Process and site design techniques - Research Paper Example

This paper discusses the process and site design techniques. The page design techniques have also been explained. Two websites have been critically analyzed for process, site design and page design.The outcome of this analysis is provided in this paper. The positive and negative aspects of the first and second generation websites have been observed and described.This report seeks to evaluate the design and construction of two websites based on conventional principles used in the designing of websites.

This report also highlights the principles that have been used for the evaluation.Ware et al. (2003) states "you need a good eye for design". First generation websites largely focus on displaying static content that users could either view or download. The characteristic trait of second generation websites is communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration. Ware et al. (2003) says Javascript manipulates the client browser.The schoolnet.com website has been chosen because it is a second generation website which deals with social networking site for the K-12 community which caters to students, parents and teachers.

It deals with interactive user experience, collaboration between people, and web 2.0 principles. It is a rich internet application.The cfcindia.com website is a first generation website mainly used to host content that people can view and download. This website has a varied audience and may include people from various communities and cultures. This critique report will analyze the two websites on aspects such as site planning, overall layout and theme. The report will also analyze the design for ease of use of target audience, typography, cross browser compatibility, content relevance, organization and functioning of links on the page and overall usability.

Process and site design The important factor while designing a website is the purpose of the website and the audience who will view the website. The font, color combination of the content, structure, navigation and language used must be user friendly. HTML is broadly used to describe the content of web pages in the World Wide Web (Raggett, 1998). The critical analysis of the process and site design techniques of the schoolnet.com website is discussed as follows. This is a well planned site and the theme of the site has been architected well as seen in the layout of the navigation menus and the pages.

Numerous images slow down the site. Large images are used on the home page, resulting in long page load times and important site content has been pushed to the lower portion of the screen. The navigation has been well designed with on hover menus. Bread crumbs makes navigation to previously visited pages easier. The choice of vibrant colors makes the site attractive for the younger audience. The critical analysis of the process and site design techniques of the cfcindia.com website is discussed as follows.

This site is a little less well planned than Schoolnet.com. This site offers end users Christian digital media for download. The site is not very user friendly for non technical users as options for download are not intuitive with no ability to sort advanced search for content. The home page has well segmented content and content specific user categories. The weaker areas include lack of search on inner pages, no metadata for the digital media and no clear options for download. The on-hover drop down menus enables easy navigation.

Lack of bread crumbs makes navigation to previously visited pages cumbersome. The color theme has been kept simple for the varied audience that might visit this site. Page design The user interface must be designed to help the users follow the web pages. Related content must be