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Lecture 2 - Overview
Meaning
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Planning
Web Design
Navigation
Evaluation
Mechanics
– URL Basics
– Dreamweaver
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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.
© Anselm Spoerri
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
© Anselm Spoerri
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.)
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Web User Behavior
(cont.)
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Web User Behavior
(cont.)
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Web User Behavior
(cont.)
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Web User Behavior
(cont.)
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Web User Behavior
(cont.)
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Web User Behavior
Scan pages
(cont.)
- 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.)
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Web Design – Basics
(cont.)
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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.
© Anselm Spoerri
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
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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
© Anselm Spoerri
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 level
Return to higher-levels and home page
Easy search and indexes
Easy feedback
Persistent navigation creates comfort
– “Home” and “forms” pages can be exemption
© Anselm Spoerri
Web Site Navigation 2
Top-level Navigation
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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
Muddle through
Don't figure out how things work
Resist forming models
• Don't make users think
Stick to what works
• Repetition & Consistency
• Make obvious what is clickable
Get rid of question marks
Each item = clear purpose
Grid Layout, Easy Navigation, Graphics,
Color Coding, Typography
© Anselm Spoerri
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
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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?
© Anselm Spoerri
Evaluation – Navigation
(cont.)
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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
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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
© Anselm Spoerri
Dreamweaver - Set up Local / Remote Site (Summary)
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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 files
or 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
© Anselm Spoerri
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 …
© Anselm Spoerri