Site-Seeing Chapters 2,3, and 4

Read chapters 2, 3 and 4

DQ: What is a web mark? (59)
R. They serve as “landmarks” on a web page. They work as visual cues to jog your memory and let you know you’re on the right track when you try to find content you have located before.

Know p 52:53
Know p 62:63

DQ: Why does Windows display content differently than Macintosh? (69)
R. The gamma differences between operating systems that make Window machines seem substantially darker than the display on a Macintosh.

DQ: What are the two complaints of web site users? 84:85
R. The top two complains of Web site uses are “I can’t find what I’m looking for” and “it takes too long”.

DQ: Describe external links, internal links, embedded links, and action links and download links. 105
R. External links: they provide paths from your web site to specific sites you have determined to be informative or relevant to your audience’s goals. I think of them as references of our knowledge for a better understanding of our audience.
Internal links: they are links within your own navigation system. They are probably the most common links. The most prevalent of the type are site wide navigation systems and embedded links.
Embedded links: they are usually located within blocks of text or images. They direct your audience to relevant or supplementary information elsewhere within your site. They are much closer in function and appearance to external links than to navigation menus.
Action links: they trigger events other than browsing (ex. reset or summit buttons). These buttons sometimes don’t take your audience anywhere, but complete a transaction or activate dynamic content.
Download links: Links hat lead to any file that might not display within a Web browser window are referred to as download links. They are used to provide information in formats more appropriate for particular content and support the need to go beyond what is possible with standard Web pages and images (ex. PDFs, AVIs, etc).

DQ: In understanding how we perceive information, describe briefly what Proximity, Similarity, Continuance and Closure are/how they are used in design.
R. Proximity: tells us that element placed closely together, when compared to elements far away, will be perceived as a new element: a group.
Similarity: can reinforce this perception. Similarities of shape, color, size, direction, and texture work to group distinct elements.
Continuance: this attribute, on the other hand, tells us that several different elements are likely to be grouped together if their differences are the result of a basic pattern (ex. a series of identical circles progressively decreasing in size).
Closure: says that we also have a tendency to group elements by filling in the space between them to create larger, simpler forms. In other words, we tend to fill in the gaps.

DQ: What is visual hierarchy?
R. Creates a center of interest that attracts the viewer’s attention. Crates a sense of order and balance. Establishes a pattern of movement to guide a viewer through a composition.

DQ: What is visual weight?
R. So how do we build effective page hierarchies? We use visual relationships to add more or less visual weight to our elements. Visual weight can be loosely defined as the degree to which an element demands our attention and keeps our interest (ex. red large type will have more weight than small grey type).

DQ: What is color-coding?
R. Color-coding each subsection of your site is common way to communicate position (using similarity). Color-coding is most effective when the sections of your site have distinct differences. These distinctions could be based on user tasks, specific audience members, or content. The various colors of the sections provide an indication that your audience has made a distinct change in goals.

Know p 159