Monday, April 9, 2012
Blogging About Blogs
I didn't particularly like blogging, but I think I liked it more than whatever the alternative would have been. I'd never done a blog type thing for a class, so it was a nice change of pace. As far as a measure of participation, (I think that's what these assignments fall under) I liked it a lot. I thought it was cool how we were able to read what everybody else thought about something before class. If there was any confusion about the assignment, I could see what other people did and reread the assignment on the class blog. I liked being able to get a wide range of opinions really quickly. I also felt like I was able to get to know people in the class better. It wasn't as awkward as it could have been to change seats because I had be reading people's blog so I sort of knew them. At the same time, that's kind of creepy, but I guess that's the name of the game when it comes to blogging. It was like an out of class discussion done on my own time, which was very convenient. I think it would have been cool to kind of continue the discussion in class more, because just a couple of the blog posts felt a little disconnected from what was going on in class. But, it was probably a time constraint kind of thing. I liked how we didn't have to bring a lot of assignments to class because we just did it on the blog. It was nice to not have to worry about printing something out beforehand. The biggest difference in blogging an assignment instead of turning in a paper is that I feel it is much easier to be informal when blogging than actually writing it down. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing; it's more just kind of is. It's also easy to write more when it's a blog (as is evidenced by this long rambling paragraph). Once again, I don't know if that's good or bad. At any rate, I think the blog posts were a good addition to the class.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Analyze a Website
I chose to analyze the http://miessociety.org site. I don't remember how or why I found this site, but I think it's kind of cool. I'm not exactly sure who this person is, but whatever. I think I'll focus most of my analyzing on the timeline portion of the site.
Kay, so as far as alignment goes, they are not particularly original. Everything is right aligned, but it gives it a very orderly and polished feel. This is especially evident on the timeline section of the site. I really like how on the timeline, everything is in the three aligned columns. It's very easy to find the information you need. All of the columns and their information are aligned making it very predictable, but that's kind of the idea with a timeline so it totally works. I also like how the block of the block of text is indented, but the titles and years are not. I think it helps emphasize the titles as titles and the block of text as more in-depth information. The alignment of the pictures is also very effective. I like how all the pictures are cropped to the same width and then put flush against the line that divides the sections. It looks kind of funny with one picture, but when there several sections in a row with pictures it adds a really nice cohesive and polished look.
We've got a nice contrast with light gray lettering and dividers on a black background. When the mouse goes in a particular section the text turns white nicely emphasizing what the mouse is over. I think the black and white contrast is pretty common, but I think it's kind of a classy type of thing. It can be kind of boring if your not careful, but I think it works here. It's a very professional and sleek look. The pictures really "pop" because they are the only color on the page. You look at the picture first and then over to the text for more information. It's like the picture is the hook and then you can find out more if it interests you.
So the proximity element is fairly predictable here because it is a timeline. I like how the leave plenty of empty space between the sections. It gives it a very open feel. It's hard to read and stay engaged in something that feels crowded and cramped. Here, they give their text plenty of breathing room. Every block of text is it's own entity. I would like to see their years numbers a little bigger though.
There's some nice repetition of text size and fonts going on. The years' text is different than the other text. But the titles and the text blocks are the same font just in different sizes. This site preserves the flow by using the same size for all the titles and then the same size for all the blocks of text.
There are three columns in the timeline. They aren't equal, but they increase in size from left to right and it's comfortable for the eye to look at. It kind of draws the eye across the screen from left to right. Continuing on the thirds theme, most of the pictures follow the rule of thirds which makes them more effective.
So, I think this site scores pretty high on the design principles test.
Kay, so as far as alignment goes, they are not particularly original. Everything is right aligned, but it gives it a very orderly and polished feel. This is especially evident on the timeline section of the site. I really like how on the timeline, everything is in the three aligned columns. It's very easy to find the information you need. All of the columns and their information are aligned making it very predictable, but that's kind of the idea with a timeline so it totally works. I also like how the block of the block of text is indented, but the titles and years are not. I think it helps emphasize the titles as titles and the block of text as more in-depth information. The alignment of the pictures is also very effective. I like how all the pictures are cropped to the same width and then put flush against the line that divides the sections. It looks kind of funny with one picture, but when there several sections in a row with pictures it adds a really nice cohesive and polished look.
We've got a nice contrast with light gray lettering and dividers on a black background. When the mouse goes in a particular section the text turns white nicely emphasizing what the mouse is over. I think the black and white contrast is pretty common, but I think it's kind of a classy type of thing. It can be kind of boring if your not careful, but I think it works here. It's a very professional and sleek look. The pictures really "pop" because they are the only color on the page. You look at the picture first and then over to the text for more information. It's like the picture is the hook and then you can find out more if it interests you.
So the proximity element is fairly predictable here because it is a timeline. I like how the leave plenty of empty space between the sections. It gives it a very open feel. It's hard to read and stay engaged in something that feels crowded and cramped. Here, they give their text plenty of breathing room. Every block of text is it's own entity. I would like to see their years numbers a little bigger though.
There's some nice repetition of text size and fonts going on. The years' text is different than the other text. But the titles and the text blocks are the same font just in different sizes. This site preserves the flow by using the same size for all the titles and then the same size for all the blocks of text.
There are three columns in the timeline. They aren't equal, but they increase in size from left to right and it's comfortable for the eye to look at. It kind of draws the eye across the screen from left to right. Continuing on the thirds theme, most of the pictures follow the rule of thirds which makes them more effective.
So, I think this site scores pretty high on the design principles test.
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