Lesson+One

LEARNING GOOD DESIGN THROUGH BAD DESIGN from WebPagesThatSuck.com Lots to organize? Why not just throw them in? http://www.valweb.org/ How to make atheists! http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/ Everything on one page? http://www.arngren.net/

Can't choose a font or size? Try them all! media type="youtube" key="C9JOvlEsfzE" width="425" height="350"

Perhaps you want to be clever with your navigation... media type="youtube" key="lgnaLK6Okcg" width="425" height="350"

Or you can just get plain silly... media type="youtube" key="L9Q31Q_404Q" width="425" height="350"

Now go to the CSS Zen Garden. With a partner, choose two pages that you feel have a look you might want to emulate for your website. Write down what various elements work well, how they affect you as a reader, and why these might be appropriate for your website.

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Now go to the web page you're working on and ask the following questions about the visual elements of your web page (a partial list from WebPagesThatSuck.com). If you can check any of them, according to WebPagesThatSuck---your page sucks. Which, of course, means you should consider changing it.

FOR ENGLISH 303: Some real sites for discussion: ASPHALT COMPANIES - WHAT WORKS? WHAT DOESN'T? http://www.suit-kote.com/ http://www.centralasphalt.com/default.aspx http://www.casphalt.com/

FIND WEBSITES IN YOUR FIELD OF RESEARCH. COMPARE TO SEE WHAT WORKS BEST. BE READY TO SHARE!!

To analyze a website: Rephrase the following questions to be third person rather than first. Same questions apply


 * I've designed my site to meet my needs more than the needs of visitors
 * My site doesn't make me look like a credible professional
 * I have unnecessary design items
 * We say "Welcome to..." on our home page
 * My site is flash-based
 * My homepage requires scrolling
 * My pages have too much or too little white space
 * My site mixes and matches text sizes and fonts
 * My site's text is too small for some people
 * My site uses LOTS OF WORDS IN ALL CAPS
 * My site doesn't have effective color contrast
 * My site uses inappropriate font for the audience
 * I have too much or too little text on a page
 * My site has underlined text (only links should be underlined)
 * Visited links don't change color
 * Links are not clearly labeled
 * My site has too many links in one area
 * My site has too many links...period
 * My logo does not look professional
 * Logo is not on the top of every page and clicking it doesn't lead to the home page
 * I use cheap clip art instead of high-quality web graphics
 * I have large file-size graphics
 * Graphics detract from the page
 * I use graphics for text
 * I have an ugly color scheme
 * My site uses flashing graphics
 * My background graphic repeats itself on large-screen monitors
 * My site doesn't use color to convey meaning (like red to signify "this is important"
 * No one has spent time to understand how our color scheme might affect international users
 * My site has multiple colored areas on the page
 * Links are not clearly labeled
 * My site has too many links in one area
 * My site has too many links...period
 * My logo does not look professional
 * Logo is not on the top of every page and clicking it doesn't lead to the home page
 * I use cheap clip art instead of high-quality web graphics
 * I have large file-size graphics
 * Graphics detract from the page
 * I use graphics for text
 * I have an ugly color scheme
 * My site uses flashing graphics
 * My background graphic repeats itself on large-screen monitors
 * My site doesn't use color to convey meaning (like red to signify "this is important"
 * No one has spent time to understand how our color scheme might affect international users
 * My site has multiple colored areas on the page
 * I use graphics for text
 * I have an ugly color scheme
 * My site uses flashing graphics
 * My background graphic repeats itself on large-screen monitors
 * My site doesn't use color to convey meaning (like red to signify "this is important"
 * No one has spent time to understand how our color scheme might affect international users
 * My site has multiple colored areas on the page
 * My background graphic repeats itself on large-screen monitors
 * My site doesn't use color to convey meaning (like red to signify "this is important"
 * No one has spent time to understand how our color scheme might affect international users
 * My site has multiple colored areas on the page
 * No one has spent time to understand how our color scheme might affect international users
 * My site has multiple colored areas on the page
 * My site has multiple colored areas on the page

(there are many more at [|http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/does-my-web-site-suck/does-my-web-site-suck-checklist-part-one.html)]