Overall project
The overall project
I found this an interesting project and it allowed me to demonstrate what I learned in this module. It is a practical assignment to guide me in the future if I am required to set up a library website. I decided to set up a Photography Club website. This allowed me to get around copyright issues concerning images on the website as they are my own. It was important to include a copyright note so that users of the website will know whether it is permitted to use the posted images or not. In this case I stated it was fine for other people to use the images, as long as they were credited.
The website is set up to cater for existing members but also for potential new members interested in joining. This meant that I had to design the website to make it easily accessible for people browsing for information but also for the members who are looking for information such as the next meet up.
It is important and necessary that all users find the website easy to navigate so having the same menu options at the top of each page on a global navigation bar is useful. Also I felt it was important to have embedded hyperlinks on pages so users could go directly to the page they need rather than the menu each time.
I felt it was important to include widgets to external Social Media applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. This allows the website not to become inundated with images but provides an option to allow freely available browsing. I set up accounts on these sites as people will find the website through different means and many people are active Social Media users. Some may find the Facebook presence first as this can appear on a Google search results page before websites. This means that potential members could look at information through social media sites and link into the website. It also means that members and potential members could get relevant information delivered straight to them rather than having to scroll through the website. For Example, a tweet could be sent with a link to a new news article alerting users to the update rather than users having to check the website regularly for updates. By integrating Social Media into the website, if users came to the website they could link into any of the social media sites. this also allows for greater engagement with users. I included external links to YouTube videos which provided some tutorials on photograpy. This shows the two way use of Social Media; connecting users in and connecting these users out to other resources.
I decided on broad and shallow organisational structure for this website. I felt the narrow and deep structure would be to complicated for the website for this purpose. Most users using this website are looking for quick information such as times of the next meet up or how to join. Storyboards was very useful in helping me design the website structure. There is no requirement for large volumes of text.
The Layout and design is another consideration. This includes logos, headers, footers and embedded hyperlinks. I did not include a logo, however this would be advisable for a genuine enterprise. I included embedded hyperlinks within pages as well as the ability to link from the main menu at the top of each page. I did not change the colour of the background or text font/ colour as these are in accordance with best practice (W3C - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0). This also applies to other aspects such as alternative text and layout.
Ideally I would include alternative text on any images in the main part of the website. All my images are in the photo gallery but there is no option to upload alternative text in the software provided. I was unable to create subcatagories in the photo gallery which would have been beneficial to end users.
I included a global navigation bar at the top of each page. I would include a tag cloud (social navigation) if this was a real website as this would make browsing images easier. I did not upload enough images in this assignment to allow for a meaningful tag cloud. There is an RSS feed available on the top of the website (utility navigation).
I used hyperlinks between pages (associative navigation). This saves users having to go back to the global navigation bar to get to the page they wish to view.
I wrote the website text using plain English, with the use of short sentences. I did not include too much text as screen reading is 25% slower and I did not feel there was the need to have large volumes of text. If there was a need for more information, I would create a page with the main points with links to extra information.
Copyright is an important issue due to the nature of the content. I reviewed similar websites and they have a general copyright logo at the bottom of each page. I feel that if this was a real website it would be worth including a note in the FAQs about Copyright and Reproduction of images to make it more clear cut.