Internet Web Pages
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Transcript Internet Web Pages
Chapter 17
Websites and
Online Environments
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Websites & the Problem
-Solving Approach
Plan by considering audience
Research the problem to determine
the information
Draft and design the site to
communicate effectively
Review and edit the website after
soliciting feedback
Distribute by publishing online
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Basic Differences Between
Print and Web
Size and dimension
Navigational features
Visual components
Multimedia
Accessing speed
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Intranet Web Pages
Serve a smaller, more easily defined audience
Are usually not designed to sell products
Are often information-heavy and graphically
light
Often rely on a standard format
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Internet Web Pages
Often contain more introductory or contextual
information about your company
Are more likely to contain “splash” pages to
introduce the site or company
Are more likely to use design variations and
textual elements to create reader interest
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Internet Web Pages
May contain a greater number of textual
elements, visuals, and multimedia
Are more likely to include branding or marketing
information to identify the company to potential
customers
Are more likely to provide clear navigational
features, since readers can be more diverse
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Web Terminology
Web page: a document that is made available through
the internet (or intranet)
Web browser: a program that reads web pages
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): a website’s unique
address
Home page: the main page users see when they access
a website
Hypertext: any text that is linked
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Web Terminology
Link: a connection from one web page to another
Interface: the intersection between an individual
system and the larger network
Navigation: the way in which a reader is directed
to move through various web pages
Search Engine: an application that locates and
lists web pages containing information relevant to
the reader’s search parameters
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Web Terminology
Site Architecture: the structure of an entire site
Site Map: a web page that describes the
architecture of the entire Web site
Server space: the physical space where web page
information is housed
Cookies: software that stores visitor information
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
HTML
Is the basic “language” for web page writing
Stands for “Hypertext Markup Language”
Uses codes called “tags” presented in <brackets>
Provides structural, presentational, and
hypertextual codes that tell a browser how to
display a web page
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Basic Website Tags
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
XHTML
Stands for “Extensible Hypertext Markup Language”
Is rapidly becoming the standard for web pages
Is “extensible,” meaning that users can expand or
add to its capabilities
Uses stricter syntactical codes than HTML
Leads to fewer errors in presentation
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Tables and Frames
Tables:
Place text and visuals on specific portions of a page,
like in rows and columns
More accurately control how a page is presented
Frames:
Display information from separate data sources
Are rarely used due to difficulties with search engines
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
CSS
Stands for “Cascading Style Sheets”
Provides a given style throughout a web site
Allows writers to keep style files separate from
HTML files to improve speed, accessibility,
customization, and maintenance
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Web Authoring Programs
Are designed to assist web page construction
without the need to know HTML and CSS
Are usually as simple to use as word processors
Often used to create extensive or complex web
sites that would take too long to code
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Javascript
Can be inserted into HTML documents to create
“dynamic content” in a website
Can also be used to “react” to events, such as
loading an image after a specific amount of time
Is sometimes used to detect or save information
about the readers of a web site
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
CGI
Is an acronym for “Common Gateway Interface”
Are programs executed in real-time, so that they
can transmit and receive dynamic information
Can allow designers to create shopping carts,
page counters, guestbooks, order and complaint
forms, and response sheets
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
CMS
Are “Content Management Systems”
Are programs that allow for collaborative writing
of web pages
Are used to create virtual meeting spaces, image
galleries, blogs, and podcasts
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Plugins
Are small computer programs that interact with
a web browser
Allow the browser to display certain types of
documents, show interactive images, play music,
or play video
Add multimedia functionality to web pages
Are generally free and can be easily downloaded
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Standard Web Page
Components
Continuity and branding
Navigation
Splash pages and homepages
Nodes and subpages
Search Optimization and Metatags
FAQs and Sitemaps
Color
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Continuity and Branding
For commercial sites in particular, be conscious
of continuity in the design and the importance of
establishing the brand
Make sure the flow through a site is
uninterrupted
Use repetition of key elements for branding
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Navigation
Make navigational cues informative and clear
Use a consistent navigation bar
Design tabs to show navigation options
Consider a search field for large or complex sites
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Splash Pages & Homepages
Splash Pages
Create interest and reinforce branding by
demonstrating creativity here
Offer options to navigate directly to the homepage
Homepages
Offer an overview of the site and its offerings
Make the design clean, navigable, and substantive
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Nodes & Subpages
Nodes
Think of them as “mini-homepages” that introduce
readers to specific topics
Maintain a consistent design among them
Subpages
Offer the more specific, detailed information here
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Search Optimization
and FAQs
Search Optimization and Metatags
Optimize by registering with search engines and
ensuring clean code
Use metatags, like keywords, to help search engines
find and catalog the site
FAQs and Sitemaps
Anticipate questions and group them if necessary
Offer a visual diagram to aid navigation if your site is
extensive
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Color
Use RGB (hexadecimal) color codes
Make choices that emphasize continuity and
readability
Use color choices to highlight hyperlinks
Consider accessibility issues
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Organizing a Website
Non-sequential organization emphasizes multiple
connections among topics or ideas.
Hierarchical organization groups pages by levels and
sublevels, resembling a pyramid.
Network organization interconnects all of the pages for
maximum flexibility.
Begin by sketching, using a large sheet of paper, a
chalkboard, or a whiteboard.
Consider the structure that best expresses the web site’s
main idea.
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Websites and Usability
Address navigation: make sure users know
where they are in a site and how to get around
Address content: make it clear and consistent
throughout, without overloading the page
Address visuals: make sure they pertain to the
content and do not overwhelm the users
Address other aspects, like branding
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.
Website Ethics
Ensure accessibility for those with disabilities
Present a fair company image
Provide accurate information to the public
Dobrin / Weisser / Keller: Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century.
© 2010 Pearson Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ, 07458. All Rights Reserved.