Website Development

This assignment has three parts:

• A one-page proposal that describes your concept and potential audience, and that outlines projected content and hypertext features.
• A functioning website with multiple linked pages, text, and graphics constructed using HTML (and possibly other) source code.
• A one-page self-assessment describing the final product in relation to principles of audience, design, and hypertext that we have read about and discussed in class.

The success of your project depends first and possibly foremost on the concept you choose, so consider this carefully.

I welcome "real-world" commissions. These add an element of difficulty (you are working for a real audience; your facts must be absolutely correct, you will have to take other people's views and tastes into account), but I have found that having a real audience and purpose in mind makes the web-developer more ambitious and creative.

In any case, you will want to produce something that has all the earmarks of authenticity. Once again, it must solve an organizational "problem." It must offer something to visitors that they can't get anywhere else. And once they're there, they must find clearly organized content, with text, pictures, and other features to attract their interest and serve their needs.

So far this isn't a great deal different than print publications, but the web is a different beast altogether. You can't put it in someone's hand like you can a magazine. On the other hand your site has the potential to be seen by anyone in the world who has a computer and a modem.

The web offers other advantages and limitations. You must think about what these are and how to use the medium to its fullest advantage. Hot Text should be helpful here, as well as in considering design and navigation options.

I will list the criteria that I use in the website evaluation form I complete for each project. That should help you see where to concentrate your efforts.

• Use of hypertext environment (application of theoretical concepts).
• Purpose and audience (definition of purpose, identification of audience, originality).
• Design integration (consistency of design elements, suitability to site purpose and audience, creativity.
• Content-text (suitability of writing style to site purpose and audience, correctness, interest.
• Content-graphics (use of images to communicate independently and in coordination with text.
• Navigation (ease and logic of movement through the site, functionality of internal links, alternate paths).
• Creature comforts (navigation and interactive features such as image maps, forms, external links, e-mail buttons, etc.). It isn't a good idea to load your site up with gimmicks, but use extra features when they enhance the usefulness and efficiency of your site.

Size: Different projects will require different numbers of pages, so I don't want to be too prescriptive here. But I think you need to create a site of enough substance to demonstrate navigational and organizational strategies, and to give a user the sense that this is a place to visit rather than just a couple of pages posted in cyberspace.

You can check out student projects from past years, but don't be bound by what others have done. Make a unique statement with your site.

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