Back to college evaluation

The week back has been a busy one. Screen designs have been on my mind for this assignment for a while. I had a really good idea but couldn't manage to project my views on a digitalised piece. My first attempt was rather poor, due to the image I had in my head was not found at all. I decided to take another approach and found several images that would be useful.

One thing that I am trying to do is to use another style rather than the usual bold image header, horizontal navigation and the Trebuchet font. Breaking away from this theme was harder than it sounded. I have now come up with an idea almost complete but I am feeling agitated towards building it as it is totally different to any other design that I have created.

One thing I would do next time is to search for more pieces that could be useful, rather than grabbing a select few and playing around with them. This method cost me time as I couldn't get the image across how I wanted it.

I am now feeling a little behind schedule as most people have started their building, and I have yet to complete my final screen design. To solve this I am going to have to make sure I catch up during self study time. This shouldn't be a problem, although the amount of work I have to do for the other assignment could get in the way. I.e. meetings with client, photographs of the shop, etc.

Evaluation week 4 beginning

This week I feel I am still keeping up with my time management. I am on target as far as I have seen and no one else seems to be any farther in front. I am relieved of this, and it has made me more relaxed and focused. The idea’s generation development I have completed today has been excellent, although I would say that I have created far too many concept sketches, which took up a lot of time. If I was to do this again I would select my genres first and then start exploring those chosen genres. Instead I started exploring them all first and chose the best developed genres.

I am nowhere near having any final designs yet, which I feel will slow my progress but I feel that this amount of work is merit criteria. It is also the part I enjoy the most.

I have come up with some ideas that I have never tried before.

Last weeks self study didn't go as planned, although I managed to complete everything that I needed. I was constantly getting distracted by parents wanting to use the computer during my study. In the future I must either do the work elsewhere or stop them from using the computer during my study time.

Over next weeks self study I will need to finish my sketches and start to develop some ideas, as well as create digital versions of the finals and a site map. I also need to upload my delivery requirements, and combine it with my goals, target audience, competitive analysis and the screen designs into one document. My references also need logging properly.

I will also look into a new technology that I have not used before. This could include a flash rotating banner, as well as the sliding doors technique and tabs. I look forward to the building stage of this assignment.

Everything is going smoothly

Goals

• To use XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2.1
• To validate to XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS 2.1 with no errors
  
• To create and use a Flash banner/advertisement

Visual Cues

Visual Cues are intended to help the viewer in a number of ways. Mostly they are used to emphasize that something is there and what it does. They can also be attractive, making the site appeal more and become easier to use. Without visual cues people would get lost or bored of the site very quickly. It would also be hard to figure out where hyperlinks are, or certain important words.

The first ones that are probably the most used are the font-styles. Things like bold and italic are used regularly to emphasize key words or phrases. They can also represent links as they will be in a different style compared to the body text. Underline is also another style that is set to a hyperlink by default. This allows viewers to easily differentiate between body text and navigation links.

Another widely popular visual cue is the rollover feature. This is another method of letting the viewer know that the hovered over object is a hyperlink. These rollover effects can be quite complex or even something as simple as the font changing colour.

Underlining is the most common way to interpret that a link is actually a link, and not just some body text. Most sites keep to this method, and most users are aware that a hyperlink is underlined. There are sites that have other methods to show navigation. For new users this could be a bad thing because they will be used to the underline. It could disorient them and make them want to leave the site. However, more and more sites are moving away from underlining as it looks unprofessional and so much more could be done in its place.

I think that we are coming to a time where links are not just obvious by an underline, but by various font weights and rollover effects. They are becoming more popular and more people are getting used to these new methods. I feel that moving away from underlining is something that must be done, and one that is already taking place.

Because of this I will be using a simple method of navigation that should be clear to the viewers, but not by using the underline method.

Flash banners and advertisements are also a widely used visual cue that can be very frustrating for new users, especially if they are required to download a new plug-in to make it work. This is one of the most off putting things for new visitors, as they will be unaware of what they need or how to get it.

The good thing about banners is that they allow visitors to see top features or special offers without having to browse for them. It also shows some interactivity and entertainment especially if it requires users to interact with it. These banners can be a great way to keep visitors on your site and to keep them visiting to see something new.

For this reason I will be using some sort of flash banner, but it will be for a low plug-in version. This will keep my guests entertained and updated with the latest features and releases. It will also give me some knowledge in Flash, as I will need it for the final major project.

The layout and structure of the text is also important. It shows what information is significantly more important than other information. Things like titles and subheadings should always be noticeably larger or emphasized more than body text. Links should also have their own style. Things like the copyright statement should be the smallest size compared to the rest of the font sizes.

For this reason I will make sure that my text is structured properly. I will use clear headers and sub headers to show importance and separation of paragraphs. The copyright statement will be the smallest font compared to the rest. I will also use a font that is easy to read. This is most likely to be a sans-serif font.

The use of colour on a site is important. Sites that cause eye strain due to uneven or contrasting colour combinations will most likely make the viewer leave. Colour is probably the hardest one to get correct. The colours should be used in moderation and not too much colour in the same site should appear. The use of too many colours can also cause frustration or confusion. Sites should try to keep their colour combinations to a maximum of 5 colours.

I will look at the themes of the iTunes pages that I will be working on and choose appropriate colours for that scheme. The site will not be dark and will not cause eye strain.