In your blog you are required to critique, a positive or negative appraisal of a website of your choice, with regards to the four principles of Graphic Design -

• Proximity,
• Alignment,
• Repitition, and
• Contrast.

I have chosen a newspaper site, The Irish Times for this weeks assessment, to discuss the four principles of Graphic Design.  These principles affect how the web page is perceived by the user and i believe this site is excellent in its use of the principles of Graphic Design.

The Irish Times

Proximity:
Proximity refers to how closely the elements of a page are grouped. The Irish Times website uses proximity very well, where it is simple and effective with the use of white space. It can be seen by the user that the elements are grouped together as one visual unit.

Website Proximity

Alignment:
Alignment used in a webpage refers to that every item on a webpage should have a visual connection with something else on that page. The alignment in The Irish Times Website is clear and straight forward.

Website Alignment

Repitition:
Repeating elements of a page provide consistency for the user and makes it easy on the eye when navigating through the website. This is proven by repeating the Navigation Bar and IrishTimes.com logo on the top of the page, when one switches from one page to another. For Example, when i clicked on the Business Section, the same features were repeated.  

Website Repetitive

Contrast:
Contrast in a webpage creates a focal point and makes it easier for a reader, when one glances at a page so they will understand what is going on faster. Contrast is used very well in The Irish Times  website, where a number of features stood out to me when i glanced at the website, at first. This included the large navigation bar on the top along with the clearly spaced search box, the red text of the latest RSS feed and the Headline.

Website Contrast

 

 

One of Kevin Kelly’s key points was that “Over the next 10 years the www will not be just the web, but better…”
On your blog, Discuss 2 aspects of the Kelly talk that you found most interesting and why?

Kevin Kelly

The first thing that struck me about Kevin Kelly’s talk is that the web is only 5,000 days only. This seems not so long ago and we should be amazed by this, but we are not!!

An interesting point that he made about the next 5,000 days of the web is that he expects the web will own every bit, that it will be a “black hole” sucking up everything and every item and everything connected to the web. It will become an internet of things. I find this interesting because it will be able to store spreadsheets and word documents which i think will eventually replace memory sticks and other storage devices that are currently being used.

Another point that i found interesting is all the data will be linked in “The One Machine”, from idea to idea and word to word. For example if i book a fight and enter my address,  “the machine” will be able to pick up that i entered a location and it will then be able to show, for example pictures of the area and where it is etc… I found this interesting beause i would find it very useful for locations i would’nt know when i would be reading a page on the web. 

Choose a public website from the list at http://www.gov.ie/en/sites/ and discuss how the site has addressed accessibility with regards to:

• Tools,
• Layout/ Structure,
• Design,

I have chosen the website http://www.statcentral.ie/ to discuss the accessibility issues.

The website http://www.statcentral.ie/ is a portal to the Central Statistics Office which provides information about statistics produced by the government departments and state organizations.

Tools:
With regards to tools that are used throughout http://www.statcentral.ie/, this website does take into account the consideration of people with disabilities who suffer from Deafness and Blindness, while they also try and make the website accessible to everyone who may suffer from Motor and Cognitative Disabilities. For Example, once I scrolled over the StatCentral icon located on the top left of the website it produced an ALT attribute or text box which included “Stat Central Logo” which would be called out from a screen reader for people who suffer from blindness. All of the content images used on this site include descriptive ALT attributes for disabled users. Visitors to this site using recent versions of screen readers can navigate using some of the following keystrokes including, *H to cycle forwards through the headings and *Shift + H to cycle backwards through the headings. The website also uses skip links, which allow people with screen readers to skip over the extensive menus.

ALT Attribute Example

 The above picture of the Stat Central Logo shows us an example of the ALT Attribute.

The layout of http://www.statcentral.ie/ is simple but effective. The website is designed for maximum accessibility. Frames are not used; tables are only used of keyboard shortcuts for all major links and special links to enable users to jump over navigation bars to the next item. The navigation on this site includes a consistent set of global navigation links. Many of the links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target (e.g.: for instance the Headline of an article). Link text is never duplicated (e.g.: two links with the same link text always point to the same address) and there are no links that open new windows without warning. Also a sitemap and a search box is provided for easier navigation. This website was also tested by myself for Motor Disability suffers where i tested the website for navigation using only the tab, shift-tab and the return keys without the use of a mouse. Following some more exploration I found that it also provides “access keys” or shortcut for the users. For example, for Windows users, by typing ALT+3, the user will be redirected to the About Us webpage.    

Design:

Font sizes of the text throughout the site are specified using relative units of measurement. In practical terms this means that you can modify the size of the text using the “Text Size” option on the “View” dropdown menu from the Toolbar in Internet Explorer, or else using the Ctrl + or Ctrl – in other browsers such as Mozilla and Opera. The backround colour and the text colour is acceptable and clearly spaced apart. The text used in the website contains no jargon and is basic simple English which is clearly written and easy to read.  For people who suffer from colour blindness of the green and red type, (Deuteranope) like myself, i had no issue with this website and I am very grateful for it!! I have also tested this website on www.vischeck.com for the other forms of colour blindness; of which their was no issues to report. 

And finally i found a very interesting video on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2VVxrWun6A) which was broadcasted by the BBC, that goes into detail on people who suffer from bad sight or blindness and describes how the design, layout, structure and tools for web accessibility are important for them when using the internet.

My next assignment for week 2 is to present a website/page that demonstrates a poor execution of three of the 5 E’s in Usability and explain why they are so poor.

One might ask what is Web Usabiliy?

Website Usability is a qualitative attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use and addresses the relationship between the tools and their users.

The 5 E’s of Web Usability are:

• Effective
• Efficient
• Engaging
• Error Tolerant
• Easy to Learn 

The following is a diagram that displays the 5 E’s and shows how important they are for website effectiveness.

The 5 E's of Website Usability

After sitting down and having a good long think of what websites display poor usability i was unable to think of any off the top of my head. Then as the week went on I noticed that for some websites, I didnt like using because they may be Ineffective or Inefficient to the user for the purpose i was using them for.

A website in which people use very often is Bank of Irelands on-line Banking, www.bankofireland.ie.

Bank of Ireland Website

This site is visually unappealing and the navigation is seriously confusing and frustrating to the user. When one enters the site for the first time, you will see immediately how unattractive and scattered it is. The interface does Not Engage with the user and it offers nothing but confusion. Rather than clearly presenting its features, the homepage bombards the user with links to over 50 different pages and options and that’s not including the “quick links” drop down menu!! This is also not Easy to Learn as there are 5 different boxes to search from and knowing which one to search in is difficult to know if one has not used it before and because they are layed out all over the page. The font colors are inconsistent and the “Apply Online” buttons are also out of line. 

UCC Website

Another example is www.ucc.ie. When i was searching for a post-graduation course in UCC i found their website very Inefficient as it took me along time before i was able to find the course i was looking for. One must search through numerious pages to get to the required course and this is one of the main reasons why i found it so poor.  A search box is provided although this should be used as a last resort although this is also Ineffective as this didnt find the course i was searching for.

Revenue Website

And finally an example of a website from which i found to be Ineffective  in the past few days is www.revenue.ie. After receiving a letter in the post telling me that i could claim back tax on-line i was unable to complete my task and ended up sending away for it in the post which i also found utterly very frustrating. The site is very confusing and i found it very had to find what i was looking for. This site does not allow the intended users to accomplish their tasks in the best way possible.

In Conclusion, the three websites names above do not comply with at least one of the 5 E’s of Website Usability and they need to be looked at in the near future where they can improve on for the user. 

References:

www.bankofireland.ie
www.revenue.ie
www.ucc.ie

Vannevar Bush

Vannevar Bush (March 11th, 1890 – June 30th, 1974) was born in Everett, Massachusetts. He was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing and his influence on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) which can be seen today through the World Wide Web and Hypertext. He is also known for his political role in the development of the atomic bomb, and the idea of the Memex, which was seen decades later as a pioneering concept for the World Wide Web.

Vannevar was educated at Tufts College (now Tufts University) from which he graduated in 1913. While at Tufts, Bush enjoyed his first experience as an inventor. One of his inventions was a land surveying device he called the profile tracer which looked like a lawnmower. As it was pushed over land it automatically calculated elevations and drew a crude map. It allowed one man to do the work usually done by three. Bush thought it would be commercially successful, but it never caught on. He learned from this failure and he learned that to become a real engineer he needed to learn more than math and physics. He also then knew he needed to learn how to effectively deal with people.

After college he worked in General Electric as a supervising “test man”, although he was laid off after a fire broke out in his plant.

Memex

Bush then introduced the concept of what he called the Memex in the 1930s, a microfilm-based machine, in which an individual stores all their books, records, and communications. It is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. The machine was to extend the powers of human memory and association, just as the human mind forms memories through associations. The user of the Memex would be able to make links between documents and this system is remarkably similar to modern hypertext.

Vannevar Bush died on June 30, 1974, years before the Internet became widely popular or the World Wide Web even existed. With the growing popularity of the Internet many now look back through its history and see Bush as a visionary from his Memex. This has been credited by people such as J. C. R. Licklider and Douglas Engelbart.  

References:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush
 http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/bush.html
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj6ADC8ezxk
 http://www.knowledgesearch.org/presentations/etcon/images/memex.gif

Video:
The following 40 second video describes Vannevar Bush’s Memex, which i find very interesting and is well worth a viewing.  

This blog is set-up as part of my Multimedia Module in College! It will be updated on a weekly basis which will be based on different topics in Multimedia.

Bryan