Take a look at this web site and try to read it through the web design principles provided in The Non-Designers Web Book (Robin Williams and John Tollet, 2006). For those who did not read this book, just a hint that there are four basic principles, which according to the book, "will not make you a brilliant designer, and they will not lend you $ 20000 web design contracts, but they will keep you from embarrassing yourself in front of millions of people." So, these principles are: alignment, proximity, repetition, and contrast.
Alignment: Referring to the alignment of the website, the first observation is that the alignment is not uniform. In other words, the headline and the Search panel are aligned at the center, while the basic text is on the left. Also, the navigation bar features some dang borders, which furthermore emphasize the isolation and the lack of the communication between different elements of the page
Proximity: Paragraphs are not related to their titles. Instead of breaks the web designer used Enter button to provide new paragraphs. Nevertheless, due to the colored lines which divide each paragraph it is possible to grasp the connection of these elements.
Repetition: Some innocent clicks can provide an impression of a non-website: pages are not related with each other in some way. They don't share a common logo, graphic or any other multimedia device.
Contrast: At a first glance, there is a focal point in this web site. See for example the head with its capital letters. But, what is the specific of this site besides it being an overall "History Archive." (sic). In addition, the rest of the front page represents a table with confusing geographical and historical facts.
P.S. I have to be honest: it is always easier to criticize others' work than to make something valuable yourself.
absolute final
13 years ago
5 comments:
Alex-
Given: it is always easier to criticize others' work than to make something valuable yourself.
I can't WAIT to see your CLIO II project!!
Your observations are spot-on, however. What I see in that site and what I see often can be labeled as "mission-creep". The site you recommend looks a lot like my plague-rat.com site where it starts as one thing, becomes a workshop for others, and the intent to scrap and "do it right" never quite materializes.
It takes a lot of time and discipline to plan the sites and use proper conventions...
Plus, it ain't nearly as much fun as trying out a new trick!!
DGQ
Thanks for the link. It gave me a great resource for another paper I am writing this semester on Britain labor. The link http://www.unionhistory.info/generalstrike/ has a pretty impressive set of documents that can be easily searched and retrieved, I think they are using Carl's project to do their work.
:) what about content? Shouldn't it matter whether , it-s an archive or a personal webpage? The design should be adjusted accordingly. The Marxist library is really useful and does not need too many embellishments, people look for texts there.
My comment was not at all about embellishments or other flashy needs for a web site. It is rather addressing the issue of design from the point of view of the reader: mainly as a tool to enhance reader's capability to read efficiently. While the type of the page does not matter. What matter is the fact that design should facilitate reading and documentation process and not to disturb it. By the way, the fact that a site is full of text does not mean that it is helpful. This text need to be provided in a usable manner.
Grreat read thanks
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