpose of the website is clearhome page. It is a business that sells food and drinks and they use .com to convey that it is a commercial site.I didn't notice any bias on the part of the busines and the information presented is useful to the targeted audience.

Appropriateness & Relevance: The content of the website is appropriate for the target market, which is adults who like to eat and or drink and they make it convenient for them by listing menus, hours, etc.

Currency, Clarity, Accessibility: The information appears to be current on the page listing their monthly specials, catering services, menus and current prices. Navigation through the website is easy to follow. I didn't notice a text-0nly alternative for the visually impaired and the site doesn't appear to be a hoax. I have accessed the website often on my job.

Website Evaluation of The Clothes Tree

The criteria used to evaluate http://www.clothestree.net/ (The Clothes Tree) is as follows:

Authority & Responsibility: There is contact information listed, the author of the website design is at the bottom of the page. They are also upfront with their purpose and give reference to the designer of the web site.

Purpose and Objectivity: The purpose of the website is stated on the home page. It is a business that sells used children's clothes and uses .net to convey that it is a is serviced by an Internet Service Provider. I didn't notice any bias on the part of the new owners of the store, so the information presented is useful to the targeted audience.

Appropriateness & Relevance: The content of the website is appropriate for the target market, which is parents with children and the opportunity to buy used children's clothing as a low price. It also lists what clothing they buy from the public and the new processes under the new management.

Currency, Clarity, Accessibility: The information appears to be current on the page listing their last special sale on Labor Day and prior to that they informed their audience that the store is under new management. The use a blog to relay the information. Navigation is easy to follow. I didn't notice that they have a text-only alternative for the visually impaired.

Weekly Blog Activity 9.30.09

I found that it is important to use certain critera when evaluating websites. The criteria used to evaluate websites consists of having a purpose; authority; objectivity; appropriateness; currency; responsibility; clarity; and accessibility. Also, Web addresses can indicate to you what the purpose of the website is and who the producers are. For example, if you see a web address that ends in .gov; you will be accessing websites that have to do with the government. It is also important that the information on the website is up to date and authentic. The author's point of view shouldn't impact the usefulness of the information and there should be contact information listed, as well as the sponsoring organization.

After reading the resources on web design features, I learned that there are features that can make or break a Web design. Features that make a website look or good depend on the backgrounds, text, links, graphics, tables, junk, blinking animations, navigation, and the general design of the website. To be specific, a good Web design is one that lacks the bad Web design elements. Features that make a good Web design are the text, navigation, graphics, links, and the general design. It is important to have good features in order to communicate more effectively with the targeted audience.

GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. GIMP is an application for image editing and graphics creation. There are many sites that can teach you how to use this application and its tools.

When writing for the Web, it is very important to organize your information before you write a line of code to develop the site. The Web supports media that is nonlinear, which gives the author more freedom to do different things on the website. Users should be able to navigate the website with ease and not hit dead ends. Print media conveys information in a linear format, which doesn't allow for much freedom.

Weekly Blog Activity 9.28.09

I did the first part of my web page. It is awesome. I did save the web page, however; my html code/instructions did not save on my flash drive. Anyway, it was interesting and will be fun working on part 2 of the html assignment.

Weekly Blog Activity 9/24/09

This weeks readings were full of a lot of information. I learned that you must pay close attention to the colors you use on your website and how important the resolution of your image is. You basically have to trust your color judgements when designing a web page. Also, there is a difference in the resolution when an image is printed on paper and when it is on the web page. There are two basic file formats which are pixel-based and math based. The graphics on the web are bitmaps and the file formats are GIF and JPEG I also learned some things about scanning. Many scanners use the single pass method, where the lens splits the image into three smaller versions. Each version passes through a color filter onto sections of the CCD (charge-coupled array) and combines the data into a single full-color image.

I don' think it is a good idea to not make changes on images before sending them electronically. Some changes that could be made to make the images web ready are:

Monitor resolution: The ppi should be between 72 and 96. This way the image is not distorted when it reaches it's destination.

Cropping: You can choose to cut off any part of the photograph that you don't want to send.

Resizing: After you choose your image, you can make it as small or large as you want. However, you have to make sure the ppi is not too high.

Add text: If you want to add tags to the photos, you can.

Contrast, color, and adjust: You can change the colors in the photo and adjust the resolution. It also give you a chance to fix things that are wrong with the image, such as red eye.

Weekly Blog Activity 9.17.09

I did not realize all of the different things and/or steps that go into creating a web design. Although I have heard a lot of the terms, I was clueless as to what they meant. It takes a lot of commitment, time and hard work to produce good designs because the design must keep the attention of the audience.

What I learned about graphic design and how it plays a role in our daily lives and activities is that it is so visual. The designs must capture the interest of the reader whether it is in print or on the Web. This could make the difference in businesses failing or succeeding.

My understanding of designing for the Web vs. for print is that on the Web you have to keep the interest of the audience on the website so they will want to navigate to other pages of your website. In print, the goal is to keep the attention of the audience until the message you are trying to give is received. There must be a clear and effective layout for both print and the web design. In print, the space is measured in inches and it is measured in pixels on the web. Color is also important for print and design, so it must attract the attention of the audience. I also understand that to be effective in both print and web design, the four principles must be used: Contrast, Repitition, Alignment, and Proximity.

Home Stretch

It is so nice being in a different classroom after two years of being in the same, cold, basement classroom. I am finally taking a course that is fun and I am not freezing. Capstone is Monday and I am in the home stretch of my career!