My Report 2:
Social Psychology of
Web Architecture:

Hello, and welcome to my report 2. To save you time, this is a preview of what is to come so if you no likie, no need read any mo'. This report deals with web designs and some of the psychological aspects behind them. Two sites in particular are discussed in the first two areas. Glover's site about good and bad pages, and Dr. James's site on home page architecture and social psychological principles.

The following ideas and critiques are all my own. Thus, if you happen to notice that all of us in generation 5 409b have report 2s, remember that they are not all the same. Mine is written from a perspective of a novice surfer. I can't pull off any radical air 360's, but I know how to surf the web and can say that I am at least computer literate. Starting from complete zero knowledge, I would say that I have progressed far and now have a healthy interest in the web. I have already found many entertaining aspects about the net and have done a great deal of research for papers on it as well. This will hopefully be the stepping stone for my friendly future with computers.

A. In begining to explore glover.com, I found myself already annoyed at the long loading time due to too many pictures. It seemed to me that this guy thought of himself as a self proclaimed web genius and I was turned off by that. In my opinion, anyone who writes about setting standards on the web either is truely an expert on the subject, or is more likely an egotistical hotshot. His "Welcome" was an annoyance as well. Though neat that he gets his words to morph, it is just a fancy blink to me. Personally, I can see where every home page would have a lot to do with the designer, but I just can't stand it when they make it like you're invited into their living room and show you their life's story photo album!

B. The purpose of the site as I see it is to allow this guy Glover to voice his opinions on what makes a good web page and what doesn't. Along the way, he adds his own little Disney trip in there because I guess he had fun there and thought we would too...WRONG!!! If I wanted to waste my time looking at silly pictures of a trip I wasn't even on, I would ask my neighbor if I could come inside and sit for a while. At least they would have milk and cookies for me to munch on. However, no matter how turned off I am about this site, glover.com, does have some good things to look at in the glover.com/suckysavvy link. Closely related to this fairly interesting link is the glover.com/sucky link that gives a top ten worst things to do in your home page list.

C. This area will go over certain areas in the glover links that I found of interest or areas that I could relate to. These, of course, will be my own summations and the actual site should be explored by the reader to allow them to form their own opinions and thoughts.

2. I see less and less of the blinking word. While "neat" to a new page designer, even they seem to realize how irritating it really is after a short while.

3. The other thing that gets to me but is not necessarily a bad thing is how personal you want to make your home page. A nice picture here and there always spices up a page, but too many of your relatives and pets can get a bit boring. Remember, they may have captured your heart with the Chirstmas gift of a Santa mug, but they didn't get me anything so I might not care to see them in Jamaica.

2. Being more user friendly and interactive also seems to make a page more savvy. Contact info like an E-Mail button is a simple, but critical link that can give the designer a direct line with their readers.

3. Everyone can color in between the lines, but not everyone is a Picasso or Monet. Try to strive to be creative and unique instead of following the norm. How many times have we been surfing the web in search of something new, and all we find are same-old templates with different words and backgrounds.

In reading and exploring Social Psychological Principles of Home Page Architecture , I was intrigued by the amount of information I found. There were three areas that sparked my interest the most. These were; Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext Links,Informational Content of Home Pages, and Stylistic Features of Home pages.

Psychological Characteristics of Hypertext Links:

There are three psychological characteristics in creating a link. The affective is the motivation behind the creation. It deals with the WHY. The cognitive is the WHAT. It is the information that is created and the idea of the link. The sensorimotor is the HOW, and deals with what the physical appearance of the link looks like and how it was created. This information interests me because taking psychology classes and studying many fields like Cognitive Psych and Learning and Motivation, I feel a desire to understand what exactly is going on in the process of creating a link.

Informational Content of Home Pages:

When creating a page, it is important to keep your purpose in mind. Remember to be clear and offer enough guidance for your reader so that they don't get lost and click "back". In a way, you are like a museum guide. If the visitor goes into a museum and is given no direction or guidance, they will either get lost, leave, or not appreciate all the site has to offer. In this sense, it is important to be clear, concise, and organized. Links should make sense and all be connected to a central location that sort of acts like the information booth or main lobby in a hotel. These tips can not only create a smoother, more elegant page, it can help organize your thoughts in the begining.

Stylistic Features of Home pages:

The style of a page is up to the designer. It is up to them if they want to put their links close together or far apart, have a lot of neat icons and pictures or reduce loading time and keep basic. However, one good word of advice is to keep the load time down to a minimum. By minimum I mean the least amount of time you can cut your page down to. So, if you just have to have that life-size portrait of your head on your page, go ahead. Just remember, you might be the only one ever looking at it.

Basically,glover.com deals with the stylistic features of a home page. His page gives ideas and comments on various styles of pages and what makes a good page according to him. Like Dr. James, both agree that load time should be kept to a minimum and in general that is a rule that everyone appreciates. In this day and age of split second transfers and instant cup'o noodle, people don't want to be bothered with a wait time of fifteen to twenty seconds. Glover's site is a good example of the Informational content of home pages. His site is simple and clear with icons that are relevant and help make things easier on the reader. Once on his page, a reader can access three different links. Two of which are related to the topic of home page architecture, and the third offers some personal touches and insight into who he is with a trip to Disneyland. With a main page that you can always go back to, Glover's site gives the reader a sense of direction and support throughout your tour. His page seems to be motivated out of a sense of irritation from viewing obnoxious pages, but his intentions are good and keeps a potentially offensive topic impersonal and well meaning.

What It's Like to Become a Web Designer: ItsaMe!

This is me talking to ya. If you don't know, my name is Skye and I am a graduating senior majoring in Psychology here at UH. I took this course because I needed a 4x9 psy course this semester and figured it was about time I learned how to become computer literate. My strong point is not in computers. Before this I took a 101 computer science course and used my home computer for reports and most of all, games. I started my web journey from the very begining. Learning how to use E-Mail and get on to the web, I soon found much of the information very boring. I didn't see what all the hype was about because I spent little time just browsing and surfing the net. I always just did what was required until one day I got so bored, I just started surfing the web for games. That was the key. In finding something of interest to me on the net, I began to explore further and soon a whole new world of information opened up. I am excited with all the possibilities of the net and see it as a great way to be plugged in to the world. While the technical things learned in this class will be slow and outdated by the time G6 comes around, the knowledge and experiences of 409 is invaluable. My best advice to the incoming generation is to really apply yourself in the begining and learn all you can because those skills will make everything easier in the end. For Dr. James, good luck with all your generations and the only suggestion I have is to go with the first class to the lab and answer any questions right there.

Annotated Index to Web Design: Psych you out!

Using an internet search through infoseek, I typed in: Psychological forces in web design and hit 10 sites. in Psychological Forces, the idea of the psychological being the physical is discussed. This has some relation with the psychological characteristics of links and how they physically appear has a lot to do with what the psychological aspect of it was.

However, for true psychology in cyberspace, check out Dr. Leon James Cyber Psychology.