Web session 2 & Task 6

DESIGNING FOR WEB

In the session we sat in small groups and made a list for these two questions , we come up with a long list for each.

Q. what are common conventions of navigation , what are uncommon conventions: 

Menus

Pagination 

Search bar

Home

Info/about

Contact

Navigation button at the top

Navigation on the left

Logo for homepage

Pictures as links

Social media links

Drop down menu

Auto updates intuitive to user

Q. Are there any rules of navigation and pagination and dos his matter ? 

Unecsesable navigation 

Navigation at the bottom

Scrolling

Swiping left and right

Navigation bar on right

Motion graphics 

Landing page 

Some important points were made, we had a full class discussion about :

• How can we tell things are a link or a new page ? - the mouse will change or alternative information a small square with text will pop up.

• How can you tell an image is a link ? It might change colour or have a roller image effect.

• Sometimes websites with strange links and navigation aren't actually done on purpose.

• Websites with good design are more likely ones with easy pagination.

Our design should be:

Current

Continual development 

Modern

The next part of the session we made a small scamp like design to come up with the navigation and the different pages of our website. it was brought to our attention that all pages do have to be linked and how important it is to have your website really accessible this will make your website more use able for a wider audience.

GRIDS 

For the last  part of the session we looked at our five websites we had brought in and have a look at there navigation and drew lines on the appropriate areas of the web page where grids had been made.

Canal mills website - I really liked the canal mills website because of the large image at the top and the squares images for the other links , after discussing in the session about images for links i am not so sure if i will use them. I found a few grids used for this website . The first grid was for the actual width of the site runs central , then a grid for the largest image a seperate grid for the navigation bar then another two longer grids for the two rows of images. There was also a grid used to place the search bar at the bottom. I personally like images used as link but there not for an older generation but this website is appropriate for its audience.

SBTRKT Website - For the SBTRKT website i found the same grids used for the canal mills website this particular page isn't a home page but is just a page used for the music part of the website. It uses all images for the links but i found the titles for the EP's or songs were under the images making it more accessible. I liked the fact the full background is black i really like the asthetics.

Rat & Boa Website - This website i chose is really straight forward it uses a large grid for the main image which switches every few seconds to a different image. It has a smaller grid for the title and then two long row grids for the title and search bar also the navigation bar. What i noticed about this website how easy it was to get around i think this design decision has been made because it is a company selling clothes they don't want to loose out on any customers who cant get to the right page.

The Apple website -  The apple website design is very clean and minimal , it uses the same design as aesthetic as all of its products. The same way you use the products using your finger to scroll through things is cleverly portrayed on there homepage were a rang of there products are displayed in a slide show style.
The website uses grids for the navigation bar the title the large image and a second navigation bar. I think the reason the Apple website is so easy to use and accessible is because of the wider audience.

Aqua Couture Website - The Aqua couture website uses a lot of grids for the images and for the title and the navigation bar. The Aqua couture website is easy to navigate but because of its complex content its not as clean as other websites. I like the logo used at the top of the page which takes you back home i didn't really think about logo home page buttons until today's session. The website is appropriate for the audience for 20+ 

I found today's session really useful as it made me think of different sections of the website that i wouldn't of before and how they can be beneficial to my own website and influence my design aesthetic.