Webpage
Design 1
What rules are there when
creating a webpage? The aren't any BUT there are generally accepted
protocols. Here are some links that may help you.
Look
at the basics of web design; The dos and donts. From this you should be
able to produce a better site.
Web pages are built on the
basic commands of the Hyper-Text Mark-Up Language (HTML). There are of
course now very powerful programmes that can help you create webpages in
What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) mode, such as Dreamweaver. These are
editors that operate in a similar vein to a word processor where you enter
text and then highlight it (select it) and choose the formatting
appropriate. eg bold, italics etc.
Before you start to design
your own sites, go to
www.webpagesthatsuck.com
Choose "The Original Pages That Suck Examples" and take the short
tour with it of pages that feature bad design. Make a note of some of these.
You have probably been annoyed by some of the same features in your web
surfing.
You should also check out
the link
www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html
This was written some years ago so there are some features that are no
longer a proplem, but nevertheless it provides a good source of information.
It is also interesting to see how the technology has changed since then.
Of course, there are a
countless number of other sites that you are free to examine in your quest
for web design nirvana. For example, I recommend
www.htmlhelp.com,
which provides links to other good articles and ideas, including some
in Japanese.
You may like to put
electronic networking into further practise by joining one of the mailing
lists that some of these sites provide.
You are welcome to use
whatever web page editor you prefer. Frontpage(part of the Microsoft Office
suite) is a middle of the range while Dreamweaver is the Deluxe version.
There are also Composer (the free editor provided by Netscape) and the
Microsoft freebie, Frontpage Express. Of course, you can also program using
HTML using a basic editor program like Notepad or Wordpad in the Microsoft
Office suite.
Hints on Developing a
Web site
1. Who
is your site for?
Most of the population of
Planet Earth has the potential to access your Web site. Which sub- group are
you aiming at? Students? Teachers? Parents? Define carefully.
2. Where
are you going to put your site?
Web sites live on computers
called servers. Servers are connected to the Internet. The speed at which
the server can send and receive information via the Internet is important.
If you have a large, multimedia site with many graphics, sound files,
on-line chat programs etc. and you place it on a slow server, your target
group will most likely give up in frustration because it takes too long to
download your pages.
3. What
sort of computer power do you think your target group will have?
This relates to the above
question. Even if you have your site on a fast server, if your site is
intensely multi-media and your target audience is using old computers, you
will have the same problems. If you want to develop a complex site that
requires plug-in programs such as frames, streaming audio or video,
ShockWave, or other special applications, be sure to let the reader know on
the first page what they will need to access the page successfully. You
might consider in this case to provide a simpler version for readers who
lack state of the art hardware or software.
4. Budgets
and servers
The school budget (or the
developer's own finances) must be considered. Internet Service Providers
(ISPs), particularly of the commercial variety, charge by time and
downloads. Most also limit the size of a subscriber's Web site.
5. Site
design
This relates back to the
target group, the amount of computing power your server will have, and your
technical competence to develop a site. In general, the KISS (keep it
simple, stupid) principle applies. Remember, while a complex site may work
very fast on your own machine, this will not be the case when you upload it
to the server.
Other points on site
design:
Graphics should be used
sparingly, and should reinforce the theme of the site. Do not use graphics
just because they look pretty. The same goes for sound files and any video
clips. Remember that any file other than straight text files (graphic,
sound, video) is correspondingly larger. A 3 minute video clip in .AVI
format can be up to six mebabytes!
If your site is more than
one page, consider using a story board in the initial design. This will help
you devise ways of setting out your pages in a logical and navigable way for
the readers, and will also help you to set your hyperlinks properly.
Always have some method for
readers to contact you. The 'mailto:' tag is very useful for this.
Learn the latest version of
HTML. It's simple to learn, and while the later Web editor programs are very
good, knowing HTML will allow you to fine tune your pages exactly the way
you want them.
Browse! Go back to pages
that caught your eye. Use the 'View' button (on Netscape) to look at the
author's code. Remember also to bookmark any sites you may want to revisit.
Get familiar with Web-related programs. Learn about interactive scripting
(CGI), Java, JavaScript, and other applications which can make your Web site
powerful and efficient.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ANY
EDUCATIONAL SITE
Requirements for Use
Browsers
Netscape
Internet
Explorer
Opera
Lynx
Safari
Mozilla
Technology required -
user end
Frames
Java
JavaScript
Plug-ins
Sound
& Video
RealAudio
Quicktime
ShockWave
Technology used --
server end
CGI
Database
Reason made
Product of class activity
Information resource
Supplementary material
Profit-making (fee for
access)
Advertising
Who made
Individual teacher
Individual student
Class project
Cooperative project
School
Publisher
Other Company
CHARACTERISTICS OF
LANGUAGE SITES
Function
Language Practice
Function
Specific Language Function
pronunciation
grammar
vocabulary
reading
reading
practice
useful
info for discussion
writing
Message
creation
Information
creation
Type of Activity
Read only
Read & Do
Game
Quiz
Target Student Type
Language Level
Low
-- Intermediate -- High
Grade Level
Elementary
Junior
High School (years 8-9 in Qld)
High
School
University
Adult
Nationality
All cultures
Specific cultures
EVALUATIVE CRITERIA
Pedagogy
Clear pedagogical goals?
Effective?
Proposed learning/discovery
pathways? ie: choice of guided or unguided discovery of the WebSite/Cyberspace.
Material can be integrated in curriculum/easily adaptable to own teaching?
Or very much self-standing learning resource. Uniformity/gradation of
language level of material
Volume of Material
Little -- Much
Interest Level
Low -- High
Presentation
Effectiveness of graphics,
color choice
Intuitive navigation
controls?
Well (concisely) described
and 'logical' (to learners...) links between pages
Overall design of the site,
not only pages
Maintenance
Site has been updated
regularly
Technical aspects
Effectiveness of
Scripting/Programming
Response time
Quality of code (bugs,
etc.)
Cross-platform capability
Loading time (Site size)
Conformity of HTML code to
standard
What does it do that
couldn't have been done with paper and pencil?