Certainly not compelling, attractive or very interesting. This is my next attempt.

The Discography was a challenge as well. My first attempt is a very basic list with a screenshot of the albums.

With a few css codes (thank you Chris), the discography is now much more compelling than the first version.

A few more style changes and you have a two color background with a border:

One more small style the I included was an elevated cap on the first paragraph:

}
p:first-letter {
font-size: 3.5em;
line-height: 1em;
}
p + p:first-letter {
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.25em;
} 

A few thoughts on the process. I saved my style sheets as several different documents so that I could experiment with different things without messing up what I already had. This type of work is very exact and detail-oriented. Save often and then check your work in a web-browser to gauge how the changes are looking.

A few websites that assisted me include:

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com

http://css-tricks.com/the-css-box-model/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/27/css-typographic-tools-and-techniques/

There’s no accounting for bad taste

It’s amazing how many poorly designed and really awful websites are out there, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what is tasteful to one person is completely a turnoff to someone else. So how does a business design it’s website to appeal to the masses? I’m taking notes so that I don’t make some of these mistakes.

The Worst of the Worst: While doing my research for good and bad websites, I came across one that is so horrible, I couldn’t find anything nice to say about it. Have you ever been to the fair and gone into the Fun House? It’s full of noise, things popping out, weird openings, gaudy colors and effect – any reasonable person over the age of 25 finds themselves with a headache and the need to find the exit immediately. This website is without a doubt one of the worst I’ve seen…so before we get to the chosen websites, let’s look at a really bad one: Lings Cars

Website Comparison One: We compared Yahoo (www.yahoo.com)  to Comcast (www.comcast.net) and found that Yahoo is in need of an update. While it’s not a horrible site, it has a very 1980″s AOL look to it and hasn’t modernized it’s navigation tools.

Yahoo’s good features:

• Icons on the left side
• Not a lot of “in your face advertising”
• Not a lot of flash
• White space is prevalent
• Fits on one page

Yahoo’s bad features:

• Needs more color
• Major news tabs should be more prominent
• Doesn’t cycle through the top stories of the day
• Categories are not consistent

The redesigned website more prominently displays the day’s top headlines, with the top stories scrolling through. On the left, the viewer has the option of customizing their viewing experience to include their favorite links. Instead of a stark white background, I will choose a light blue to offset the text.

Website Comparison Two: The second set of websites we compared were www.ABC.com and www.KUPL.com. ABC is fresh, easy to navigate, it uses color and texture in a non-distracting way. The graphics are full-color closeups so they make a great impact, the pages load quickly and easy show has its own menu.

KUPL’s good features:

• Features the name of the of the song and artist being played, with the ability to search for a specific time
• It is features the most current social networking sites prominently

KUPL’s bad features:

• The banner is out of date, a little too busy with the name of the station and country artists on an American flag background
• Too much text in a small, hard to read font
• Poor graphics – they went for quantity over quality
• Need to make links for the major sections of the website
• Too many pop-ups, flashing ads, etc. that are distracting

The redesigned website is sectioned off and eliminates all the text boxes on the front page. With a click on a link, the viewer can go to a particular section and get further details. It’s a cleaner, more modern look with a simple banner, and the Listen Live button prominently displayed

This assignment has given me a new insight into the dynamics of a website and what I as a consumer want. Once I choose the website I will be designing, I plan to poll some of the target audience of the website to find out what they are looking for and what will bring them back. As someone who is a neat-freak, with an organizing gene, I like simple, easy to navigate websites with great graphics and photos.

• Get information
• To make a purchase
• For entertainment
• For connections with other like-minded people (hobbies, sports, values/beliefs)

Successful web designs include the following elements:

• Should be readable:
• Background doesn’t interrupt or distract from the text
• Text is big enough and not in a font that is easy to read
  • Easy to navigate: links are the same color and are underlined so they are clearly visible
  • Graphics are in pleasing/coordinating colors
  • Good use of “white space” so that the website isn’t text or heavy

Bad website designs:

• Long opening flash with no option to skip it. This often results in a delay as the website loads
• Popups and annoying ads flashing
• Inconsistent text (a mish-mash of fonts, colors, font sizes, etc.)
• Links don’t take the reader directly to the desired location
• Too many graphic elements
• Filling the entire space with text and graphic elements

 I have a list of favorite blogs and websites that I visit daily. I visit them because have taught and continue to teach me something (photography, scrapbooking, etc.), or they share the same interests and values that I do. I never visit political websites and I usually get my news from either Comcast or OregonLive. Websites with lots of popups and banners are annoying. If I have to continually close a banner in order to get to the content I’m reading, I will probably not go back. While I understand the need for advertising, there are ways to advertise on websites that don’t annoy. One of my favorite scrapbooking websites, http://www.twopeasinabucket.com is very effective in using advertisers but not in an annoying way. I like websites that have white space, a consistent theme and color and are fast to load.

 Examples of Bad websites

www.lingscars.com: This is the online version of the worst used car salesman in the world. The website is so annoying and distracting, that if you don’t have a headache when you open it, you will by the time you close it. There is absolutely no continuity or design to the website. It is a frightening mishmash of colors, fonts, and graphics. It is like a free LSD trip on your computer. I can’t imagine purchasing a car from this place. It includes such links as “Google Spider Food” and “Cheap Insurance”. It is not an American website and seems to be owned by a woman named “Ling”. She needs to hire a better web designer.  

http://www.kupl.com: The website for the country radio station KUPL has too many pop-ups and flashing ads. There is no continuity to the website. Each broadcaster’s page is completely different, some with lots of info, others with just a photo. For a broadcast radio station that seeks to inform its listeners and increase web traffic through various contests, they do a poor job. When you scroll over the main pull-down menus, you can still see words underneath that have nothing to do with the menu. Perhaps I am not the right demographic for this website, but a few minutes spent here doesn’t make me want to linger and continue browsing. There isn’t a consistent font, style or size.

 Examples of Good websites

http://www.treelinewell.com: This website is clean, linear and easy on the eyes. There are no flash or popup ads. It is easy to read and navigate with attractive visuals. While I have no interest in oil or gas, I really liked how visually attractive the home page for this website is.

 http://www.beckyhiggins.com: This is one of the websites I visit on a frequent basis. As a scrapbooker, I like Becky Higgins style. She is a simple, linear scrapbooker and her style is reflected in her website design. It is clean and simple, easy to navigate, with attractive visuals for each section. She uses consistent headers, fonts, colors, etc. throughout the website, and she doesn’t have any ads or popups.