Welcome to my blog about web design and construction, in
this first post I will discuss the essentials of web design, including
interactivity and control. I will go through these in detail so that you will
learn the basics of web design and could use this knowledge to help design your
own website. Technical things.
Interactivity and
control:
When creating an interactive website, there are quite a few things that can go into making an interesting and interactive site for your audience. Buttons for example can be created quite simply and are used as navigation throughout your website. They can also look very pretty if you want them to. Hotspots are another example of interactivity in a website and are similar to hyper links, but are triggered by clicking an image they are attached to rather than text. Scripting can also be added to create a cinematic effect to your website. For example, moving your cursor over certain text and the text reacting to the cursor by dancing, this would be scripting. If you are creating a website for perhaps a company, you can create an interactive timeline to spruce up your page, and also inform the viewer of many different things regarding the company, such as the date they were started and other key dates in the history of the company, complete with text and images to attract the audiences attention. You could even throw in a slideshow to your website, giving the audience a small presentation on whatever you want it to be on, work, games, music, or even pictures of cats, you know your audience, you know what they want to see. And finally, effects, you can throw in some effects to your website to make it look more exciting. Such as an expanding search bar, moving images, or even a simple drop shadow to add more character to your images. If you can figure out how to do it, you could do it, if you wanted to. Or if you were really desperate to make your website appear special, you could add an event such as cinematic transitions or even an opening to your website. All of these are just a few examples of things you can add to your website to make them more interactive and/or exciting.
Limitations:
When designing your website and focussing on making it look as nice as possible, you should also take into consideration the limitations you could and probably will face. For example, size and download time. Make your website too big and filled to the brim with stuff, then it's going to have issues with download times. This can be a pain for your audience, as they probably won't sit around for ten minutes waiting for your website when any other website will load in half a second for them, in other words, if you want an audience make sure your website isn't too big and it doesn't take a long time to download. When designing your website, you have to make sure your content is suitable for your audience, otherwise there will be issues. Make sure every little thing is suitable for your audience, if you are designing a website aimed at children, you have to make sure you don't have anything that would offend or upset the audience. Think of the children. Your audience will definitely want to see the content of your page, otherwise they wouldn't be there. This is why you should make sure any visual content such as videos or slideshows don't require any elusive plug-ins that not many people will have, stick to the usual plug-in requirements, or people will be put off your website as they have to go through the painful process of downloading unwanted plug-ins they have never heard of before.
Assets:
Your website will contain quite a few different assets, otherwise it would be a pretty empty and boring site. Sound for example can be used in many different ways, such as simply having music that plays automatically when somebody views your page, or maybe having a beeping sound when buttons are pressed. Text. Text is an asset. This text could be whatever you want it to be. A story, information about stuff, or even just the world "hello", this text is important. You could throw a video into your site and attract the audience with a video of a company meeting on your serious formal website, or a video of hamsters on your not so formal website. Vector graphics such as a logo can be added to your site to create brand recognition, this causes the audience to instantly know what the site represents and perhaps feel at home if they are familiar with the company. A good example of this would the the MTV logo on the official site welcoming viewers of the Television channel. Animations such as a flash animation could add quite a lot to your site, and could make the page look a lot more lively and active, this would attract the audience and make them want to stay. Images once again are definitely an asset to your site and can make your site look a lot more attractive, depending on what the images are of course. These are just a few examples of the many different assets you could incorporate into your website.
Opportunities:
There are many opportunities when creating a website, for example, if your website is being used to advertise your product or company, you can attract an audience and potential customers with an interesting design. Your website can also be used to showcase your skills as a designer, attracting potential employers or creating an audience of fans of your work, this will help you find a place within the media industry or find a job where you can use your design skills. The interactivity of your site will keep the audience entertained, and will show off your skills in creating an interesting and interactive media product. Having interesting and visually appealing colours, typefaces and shapes within your site will show off your knowledge of colour, type and shape theory to the audience, giving them the impression that you know your stuff when it comes to design. Making sure your site is usable is also important, as good usability will make the site feel welcoming to users, and will encourage them to stay and check out your whole site. By designing an interesting, usable and visually appealing website, you can show off your skills to potential employers and fans of your work, and can help solidify a place within the industry.
Legal
Many legal aspects must be taken into consideration when designing your website, for example copyright issues. You cannot create a website and use the property of somebody else unless referenced, such as images and videos. Intellectual property must also be taken into consideration, as you shouldn't steal anybody else's website idea and use it for yourself. You must make sure your design is for the most part original, and you haven't clearly ripped off somebody else's design. You must also be careful not to offend using your website, and aspects such as race, sexual orientation and gender should be taken into consideration.
Ethical:
Ethical issues are similar to legal issues, but less about legalities such as copyright and more about simply being a good person when designing your website and making sure you don't upset the audience in any way. For example, you must be careful not to use images or videos on your website that could upset or offend your audience. Race, religion, and many other factors should be considered when creating your site, to be sure you don't single any demographic out, racial slurs or blasphemy towards a particular religion shouldn't be included within your site. While these things aren't exactly illegal, they are ethically wrong and should be taken into consideration when trying to build an audience.
Opportunities:
There are many opportunities when creating a website, for example, if your website is being used to advertise your product or company, you can attract an audience and potential customers with an interesting design. Your website can also be used to showcase your skills as a designer, attracting potential employers or creating an audience of fans of your work, this will help you find a place within the media industry or find a job where you can use your design skills. The interactivity of your site will keep the audience entertained, and will show off your skills in creating an interesting and interactive media product. Having interesting and visually appealing colours, typefaces and shapes within your site will show off your knowledge of colour, type and shape theory to the audience, giving them the impression that you know your stuff when it comes to design. Making sure your site is usable is also important, as good usability will make the site feel welcoming to users, and will encourage them to stay and check out your whole site. By designing an interesting, usable and visually appealing website, you can show off your skills to potential employers and fans of your work, and can help solidify a place within the industry.
Legal
Many legal aspects must be taken into consideration when designing your website, for example copyright issues. You cannot create a website and use the property of somebody else unless referenced, such as images and videos. Intellectual property must also be taken into consideration, as you shouldn't steal anybody else's website idea and use it for yourself. You must make sure your design is for the most part original, and you haven't clearly ripped off somebody else's design. You must also be careful not to offend using your website, and aspects such as race, sexual orientation and gender should be taken into consideration.
Ethical:
Ethical issues are similar to legal issues, but less about legalities such as copyright and more about simply being a good person when designing your website and making sure you don't upset the audience in any way. For example, you must be careful not to use images or videos on your website that could upset or offend your audience. Race, religion, and many other factors should be considered when creating your site, to be sure you don't single any demographic out, racial slurs or blasphemy towards a particular religion shouldn't be included within your site. While these things aren't exactly illegal, they are ethically wrong and should be taken into consideration when trying to build an audience.
