...and with final hand in looming it really is. That's right, eight weeks are over, a website has been developed, and a lot has been learnt. It's been a steep curve from complete Photoshop and Dreamweaver novice to someone with a bit of skill, it's been rewarding, but it's also been a lot of hard work and much frustration.
My site is not the most advanced of the bunch, it doesn't have the most content or the most pages, but what it does have is a well thought through design, simplistic usability and good functionality for it's audience. There is room for development, and expansion - Ideally the home page would become a house, allowing the user to select the room (or garden) that they want to do experiments in, and then give the room to explore. There is nothing else like this site currently available for fun experiments, with easy to follow instructions and a visual (rather than text) medium, so it would be nice to continue to develop it and actually put it live. One day.
Over the last eight weeks I have tried to take you on a journey through my design, background thinking, planning and use of technology. In terms of evaluation let's just recap on the main points:
1. Evidence of original, innovative and imaginative concept.
Searching the web does not reveal any other sites like this one, only text heavy home experiments. From my own experience as a teacher this type of fun resource is not easy to come by.
2. Ability to write for the web:
content, images, accuracy, currency, scannability, organisation.
The site aims to be very simplistic. Most of the text is reduced to images making cartoon style instructions for the experiments. The pages that do contain text have been carefully thought through to keep words to a minimum. All the experiments have been tested (when photographed) and do work.
3. Awareness of website planning and architecture.
I have tried to consider the architecture of the site through wire frames and flow diagrams. These tools helped me to design the layout and interaction of pages.
4. Awareness of web design principles of interface design, layout, navigation, usability,
readability and accessibility.
It was important that this site was very easy to use as it has a child / family audience. Therefore the web interface and layout are simple and do not involve a lot of site exploration to get to the information. It also utalises external sites for further research allowing users to use the site either for entertainment ideas or to find out more science. The 'about' page gives some tips on navigation to ensure an easy to use experience.
5. Ability to utilise and integrate different software programmes to produce a small scale website.
I have learnt how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver in the production of this site. I have also created a blog using an online service, created simple images using Paint and Microsoft picture editor.
6. Successful uploading the website on the university or personal server.
My site can be found at https://www.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/webdesign/2011/eleanorsaunders/
1. Evidence of research and engagement
A lot of my knowledge for this sites theme, content, and subject come from my work as a secondary school teacher. I did research other sites, and looked for experiments that would be easy to put into simple, visual, steps. I also thought about how children like to learn, and how learning can occur through exploration and practical activities. This site will particularly appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners.
2. Process:
Planning and Working out ideas (artistic, creative, conceptual) include outlined proposal.
My initial planning can be found in my blog - http://copiouscascades.blogspot.com/2011/06/all-signs-of-s-serial-killer.html
3. Awareness of technology (useful links, problems encountered, independent learning, the use of software to explore and present ideas).
My site uses existing material by linking to BBC bitesize. This is a well accepted resources by teachers and gives credibility and authority to the site.
I encountered many design problems, and have learnt a lot about image manipulation and CSS for web design. This has all been new to me and required considerable amounts of time researching how to best use these technologies. I found user help videos on Youtube, Adobe help, and w3schools to be invaluable resources.
4. Demonstration of self evaluation and critical reflection.
As I have developed the site I have evaluated the functionality and changed elements, I also took on board feedback to make changes and improve the site.
5. Demonstration of skills of problem solving.
Restricted by my limited skills in web design I had to overcome many issues translating my ideas into online elements that I actually had the skill to build. This has meant that some of my ambitious ideas for a very professional look to the site have been downgraded by my use of Photoshop, however by using an 'arts and crafts' style to the site this has negated the need for a very clean finish. One of the biggest changes I made tot he site was the reduction of 'Draw AP Div' elements. These were not aligning properly and made the site open very differently in different browsers. Learning how to use hotspots, and developing better base images in PhotoShop allowed me to work around this and greatly increase the usability of my website.
So there, that's it. I'm sure I could and should say a lot more, but really this whole experience has just been a whirlwind for me. It has been unexplainably difficult to try and learn a lot of the techniques and programmes I used essentially on my own. Working full time meant that I had limited access to working with others and I have have spent a lot of lonely evenings in the translation lab. But it has been totally worthwhile, I wanted to know how to build basic websites, and now I do. My next project is to develop my site for my own business, onwards and upwards as they say.
Over and out.
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