Braden Kato
Psy 409
Dr. Leon James
As there is yet to be a definition of the term "home page", or even "home page architecture" in the dictionary, I would personally define a home page as an area in cyberspace where an individual, organization, or even the government has personal discretion over what is to be seen there ( unless a person is taking Psy 409 or 459). Majority of the time home pages are put up to express personal taste and creativity, however other home pages are strictly for business, or a serious source of information. From the subtle to the explicit, home pages come in all styles, and designs.
Although home pages TODAY are not under the mercy of censorship, some people believe that a list of standards for the architecture of home pages should be followed. Though I can't recall the source, I came across a document on the internet once that dealt with the issue of home page standards. I remember 5 broad guidelines from the document that I could emphatize with; the first was for the document to be of some use to the internet community. This line simply deals with encouraging the internet to be used as a productive source of information- e.g. academics, or services put out by the government, or by other organizations.
The second guideline dealt with clarity, and how the initial viewing should not be an eyesore". That is, the use of proper background and font color so as to not "camouflage" the text. Contrasting colors between the text and background is highly encouraged, such as the standard black on white, or vice versa.
Third, home pages should be quick and easy to load. I know Dr. James will strongly agree with this one! Loading time of anything over a minute and a half is usually considered to be too long, and most internet users will either click out or stop the downloading of documents if it takes too long. Pictures come into play here also. They should also be quick to load.
Fourth, home pages should be clear and concise, and have links to related interest. Home pages should be clear in its intention and what it is presenting, same with the links. Links should be working, and directed to the correct sites. It is easy to visualize a home page as a "switchboard" ; a base containing a network of numerous connections.
Last but not least, the fifth guideline is for the home page to be non- offensive, obscene, or hurtful. This means blatant use of the internet to intentionally hurt instead of help, and show explicit material. However, I doubt this would stop people from posting what ever they want to post! It is inevitable that there will be someone will always find someone else's information offensive (maybe someone will find this document offensive.) Yet, I think this refers to BLATANT and specified offensive material, such as racism, pornography, and so forth.
In all, it would be appropriate to say that a home page is somewhere in the realm of writing a good term paper, or research project; the guidelines are there.
however, as far as " good taste" goes, it is strictly subjective. One can refer to the saying " beauty is in the eye of the beholder." That is the weakness in these guidelines; practically all of these guidelines are based on personal opinion.
Everyday, it seems as if more and more people and businesses are getting on line. The internet is literally taking society by storm. From commercials on television suddenly having that weird www. address ( also in most magazine ads I might add) to mainland colleges suddenly requiring you to have an electronic mail address, it is hard to ignore the inevitable: the computer age making its strong presence in the eyes of society. I predict that questions such as "what is the address to your home page?" will be common among professionals, students, and so forth, in the near future.
As for myself, I see home page architecture as a reflection and representation of myself; who, what, and where I am. It would be proper to say that my home page is my external "face" to the world, and is always present in cyber space even though I'm not physically able to be. However, business is business, and I understand that my home pages for my two classes ( Psy 409 and 459) must meet certain criteria in order to present myself in a professional manner. I long for the day when I will have time to be able to put up my "personal" home page! I have even gone so far as to write up a so called "blueprint" of my creative home page. With icons and fancy colors, it will be the ultimate expression of me!!
As far as advocating principles go, I would have to endorse some of the principles mentioned in the first part. It would be the second, third, and fourth guidelines; the second related to visual clarity, the third being quick load, and the fourth with clarity within the home page itself, and its links.
If I had to advocate only one principle, it would definitely have to be quick loading time. I also like to look at nice graphics and so forth, however I believe that most people would agree with me that WAITING for a home page to load up is a pain in the butt. I get discouraged when a home page ( or any document for that matter) takes too long to load, and contemplate moving on. I would recommend a time span of about anything less than a minute and a half to be bearable ( yet even that may be pushing it). When I usually do get discouraged though, just as I click onto the stop button, the document shows up. I guess winning ain't in in my vocabulary!
Visual clarity in a home page is important to me because of the simple fact that a home page is the first initinal page that meets the navigator's eyes. home pages should not literally be an "eyesore"; a person shouldn't have to strain to read the content. This is where color comes into play. Bright colored backgrounds require dark colored links, and vice versa. *Note: one must take caution though, that all computers are not the same, and the resolution vary from one to the next.
Organization is a key word here: a home page should be well organized, with a clear intent to show what it is presenting. I believe a little description should at least be included in the first few lines of the home page, just to explain to the viewer what the document is about, who is presenting it, and where the navigator is. This is vital so as to aviod the "false bottom" phenomenon; this occurs when a person is lookin for a particular topic, yet happens to chance upon the wrong "definition." For instance, a person looking up "traffic psychology" on the internet may find a lot of things about the "super" highway instead of the "real highway." This always happens to me: clicking on numerous links from a home page, only to find out that what I was looking for really wasn't there; a "false bottm."
As far as the social psychological aspect of a home page goes, it could be easily said that the internet IS the future; we are living in times where almost anything can be accessed through a computer ( yes, even sex). Who would have ever thought of this twenty or thirty years ago? However, people caught up in the technology have little time to wonder why they are so caught up in it. That is where we as "cyber psychologists" come in. As Dr. James had stated, the fascination is WHY people want to put up things on the internet. For recognition? Very little, if any. For money? Unless you are conducting business on the internet, I highly doubt it. For FUN? Yeah! Why not. But seriously, the motivation for people explaining their entire life on the internet is one thing I guess will be difficult to understand. I guess you could say that it's like "socializing" on the internet; like attracting people with the similar interest you have, and being able to correspond with them through means of electronic mail.
As for the future of the internet, who knows what it hold for us. Only the imgination can ponder this question; remember, we're STILL in the dark ages of computing!