Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Chapter 5 Tour
  • Find a large, industrial-strength site (Toyota, Apple, Adobe, ATT). There is often a button for the “index” or “site map” Take a look at the index. Do you think this company would have made that many pages in full-color print? Would you ever own or want to own all those printed pages? Probably not- but it’s useful for some media, such as expository textbooks to have an index.
  • Do you find sites that put too much information on one page? Do you find pages that could easily be broken down into several topics, each with its own page? Yes- creating more pages for organization has its advantages.
  • Do you find pages that are too broken up, pages where you would rather not have to click another time and wait for another page to load to get to the information? Do you find pages where there is only one short paragraph and wonder why the designer made you jump? Or pages with one large photo and no caption or buttons or other reason to be there? Making lots of pages is cheap, yes, but make sure each page is important enough to make it worth someone's while to get there. Yes- it’s frustrating to have to click multiple times through to find the needed information.
  • Find a site, like www.weather.com, that is updated every few minutes. How useful would a weather site be if it could only be updated every three months? Not useful at all unless you’re interested in a historical reference.
  • When you come across a form that the designer wants you to print, fill out, then mail or fax in, do you respond as quickly as you might if the form had a Submit button? Definitely not. It’s a pain.

Chapter 5 Quiz

1.    Your corporation has an annual report that must get to every one of its stockholders. Print- would guarantee receipt.

Print

Web

Why?___________

2.    You're a graphic artist and you want to relocate from a small town to a big city. You can print up four-color brochures to send to all the ad agencies and studios, or you can put part of your portfolio in the mail, or you can send every agency and studio your web address. Web- highlight many designs and distribute to a wider audience.

Print

Web

Why?___________

3.    You're a small software company and every few months you have updates to your software. You need to notify existing customers and find a way to get them the updates. Web- updates should be conducted via the software product or email.

Print

Web

Why?___________

4.    You have valuable information that your clients pay a lot of money for. But the information changes regularly—sometimes as often as weekly. Web- a weekly newsletter or email would be more cost effective than print.

Print

Web

Why?___________

5.    You're a teacher/businessperson and you have a great collection of small booklets that are extremely useful for your students/clients. You know the rest of the world would like the information, but publishers complain the booklets are too small and don't want to deal with them. Because your readers' responses have been very strong, you are willing to publish the booklets yourself. Print- give the clients what they want and find useful.

Print

Web

Why?___________

6.    Your sweetheart has decided it is time for the world to recognize the phenomenal breadth of your artistic talent. She wants to compile a high-quality collection of your life's work. Web- because she probably has no clue and the web is cheap.  

Print

Web

Why?___________

Chapter 6 Tour

YouTube.com

  • Do you instantly understand what the web site is about or what it's for? Yes
  • Do you know what to do when you get there? Yes
  • Are the links clear about where they will take you? Yes
  • Can you easily find your way back to the home page or to other sections? Yes
  • At least on the home page, does the entire page fit inside your window so you don't miss anything, so you don't have to scroll, so you see the entire design of the site in one screen? No- but most fits.
  • Is the text easy to read? Are the graphics easy to understand? Yes and Yes
  • Does the page make you nervous by having too many links on it? No
  • Or too many graphics? No
  • Or too many moving parts that don't stop? No
  • On a large site, is there a site map that lets you see the structure of the entire site and find the page you want without having to search through every link? Start a collection of the various sorts of site maps you find. This one doesn’t have a site map.
  • Turn the graphics off. Can you still get around? Yes.
  • Do the graphics complement the content and navigation by establishing an appropriate personality for the site? Or is the site personality-challenged? Yes- the graphics are needed for the content.
  • Does something about the site catch your attention and tempt you to explore further? Or after one glance do you think, “I wish I were doing something more interesting, like watching a 200 -megabyte file download.” Yes- the various videos are interesting.
  • Does the page look junky? If so, is it because of thoughtless design or because the site is getting filthy rich from all the advertising placed on it? (Under the right circumstances—like offering you piles of money— you may be able to design around junk.) No
  • Can you find a site that breaks the “rules” in one way or another, yet still manages to keep your interest, entices you to wander around, provides clear direction, etc.? Spend some time at this site and try to put into words how it breaks the “rules” yet creates a great interface and clear navigation. I’d say YouTube breaks the traditional rules of establishing a theme, particularly in the graphics. This site doesn’t have a theme and the graphics are always changing. But that’s what makes the site appealing. There is always something different to watch.