Table of Contents
Go to the Bottom
In this report you will find information about my experience designing my first web page. You will find out what I went through to learn the minimum to create a web page and hopefully get some advice on what to do and what not to do if you are a beginner. This report is one of the assignments required for Dr. James' Psy 409b, "Cyberpsychology" and along with learning about Cyberpsychology, I had a big challenge of overcoming my "technophobia". Prior to taking this class, I really was able to utilize computers and the internet(word-processing, spreadsheets, email, surfing the web), but I knew very little about how computers really operate. I think I wasn't comfortable enough to talk about computers because my terminology was very limited and I couldn't really talk "computers" or "computer application".
Believe me, if I can get through this course, anyone can. I really didn't have interest in computers; I just appreciated how much faster I could write a term paper with my processor and all the tools I had with a computer compared to using a typewriter. Well, in just three months I have become very "into" computers. This class has made computers a daily necessity and I use my personal computer to do my assignments for school as well as for "leisure". In the past, I rarely used email even if I knew I had it (internet service that is).
I don't think I had to ramble on too much about my computer experience, but it really did have an impact on the rate in which I could complete my assignments. My initial reaction to web design was: "FORGET IT!". It was such a frustrating experience, but yet so challenging that whenever I figured something out and learned something new, I would get so excited. The more I learned, the more motivation I got to keep going and not give up. I am still learning and I have just begun my adventure into the computer world. From this point on, I think I will keep myself up-to-date on technological advances because it is such an exciting innovation. I am catching up on years of technology that I missed out on.
Leslie Francis
Leslie Francis' report was quite easy to follow. Leslie's report was very motivational. She gives a lot of encouragement by saying "you're not alone!". She gives an analysis of web-page editors by rating them from excellent to poor which was different from other reports. She also gave recommendations to learning HTML. I looked at what she described as "sucky things" and "savy things" on web sites, but I really didn't care what sucked and what was okay when I first started out. What I was really looking for was basics to HTML. Leslie also gives an in-depth section on the psychological aspects of web architecture. Check it out.
David Jackson
There was one report in particular that was so much fun to read and it gave me a lot of inspiration. I thank David Jackson for his report. I looked very hard for a report early in the semester to help me get started. As I read David's report, I could relate so much to him and I realized that I everyone started from square one and worked their way up to learning more with practice.
My initial reaction was, "wow, freedom of speech!". David is so honest in his report and I instantly realized that I wasn?t the only one that struggled or is struggling as a "rookie" web designer. I was reassured that learning new things can be overwhelming at first, but in the end, things can come together. David?s report was ironic in a sense that the Do?s and Don?ts that were being compared didn?t apply to his web page. However, I believe David accomplished a lot for a person who had no experience with web designing or with using computers period. I?m not surprised if David?s next web page would be easier to do and I?m sure it would look better than this one that I am analyzing. I bet it would even contain a lot of the suggestions presented in his report. What I really appreciated about David was that he admits to being guilty of not "practicing what he is preaching". He says he is guilty of doing some of the don?ts or not doing some of the do?s. David says it was "hahd work" and I realize why. As a first time web designer, things look so foreign. You need time and practice.
David?s content format was really good. The table of contents really reflected what was in the actual report. Presentation wasn?t too pretty, but I believe that "pretty" can say nothing. Text that David presented was very informative and very useful. He seems very "down to earth" and his report was comical, funny, and entertaining.
I will definitely try to do the same thing David did as far as my reports go. If he left anything out, it would probably have been too advanced for him (I predict). What was strong was his desire to overcome obstacles in this technological, but psychological class. David?s most influential comment was about appreciating web pages. After taking this course, he can now look at web pages and appreciate the architecture. I can too now that I know how much work it takes to build a web page.
Doug
This report gave tips on Do's and Dont's on web design. I consulted this web page mid-semester. Here Doug explained about graphics in general. Basically what type of graphics are appealing and how to include graphics that are downloaded quickly. I thought this was a useful site, but it a very brief description. More comparisons could have been shown to exemplify his points as to what is good and what isn't so effective.
Scott Chang
Scott Chang has an excellent report. So easy to read and so easy to follow. His report titled "Social Psychology of Web Architecture: The Awesome Experiences of Web Architecture" gave me an idea of what to expect. After reading Scott's report you get a sense of encouragement. Scott's report differed from the rest as it's level of addressing the topic of web architecture is basically to help you have a learning experience rather than overwhelm you with information about how to do this and that. Scott has had over two years of experience utilizing HTML and thus he has come a long way. He emphasizes hard work and practice. He warns the reader that time is needed to produce good work.
Comparing Prior Generational Reports
Leslie, David, Doug, and Scott all had very indepth reports on web architecture. All four of them explained their personal experiences with web design, each hit on Glover's site, and then each elaborated their reports with extra's that I think is worth restating. The following are parts of the reports that, in my opinion, advanced the topic of web design:
Leslie Francis Three questions to think about when designing a web page: 1) Why do you want to put up a web page? 2) How do you want people to view your presented information? 3) Which on-line community or communities do you want to have links to?
David Jackson
This is the first time I saw a statement concerning Dr. James' Social Psychological Principles of Home page Architecture: Home Pages are Loved. He makes an important point about appreciating the web architecture of web sites.
Doug
He gives tips on how to deal with graphics which often times de-emphasize the content of a web page. When I first started out, I thought appearance was everything. Doug's Do's and Don'ts allowed me to think otherwise.
Scott
This is the first report that I ran across that included psychological characteristics of hypertext links. It's important because the links we choose to include in our reports says a lot about us as authors of web sites.
I hope that emphasizing these points from different reports can give some guidance for future students who are interested in building on this topic. Read further to see what I believe is an addition or an advancement to this topic. I want to address first time web designers in particular.
I looked around in this Jeff Glover?s site since it was one required element of this particular report. I like Jeff?s attitude about web sites. Jeff says, "this web site is only a guide for those looking for some direction. Good design is a matter of your personal taste and style, not someone elses!". I think this is a very good point because Jeff allows us to make the final decision as to what will work for us. His site is an on going and continuously updated site. He has been "gathering feedback from internet surfers about what they think Suck an what they think is Savvy".
I think a web site contains a lot about the author. It exemplifies the authors creativity, views on issues, personality, culture, interests, and so on. I think any web site can be analyzed, not necessarily criticized.
Check out Dan Hamamoto's report on Web Operation. He gives two good examples of disorganized sites. One site was his friend Blaine's Home Page. I thought it was very cultural despite the fact that it was considered disorganized. So, this goes to show that everyone has special tastes, and most of all different purposes in creating web sites.
The best place to look at is my instructor?s page on Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture In an exerpt from this site, Dr. James says that :
We need to look at our Homes Pages with an objective eye. In general, we try to achieve two important results with a Home Page. One is that it should be clear (unconfusing), informative, and useful. The other is that it should be beautiful, with a creative and entertaining style. These two aspects can be discussed as the informational and sylistic features of Home Pages".
I think there are reasons why people have a web site and for me, it is because I am taking this class on Cyberpsychology. If for any reason my web page "sucks" or isn?t appealing, I think I shouldn?t be criticized. There was a lot of obstacles for me to overcome and my goal was to complete my reports and not spend too much time on the appearance of my home page. I was trying to learn HTML and get the fundamentals. If at all, I think next time around I won?t have to spend so much time figuring simple things such as centering text on a page or getting links to work. I have come to appreciate my own work as well the work of other students who have taken this online course. It is amazing how much work goes into creating a web site! It really is a big job. I had anxiety over doing this project (I will not withhold this information). At times, I thought I would never figure out how to get my reports done because I was so worried about learning more HTML.
Taking Dr. James' course on Cyberpsychology allowed me to learn a lot about new areas of study in psychology. Although this class was a psychology course, I really thought I was taking a computer technology course. Since the end result was publishing our work, I was required to learn HTML and this was the first step to learning Web Design.
When I first started this course in August 1998, I new absolutely nothing. "Nothing" meaning I didn't even know what HTML was. I read books including "HTML for Dummies, 3rd Edition", and it was still hard for me to understand what HTML did.
To be very honest, I didn't really get too much out of prior generations when I first started out. I was so intimidated by the appearance and content of prior generations that it distracted me more than helped me out. What I was forced to do was read and try to learn through trial and error. Having charts of HTML codes and tips on how to do this and that wasn't helpful at all because I knew nothing. I didn't know how everything fit together.
When I finally got some basics acquired, I was able to see how HTML was used in web design. It's incredible how much work goes into creating a web page and I don't think anyone can say that its simple. There are some short cuts I would think, but I think withit gets easier due to practice and experience.
Now that I have had some experience with creating a web page, I can say that it's best to read and understand what you need to create a web page and also what you need to understand. There are some things that books don't tell you.
I usually use the search engine Yahoo, but there are two search engines called Dog Pile and 800go that my brother told me about. Both are sites are sites that contains multiple search engines, 800go includes 12 search engines. Try it out and you'll be surprised to find what you want.
*Dr. James Site on the Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture
*Jeff Glover's Site concerning What Is Sucky and What is Savvy
*Begginners HTML: HTML 101 The simplist HTML explanation and tutorial I came across
