© anselm spoerri lecture 2 - overview meaning –planningplanning –web designweb design...

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Lecture 2 - Overview

Meaning– Planning– Web Design– Navigation– Evaluation

Mechanics– URL Basics– Dreamweaver

– Setting Stage– Demo: Set up Local / Remote Site – check out Video Capture file (see below)

– Explore Dreamweaver Basics– Explore Tutorial: Setting Up Your Site and Project Files

Video Capture of Demos– Before viewing a lecture, check out the Lectures pages at:

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~aspoerri/Teaching/MPOnline/Lectures/Lectures.htm

to see the Video Captures files that are available.

Right click on link for a video capture file and select “Save As” in dialog if you want to save it to your hard disk.

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Narrative Structures

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Planning 1

Define Web Audience– Who is your target audience?– What do you want the site to accomplish?

Break Site into Categories – Create Outline - Goal, Organization

– Create Simple Web Site Plan– Hierarchy & hyperlinks– Use sticky notes or Flowchart

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Planning 2

Collect & Organize Material– Organizing files by folders– Asset folder for images, sounds, videos, animations etc.– Save source files

– File Name - lowercase, short, no spaces or special characters– “myinterests” vs. “my_interests” vs. “my interests”

– Title web pages

Local Structure = Remote Structure– Same folder and file structure on local & remote machines– Home page = "index.html“

– “index.html” stored in folder “main”– “http::/www.site.com/main/” will display “index”– If home page has different name, then it needs to be named

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Web Design Overview

Sources– Steve Krug’s “Don't make me think!”– Alison Head’s “Design Wise”– Yale Web Style Guidelines

Guiding Principles

User Behavior

Basics

Home Page

Lack of Control

Search & Testing

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Web Guiding Principles

Diversity of Users & Rapid Change– Diverse users, diverse computers, diverse skills, diverse …– Rapid evolution of technology and expectations– Short attention span

Common Sense– No right way to design

Make it short– More likely to be used and remembered

Don't make me think– Get rid of question marks - each item has clear purpose

Make it work at a glance– People have little time

Support intented task - manage expectations

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Web User Behavior

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Web User Behavior (cont.)

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Web User Behavior (cont.)

Scan pages - don't read them

Look for anything = Search Interest

Decide quickly– Eye-tracking studies

Choose first “reasonable item”

Muddle through– Don't figure out how things work

Resist forming models

Stick to what works

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Web Design - Basics

Stay above the fold

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Web Design – Basics (cont.)

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Web Design – Basics (cont.)

Design for scanning, not reading– Visual Hierarchy

– Visual contrast - size, bold, color– Important things = Visually prominent– Related things = Spatially close, Nested

– Avoid “noise"– Leverage Conventions– Clear what's clickable

– Use underline and/or color coding

Less is more– Cut ½ of words, then cut ½.

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Home Page Design

Home Page– Identity & Mission, Hierarchy, Search, Timely Content,

Short-cuts, Registration.– Everybody wants a piece

Answers Easily– What can I do here?– Why should be here?– Where do I start?

Tagline is Important– Clear, informative, concise– Differentiated, clear benefits – Personable, lively, sometimes clever

Problems with Pull-downs– Hard to scan, Twitchy– Have to seek them out

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Web Design – Lack of Control

Experience not the same

Limited control over web display

Visual appearance depends on– Type of computer - Windows vs. Mac– Monitor color resolution– Speed of Internet connection– Browser - Microsoft vs. Netscape - don't support same features– Default font may be different– Styles may differ

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Web Design – Search & Testing

Search Options– Confuse and increase chances for failure– Seldom worth the additional cognitive cost– Amazon has no options at first - first experience is successful.

Typical Problems– Users are unclear on the concept– Words users are looking for aren't there– There is too much going on

Great Site requires Testing

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Web Site Navigation 1

"Back" clicked 30-40%

Easy to figure out“You are here”Things at current levelReturn to higher-levels and home page

Easy search and indexes

Easy feedback

Persistent navigation creates comfort – “Home” and “forms” pages can be exemption

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Web Site Navigation 2

Top-level Navigation– Top Row or Left Column– Icons, image-maps, textual, pull-down– Highlight or color currently selected – To frame or not to frame?

Second-level Navigation– Below Top Line or Left Column

Breadcrumbs– SCILS > Information Library Studies > Courses > Graduate

Novel Navigation Metaphors– TheBrain– Star Tree for FlashKit by Inxight Software

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User Behavior – Summary

Scan pages - don't read them

Look for anything = Search Interest Decide quickly Choose first “reasonable item”

Muddle through Don't figure out how things work Resist forming models

Stick to what works

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Design Implications

Scan pages - don't read them • Design for Scanning Make text short - cut words • Make page work at a glance Sufficient left margin, 640x480 = main message

• Create Visual Hierarchy

Look for anything = Search Interest Decide quickly Choose first “reasonable item”

• Make obvious what you can do on a page

• Make obvious what is clickable

Muddle through Don't figure out how things work Resist forming models

• Don't make users think Get rid of question marks Each item = clear purpose

Stick to what works • Repetition & Consistency Grid Layout, Easy Navigation, Graphics, Color Coding, Typography

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Evaluation Overview

Sources– Krug, S. - "Don't Make Me Think!"– Head, A. - "Design Wise."– Williams, R. & Tollett, J. - "The Non-Designer's Web Book."

Questions– Audience– Task– Navigation– Functionality

Example

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Evaluation – Audience

Who is the site for? Who are the intended users?

What do users want to accomplish?

What are the needed skills? Good fit with skills of intended users?

What tasks are users trying to accomplish?

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Evaluation – Task

Support tasks users need to accomplish?

Support both experienced and inexperienced users?

User expectations meet?

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Evaluation – Navigation

What site is this? (Site ID)

What page am I on? (Page name)

What are the major sections of this site?– Sections - tabs

What are my options at this level? – Local navigation

Where I am?– "You are here" indicators or breadcrumbs– Easily find your way? back home? other sections?

How can I search?

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Evaluation – Functionality 1

Instantly understand what site is about?

Understand what you can do?

"Look & feel" enticing? Want to explore?

Main functions easily accessible? Easy to use?

Links clear where they will take you?

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Evaluation – Functionality 2

Instant visual hierarchy? – Or visually too busy?

Text easy to read?

Graphics easy to understand?

Large site - site map, index or search?

Help available and useful?

Download times reasonable?

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Evaluation – Example & Exercise 1

Amazon – Evaluation (of earlier version of site, but analysis still applies)

Exercise 1– Evaluate website of your choice.

Choose a site that could serve as a model

and/or contain relevant information for your final project.

– Be concise and insightful in your evaluations

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Mechanics - URL

URL - uniform resource locator– "http://www.abc.com/aaa/bbb/ccc.html"

– "http://" - hypertext transfer protocol - scheme– "www.abc.com/" - server name - domain name, owner, host– "/aaa/bbb/ccc.html" - path through folder hierarchy

URL Basics– Absolute URL

– "http://www.abc.com/aaa/bbb/ccc.html"– "Complete street address"– Info located on external server

– Relative URL– "../../../xxx/yyy.htm"

– "../" = up 1 level => up 3 levels, then subdir "xxx" to get to "yyy.htm"

– "Direction to neighbor's house" – Anchor (same page), Internal (local)

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Dreamweaver - Setting Stage

Three Views– Design View– Code View– Design & Code View

Tables, Tables– Layout Mode

– Layout Table and Layout Cell– Visual grid & snap-to-grid

– Standard Mode (and Expanded Mode)– Edit & Modify Tables

Interaction & Behaviors– Rollovers, Imagemaps, Navigation Bars

– Linking images and behaviors– Timeline Animation

Site Management– "Local site" mirrors "Remote site"

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Demo: Dreamweaver - Site Management

Open “Windows Explorer” Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer

Create folder “mplec2” in “My Documents” folder

Open “mplec2” folder

Create folder “mpcourse”

Open “mpcourse” folder

Create folders “ex1” … “ex5”

Launch Dreamweaver– Start > Programs > Adobe Web Standard / Premium > Dreamweaver

(Start > Programs > Macromedia > Dreamweaver)

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Demo: Dreamweaver - Site Management (cont.)

– Site > New Site– Select “Advanced” Tab– Select “Local Info” Category

– Local Info > Site Name = “MPLec2” for this demo

– Local Info > Local Root Folder = “MPLec2” in “My Documents”– Select "Remote Info" Category in New Site Dialog

– Select "FTP" in pull-down Access menu– FTP Dialog

– FTP Host =“eden.rutgers.edu”– Host Directory = “public_html”– Login = “yourusername”– Password = “yourpassword”– Make sure to check the “Use Secure FTP” box

– Connect to Server– Select "Connect to Remote" icon or "Site > Connect"

– Transfer files to server– Manually

– File : drop onto file OR drop into folder that contains file you want to up/download

– Folders: drop into folder that contains folder you want to up/download

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Dreamweaver - Set up Local / Remote Site (Summary)

– Site > New Site– Select “Advanced” Tab– Select “Local Info” Category– Local Info > Site Name: name your local site – Local Info > Local Root Folder: select folder to store site

– Navigate to where you can store filesor Create folder for your local site

– Select "Remote Info" Category in New Site Dialog– Select "FTP" in pull-down Access menu– FTP Dialog

– FTP Host = eden.rutgers.edu– Host Directory = public_html/folder/subfolder/subsubfolder …

folder that contains web pages you want to access / copy etc.– Login = yourusername– Password = yourpassword– Make sure to check the “Use Secure FTP” box

– Connect to Server– Select "Connect to Remote" icon or "Site > Connect"

– Transfer files to local folder– Select "Get File(s)" icon - green arrow pointing downwards

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Dreamweaver - Guided Tour

Launch Dreamweaver– Start > Programs > Adobe Web … > … Dreamweaver …

Help > Workspace

Help > Working with Dreamweaver sites

Help > Creating and managing files

Dreamweaver Developer Center

Getting Started with Dreamweaver CS3 http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/getting_started_dreamweaver_cs3.html

P.S. As mentioned before, in this course you learn by doing and doing …