Social Psychology of Web Architecture:
The Choices of the Internet Generation
Spring 1997
A new world. That is exactly what the Internet is creating. A world that is fresh and with unbelievable potential.
The World Wide Web is introducing millions of people to new concepts and ideas, people and places.
And what about the people who are making the introductions? This report is about the effort and decisions
that web designers make when they decide to create a page for the Internet.
The first part of the report is based on the work of Jeffrey Glover. Mr. Glover
created a page with suggestions on how to improve your pages and make using the
Internet easier. [as of November 2005, this site www.glover.com was no longer active
and the section of this report was removed]
The second part of this report deals with the decisions that designers make when creating their home pages.
I'm not an expert on Internet behavior or on making web pages, but I am a user and a creator myself, and I
think this has given me insight into a world that was until recently, very foreign to me. I have come to really
enjoy working on my homepage and searching for new ideas. Hopefully I can provide some information that may be
useful to others.
Now on to more serious matters....the Psychology of the Web. Like almost anything else we do, the choices we make while using the Internet are reflections of our personalities and of our society. How we choose to display our personal home pages is a result of who we are. In Dr.James' paper on the Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture, I found three areas that I thought were particularly interesting, 1) Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext Links 2) Informational Content of Home Pages and 3) Stylistic Features of Home Pages.
The first area is about the function that links serve in home pages. What communicative purpose do these links serve in educating or entertaining the cybercommunity? I think that this is an important area to consider when including links on a page. There should be a purpose and an end result to including a link. Most of the links on my pages are to lead people to more information. Links enable me to provide references for the ideas that I am presenting. Therefore, if someone is interested in learning where I got my information from, they can click on the link and get there quickly. These are examples of the affective and cognitive features that My links fulfill.
Another area to consider is the sensorimotor function of a link. HTML codes allow is to present links in different colors and styles. This can help the web designer to add emphasis to specific links. Because most of my links are used in reports, I like to keep them simple. I still utilize the ability to change colors so that I can make the links as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
The second feature that I found was the Informational Content of Home Pages. In his report, Dr.James asserts that, "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."
I believe that these are important ideas to consider when creating a Home Page. The underlying reasoning is the potential for millions of people to access your Home Page. Presenting information in a clear manner is essential to conveying thoughts and ideas. Making a creative page that is entertaining is another great way to involve the audience in your page. This is an idea that Jeffrey Glover discussed in his page as well. Keeping things interesting and new is what will continue to allow the web to grow, try to be a part of future and not just a piece of the past!
Finally, the Stylistic Features of the page. It's important to keep your
page at a reasonable size so that people don't get frustrated. Some of us have
very short attention spans. If you want to use a lot of pictures in your page, take advantage of the suggestions from Glover.Com, and use thumbnail pictures instead. This way, the audience gets the general idea of what you want to convey and have the option to see the enlarged view if they want to. Keeping as much information (without crowding) on one page is another good idea. If you have links that need to be scrolled to be reached, people may not bother doing so, or they may not know there is more information to see.
Remember that your page is being created for everyone to see. To be a successful web designer, you need to think about basic human nature and our culture. We like things easy, understandable and quick! Look and around at pages that you find appealing and maybe some of the most popular sites on the web and use some of their ideas. BUT...creativity is a great thing! Add your own personal flair, after all, your home page is just another extension of you!
When I began taking this course on Cyberpsychology, my Internet experience was very limited. I had used the Internet for browsing and finding information, but that was about the extent of it. I received some early experience with HTML codes from my job, but I had no idea of the possibilities that were available. I was initially intimidated by HTML code and the precision that you need to get everything right. However, I soon learned that mistakes are fairly easy to find, and fixing them isn't very hard.
I was really lucky to have friends that were willing to help me when I got stuck and had no idea where I was going or what I was doing! I think I might have gone crazy if it weren't for the input and "guidance" of these friends. So NEVER be afraid to ask...you'd be surprised what other people know! Eventually you'll be able to solve your own problems, but until then, just ask for the help you need.
My favorite part of web design is finding things to put on my page. I love finding new sites and looking at the collections of graphics, backgrounds, icons, and animations.
I will be forever grateful for the people who spend way too many hours putting
these things together. I have collected more things than I will ever be able to
use, but that's okay. My favorite thing to look for is backgrounds. Although I
rarely change mine, I love to look for new ones. Backgrounds and color are a
great way to add character to your page and I try to use them whenever possible.
My page hasn't been through many structural changes, I've tried keeping it simple and low maintenance. I would like to be able to add new things on to my page, but I think that will have to wait until I can find some time to decide what I would like to add. I know that I will be changing it at least through the end of 1997, because I intend to take another class in psychology that uses the Internet. After that I will be graduating, and I don't know if I will be able to keep up with my page. I'd like to keep learning more about HTML and the things that I can do and create. That's one of the best parts...creating something and seeing it finished. Even something as relatively simple as changing the color of the background can provide a sense of accomplishment. Start doing tables and then you'll really impress yourself!
As far as advice for G6 goes, I think that the best thing that I can say is "Don't be afraid to ask!" I know that it isn't always easy because often times our parents and teachers aren't impressed by the phrase "I don't know". But the fact is that this is such a new area for all of us, that we need to share information as much as possible so that we can all benefit. Anyone who criticizes you for not knowing something should take into consideration that fact that we don't all learn the same way or think the same way either. In my opinion, asking a question is a definite sign that someone wants to learn, and we shouldn't be criticized for doing so.
I think that the best thing that you can do in these classes is stay on top of the work. The material that you will cover is not difficult to understand, but there is a considerable amount of it to deal with. Try not to let yourself get behind and then you might actually be able to enjoy yourself a bit...scary thought, huh?Well that's it, my limited wisdom has been dispensed and I have done my job. Except for one more thing, my advice to Dr. James and his attempt to build the online generational curriculum. I really benefited from being able to view the work of previous generations online. I was able to get an understanding of what I was expected to do, and also learned some new information. I also have a problem with this method. I can be extremely one track minded, and when I see something that I like, I often can't get it out of my head and I end up with mental block.
This can result from reading the generational curriculum. I think that it was mostly beneficial though. To improve the idea, I would make the process more clear to the students from the beginning. I have been in the class all semester and am still a little confused over how the generational classroom would ultimately work. I think that using the Internet as a learning tool is an excellent idea, and I have benefited greatly from a lot of the material that I needed to learn for this class. I know that it is information that will be helpful for a long time to come.
The study of web design architecture and navigation is becoming more popular as each day passes. Instructors like Dr. James are encouraging students to take an interest in what it is we are all doing on the "net". Finding these sources was not easy!! Learning how to find what you want can be very difficult. By typing in the words "web" and "psychology" I could come up with over one million entries. I also used the words "navigation", "architecture", "design" and "behavior". Here are some of the sites that I was able to find.
Beyond the Mechanics: Web Design Issues by Tim Guay, [as of November
2005, this website was no longer active] . There is interesting information about creating design goals for your page and the quality and quantity of content. I also like the line he uses when discussing the way we design a page for navigation, " Poorly thought-out hypertext is a navigational nightmare of tangled mazes, infinite loops, cul-de-sacs, and dead links. So don't start linking without thinking!"
Another useful site to check out is Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design by Jakob Neilsen. This is a pretty good list of things that you should be careful of when creating your own page. One of the mistakes that he lists is changing link colors. "Links to pages that have not been seen by the user are blue; links to previously seen pages are purple or red. Don't mess with these colors since the ability to understand what links have been followed is one of the few navigational
aides that is standard in most web browsers. Consistency is key to teaching users what the link colors mean. " This really makes a lot of sense, (even though I haven't followed this advice). The links on my pages have been altered to my specifications, but that could make viewing it more difficult for other netizens.
Just because I like it doesn't mean that it is functional.
And there it is, in a nutshell.
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