Color use on websites seems simple. It seems like the designer simply liked a color and then decided to use it. Or perhaps it is a school color or color-theme. I hadn't really considered color use until this week. I found that I tend to prefer a darker background with light text-- aesthetically I just prefer this.
This week's website, http://colorsontheweb.com, has some really helpful information regarding colors and web design. I found the tab on color contrast to be very helpful because I don't really have an eye for this (which is weird because my mom and sister are both artists--I guess I missed that gene?). I think contrast of value would be really cool to utilize in web design because it draws attention to the colors.
This weeks readings are chapter 9 and 10 in Creating a website and chapter 3 in Principles of Beautiful Web Design.
Chapter 9:
Chapter 9 focuses on page layout. This is probably one of the most important elements of web design in terms of usability. Have you ever been to a site that didn't seem formatted correctly to your screen? I sometimes find blogs like that, and it makes reading them very challenging. MacDonald offers important info about page layout and html info for making tables. Important!
Chapter 10:
Ahh...multipart pages. Here we go. This is important and something I've been challenged with on the web project. I found the discussion of frames (p. 266) really interesting because it seems really useful. By breaking the window this way, we can see multiple pages.
Really really useful in this chapter is the discussion beginning on page 289 about making a new page template in Dreamweaver.
Beautiful Web Design, Chapter 3: Textures!!
I'm going to be completely honest--I think texture use on entertainment websites is pretty cool, but if we use them on professional sites, I think they look a little unprofessional and distracting. Now, the elements of texture, like volume and depth (p. 75) should be applied to all types of website, but the obvious textured background gets on my nerves.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Week 4
This week is Chapters 6 and 7 in Creating a Web Site and chapter 2 in The Principles of Beautiful Web Design.
Creating a Web Site:
Chapter 6 is all about graphics. MacDonald notes that graphics add a lot to web sites but also add a lot of complication. Working with images offers many decorative elements to the site and also supports the text and enhances the design features of the site. I was most interested in MacDonald's discussion of Background Images (p. 198). Background images are fun for entertainment sites but not so good for professional sites. I think this is probably a mistake people make when they are just starting out with web design. I am planning on making my website a professional/resume site because I feel that web design skills will best be displayed this way, so I won't use a background image.
Chapter 7 presents linking pages. This is essential for websites. One important part of the text is the instructional guide for changing the colors of links while using a stylesheet (page 209).
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design chapter 2 is all about color. It is important to consider color associations, as discussed on page 39. This is also worth noting if you want your website to be accessible internationally, as different cultures have different associations for colors. Color schemes are important in the design of websites because they subtly inform users of the tone of the website as well as enhance the overall organization and flow of the pages.
Websites:
1. http://webstyleguide.com/index.html
This book informs readers of style guides for web sites. The Universal Usability chapter of the online book is a good reference.
2. http://universalusability.com/access_by_design/index.html
This site has very valuable information about web design.
3. http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000242.php
The designer of this site has great suggestions for teams or groups of people who are designing sites. The "Nine Pillars" are wonderful suggestions for organizing a new site.
4. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/05/08/now-more-than-ever-50-more-excellent-blog-designs/
Excellent blog designs! All of these chosen designs are unique and creative. Not boring.
5. http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
W3Schools Tutorials are great ways to stay informed and up-to-date on information such as CSS and html.
Creating a Web Site:
Chapter 6 is all about graphics. MacDonald notes that graphics add a lot to web sites but also add a lot of complication. Working with images offers many decorative elements to the site and also supports the text and enhances the design features of the site. I was most interested in MacDonald's discussion of Background Images (p. 198). Background images are fun for entertainment sites but not so good for professional sites. I think this is probably a mistake people make when they are just starting out with web design. I am planning on making my website a professional/resume site because I feel that web design skills will best be displayed this way, so I won't use a background image.
Chapter 7 presents linking pages. This is essential for websites. One important part of the text is the instructional guide for changing the colors of links while using a stylesheet (page 209).
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design chapter 2 is all about color. It is important to consider color associations, as discussed on page 39. This is also worth noting if you want your website to be accessible internationally, as different cultures have different associations for colors. Color schemes are important in the design of websites because they subtly inform users of the tone of the website as well as enhance the overall organization and flow of the pages.
Websites:
1. http://webstyleguide.com/index.html
This book informs readers of style guides for web sites. The Universal Usability chapter of the online book is a good reference.
2. http://universalusability.com/access_by_design/index.html
This site has very valuable information about web design.
3. http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000242.php
The designer of this site has great suggestions for teams or groups of people who are designing sites. The "Nine Pillars" are wonderful suggestions for organizing a new site.
4. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/05/08/now-more-than-ever-50-more-excellent-blog-designs/
Excellent blog designs! All of these chosen designs are unique and creative. Not boring.
5. http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
W3Schools Tutorials are great ways to stay informed and up-to-date on information such as CSS and html.
Week 3
This is a busy week! There are a lot of readings and even more websites. This week, I am discussing chapters 5 and 6 in the MacDonald text, as well as chapter 1 in another text, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird.
MacDonald's Chapter 5 presents XHTML and the Web. This is incredibly important, and seems simple but isn't so much: The way you type something is not necessarily the way it will look on your page. You need to know the language! MacDonald's presentation of "structuring" and "formatting" (p. 110) is very helpful with this. To put physical elements (italics, bold, etc.) you need to use the language to communicate with the browser on how to format the page (p. 111).
Cascading Style Sheets (as presented in last week's post) CSSs are the documents that translate what everything looks like on the website: font, colors, and makes it so that the web designer can save time and effort. Also, they ensure consistency between pages in a web site. MacDonald presents paragraphs, line breaks, horizontal lines, quotes, and other important formatting tips in this chapter.
Remember last week when I talked about making websites accessible to an international audience? Well, MacDonald even addresses "Non-English Languages" (p. 134) in Chapter 5. This seems like it would be rather complicated, but MacDonald shows that it isn't so bad if you know how to use your tools, especially the web editor.
Chapter 6 is all about Style Sheets (starting on page 137). Style sheets are a very, very important element in the construction of a website because they set the tone and are a foundation for the design and creative elements of the site. Chapter 6 offers an instructional presentation of basic style elements of a site, from color to font size to spacing and borders.
Jason Beaird's text, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, is a book I've been looking forward to reading for this class. As interested and amazed as I am about the technical elements of web design, I am mostly interested in the creative elements. Obviously, these two things are related and in order to have creativity in the site you need to know the language, but this text blends the two. As an added bonus, the book is designed like a website in the way it looks and the organization of the text is easy to follow and clear. I like Chapter 1's presentation of "Web Page Anatomy" (p. 7) because it makes the page simple and consistent. Also, the artistic "Rule of Thirds" (p. 10). This rule ensures that your page layout is consistent and visually interesting. Oh, and BALANCED! If the page isn't balanced, it will just look weird.
There are several websites this week. They are all about Internet usage statistics. This is relevant to web design because you want to know who cans see your site and who your audience is.
Website 1: Nielsen http://en-us.nielsen.com/tab/product_families/nielsen_netratings
The link for "free Internet data" offers information about searching and search engines.
Website 2: Pew Research http://pewresearch.org/
If you click on "Internet and Technology," there is a lot of information about social networking, blogs, and other social and technological data. A great reference tool because of all the information.
Website 3: CAIDA http://www.caida.org/home/
A lot of complicated information about the Internet. In my opinion, the organization of this site is complicated and a little overwhelming for users.
Website 4: Internet World Stats http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Adding to the discussion of international accessibility of web sites, this page is useful for web designers looking to better understand an international audience with important statistics.
Website 5: ICANN http://www.icann.org/
The goal of ICANN as described on the "about" portion of the site is to keep the Internet safe.
MacDonald's Chapter 5 presents XHTML and the Web. This is incredibly important, and seems simple but isn't so much: The way you type something is not necessarily the way it will look on your page. You need to know the language! MacDonald's presentation of "structuring" and "formatting" (p. 110) is very helpful with this. To put physical elements (italics, bold, etc.) you need to use the language to communicate with the browser on how to format the page (p. 111).
Cascading Style Sheets (as presented in last week's post) CSSs are the documents that translate what everything looks like on the website: font, colors, and makes it so that the web designer can save time and effort. Also, they ensure consistency between pages in a web site. MacDonald presents paragraphs, line breaks, horizontal lines, quotes, and other important formatting tips in this chapter.
Remember last week when I talked about making websites accessible to an international audience? Well, MacDonald even addresses "Non-English Languages" (p. 134) in Chapter 5. This seems like it would be rather complicated, but MacDonald shows that it isn't so bad if you know how to use your tools, especially the web editor.
Chapter 6 is all about Style Sheets (starting on page 137). Style sheets are a very, very important element in the construction of a website because they set the tone and are a foundation for the design and creative elements of the site. Chapter 6 offers an instructional presentation of basic style elements of a site, from color to font size to spacing and borders.
Jason Beaird's text, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, is a book I've been looking forward to reading for this class. As interested and amazed as I am about the technical elements of web design, I am mostly interested in the creative elements. Obviously, these two things are related and in order to have creativity in the site you need to know the language, but this text blends the two. As an added bonus, the book is designed like a website in the way it looks and the organization of the text is easy to follow and clear. I like Chapter 1's presentation of "Web Page Anatomy" (p. 7) because it makes the page simple and consistent. Also, the artistic "Rule of Thirds" (p. 10). This rule ensures that your page layout is consistent and visually interesting. Oh, and BALANCED! If the page isn't balanced, it will just look weird.
There are several websites this week. They are all about Internet usage statistics. This is relevant to web design because you want to know who cans see your site and who your audience is.
Website 1: Nielsen http://en-us.nielsen.com/tab/product_families/nielsen_netratings
The link for "free Internet data" offers information about searching and search engines.
Website 2: Pew Research http://pewresearch.org/
If you click on "Internet and Technology," there is a lot of information about social networking, blogs, and other social and technological data. A great reference tool because of all the information.
Website 3: CAIDA http://www.caida.org/home/
A lot of complicated information about the Internet. In my opinion, the organization of this site is complicated and a little overwhelming for users.
Website 4: Internet World Stats http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
Adding to the discussion of international accessibility of web sites, this page is useful for web designers looking to better understand an international audience with important statistics.
Website 5: ICANN http://www.icann.org/
The goal of ICANN as described on the "about" portion of the site is to keep the Internet safe.
Week 2
This week, the assigned reading in Creating a Web Site by MacDonald is chapters 3 and 4.
Chapter 3 covers such topics as choosing the correct domain name, registering the name, and getting web space (p. 57-66). This is extremely important and MacDonald makes it clear that choosing the correct name can make or break a business: "if you're starting a new business, try to choose your business name and your domain name at the same time so they match. If you already have a business name, settle on a URL that has an extra word or two...This name may not be as snappy...but it avoids the inevitable confusion of creating a whole new identity" (p. 59). My question about this is what to do if you are trying to use your name as the URL? What if your name is taken? You could always use initials or first initial and last name, but this requires some creativity.
Chapter 4 addresses different types of web page editors and offers a brief introduction about them. I appreciate MacDonald's presentation of free web page editors (p. 86-89) because these things can get really expensive. Ultimately, though, I think that it is worth the money to save the frustration and just get DreamWeaver. I think MacDonald would agree, because that is the program he recommends for its simplicity (p. 90). Here is where MacDonald's chapter 4 becomes really helpful: he offers a step by step presentation about how to begin designing a web page. For web novices like myself, this is very useful instruction.
This week's websites for review are: W3C and W3Schools Online Web Tutorials.
W3C: http://www.w3.org/
The website describes W3C as an "international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the web" (homepage). If you click on the "Web Design and application" link, there is a lot of information about web design. I am most interested in the two sections "graphics" and "internationalization" because I don't know much about graphics and I am just interested in all of the information architecture required for making a website usable for an international audience.
The "graphics" link notes that the Web is not just about information but also about creative expression. In terms of someone addressing web design from a library and information science perspective, I think this is noteworthy because graphics may be overlooked in this type of information-focused area. However, graphics offer a lot of potential for quick information and are attention grabbing. "Internationalization" focuses on making the web site accessible for multiple audiences worldwide. Interestingly, graphics can be used to increase the international accessibility of websites.
Overall, W3C is a very useful tool for anyone looking into creating a website. There are some great instructional opportunities and links.
The next site for review this week, W3Schools Tutorials:
http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp
This site is amazing because it offers free web design tutorials! This type of resource is truly important for the ever-growing web designer audience. As someone who is trying to become an information professional, I am glad to know that there are so many informative web design opportunities online. I clicked on the "CSS Tutorials" and found it great that they make style sheets so simple through the tutorial and even a quiz. There are also tutorials about changing CSS colors and other important design features. Check this site out if you are interested in learning more!
Chapter 3 covers such topics as choosing the correct domain name, registering the name, and getting web space (p. 57-66). This is extremely important and MacDonald makes it clear that choosing the correct name can make or break a business: "if you're starting a new business, try to choose your business name and your domain name at the same time so they match. If you already have a business name, settle on a URL that has an extra word or two...This name may not be as snappy...but it avoids the inevitable confusion of creating a whole new identity" (p. 59). My question about this is what to do if you are trying to use your name as the URL? What if your name is taken? You could always use initials or first initial and last name, but this requires some creativity.
Chapter 4 addresses different types of web page editors and offers a brief introduction about them. I appreciate MacDonald's presentation of free web page editors (p. 86-89) because these things can get really expensive. Ultimately, though, I think that it is worth the money to save the frustration and just get DreamWeaver. I think MacDonald would agree, because that is the program he recommends for its simplicity (p. 90). Here is where MacDonald's chapter 4 becomes really helpful: he offers a step by step presentation about how to begin designing a web page. For web novices like myself, this is very useful instruction.
This week's websites for review are: W3C and W3Schools Online Web Tutorials.
W3C: http://www.w3.org/
The website describes W3C as an "international community that develops standards to ensure the long-term growth of the web" (homepage). If you click on the "Web Design and application" link, there is a lot of information about web design. I am most interested in the two sections "graphics" and "internationalization" because I don't know much about graphics and I am just interested in all of the information architecture required for making a website usable for an international audience.
The "graphics" link notes that the Web is not just about information but also about creative expression. In terms of someone addressing web design from a library and information science perspective, I think this is noteworthy because graphics may be overlooked in this type of information-focused area. However, graphics offer a lot of potential for quick information and are attention grabbing. "Internationalization" focuses on making the web site accessible for multiple audiences worldwide. Interestingly, graphics can be used to increase the international accessibility of websites.
Overall, W3C is a very useful tool for anyone looking into creating a website. There are some great instructional opportunities and links.
The next site for review this week, W3Schools Tutorials:
http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp
This site is amazing because it offers free web design tutorials! This type of resource is truly important for the ever-growing web designer audience. As someone who is trying to become an information professional, I am glad to know that there are so many informative web design opportunities online. I clicked on the "CSS Tutorials" and found it great that they make style sheets so simple through the tutorial and even a quiz. There are also tutorials about changing CSS colors and other important design features. Check this site out if you are interested in learning more!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Week 1
This is the first week of the course. I am looking forward to learning about web design. I am a little intimidated by it, to be honest, but this week's reading in Creating a Web Site: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald helped me feel a little better. The book is written conversationally and explains the essential basics of web design in an easy-to-understand manner. As an undergrad, I designed one web page for a class, but that was a long time ago and I'm not sure I remembered. However, reading MacDonald's text showed me how much I still remember how to do from a class I took as a sophmore (in 2006).
One element I really like so far about Creating a Web Site is the section in each chapter, "Frequently Asked Questions." This section covers important and interesting elements. For example, I like Chapter 2's discussion of "What if I really do want the text "" to appear on my Web page?" (p. 35). I wouldn't have even thought of this question, but I suppose it is a problem someone may face.
Chapter 17 is about Blogging. I have never blogged before. I chose "Blogger" as my blog because MacDonald suggests it in his text! I must admit that blogging really is as easy as he said it would be, "Creating a blog with Blogger is ridiculously easy" (p. 512).
I think MacDonald's conversational tone will be really helpful for me, someone who is not used to Web design.
Hello! Web Design for Libraries Post 1
Hello! My name is Kaitlin and I am a graduate student at USF in Library and Information Science. I am creating this blog as an assignment for one of my courses, Web Design for Libraries. Each week I will review the course readings, assigned websites, and other materials. I am looking forward to this class because I think having web design skills will be very useful to me in my future career as a librarian.
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