Instructions for this Report

Cherisse Eguchi (G10) also did her report on the Web Architecture. I thought she was very informative. These are the reasons why?.

Jeffrey Glover?s site entitled, "Sucky to Savvy" provided numerous links of information. The purpose of his site helps people improve on their web pages. He talks about his "sucky" list and his "savvy" list. This is what I learned in each of his links: Read on!

• Blink: Blinking images are annoying, especially blinking text. Instead, it is better to use bold or larger text to emphasize certain points. In my opinion, I think blinking images are eye-catching and creative. However, I prefer working with text design.
• Auto Background Music & Sounds: Background music is obnoxious, especially if you?re at work, and some kind of music coming out of your computer draws attention and may be annoying at times. Visitors to your site should be able to have the option of whether or not they want the music or not. In my opinion, I feel that it is best to let visitors have that option. In my experiences with background music, I usually turn the speakers off because it annoys me.
• Loud Background Images: These backgrounds and images are "straining" on the eyes. Certain backgrounds make the text hard to read, which is a turn-off. I don?t like when I have to put my face close to the screen to figure out what a word is. It?s annoying as well. I did have a comment about my Generations Report, and was advised to change my background color. I had black text on a dark blue background, and although it wasn't difficult for me to read the report, it wasn?t as visible to others.
• Gratuitous Use of Frames: Frames are divisions which separate areas on your screen. There are only two things I like about frames: They have a different look and serve a good purpose. However, I don?t know much about moving in or out of frames. I think frames can be confusing sometimes.
• Scrolling Marquees: Scrolling marquees are also eye-catching. However, I prefer seeing text all at one time, instead of reading a moving text. It?s appropriate in certain cases. For example, I don?t mind reading a scrolling marquee for advertisement purposes in front of a store, but not so much on a homepage. I feel that you concentrate too hard on every word seconds at a time, and you tend to miss the whole point as to what is being said.

• Include Contact Information: I like homepages that include a way to get in touch with the people who created the pages (ex. e-mail addresses and guest books). I like going into a homepage and being able to comment on their page. I think that it?s necessary to have contact information for commentary. Personally, I?d like to know what people think. It gives me an idea on what likes and dislikes visitors might have, and can also give me the option of making changes.
• Use Thumbnail Graphics: Thumbnail graphics are small, low- resolution versions of larger images. I become impatient waiting for large images to download.
• Be Unique!: I think that this is the bottom line in creating a homepage. I?ve visited many interesting homepages where people create talk about their interests. For example, I love reading and writing poetry, and have visited interesting sites. An example is the MichaelAngel?s Page for Hopeless Romantics. In his homepage, he includes beautiful images, but he doesn?t overpower his homepage with too many images. There are just a couple on his page. And in each of his links, there are only a few small images as well. Recently, I visited a homepage by a friend from my home island. She had links to pictures and memories of friends from back home, a link to her background, a link to her interests, and a guest book. I thought that was pretty cool! Instead of using a whole bunch of images on her homepage, she was creative with background colors and fonts, which I think is just as attractive as putting pictures all over the place.

My instructor, Dr. Leon James has a site on the social psychology of home page architecture. The ideas I liked included the Stylistic Features of Home Pages and the Taxonomy of Home Pages and Links, which includes the function of home pages and the function of links.

Dr. James also discusses the three categories behind home pages: (A table that illustrates this can be found here The function of links can also be found by clicking here.

 

What It?s Like to Become a Web Designer

 

Like I mentioned in my introduction, I haven?t had much exposure to the Internet. When I was a secretary for a small computer business, I was introduced to the Internet. I didn?t know much about how to search the Web. I recall clicking here and there without really knowing what I was doing. A couple of semesters ago, I remember registering for PSY409, but ended up dropping the class because of my fear of the Internet. This semester I decided to give it a shot, and I?m thankful that I did. It took taking this class for me to learn all about the World Wide Web. At first I was intimidated by what was required of me in this course. For some reason, I thought that I would be the only one in class who had little exposure to the Web, but later found that others were in the same boat as well. When I first started out, I was creating my assignments from scratch in notebook. I didn?t know that there was an easier way, which is to type it right in Word and save it as an HTML document. So far, I?ve learned the basics on how to create a home page. I still need to learn how to put different pictures and graphics onto my homepage. I want to learn as much as I can because I?m considering putting up a personal homepage.

For future generations, my advice would be to always start on reports early! There is a lot of work involved in setting up these reports.

 

 

Annotated Index to Web Design

 

Social Psychological Principles by Dr. Leon James

Sucky to Savvy by Jeffrey M. Glover

My Generations File

My Newsgroups File

My Report 1: Definitions of Traffic Psychology

My Report 2: Social Psychology of Web Architecture

Icons Folder

My Class Home Page

Dr. Leon James? Home Page

E-mail me