Critical Role

Dan Rios:  Content Manager

Making sure spelling and grammar is correct and making sure backgrounds make words readable.

Make sure things are organized, like information, and make sure that there are not too many segments with information, but also not too little amounts of segments.

I also have to make sure the page is not too extravagant and it will not overwhelm the user, so that leaves me to make sure that the page will load quickly.

Erik Mertens: Graphics Designer

Navigations is one of the most important jobs and I need to make it easy for the user by making it look pleasant and make it fast for people to brows through the web page.  

Alignment of pictures, movies and all other things that need to be strait.

Making files small and having not too many files.  Not too many gifs because they are distracting and can take time to load.

Jonathan Dehmlow: Information Architect

Making a layout with arrows and boxing, reassuring that there will be organization.

Using Usability Testing.  This will help us make sure that our site is running properly and to see if anything needs to be changed.

Making sure the user can access want they want easily.

We will use these strategies to create our "Perfect Website."  We will use the Information Architect for the layout, the Graphic Designer to match what the Information Architect wants, and the Content Manager to make sure that everything is as it's supposed to be and to make sure that information is organized.  With these tactics, we will be able to create a perfect website.

Individual Role

I am the Content Manager for my group. My tasks are to organize information, check spelling and grammar of articles, and I have to make sure that information is useful. I also have to make sure that repetition is not too much of a problem and I have to make sure that articles are not too short and that they are in chunks.

Information that is useful to help me with being a Content Manger is:

Summarizing what the site is about on the front page, but not to make it lengthy.

Fragmentation as in putting information into segments. However, too many segments with little information will frustrate and overwhelm the user.

Instead of using paragraphs, lists would be better. They help organize a lot more and they give a subject, then give the information.

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/text.html

Linking: Redundancy is okay when writing a web page, but putting links for more information about a subject is very helpful.

http://www.webstyleguide.com/site/organize.html

Divide information into useful units: Most important information should be near the top. Put only information the user wants.

Importance of units: How important is the unit? Not so much? If so, the less important things should be put lower on the list.

Structures and relations of units

The user is there for information, not reading, so cut right to the chase.

http://www.usability.gov/design/writing4web.html

I will also need to make sure that the designer does not use too many graphics, otherwise the page might take quite some time to load.
http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/wftw2.html

I also have to make sure that the whole website will appeal to the user. That means not too many colors, no distractions, readable text, and the user gets what they are looking for.

Color Schemes

1. Complementary colors are colors that contrast well. Almost opposites. A football team's colors who are almost opposites are The Raiders. They show a contrast of purple and yellow. So that is dark and light, opposites that contrast like a painting of blue and orange.

2. There many colors that create other colors by mixing them. For example, yellow and red make orange; blue and yellow make green; and red and blue make purple.

3. A Tint is a color that begins as white, but continues to add a bit of a color to the white until the desired tint is found. A Shade is the standard color at the beginning with a little bit of black is added until the desired shade is found. Tint is white going to the desired color, Shade is the standard color getting darker and darker until it is black, or at the desired shade.

4. Neutral colors are colors that contain three equal parts of each primary color. For example, white, gray, and black are all neutral colors and they all contain equal parts of the primary color.

The Three main color schemes used to make a website are Analogous, Complimentary, Monochromatic.

Analogous: http://tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/hannahmontana/

Complimentary: http://www.denverbroncos.com/

Monochromatic: http://www.walmart.com/

Dan, Eric, and Jonathan Perfect Website

1. It is easy to use and work with it.

2. No music that annoys the user.

3. The site must have good color scheme.

4. The site most have some kind of graphics on the home page.

5. Fitting pictures

6. no bugs

7. fast, easy to access info

8. Menu Colors, don't make every single option within an option different colors.

9. down loads

10. runs on any browser and any computer type.

11. keep animation to the minimum.

12. fitting page name

13. Links

14. Logging in with accounts fast, and e-mail address is optional for a higher security.

15. Page info at bottom; if its copy righten, last update, if fan web pages are allowed.

16. All links and sites work.

17. Ads and GIFS

18. Music

19. drop down menus

20. up dates

The Perfect Website

To my group, the perfect website would consist of the following:

Easy navigation: Being able to find what you are looking for without much hassle. Possibly a search bar for whatever is needed.

Fitting pictures: Pictures that show what the company is about, not just random pictures.

Good color contrast: Colors that are welcoming. Not boring, but not too exciting. Colors that reflect the web page.

Fitting name: Browser name needs to match the topic of the website. Example: www.pets.com would not make sense for a website that advertises cars.

Fast info: Menu bar is clearly provided with a list of options to search. If one cannot find what they are looking for, they can type for it in a search engine provided for the web site.

Secondary info: Displayed at the bottom should be a list for when the website was last updated, copy rights, and web pages for other sites that helped could be displayed as resources.

Ads and GIFS: These can be allowed, depending the website. If it is a gaming website or a website meant for entertainment, ads and gifs are acceptable. But if it were a corporation, gifs and ads can be very distracting and frustrating.

Music: Big corporation website should not have music on their page, but that is fine for certain websites like Myspace.com. So, music should be optional for the user. They should have an option to mute the music.

Downloads: Downloads of helpful information should be allowed, but downloads should try to be short, not long. The downloads should also not have a long intro. If they do, they should have a "Skip Intro" button.

Logging in with accounts: Fast, and e-mail address is optional for a higher security.

Videos: If there are any videos available, they should not play automatically, but they should load and the user should have the option of playing it.

Links: There should not be any links that don't allow the user to go back to the original web page. Instead, they should allow another window to open.

Text: Text should be readable. That means no unreadable or extravagant texts or too many shadowed texts.

Backgrounds: Backgrounds should not make things unreadable. Have a basic background and easy text to read w/ the background. Also there should not be words in the background because it makes it difficult to read anything in the foreground.

Menu Colors: Don't make every single option within an option different colors. Example: if one opens up a "Student Menu," every subject should be one color instead of each being different colors. This could annoy the user and it can get confusing to the user as to which subject they are in.

The Cutting Edge

Who is requesting this RFP?

   The CEO of a corporation.

Why has Chris called a meeting in the Zone?

   To create and manage a website for a corporation with Eyesite.  

How will your team prove that you are the best qualified team to take on this project?

   We will name the perfect website and describe what would be in it.  Then we would actually make the page to see if our ideas match to what the CEO wanted.

Summarize in a couple of sentences what your 1st step is to accomplish this task.

   We have to describe what the perfect website is.  The common words are "fun," "cool," "easy," and "awesome."  We will have to choose different words to describe the site rather than common words, then we will have to branch off into different categories into what works in which subject.

When describing a good website, why are the descriptive words like "cool," "easy," "fun," and "awesome" not good enough to satisfy the CEO of this company?

   These words are not acceptable because he wants the words to be backed up with quality research and examples, as "cool," "easy," "fun," and "awesome" mean different things to different people.

What does the CEO want and how will you achieve this?

   The CEO wants a quality website that is easy to use about his corporation.  

Lastly, name the individual roles and tell me who on your team is assigned to them.

   The individual roles are Information Architect, Graphics Designer, and the Content Manager.  For now, I will be the Content Manager, Erik Mertens will be the Graphic Designer, and Jonathan Dehmlow will be the Information Architect.