FLASH! O_O

Tracy Pfeiffer

I think Flash, as a multimedia tool for jounalists, opens up the multimedia floor for all kinds of journalists (whether citizen or professional or... both) to produce high-quality, small-file-sized news productions without necessarily having to use really hi-tech equipment or computers. In fact, i think it gives so many people the opportunity to make Flash productions that it creates a competitive sphere in which journalists are constantly looking for the best way to present a story which, unfortunately, sometimes translates into the FLASHiest way to tell a story (hah.) I think there is a lot of trying too hard in the world of Flash journalism, and not enough focus on producing a sleek, simple, visually engaging and enjoyable production.

Flash

I find it amazing all that can be done with flash. But as with so many other techniques we've discussed this semester. Less is usually more. Flash can really enhance the "experience", and I would describe it as an experience if done properly, of the website. However I've seen examples where it's been over used. I completely understand this faux pas. When someone learns to do something, they consider to be so progressive and innovative it is hard to taper off for the betterment of design and appeal for your viewers. I would describe the example of the IMA African Art website site as an experience. Maybe I'm biased because I'm from Indianapolis but nonetheless it was simple yet engaging and I found myself looking for more information throughout the site. 

April 25th

Finally we're looking ahead to the last project. Our investigative story, thanks to Karen's idea, is something I've thought a lot about prior to this class. Elderly drivers are not always but sometimes can be a danger on the road. Frankly, even riding with my own parents, who are baby-boomers and are not getting any younger, frightens me.

My grandma at 90 also recently decided on her own volition to stop driving. This was a big deal for her because she is very independent and still in good health, but unfortunately her reflexes are not as quick. Covering this will be a challenge but important because it might get elderly drivers to think about their own driving.

Whether or not we cover it, there is no denying a stereotype exists around the elderly and driving. I witnessed a comical but sad encounter and example of the stereotype one summer. A young adult was driving and got cut off by an elderly driver. As a witness, I can say the elderly driver really was at fault, but when he saw the young adult driver was near behind him, he yelled out his window to the younger driver, "Did you just get your license?" And, the young driver retorted, "Can you even see?"

I guess that story didn't have much to do with journalism, but it had a lot to do with my story, which I'm anxious to report.

Design on the Web

Lyndey Brock

I loved the Sights and Sounds of Hope in Hell on the National Geographic website. It was so informative, but also very fun to watch. I loved that there was a lot of information provided as well. I felt that he design on the Online News Association's website had poor design and was rather boring compared to the other websites. The Marushi website with the news map was so busy and confusing, I could only handle looking at it for about 4 seconds before I closed the browser. Woops!

Zack is all Flash

The obvious advantages of using Flash in a journalistic context are the standardization in file type, one which can support packages of different media, and that, in terms of content, it can help graphically explain concepts. The best use of it, in my opinion, has to do with just that: the programmers can put out as much information as they want, while making it all equally accessible and not overwhelming, and lets readers/viewers visualize that information. But when we are talking about journalism, this can easily get excessive and land into pure entertainment territory, which I think must be either used in strict moderation or avoided outright, not least of all because a lot of this programming is time consuming.

Flash Journalism

Anton Berkovich

I think Flash journalism carries both potential advantages and disadvantages. It allows users to easily create slideshows, audio stories, and easily upload video in a common format. Before flash became popular, it was a hassle dealing with the various formats that websites used (wmv, mov, realplayer, etc). But at the same time, I think it's important to remember that simple is good and to not carried away with flashy (no pun intended) graphics and over-the-top effects. I think if using Flash helps improve the content, then use it, but if it's just superfluous effects, I would personally avoid it.

flash media advantages

With the rising popularity of flash type journalism, I think that it is an exciting time for convergence journalists. While flash media comes with a few downfalls to audiences such as accessability or blurred text, I believe the benefits much outweigh the downfalls.
I think that flash gives a great education aspect to journalism that may have not been as possible before. It is a well known fact that some people are more visual learners, such things such as graphics and animations may serve well for them. They old saying a picture is worth a thousands words may hold true for such things, especially when they are used in addition to a text story. I think that readers are becoming less inclined to pay attention for longer periods of time (especially younger readers) and flash may be a way to get information to people in a shorter amount of time. Because some flash elements are "interactive", they may also have the ability to hold the attention of people longer. Attractive, informative flash elements may catch the attention of readers to some stories, especially about topics they may not usually pay attention to.
What confused me about the reading was the section on the definition of "interactivity." I always thought that if there was some kind of element that allowed used to manipulate the given information in some way, it was considered interactive. But I found that this is not necessarily true.

Flash

Lukas Litzsinger

With great power comes great responsibility. Flash has a lot of advantages, and when used wisely can hold the audience's interest and illustrate a story in a way that pictures can't.

Maps and extra information are prime contenders to utilize flash in a supporting role.

On the flip slide, using flash can also create many problems. A poorly designed flash plug-in can destroy a story or websites credibility, as low-tech flash gives off an amateur aura. People don't always notice good quality, but they definitely notice bad quality.

Another problem is sensory overload. It seems like many sites use flash in ads, which are meant to be 'flashy' and draw attention to themselves. When there are too many flash scripts running at once, though, it is overwhelming and the content is lost in a sea of graphics.

Flash: a great tool to draw people's attention and highlight certain information. Use it wisely.

Flash

Sarah Steffen

When it comes to Flash, there's one main rule I think journalists should keep in mind: Don't overdo it. It's nice to have an additional graphic to a story, but the graphic itself should contain information (or at least explain a complicated topic with different components). And a very important factor is interactivity. The user should be able to control the graphic (speed etc.) at any time. Nothing is more annoying than watching an application without being able to stop (or rewind) it at a specific point.
Other than that I really like the opportunity Flash provides; if you obey the don't-overdo-it-rule of course. The graphic of the flooding we looked at in class clearly did not comply with that. I was so annoyed by the wind/water sound that I would have turned it off, although I thought the graphic itself was pretty interesting.

Flash

Elise Crawley

I, for one, really like flash.  With a couple of qualifiers.  I like experiencing things in flash.  And I like it when I have a lot of control over what I'm experiencing.  I think that flash is an amazing journalistic tool and I don't think that at this point it's being used often enough or to its fullest potential.  Granted, using flash can quickly send you down the path of creating more eye candy than you are journalism, but at the same time we live in a world where people are constantly fed information from a number of sources, so it's only natural that users want to be able to pick and chose more of their content.  I certainly don't want to sit through a five minute flash movie that I assumed would be adding more information to the story I just read and find out only one or two new things (even if I read that story in another newspaper!).  However, since technologically flash isn't easy enough for the common man to pick up and master in an afternoon, we certainly cannot expect journalists to be using it to embellish even a fourth of their journalistic content.  Yet. 

Flash Journalism

Gretchen Pressley

Flash offers some interesting options for catching the audience's attention and for encouraging interactivity. You can create buttons, tests, etc that the audience can use to get involved with the stories. However, since Flash is so new and no set rules for journalism have been set down, it is very easy to get too involved in creating a cool graphic and forget the journalism side of things. With more practice, we will know how much time to spend on the creation of Flash while still getting the good journalism that goes behind it.

Flash Journalism

I think that Flash has limitless applications for journalism in the internet age. Flash can bring a large, complicated situation or lots of numbers and statistics into a more easily understandable format. For example, a large table of statistics about state housing prices is much more difficult to understand than a map where locations and costs are easily comparable. I think that Flash is best used for big complicated situations where pure text would be overly complicated.

Flash

Valerie Chew

Flash seems like a fancy way of telling a story. Why can’t we just use words, pictures, audio or a video? Wouldn’t that make the story real enough to the viewer? The thing about Flash, is that it gives a little more than that. Its interactivity is what I appreciate most. It gets the viewer involved. Having said that, I still feel that content prioritizes over design or any other element of a webpage. The focus should always be content.

Flash

I remember back to my good ol' days as a child and wonder how I even survived with that internet. Viewing any sort of animation or video from my humble computer in the country was certainly a day-long commitment given download speeds. Now, however, I am able to access infinitely more information within seconds thanks to Flash and other advances. As the online world progresses, so do people's expectations regarding the same. To be a journalist today, one must be equipped with more than just good journalistic skills; she must also be able to showcase her ideas in creative and innovative ways that allow a multitude of access. Learning Flash will help accomplish this. The interactivity, accessibility, and level of control people feel with Flash packages makes the entire news an even more exciting experience.

Flash journalism

I liked the second assigned chapter on the capabilities of Flash and why it is the preferred format for multimedia presentations. I would be interested in seeing a more recent update of the text now that Flash has now been acquired by Adobe and is in its ninth version. I'm especially interested in learning more about programming in ActionScript and how the various commands/structures can enhance a presentation.

That said, I though the Swiss Army Knife metaphor was very appropriate - both to Flash itself and to the whole Convergence field. I tend to get obsessive about technological nuances - of which Flash appears no shortage - and I know that I will have to keep checking myself to make sure that everything I do, at least in a professional context, serves some journalistic function. The same goes for my group's final project- we've tried to gather information in as many forms as possible, but are now at the point where we need to look at all the different options and decide which presentation means best convey our story.

Flash!

By Carla Schaffer

Now that I actually know the very very basics of Flash, it's something that I would really like to learn more about. It would be a nice technique to learn to master someday, because there is so much that a journalist could do with it. But there is a point that too much interaction is extremely distracting. I am personally not a fan of the fancy intro pages on different websites, even if there is a button that the user can push to skip forward. But in the cases where a print story just doesn't cut it when explaining a process, a detailed interactive image would come in handy. I've only skimmed the basics with this program, but I can already tell that it can be a very powerful tool for journalists.

Flash-ing lights (lights... lights... lights... lights) :)

The lovely computer application we know as Macromedia Flash has nothing to do with Kanye West and his hit smash "Flashing Lights," but as West crafts a rhythm for our ears, Flash creates a rhythm for internet users. Flash and journalism seem perfect for each other and bring out the best in the widening area where technology and news meet. We can fulfill our jobs as journalists by providing the public with the news they need but also meet them partially in their comfort zone by presenting that news in a format they want. By catering to the generation of which I am a part, the "me" generation, to whom instant gratification is holier than quality information, Flash allows the old-school values of knowledge and the new-school demand for speed to merge, satisfying most parties. The fascination to see things in a sleek, new, professional way is also a keen one in today's internet consumer, and the clean and crisp way Flash presents information meets that need. As we discussed in class,  I feel that using Flash can go a bit far, turning news into a video game for example, is pushing the envelope to the point where fun and news are no longer meeting, but fun usurps news. As long as we keep asking ourselves if we're allowing the information and demands to simply meet rather than destroying the content in favor of entertainment, I think that Flash will continue to be the vehicle for better and more innovative journalism for a new set of consumers. 

Kelsey Proud

Flash!

I'm sitting in a computer lab currently, listening to a disgruntled computer programming student mutter expletives at his project. I feel your pain, sir. Flash is so cool! but so complicated! I love that this new technology can bring the viewer in even closer to the event, bring that individual even closer to feeling like they were there and lived it. I am excited to learn how to incorporate this into my storytelling ability, but at the same time, can already imagine some random individual in some other computer lab listening to me mutter expletives. The interactivity will be well worth the discomfort of overhearing my foul language though, so I apologize in advance.

Flash Journalism

Flash journalism is something I have seen a lot of, but never known how to do. I am so excited to be learning how to incorporate flash into our web pages. There are certain things that pictures and sound bites can capture so much more captivatingly than words...like the earthquake mentioned in the reading, or the Hurricane Katrina disaster we looked at in class. While I do feel that interactive graphics can be awesome and add a lot more emotion and opportunities to connect to a web page, sometimes I feel as though the flash is simply frustrating. I now know how important it is to make sure, first, that the content of my flash media is worthwhile before worrying about how cool its presentation is (although coolness helps :) Flash media can be used as a way to draw people in, but the material should keep them there (and not make them regret coming).

Flash Journalism

By: Lauren Foreman
Combining elements of photography and audio help to really place the reader in a scene. The difficulty that comes with this form for me is determining when to use video as opposed to a slide show. I can appreciate this option when in a video, the audio content or visual element is not strong enough to sustain an entire piece. Sometimes the video simply is not strong enough in presentation. The slideshow in this case is a much better option and often enables the reporter to capture the intensity of the scene.

Weekly Recap

This week, I worked with Su Jing to create a KOMU story and photo slideshow about the history of a plot of land at Overton Bottoms North in Cooper County. We went to the plot bright and early Sunday morning, so it was nice to have all of our filming done so early in the week. This gave me a lot of time to edit my video at my leisure as the week progressed. Su used the photos that we both took to create a short slideshow in the meantime. Everything turned out well in the end despite some exporting malfunctions. Oh how I love technology. Next week, I have shiftwork at KBIA.

I need to get out of Missouri before I lose my mind.

Flash Journalism

These two chapters on Flash Journalism were very interesting, especially since I did not know much about Flash before reading this. These chapters were very informative about not only what flash is and why it is important, but also why flash should be used in journalism. The first chapter I found especially interesting because it entailed all of the wonderful things that a program like Flash does for journalism, and specifically for convergence. Journalism is all about opening people’s eyes to new ideas and events, so I think Flash is just one more tool that can be used to take people to a different place and put them right in the middle of whatever is going on and experience it from the inside. Sometimes just words or just pictures are not enough, and we need other things to compliment them in order to tell our story, which is why I think Flash is so important, especially in a field like convergence where this can really be taken advantage of. 

Good Design Bad Design

Gretchen Pressley

As society becomes more Internet driven and people go to the Internet for every piece of information, good Web site design becomes vital for clearly passing on information. Especially for news Web sites or informative Web sites, credibility and professionalism is everything.

As we discussed in class, Web design has evolved so much since it was first invented. Plain text on colored backgrounds is not enough to hold the audience's attention with so many "cooler" sites out there now. Viewers want to be stimulated and want sites that are visually appealing so to capture and keep their attention. This is where pictures and graphics have just as much importance online as they do in a typical newspaper medium. However, as we see so often, it is very easy to become overstimulated when there is just too much happening on one site at one time. Too much movement and too many colors is distracting and not as professional.

Design

Sarah Steffen

Good design is crucial for me. When it comes to websites, I can't stand an overload. I like simplicity, and too much blinking, flashing and moving annoys me. Especially those ads nowadays (the ones that tend to blink aggressively) drive me crazy. No matter what you do, you always see them from the corner of your eye. I would think twice to place such an advertisement on my site.

I think good design also helps to promote professionalism. If a website is poorly made, I'm more likely to think that its content is rather insignificant. This doesn't necessarly have to be true, but pink letters on a green site just don't look as trustworthy as a white site with plain black letters.

Good v. Bad Design

I wouldn't say anyone's credibility is at stake with bad design elements. However I do believe an educated or even observant viewer might consider the design to be elementary and therefore make assumptions about the news organizations' experience, expertise, or intelligence. Design is often overlooked, as many people, especially those with print backgrounds might believe that the content should override the visual aspects of a website, magazine/newspaper article etc. Design is is one of the determining factors in deciding whether or not your audience will be intrigued or convinced enough to continue reading. 

Bad Site/ Good Site

I think that good design is crucial to a journalist's credibility. No matter how good a journalist's work is, if her site appears unprofessional, so will she. In fact, a reader may not even get to the journalism part of the site if it is poorly designed. No one has the patience to deal with a page that is difficult to navigate or just plain unappealing. The design of the web page is the first impression of the journalist, so it is crucial that it be designed well. That being said, the page should not be so overly designed and crazy that it detracts from the real work of the journalist.

The good, the bad and the KOMU website

For the sake of making my blog post relevant to the literally millions of readers across Columbia, I am going to talk about layouts of a few prominent Columbia news organizations.

As we saw in class, the KOMU website was pretty ridiculous. It wasn't so much the color scheme that bothered me, though, it was just the overall clutter and chaos of literally millions of graphics all flashing and blinking and vying for my precious attention. I guess this is supposed to mimic TV in some vague, pointless way, but it definitely fails at having a decent and readable design. The problem with emulating TV by having a lot of graphics is that the internet is NOT TV, so the logic behind that kind of decision baffles me.

The Missourian website, on the other hand, is a lot nicer and friendlier to navigate. I'm not sure whether or not they were deliberately trying to emulate the way newspapers work, but it's fairly irrelevant since that style works much better online than TV does. They do a nice job of including graphics and not overwhelming the user, and unlike a lot of sites we looked at in class, there aren't ultra-intrusive ads that distract me. I think The Missourian's website is a pretty good example of how to create a news site.

I agree that a web site's design should be comparable to the quality of the work, products, or philosophy of the site's owner. We mentioned splash pages in class and I think that is a fantastic example of how our first appearances are formed-- personally, I think splash pages are unnessary, obstrusive, and sometimes flaky. Odds are I am going to carry these thoughts with me as I look through the rest of the page. A splash page is another example of design for the sake of design as opposed to design for the sake of function. From a journalistic perspective, the best design is that which draws the reader's attention and allows them to navigate easily. However, I do sympathize with web designers who take some creative liberty in the design process, since the point of design is for it to be visually pleasing.
It was incredibly interesting how indepth they consider text font, sizes, colors, and effects. The most relevant take-away point I gathered from the readings was the importance of consistency. Just as people like consistency in their news anchors and newpaper layouts, a web site organized consistency makes visitors more comfortable because it enables them navigate.

I suppose the main idea that I came away with from the readings is that these rules about alignment, proximity, repetition and contrast essentially strive for optimal functionality. As a 'non-designer' myself, I felt that these rules were clarified in purpose: there can be a lot of information on a Web page - and a lot of options for access - so one must make navigating through all of that information as straightforward and simple as possible. But those attributes aren't necessarily mutually exclusive of schmancy design either; and it's not that form should "follow" function - the writers make the case that form and function are intrinsically, inextricably linked on Web pages. Just as it's easier to recognize and define flaws we see in, say, the videography of TV news bits, it's becoming easier to figure out why certain Web pages come off as jarring or otherwise confusing. We don't want to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of options we crave, and this dilemma can be solved through practical design.

Good design

Anton Berkovich

I think the most important thing for good design is simplicity. Simple websites are just better to look at, especially when you are on the clock and need to be efficient. For example, besides superior search results, I think one reason Google is more successful than Yahoo is because of it's simple homepage, that has hardly changed over the years. If you go to Archive.org, you can see saved, archived websites from throughout the years. Most sites in the late 90's were crazy, with annoying animated graphics and multi-colors. Google's, though, in the late 90's, was pretty much almost the same as it is now. I think a lot of sites are going towards the more simple trend. Along those lines, I think a site with good design has simple, muted colors, low amount of moving graphics (unless that is the focus of that particular page), and intuitive navigation. I bet that any site that makes it hard to find what you're looking for is a site less viewed.

Comparison of Web Sites: STLToday

Lukas Litzsinger


Archive: (Nov. 28, 2001)
http://web.archive.org/web/20011129024848/www.stltoday.com/

Today: (April 14, 2008)
stltoday.com

The first thing that jumps out at me is the white space. There is more white space now than there was in the past, though some of it is detrimental with the current ads (the header sometimes bleeds into the ads and has little contrast with its surroundings).

Also, there is a lot of excess space to the right and even on the top of my browser with a generic background, it looks like the resolution is something ridiculous like 640 or 800. This is even more apparent on the older site, but wouldn't have been much of a problem then.

There is very little that has remained the same about the site. Color scheme has changed from blue to red, there is multimedia buttons with videos/clickable photos now and even the logo has changed (for the worse, I might add). Of course, there is also a lot more information on the new page.

Both pages have the annoying moving advertisements, even if some of them are for the site itself. Repetition is used well on each site, with the format remaining familiar throughout. On the old site there is a banner picture that pops up and changes depending on which section you are reading. The current site does have some problems though: the focal point of each page, the picture box, is slightly different on each one.

Both sites seem to have consistent alignment, and separate the site into three columns. The links used to be on the right, now they are on the left.

Overall I would say the old site is nicer to look at, with the new one having more red and more information. Of course, the current site doesn't have the bold/italicized text for headlines of the older site. Some suggestions for each one:

Old:
1. Introduce a focal point that has content/not just a meaningless banner picture
2. move navigation to the left
3. get rid of bold+italicized text
4. too many shades of blue, add a little contrast
5. not enough colors in the text/re-use a color from the template there

New:
1. Make sure photo centerpieces all have same format
2. Up site resolution (could be my computer)
3. No moving ads next to header if possible
4. separate videos into categories as well as date/popularity
5. overload of information/links...there must be a better way

Design for the Web

by Chelsea Williams

Wow, after doing the readings, I realized that my web page we created at the beginning of the semester could be much more polished than it is. It was extremely helpful to get some tips about structure of the web page, especially before the final project is due. The part that intrigued me most was the part about alignment....I never really thought about it before reading the article and examining the web sites in class. It is key to the navigability of a web site, and also serves as a means of consistency. Repetition ties in with this idea of being user-friendly because it helps the reader know what to expect. If an aspect of the web page is engraved in their minds, then they will be able to navigate the site much more easily. I am so much more excited to create a new web page using this newfound knowledge about web design!

Web Design

Elise Crawley

In going over the Web Design reading and the class instruction, I found it helpful in articulating why I get so annoyed with some web pages.  I hate being forced to scroll sideways.  I hate when people use all caps.  I really, really, really hate borders.  I think identifying the things that are wrong are perhaps more helpful than hearing the things that are right, because you don't want to blunder into something horribly wrong while trying to do someone right.  I think that when a website is designed really well, it should look effortless.  However, I'm sure that it's not effortless and I'm torn between looking forward to learning all of this in dreamweaver, and being wary that the process will cause me pain and anguish.  Although looking through internet pages that I frequently visit, I have to say that I think  the less is more principle is really important in web design.  If a site has too many tabs or links or windows, I end up not looking at anything at all.  And then when I take the time to sort through it, I get annoyed if half of the stuff is something I really didn't care about anyway.  

Web Design

After Friday's class discussion and reading the two Eres texts on website design, I looked through a few of the websites I frequently visit for some of the telltale errors or great design points.

www.examiner.net

Con-The navigation points are in all-caps.

Pro-The links are red, not blue. 

Pro-Everything seems to be left aligned.

www.kansascity.com

Con-www.kansascity.com is center, while everything else is left aligned.

Pro-Easy to navigate through with consistent template.

Pro-Easy to tell apart ads and stories.

www.mizzou.edu

Pro-everything is left aligned

Pro- everything lines up, use of columns

Pro-no moving parts or advertisements

-Brad Fischer

Elements of Design

Lyndey Brock

I really found "The Non-Designer's Web Book" to be very insightful. I thought that the way it was broken down into Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity made it easy to remember the basic elements of web design. Although we will not be designers in our jobs, I know that it is still important to know the basic elements in order to effectively execute a well-designed web page for our newest project. I know that this reading will be one that I will refer to not only for this project but for many more projects and assignments in the future. An important thing to remember is that I can always look at different publications for practice and assess their use of the elements talked about in "The Non-Designer's Web Book"

Design Rules Will Ruin Me

Tracy Pfeiffer

Reading through the design principles and tips in the two chapters made me feel one thing: shame. I looked at my 4802 website. Shame. When looking at the two example pages that the author provided with each principle of design in chapter 6, I found myself having to squint and focus to figure out which one is the "wrong" one. Lame. I've designed a couple websites in my day, and I'm fairly certain I've broken... EVERY design principle presented. It made me feel a little bit like that older citizen trying to design a website dedicated to family photos and the semiannual family activity update. Bleh! At the same time, I found that most of the design principles could fall under simple common sense, much like the principles of videography. Everything needs to be laid out in a manner in which readers can quickly, efficiently and easily scan all the information.

Web Design

Though people in my generation have been looking at web pages for the majority of our lives, the finer points of the design of these platforms for information have largely been overlooked by most. Even though many do not know the first thing about how design a web page, our eyes are smarter than our skills. Whether things are too far apart or misaligned or an odd color, any design flaw surfaces in the first few seconds of viewing a web page and the chapters reinforce that notion by putting names to the principles that the eye already knows. 

One of the more interesting tips that I found was the tip to use a page break instead of a new paragraph in order to eliminate unnecessary space. Also, the tip buried in a caption to make a period the same color in order to create a spacer was an interesting one, and something that without lots of web design experience, I would never have thought to implement. I appreciated how the chapters broke down the complicated depths of design into simple principles and illustrated tips, and I'll be sure to use those the next time that I have the opportunity to design something, letting what my eyes already know be supported by documented design facts.

Web design

I thought the two chapters presented a very good, organized introduction to design basics. Just in the process of reading the selection I began to apply the criteria to sites I am familiar with - my 4802 page in particular. Not only do my dimensions defy the 640x480 rule, but much of the layout - including the table format, linking bar, and color scheme - does not work according to the principles in the book as well as to my own eye.

One question I had about th reading was on the validity of the 640x480 rule in lieu of modern monitors. It seems like 800x600 would be a much more reasonable standard...unless it happens to be a page Lynda is to display on the projector. That said, I do recognize the importance of placing the most important information in the first frame of a site/page.

WEB DESIGN

Regardless of whether or not you're going to be doing anything with designing web pages- I think this was a good read for anyone. It's interesting to know the basics and notice these things when you're browsing sites yourself. Especially with the alignment technique. You never really notice it because it's so easy and appealing to the eye. But if you look at a few popular pages you can see the repetition.

Some of what I read were things I kind of already knew. But, many things pointed out certain aspects I should pay more attention due to them being common mistakes.
Proximity seemed like it would be simple but it's one of those things that if you're not careful, it can definitely confuse your viewers and alter the meaning (visual and textual) of your site.

Even though there are a lot of technical things that go into making a webpage- I believe a lot of it is an art that needs a bit of creativity. Focal point, colors and contrast, etc.
This was such a good review before our final project since all the material we collect is going to be on a site and would need to be presented properly.
After creating our individual parts, it's our job to make the site conducive to bringing all of them together in a creative, uniform way.

Designing For the Non-Designer

By Carla Schaffer

My designing knowledge is limited, so this reading was really useful. As I was reading, I pulled up a friend's web page portfolio that I know she has been working really hard on. My friend is a magazine design major, so it was fun to see what techniques she used that the reading hit on. I now have a better appreciation for all of the little details that my friend put into designing this incredible web page.

The repetition section was really useful for the final project. Since I've never created a web page with multiple pages, after reading this section I realized how important it is going to be to keep the design of the different pages repeating so that the pages flow together and make sense. Even though the pages will contain different content, the basic design of the page will help connect the entire site together.

Reading the "creating a focal point" section also made me question my current web page, since it really has no one item that is there to first capture the viewer's attention.

Design

I really enjoyed reading the Design principles for non-designers, because I am a non-designer. The alignment trick/technique is something that I learned in high school for the newspaper but I had no idea the same elements should be applied to the Internet. But as I looked at some of my favorite pages, I noticed that they all had the same repetition of alignment.

Most of what I read were chunks of knowledge I already had internalized. For example the proximity is an element when done wrong, confuses many viewers. Some websites that I’ve visited lately have this common mistake. A millimeter too much can lead me to think that I’m in the wrong section or that fact can’t possibly belong with that photograph. Although this may have been in my subconscious I appreciated the tips provided in the text because now that they are called to my attention I can identify problems within my own webpage for our final project.

Alignment and proximity are simple techniques but contrast I feel is more for a designer and I imagine this is where I will get tripped up in creating my final webpage. I’m trying to start envisioning what will be the most important focal point in my webpage and how I will use contrast to easily guide the eyes through the page. I also will need to think about how that focal point will convey a hierarchy in importance. For our project I’m starting to think that a possibly a superimposed image of his art will work for the background and as you click on the different elements it will lead you to different parts of the story. This will symbolize the way in which the art is created as well. All different pieces, collected from different beginnings, but brought together to create a final piece of art.

Beauty and the Beast webpages

A lot of the suggestions sounded like common sense. Yeah graphics are neat, but readable text should be mildly important too. I think the main thing I took away from the reading was to create a focal point. What is my point? I think that question is at the core of anything I cover, period, not just in how I design a webpage. My webpage is just a mishmash of picture, audio, video and text that I threw on in a hectic way. True, a homogeneous set of pages might border on dull, but I think there is still creative leeway in making a standard for the page.

The Good, the Bad, and My Website

Well, my website sucks. I knew it wasn't the best, but until reading these articles, I had no idea how many design rules I really broke. One of the more notable tips I took away regarded alignment. As an avid "everything centered" gal, I realize that good, hard lines created by left or right flushes can make all the difference in a website's appeal. After checking out a few websites, I see how much I appreciate a clean, simple website. For a good time, go to http://www.dokimos.org/ajff/. I like to consider myself flashy (some may say gawdy) at times, so creating a nice, understated, easy to navigate website will be one of my bigger challenges. But now that I know these simple secrets (alignment, proximity, repetition, and contrast), I look forward to creating something professional and pretty.

Good design, Bad design

Valerie Chew

Alignment, proximity, repetition and contrast – if we had all these elements, would our webpage be considered good? After reading the articles, it seems that the elements of bad design overwhelms that of good design. There are just so many mistakes that can be made on a single webpage. And even if we were to correct the mistakes, would our webpage necessarily be one that people will enjoy visiting? Where do we draw the line between creativity and following the rules of good design? Isn’t what is pleasing to the eye also subjective? Will good design ever get boring?

Good and Bad Design

I found these two chapters very helpful and interesting, mainly because I have no experience in design and made a lot of the mistakes on my web page that they mentioned in the readings. I especially enjoyed the sections on common design mistakes that frustrated the writers of the book. I was happy with this section because they discussed things that commonly irritate me when I am web surfing, so I am glad that I was not the only one irritated by these things. The other chapter offered some helpful tips that I enjoyed because I made many of those mistakes in my first web page for this class. For example, the rule that you are not supposed to center things because it looks bad. I did not know that. I personally think centering looks better, which is why I always did that, but now I know. So I enjoyed these chapters and look forward to learning more about design. 

Good and Bad Design

Erika Adams
I have found that after reading "how to recognize good & bad design" that my web page for class has some major violations! I think after a second look, my font may by too small in some portions and too large in others. The large font only emphasizes the fact that the page belongs to an absolute beginner in web building! I have the title of my project going down the side of the page - a major no no according to this. I do think that having font this direction confuses the eye and distracts from the overall neatness of the page. When I designed my page for class, I was thinking about what colors to use based on mainly complementary colors. Now I realize that it would be much more effective to simply choose contrasting colors.
I want to give my page a more "sophisticated" look. I think that if I corrected the previously listed problems, along with a better organization of information in the page, it may look better. All of these things will be great to know and be aware of when we begin work on our group project web page. I think that in terms of web design we will be able to have more visually appealing and effective pages because we will have the opinions of more than just one person to work with. Along with our own ideas, we can work with the "editors" and use their knowledge of good design.
In the other article, "Basic design principles for non-designers", I appreciated the fact that the author choose to outline four basic principles. I think that this will stick with me because it will be fairly easy to remember. It will also come in handy later, for non web published pieces. I think some of the same aspects are important in personal documents too, such as resumes and cover letters. I like the fact that the authors emphasize the idea of eliminating anything that is just extra and not necessary, I think pages that look the most professional and are the most easily read are those that do this. The reading also brings up small, easy ideas that serve to make the page much better. For example, I never thought that just moving titles and captions closer together could look much neater than if you doubled spaced them out. This idea is explained in the proximity section. One of my pet peeves is when I have to scroll around on a page to be able to tell what information is important, so I was glad to see that no scrolling is the professional way to go. I hope that maintaining continuity of appearance of our group project web page will not be a problem, considering we will most likely be assigned to different portions of the reporting. I am thinking that maybe the best way to be sure of this is to all work together on one computer, or have one person lay out all of the pages so that they look like they belong together.