Readability of Websites

So, for the two websites I compared, I took a look at one of my favorite websites--Television Without Pity-- and the website for Apple. Granted each website has a different purpose, but I thin they are still worth comparing for their design aesthetic.

Television Without Pity is a website devoted to following TV shows--it is a place where avid TV fans can read recaps of their favorite shows, view photos and video clips, and interact with other viewers in the forums, among other things. I discovered TWoP when I was following the series Veronica Mars. Now, I read their very snarky recaps of Glee, which continually point out the fact that Will Schuester doesn't even come close to resembling any kind of teacher on the planet, but that's a totally different blog post--one you can access here! When I first began reading TWoP five years ago, the site was still young and not quite as full of content as it is now. The burgeoning amount of information available on the site has transformed a once simply-designed-but-easily-navigated site into a bit of a mess. They have so much going on that it is hard to sift through everything or know where to look. The menu bar at the top of the screen, while easily found, is a pain when running the mouse over the page because all of the menus are drop-downs and they get in the way. There are also now tons of ads--particularly pop-up video ads--that come attached to every page and spring up on top of whatever someone is trying to read. The designers tried to make things easier to understand by using diffferent boxes to separate different content on the main page, but all of the boxes are the same size, making it hard to distinguish which are the important boxes. Lastly, the website started with recaps of shows--that's their bread and butter. The most recent reacps are hidden toward the bottom of the main page, not up at the top where most would expect to find them. I didn't even realize they were still publishing those on the main page because I usually don't get farther than the un-subordinated boxes at the top. Ultimately, the site is not bad--there are DEFINITELY worse sites out there--but it does leave something to be desired.

Apple. Ah, Apple. It makes sense that their website would be so beautifully and simply designed; their product looks the same.  It's streamlined, organized, sophisticated, and clutter-free. The menu bar is simple and to the point, featuring seven clearly labeled buttons that do not drop down and obscure the rest of the screen should your cursor stray over them. The most important information sits at the top of the page, accompanied by a large image to grab a viewer's attention. Each following box is subordinated by size, cuing the viewer in on the importance of each item in a subtle manner. With the understandable exception of the store page, each other page is laid out in a similar fashion so viewers know where to look for the same kinds of information. Apple is just so classy-looking, you feel like you ought to be sipping a well-mixed martini or a glass of a classic Old Vine Zinfandel while browsing their site. Unfortunately, the only thing TWoP's design reminds me of is the massive, groggy headaches after too many tequila shots and Long Islands at the bar during my undergrad years.

In terms of how this connects to my work in the classroom...
I think it would be really easy to do a comparison with my students on the design aspects of websites or presentations. They are pretty savvy with websites, and they've seen enough Power Point presentations from teachers and each other that hey could pretty easily identify a good website/presentation versus a poor one. I like the idea of having them do an activity like this in the lead-up to the persuasive speech in the spring. They are required to use visual aids and many of them automatically use Power Point to share facts, graphs, charts, or images. I think they would really get into options like creating their own webpages, Glogs, or Prezis. I could see starting by examining websites for good and poor design. The kids could brainstorm the categories that the design elements would fit into, and then I could fill in the categories or items they missed. They could do a group comparison of a pair of websites. Then, we could shift to paired work looking at presentation samples. We could talk about whether or not the same design principles used for websites apply to presentations as well. As a culminating piece, they could create the part of the assessment that looks at their creation and presentation of their visual aids.

Lots of opportunities to explore here, but I'm a bit too burned out right now to explore all of them in depth. Desperately in need of the 5-day Thanksgiving break. Will post more later! Happy Thanksgiving!