My Report 2:
Social Psychology of
Web Architecture:

Dare to Venture?


Rudy Dolfo
Report 2
Psychology 409 @University of Hawaii
Instructor: Dr. Leon James


Dr. James Home Page
Dolfo's Home Page
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Introduction Web Design Principles As I See It Psychological Aspects to Web Design What It's Like to Become a Web Designer Annotated index to Web Design



Introduction:

This is what you'll find in my report.

If you are someone who enjoy browsing through web sites being fascinated by all the skillful designs, then you're probably on the right track as to what my report is about. What I mean by skillful is simply this, you'll see designs by people who have taken much time and effort in planning and designing there own web sites. It will become obvious to you as you continue to Surf the internet. Surf is another word for browsing. There are thousands and thousands of web designs by individuals who Dare to Venture and begin designing their own web sites. There are also thousands of people that have no idea as to what web sites are all about. I'm sure that there are many people who have heard about the internet, but how many have actually taken the time to browse through it?

As for me, I had no intention to create and design anything on the web. As a matter of fact, I was one of those people who had no idea what the web was all about until I took a class from Dr. James in the summer of 96'. I felt I was out in left field standing all alone waiting for something to hit me on the head. Well, something did, but not until three or four weeks into class. I can vividly remember how frustrated I was during those weeks. I wanted to throw in the towel and say forget this. In all honesty, I'm glad I stuck it out, because I've learned a lot since then. Dr. James is a professor who helps you to find the desire within and that desire is what motivates you in doing what is necessary to accomplish the task of designing your own unique web site.

Here I am taking Dr. James class again and although the summer has gone, I still feel as if I'm a baby in web site designs. It's been exactly two semesters that have passed and I see web architecture that is superior to what we were doing in the summer. It is utterly amazing to me that my classmates who have never taken this class before have designed remarkable pages. I believe that everyone has the ability to create a web site and you do it according to your own thoughts and ideas. Everyone is different, our thoughts, our ideas, especially when it comes to designing your web site. My taste is completely different from that of my classmates, but that doesn't mean that my web site will appeal to everyone. You need to remember that it might not appeal to some people out there browsing web sites, but it's your own creation and that's what makes it so unique. I know my pages aren't the best, but it reflects my character and I'm content with it. I often end up making changes but that's common because people like myself think about it all the time. Hey, it's my character, my personality that's being displayed out there and I should be concerned about it.

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Web Designer Principles As I See It:

My personal reaction.

Glover in my opinion is a very useful site for those who plan to design a web site. It has very pertinent information in easy format. This guy sure knows a lot about web designing. For example, one of his clickable links referred to the ten ways your home page Sucks. People who have already created a home page might be a little skeptical to look through these ten steps. If you're one who has a hard time excepting rejections then it would be difficult for you to view this site. My suggestion is simply this, you can either except what he says, or ignore him completely. It's only one person's opinion, he says himself that he's an individual and everyone is different from one another. I thought that what he said was basic common sense advice. For example:
#7 he says that obnoxious background music sucks. Seriously, do you like listening to far fetched background music that doesn't match your page.
#8 he says that too many pictures of pets also sucks. Now, if I wasn't to fond of certain animals, and saw it pasted all over the screen, I wouldn't hang around to hear what a fanatic person has to say about anything. I feel that first impressions are so very important.

I thought the Do's and Don'ts was especially interesting.
#1-do's, use unique graphics. Use graphics that reflect you personally.
#1-don'ts fall into line with the do's. Don't copy graphics that everyone else uses. Once again, I say that you're your own unique self. Use something that would portray you personally.
#2-do's he says to use sensible designs like colors for example. Some people like to use loud colors, I personally don't like to, but some loud colors are beautiful. If you are going to use them, you need to consider how your text are going to look on those colors. If it's hard to read, your viewers will no doubt abandon your site. In essence, why should they stay and strain their eyes unnecessarily.
#2-don'ts he says not to get fancy. I agree with his comments regarding getting to fancy. I must admit that there are some pages that look real fancy, but it matches their page. Some people get fancy just for the sake to getting fancy and it doesn't match. My advice to you is, don't get fanatic. It's easy to do with all those graphics at your disposal. One other point he makes which I felt is important is:
#4-do's and don'ts. Use pertinent links. Make sure your links coincide with your context. I feel it is of vital importance that your report has links, because it will be more convincing to your readers when they see that your report can be verified.

The 10 ways to improve your home page I thought was a little redundant except for #5 when he says to use height and width tags. I got a lot out of this because that's exactly what I needed to do with my home page. It was under re-construction and I needed to use height and width tags. One of my graphics took up too much space and I needed to shrink it down to size. Hopefully you'll remember to use them when you're constructing your home page to save yourself some time of having to re-construct like I did.

The only thing I got out of 10 ways of improving netscape browsing experience was to be patient. This is true because you'll definitely come across sites that will take a little while to down load. This happens especially when they have graphics that take up a lot of space and or the whole screen. A good example of this is big large pictures. Just hang in there and wait because it might be worth your while. Some of the graphics are beautiful and when you think about it, what's a few seconds more to wait for something you may need for your home page or for one of your reports. I'm not saying the whole screen, there may be a graphic design in there that you could use. It could be the background, or that car, maybe that tree, you'll never know until you wait to see what will show up. I've browsed the internet for many hours and have seen all types of graphics that I could use for my reports and home page.

The background that you see on my home page is one that I found surfing the internet. It's obvious that I'm a horse lover when you see my home page. It's a part of my life style and that's what makes designing so unique. I found this design by simply being patient. My advice is to keep searching, because it's almost a guarantee that you'll find the perfect graphic that will fit your ensemble of designs.

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Psychological Aspects to Web Design:

Here are my thoughts on three ideas.

We were instructed to click to this site Architect which had some very interesting concepts on web designing by Dr. James. Cyberspace Home was the first concept that caught my eye. In the web designer principles I mentioned the importance of links in your report. The context of cyberspace home had to do with Links. I understand the meaning of cyberspace and though intrigued with reading this concept I too was fascinated with the thought of being able to click on to a link and within a matter of seconds the link would appear on the screen.

As Dr. James says, "The shape of cyberspace is dependent on hypertext technology." These are my thoughts about this particular statement. If someone is saying something about a particular topic, I feel it's of vital importance to back up your statements by referring to other professional advice. To do this, you would need to search for articles that are similar to what you're talking about. The pertinent question to ask yourself at this point is this, "Where do I look to get information regarding my topic?" Well, your best bet is to go directly to search engines and type in a word pertaining to your topic. Search engines will then site the number of articles that match the word that you typed. Now, browse through those articles for the ones that you would be able to use for your report. Simply link your page to that article and there you'll have the advice from professionals for support for your link.

When someone is reading your report, and you say something that's questionable, by using links, your reader can verify your comments by clicking on that link. The link will appear in a matter of seconds in spite of the fact that thousands of people may be clicking at the same time. When the link appears, then your readers will be able to verify your statements. What I mean by this is when you click on a link that you see in an article, you have no idea that there may be a substantial amount of others that may be reading the same article and clicking on the same link you're clicking on. It's hypertext technology that enables you to get that piece of information in a matter of seconds.

The next concept I found interesting was Taxonomy of Home Pages and Links. The concept mentioned, "a home page may be the landing point for a site that contains hundreds of home pages and even hundreds of sites attached together to form a cyberspace village or compound." The perfect example of this is Dr. James home page. It literally acts as a home base because you can virtually get anywhere from his page. The links are set up in a way that accommodates not only students who may need information, but also others who may be interested in a certain topic. Almost every page has links that will eventually lead you to what you're looking for. One of the features is being able to connect to all students from all generations by simply clicking. I mentioned in web designer principles about searching for the perfect graphic for your home page or reports. This would be a good place to start. Think about it for just a second, there are a lot of students that take Dr. James classes. Now, if all of his students are looking for graphics to suit their web sites, then just maybe, their graphic might suit your needs. You'll never know unless you look. Just remember, everything you see in web sites are fair game unless there's a block on a particular graphic, and it's usually personal pictures.

The third concept I found to be fascinating was Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext Links. Dr. James says:
  • Affective feature of links refers to their motivation.

  • Cognitive feature of links refers to their argument of implication, and

  • Sensorimotor feature of links refers to their location and appearance.

    • The cognitive part of these three features are comprehensible because there has to be a reason for you putting a link on your page and that was discussed earlier. In case you've forgotten, the reason being is for added support or confirmation regarding your page. I mentioned the importance of getting verification from significant others, meaning professional advice, this is an example of professional advice. Dr. James is a doctor of psychology and his advice can be verified.

    One other important thing I failed to mention and that is, if you have any questions or doubts about the articles you decide on using for your report, be sure to investigate it. You can do this by checking your source's credentials. I don't mean to be using Dr. James as an example throughout my report, but the thing about Dr. James is that he can back up his statements. This is what I mean about credentials.

    The sensorimotor is also comprehensible because most naturally people will react to what they see. To further illustrate, if your home page or report is dull in appearance, then it's only obvious that they'll click to another page, but if it's eye catching, people will have the tendency to stay for awhile to check it out. I say this because I do it, and I know a whole lot of other people who do it also. When you're designing your web page, you need to keep in mind not only being unique, but also being creative. No one likes looking at something plain or dull. What's plain or dull? Well, to me, a page that has absolutely no graphics is plain and dull. I can understand if the assignment given by your instructor was that you're to have no graphics, no background, only text, then you have no choice but to follow directions. If there are no bounds to your report, then the sky is the limit. Just remember the do's and don'ts of creating a web site.

    It's the affective feature that's a bit confusing. Dr. James explained it to us in class and it did come together for me after the lecture, but it was hard to get a handle on it at the beginning of class. This is how I perceive affective. Once you're motivated to so something it doesn't matter if your mind is clogged with problems, worries, or concerns because you're focused on doing what you feel is important at the moment. As far as relating it to links, the motivation for me to put it up is to convince my readers that what I'm saying about a particular topic isn't only what I believe in, but also the belief of a substantial group of others. It seems as though this topic is salient in my report. I'm no authority on topics discussed, but when I make a statement, I would like to be able to validate it by referring to those with credentials.

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    What It's Like to Become a Web Designer:

    My experience before and after.

    Well, first I had to decide what I wanted people to see on the screen. My decision had to reflect my personal feelings, my character, what I like, what's important to me and so on. So, taken everything into consideration, I decided to do my home page with centering it around horses. I scanned search engines thoroughly and found the perfect background for my theme. I copied it onto my diskette and saved it in my files. Next, I had to decide on a slogan or a theme and I came up with one, "Horse lover's world." I feel there is always room for improvement when designing your home page. I find myself spending hours designing not only my home page, but also my reports. I'm an individual who doesn't like a plain looking report. I know that content should be priority, but I feel appearance is just as important. Like I mentioned earlier, being creative and unique is one of the keys to having a good web site. I guess I feel this way because other students may need to read our generation's reports and if your report is dull in appearance, they may pass it up. I'm just speaking from experience. I don't think our generation will have a problem with that because my classmates are awesome designers.

    I feel that I'm at the point where my understanding of designing a home page or report is sufficient enough to get by. I reiterate the fact that I'm just a beginner in web site designing, but once again, I'd like to think that my work reflects me personally because I'm unique. I can't change that, like everyone else, being a unique designer will only appeal to a certain group of people. To further clarify this statement, your page may intrigue a lot of people, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Your unique design may only appeal or capture the interest of certain people. They are the ones who will take the time to find out what you're all about. They would probably want to know for themselves if you have things in common. For example, take my home page. Horse lover's world will attract horse lover's and those who may be contemplating buying a horse. It may also attract people who are curious about horses. Not everyone loves horses, but I understand that, and I'm not going to change my feelings about my home page simply because not everyone loves horses. The thing that we share or have in common, is the love for horses.

    I'm strongly considering taking another class from Dr. James. You might ask Why? Well, to be honest with you, I want to see if I can do better then what I'm doing here in this generation. I'm afraid it's becoming an obsession with me. I'm not sure, but I think I'm enjoying it at the same time. Please don't get me wrong, I put in a lot of time and effort, but the end results is where I get my greatest satisfaction. My goal will be to design a completely new theme for a home page.

    My advice to future generations and beyond is simply this, if we can do it you can. There's a great amount of frustration, usually in the beginning and that's because it will be unfamiliar territory. Once you're pass that stage, it becomes fun and then you can't wait to see what your work looks like in netscape. The only other frustration you'll come across is having to make changes, but that's minor. There is great satisfaction in designing a web site. Knowing that thousands of people will be looking at what you've created is exciting and it motivates you to do the best you can. My only advice to Dr. James is that if at all possible, to make FTP a little easier to work with. To have to go into it to make changes can be quite frustrating because some computers in the lab aren't able to do it. If there's a better system it would help.

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    Annotated Index to Web Design:

    Here are a few articles that might be helpful.

    I felt at this time it would be appropriate to make Dr. James article one to link to. A good part of my report focuses on this article especially affective, cognitive and sensorimotor. If you've never used search engines then you've got to try it. Here you'll be able to type in your topic of research and search engines will find all articles pertaining to your area of research. It'll tell you how many articles that are found and you can scan through it to see which articles best suit your report. This is what I did to get these links that pertain to web designs. I went into netsearch and typed web designing and clicked custom search which narrowed it down to 17 articles. Out of the seventeen, I chose five(5) articles. Each of these articles specifically give information on designing web sites. These articles tie in with my report, they are as follows:
  • Information builders

  • GNP computers

  • Web designer help desk

  • York traffic web

  • The web as a learning tool





    • Dr. James Home Page
    Dolfo's Home Page
    Drop a line sometime