Monday 24 January 2011

World's WORST Websites?

YOUR TASK

Make a list of 15 things you shouldn't do when designing a website and give URLs of examples where there has been done:
1. Well
2. Poorly

Remember to GIVE A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF WHY THE SITE IS POOR/GOOD

In order to know how to design a website well, it is worth looking at terrible websites. Here is the main website that deals with them - called 'Websites that Suck'

Overview of the Worst Websites of 2010-2005
Worst Websites of 2009
Worst Websites of 2008
Worst Websites of 2007
Worst Websites of 2006
Worst Websites of 2005

Ugliest / Worst Web Pages of the Decade

and the colours on this site moves as well!!! Check it HERE

And here:

Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

Here's the sheet to complete - get it from the RESOURCES folder to complete it in word.

What NOT to do in WEB DESIGN Form

Monday 17 January 2011

How Audiences use the internet

How Audiences Use the internet --------------------------------------------------------------

This sheet is in resources (on the macs) in the folder WEB DESIGN. Copy the answers into your sketchbooks

1. Article “ Lazy Eyes” – here http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/. Answer the following questions:

a. What 6 things should you do to get a reader’s attention?

b. What is an informavore according to this article?

c. According to the article, how much slower are we at reading computer screen text than printed text? (He quotes Nielsen)

2. Article “F-Shaped pattern for reading web content” – here http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html. Answer the following questions:

a. What does the article say are the three main components of the dominant reading pattern?

b. How many people did they use in their tests?

c. Draw a rough image of the pattern shown in the images

3. In Media Studies we have traditionally divided audiences in terms of Age, Gender, Class, Wealth (DEMOGRAPHICS) and Lifestyle - which is called PSYCHOGRAPHICS. Copy or stick in the sheet on segmenting the audience into your sketchbooks. Using this article http://philosophe.com/understanding_users/categorizing_users/ called “Categorizing your Audience”, List 3 other ways you could categorise your audience. Try to give a brief explanation.

4. Finally, go to WEBSITES THAT SUCK http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/index.html?linkid=subnav and choose THREE bad sites, giving the LINK and a brief sketch of the site, along with 50 words for each site on why the site is badly designed in your sketchbooks.

Try to use what you have learned here when planning and designing your own website.

Please also think about using some of these ideas when you come to write up your evaluation!

Categorising the audience in Media Studies - Generally

Categorising the Audience

We know about segmenting or dividing the audience by certain categories:
AGE
GENDER
RACE
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION
LIFESTYLE CHOICES

But in the world of the internet, there are other ways to do this:

Categorizing Users by Role

A scheme for identifying users based on user roles or modes of interaction with the site is more useful for understanding the site’s audience.

An excellent example of a role-based classification of audience is the article “Designing Your Audience” by Jeffrey Zeldman.

Mr. Zeldman categorizes site visitors into three groups:

USERS are people who employ tools (software) to accomplish tasks: calculating, comparing, finding, outlining, writing, designing.

VIEWERS are people who seek entertainment. They want to be surprised, seduced, led along a path. Their goal is the journey, not the end result.

READERS are that rare (but growing) breed of web user who turn to a website as they might turn to a novel or magazine article.

How will this affect the way you target your audience?

Eye Tracking

We don't read all the text or the page in the way you might think - here are a couple of images to help you understand how we read web pages:

Wednesday 12 January 2011

Reviewing TV Channel's Websites

You need to make notes in your sketchbooks on the following by looking at websites to see:

1. What the conventions are for Web Sites in practice
2. What TV Channels put on their websites - the conventions for this 'genre'
3. How TV Channels target their audience

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Research TV Channel Websites!

Look at a minimum of THREE of the following, choosing a least one from each group. You need to make notes on the content and its meanings as well as how it is offering a service and meeting the demands/needs of its audience.

Use the sheets and fill in the blanks to help you construct notes - don't worry if you have more in one section or another and if they overlap - the sheet is a GUIDE to help you make notes rather than the be all and end all of life so to speak!