Well, this is my second report for Dr. James Psy 409b class and it seems to be getting easier. My first report was difficult because I had to learn to design my own web page before I could even start my first paper. This class has been an eye opening experience for me. Before this class, my searches on the internet was limited in scope. I was only interested in a few subjects, stocks, sports, and games. Dr. James's class has forced me to experience different areas of the internet that I would have never visited. I now realize that there are a lot of home pages that are produced not by commercial companies but by everyday people seeking self expression. These people that design personal web pages are sharing information about their hobbies and interests. Some people also share pictures of themselves, their families, and pets. Each person's personal web page is a reflection of themselves. They all contain something from each person's personality and emotions. In viewing different home pages, I have experienced humor, hatred and love for certain things or subjects, and informative information that people just want to share. In some ways, through this visual representation, you are meeting people and gaining insight into their experiences and knowledge.
Jeffrey M. Glover's site, Ten Ways to Tell If You Have a Sucky Home Page is a good place to start acquiring knowledge about web designing. Mr. Glover is expressing his ideas and opinions about the constructs of bad web designing. Some of Mr. Glover's ideas involve common sense. Such as Rule #10, Your header picture is over 50K. If your page is taking too long to download, some people might not want to stay long enough to read what you want to share with them. Rule #9 and Rule #6 are also useful. I feel that if you are going to put some time and effort into scanning photos and placing them on your web page then you should put up a good product. The rest of his rules are more opinionated in form. Mr. Glover does have a disclaimer that states
"Warning: Don't have a hissy-fit if something from your web site is on the list. I encourage you to create your web site however you want, regardless of what some doofus says is "sucky" or "a don't"! Good design is a matter of YOUR personal taste and style, not someone else's! Besides, rules are meant to be broken. I should know... I've broken a few of my own!"
I like his disclaimer because what he says is true, what he is providing is knowledge and opinion of what he thinks the norm or standard is for web designing. The knowledge and opinions that he provided is just information and it is your choice whether you want to utilize it or not. I have one last opinion that I would like to share on web designing principles. When you are designing your web page, choose your colors, pattern and font carefully. You want to design a web page that is appealing to the reader but keeping in mind the strain on the readers eyes. If you don't then the reader or visitor to your home page will leave and/or wil not get the ideas or knowledge you are trying to relate.
#1 Download Time
"Above all, be sure that visitors don't end up waiting impatiently for your Home Page to load. No spiffy background effect or spectacular images will be appreciated by cybernauts who have to wait precious seconds for you to load just so you can show off!! So how much is too long to wait? In my opinion, the shorter the better. As a rule of thumb, I would say that anything more than 10 secs. is too long to wait for a Home Page."
I like this suggestion from Dr. James. It makes sense because who wants to wait a long time to view a web page. Especially in this day and age when everybody wants everything instantly or as fast as possible. I think that the ten second rule is a good idea but might be rather short. The speed of the modem and who the internet provider is might make a difference of how fast a page downloads. Because of this variability, I feel that everybody should have their own preference when reading or viewing web pages. But when you are designing your web page this is a very important idea to keep in mind. After all, you are designing your web page so you can share information with the reader. If he or she doesn't want to wait, then I feel your efforts might be fruitless.
#2 Organization
"Another important principle is to arrange things so that some of the text gets loaded first, so that while it's loading the rest, visitors have something to do to occupy those precious few seconds!"
This is a GREAT suggestion! Your visitor will not only have something to do while your pictures download but you will have been able to share something with that visitor. This is just another tool to keep the reader on your web page so you can relate information that you wanted to share.
#3 James On Designing
"We need to look at our Home Pages with an objective eye. In general, we try to achieve two important results with a 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. Whether long or short, we want our Home Pages to be, above all, clear. Clarity and orderliness greatly help the fight against confusion. Look at your Page and ask yourself how visitors would react, where their eyes would go, what can they conclude, what clues can you give them, what are they to do next, and so on. Therefore you need to take charge of your Home Pages. You need to manage the visitors, choreograph their steps (or hops), so to speak. Make them feel guided, rather than left alone in an impersonal system."
Dr. James's idea on having the web designer look at his or her web page through the eyes of the reader. See what its like on the other side of the fence. Then ask yourself the question, is my home page clear, concise, easy to read and easy on the eyes. If it is not, then there will be a miscommunication between what you are trying to relate to the reader and what the reader is actually viewing and absorbing.
Dr. James's Psychology 409b class has been a rewarding experience that I will be able to use as a starting point for my experience on the internet. Dr. James not only taught us web design and language but he made us experience what it is like from the readers view so we could incorporate those ideas, norms and values into our own home pages. In this class we were able to experience both sides of the "fence", the reader and author points of views.
I started from being totally lost to becoming somewhat proficient in setting up and designing a home page. I have a lot more to learn but this was a great starting point. In the beginning, I had to write and rewrite the html code till it was correct. My frustration level was very high. Now, it not so bad after many trial and error sessions. So even if it seems overwhelming in the beginning, just keep plugging away, it will get simpler and easier. I feel we are still in the infant stage of the internet. It will grow by leaps and bounds. The information and knowledge that I learned in this class will help me in the future because you can see how commercial companies are getting on the internet. It started with large companies than smaller ones are following suit. In an March 1997 issue of the San Francisco Examiner, there were more than one listing for a Web Master. Starting salary was $50,000 - $100,000, depending upon experience. Who knows this class might be the start of a exciting and rewarding future for someone.
My only advice to Dr. James is to KEEP TEACHING THIS CLASS, there will be many students who will be able to use this information in their careers.
Here are some interesting sites where you can obtain not only useful, but valuable information regarding web design and tools.
The HTML Interactive Tutorial for Beginners is a great link, providing up to date information from the basics to advanced. Also, this site shows you how to promote your web page.
Weave Your Web is a good starter site, as it includes not only a tutorial (from learning HTML code to Netscape tables and frames), but links to other Internet help sites.
Pete's HTML Help is, although hard to read (the colors are white on gray), a good source of information for beginners. Includes FAQ's (for beginners, that's Frequently Asked Questions).