Around A Website

Web 2.0:

• Web 2.0 is the internet that can be used as a platform for ways to share images, files, videos and experiences easily and low costs.
• Business are now using social networking sites to advertise their products and services. This is easier because most people use social networking site and is quicker to access business.
• Citizen Journalism means that everyday people can spread news via blogs, myspace pages, facebook statue's and twitter posts. This is a powerful propaganda tool.
• 'Nike' - their website blurs the boundaries between TV commercials and website design. This is because they want you to experience as well as purchase their products.
• 'Ebay' - they give instant access to information about the products which are for sale on their website. The design is easy to use and navigate round, but most of the website is for the readers than the author.

Terms in Websites:

Google Reader

• Cookies - files which remember details which have been entered into forms, search engines, logins, etc.
• Tabs - the windows at the top of your page with different links in them.
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication) - the website has the capability to send related articles to you. 'Google Reader' is an example of one of these, and it sends all the RSS feeds to your email.
• Citizen Journalism - everyday people who are creating blog, pages and camera phones to spread news. This is the future of the internet.
• Transferability - creating a identity so that a website can be linked to a CD cover and a magazine article promoting the band and a music video.
• Roll-overs - pictures that change when the cursor is moved over it.
• Interactivity - when you allow your audience to actively participate in your website.
• Scrolling marquee - text that automatically moves across the page. It can act as a type of banner.

Web Design:

• In the late 1990's websites were designed for one browser. This limited the usage as no one really thought about design.
• The World Wide Web Consortium made the rules for web design. This split the content from the design which meant changes were easier and websites can be read from different media (mobile phones, etc).
• All websites are now is CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) format.

How To Create An Effective Website (This will be my check-list for when I create mine):

1. Plan it out - draw a site-map for what you are going to include on each page and what information you want to be included. Sketch it out how you want it to look.
2. Think about your audience - is the site to inform or entertain? If you are attracting a wide audience, how will you achieve this?
3. Test it out - get people to do a task on your website using your website and see if the site works or is easy to use.
4. Navigation - all the links need to be labelled properly and separate from the main body of the text so it looks like a link. Usually link bars appear down the side or along the top of the website.
5. Fonts and Pictures - lots of websites use familiar fonts because anything beyond the basic font have to be inserted as an image. This means that a lot of pictures on the page for the amount of text that is included, this means that the page will take longer to load.
6. Homepage - this is like the 'shop window' of your website. If you haven't got your audience's attention within 2 seconds, they will not bother looking at the rest of the website. Consider what the most important bits of information are and put them on your homepage. Consider the amount of white space compared to visual clutter.