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What We Learned

Web Design

We were given a web design assignment to learn how to create a proper website. We looked at what types of picture files work best, the best screen size, and several other factors that are important to make a website work.

We used the Blacboard website to discuss and give ideas for the creation of our website. Our focus topics were consistency, the target audience, look n' feel, colour, font and navigation tools. Everyone in our class had ideas and it took several days to work through them all and make a final decision. The following are a few of the ideas from students and the final decisions that were made.

Discussions on Web Design

Consistency

Consistency is very important because any good web site is consistent from page to page. We discussed several different approaches before reaching our final decision.

"For consistency the pages of the website all need the same design. Font sizes and styles and are charts should all look the same. Colours should stay the same so that with each page you don't get a different colour of the rainbow, which would get annoying to whomever is looking at our web site."

Amy R.

"To keep thing consistant there should be some elements that are the same on every page placing , colour size etc, like the navigation bar."

Vaughn M.

Target Audience

When deciding who would be the target audience the questions were asked: Who do you think is going to visit this site? Who do you think is going to be interested? Who could make use of the web site about our surveys? Knowing who the target audience will be is necesarry before making decisions about the design.

"I think the target audience would be teenagers. I think the web site should be designed so that it would be interesting to teenagers. Parents might also visit the web site though so we should keep that in mind."

Sara D.

"I'm not to sure that the Teen Group will find our site very interesting. If I myself came across a site like this, and based on these topics (though I find U.S. Terrorism Interesting) I would probably pass this by, it doesn't catch my eye as a MUST SEE web page. I think adults would be more interested in statistics and analysis."

Andrew E.

Look 'n' Feel

Each website has it's own look n feel. Some examples commonly used are: businesslike, funky, sombre, cheerfu,l earth,y knowledgeable, retro, and mysterious. We worked together to find which look would be best for our website.

"I feel that our web pages should be business like. We don't want people coming to them and laughing, or not taking it seriously. And business like isn't too serious. It is formal, yes, but not serious. That way, people can come to it and get the facts without laughing, but also without feeling like they are being drilled with information."

Jason A.

"I think our web page should be original and unique. I think it should be knowledgable and catching to whomever is looking at it no matter what their age is. It should also be professional looking and not like it was just put together at random."

Melissa S.

Colour

The colour scheme is very important to a website. We have reactions and feelings that relate to certain colours, for example we relate red to stop and green to envy. The colours have to blend well and the contrast must make it easy to read.

"I think we should stick with our school colours BLUE and GOLD, this way we will be showing school spirit and it will be easy to read and will look nice."

Hailey H.

"My first impulse was simple black (background), white (text) and another colour (titles). Nothing complicated. How do people feel about black? Too dark/serious... depressing? If we agreed to a black background... we have many contrasting font colour options. Though, I say nice white font with other color(s) for titles. MAYBE we could have a different "title color" per each survey!"

Tabitha R.

Font

The font will contribute a lot to a website, especially the look n' feel. It is also better to change it from the default, which is usually Times New Roman. Another thing to remember is that it will need to be common enough so other computers will have it too.

"I believe that Times New Roman would be a BAD choice. How many websites out there use it? None that I've seen. Also, for me, Times New Roman is associated with typed school assignments, and it doesn't have a very 'inviting' feeling. It's rather stuffy."

Keri O.

"I think the best font to use would be Arial or something similar. It is easy to read, looks neat and is modern looking. It is also one that would probably be on most user's computers."

Janel H.

Navigation

Navigation is very important when designing a website. It has to be carefully planned so the visitors do not get confused. The major decisions that need to be made are: Where should the navigationalelements appear? What type of elements should we use for the navigation? text only? small graphics? icons? flash bar? and What things should appear in the navigation bar?

Final Decisions for Web Design

Final decisions for the consistency is that the same colours, font face and size will be used throughout the website.

Final decisions for the target audience is that teenagers will be targeted on the website with adults as the secondary group.

Final decisions for the look n feel is that the website will be professional, knowledgeable and businesslike, but yet fun and interesting so it is appealing to our age group.

Final decisions for the colour is that black text and a white background will be use. Blue and gold will be used for navigational tools and graphics.

Final decision for the font is arial.

Final decisions for the navigation is that all navigation bars will go on the left, there will be links to the top on the bottom of every page, there will be no scroll bars - only buttons and there will be nothing flashy - same text on all buttons.