Web Site Design

John gave me a great idea with his post that pointed us to the Library of Ireland’s web site of the Easter Uprising. Since we are looking at the design of web sites I thought I would try to determine what I like about different web sites about history. I have used the two sites John has pointed us too, the Irish Library site mentioned above (Irish Site), the Mapping the African American Past (MAPP) site  (MAPP Site), a Virginia Tech site about the Mexican-American War (VT Site),  and a web site developed by a non-profit organization called the Descendents of the Mexican-American War (Mex-Am Site).  This became much too large for a blog post so I uploaded a pdf of my review. (Download Mar25.pdf) 

After reviewing these web sites I learned that it is very important to understand why the web site is being developed or users are lost (VT Site). It is very important that the main element of a site be given top billing or the user is forced to scroll and move around and gets frustrated (MAPP Site).  For historians it is important that sources and bibliographies are provided or the user is left wondering where information is coming from (Irish Site). I found that the CRAP principles were useful in helping me determine why I instinctively liked or disliked a site.

I also uploaded Vox Fire to see what a screen reader does to a web site. Having impaired sight myself I am sensitive to not being able to see. However, like Joe Clark said, all I have to do is increase the size of my screen. I don’t know how blind people are able to function using computers. I can’t remember all the things I hear when going through a screen, but I do know that a lot of web sites like CNN, and Yahoo are really not friendly for screen readers. The readings today made me realize how much I was taking for granted and not programming into my applications. 

Comments

[John Aiken]

I'm glad to hear my blogging could help. :)

I had the same expierance with the Mexican American site with VT when i saw it last semester. The navigation was disorienting to the extreme. I also agree with your comment on the 1916 site. The black and white contrast was a bit much for my eyes too.

However, you're idea sounds like a great one!