Alix’s Exploration of Learning Technologies

I worked through introduction to web design and html authoring in the e-learning  tool kit and completed the suggested activities. After completing the activities, which included introductory readings, exploring  suggested software, assessment checklists, story boarding, and considering design elements, I have to say that I really had not considered how much goes into designing a good webpage.

Nothing exemplifies this point more, than exploring webpages that suck. I was particularily intrigued by one webpage for a company called Brill Publications, the page relys heavily on “metaphic navigation”, where an animated elevator takes you to different pages. Although there is a novelty element to the navigation strategy, it takes FOREVER to find and get to any specific page. If I was genuinely visiting this site, I would probably leave it rather quickly due to frusteration.

Truth be told, I did not create a new webpage for the webpage design activity, instead I used my MET e-folio as a point of analysis. This is the e-folio I have been developing over the course of my MET. It is made using wordpress. As such, I used a preset CSS “theme” and I developped posts using WYSIWYG HTML editor. I will admit, I have no idea how to change the CSS only have a slight idea of how to change content by editing html. I have used a small amount of html in Vista blackbourd discussions, but only by cutting and pasting from a webpage with common chatroom html codes. I know that there will be a point where  the limitations of WYSIWYG editors become evident to me, but that has not happened yet, so for the time being, I will stick with pre-set CSS and WYSIWYG editors.

My wordpress blog uses a two column theme with mostly white background. It is evident within 4 seconds what the page is about (Alix Gray Burdett’s EduBlogFolio: An exploration of the space where education, science and technology merge). I chose not to set up page navigation, instead I organize content by categories that are displayed on the right hand side. All posts are connected to the main page and a visitor can navigate to older posts when they reach the end of the 10 posts I have displayed on the first page.If a visitor clicks on a category of interest, all posts filed under that category are compiled. I always try to include links in my posts, and clearly tell the visitor where they will be navigating to. Finally, when I used the WAVE tool to test for the accessibility of my webpage, two errors were found, but I had a difficult time finding out what they were?

Before starting this activity, I knew that I was a fan of clean, clear webpages with simple navigation. However, I did no appreciate how much intention goes into designing a clean webpage. Definitely the lesson of the day is “less is more” when it comes to webpage design.