Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show. —Jakob Nielsen —Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 (Alertbox)
Usually Nielsen’s blurbs are more informative… the “summary” on his site reads more like a marketing tease. To give you a sense of what the page is like, I’ll have to collect the first 5 subheadings: “1. Unclear Statement of Purpopse,” “2. New URLs for Archived Content,” “3. Undated Content,” “4. Small Thumbnail Images of Big, Detailed Photos,” and “5. Overly detailed ALT Text.”
Since archived content, thumbnails and alt text (that’s the descriptive text that sometimes pops up near your mouse pointer, usually in a yellow box) are all good things, Nielsen’s observations are helpful for those who have implemented these good things in a less-than-optimal way. Observations six through nine are about information architecture, and thus not something my own students are likely to need; while the last item (warning designers about pages that link to themselves) is very relevant to my teaching of newbie web authors.
The choreographer daughter is doing a thing.
No interior yet. Getting there. Gotta start somewhere. Low-poly background detail for a medieval theater…
This is manageable. Far better than some semesters.
Creating textures for background buildings in a medieval theater simulation project. I can always improve…
Nothing in this stack is pressing, but they do include rough drafts of final papers,…
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Right, so I can just cut that section rather than re-write it for SHU students.
...Actually, I was refering to the "UWEC", being that now you are at Seton Hill...perhaps your Seton Hill students might not benefit much from knowing how to log on to an Eau Claire computer... ;-)
Yes, that article was written several years ago, at a time when it wasn't uncommon for there to be a student or two in the class who didn't know how to use the campus computer labs. When I next update that page, I'll be able to assume that students know how to log in and find MS-Word. That will make the page more useful to other audiences, as well.
haha
The first item on that list is "Logging onto a Windows machine (at UWEC)" Notice something that's...out of date? ;-)
Come on now, what's wrong with a Simpson's episode guide? Everybody has to start somewhere! One thing at a time man!
I think that guy was right when he said paragraph tags should be automatically added to comments - I'm getting real tired of writing paragraph tags. hmm. mmmm. mmmm. Donuts....
Well, in the past I've had students who want to put up things like a Simpsons episode guide, or grammar tips. If they can't articulate why the Internet needs the page they want to post, or if their site is nothing but a list of URLs, then they need to rethink their plan.
Okay, maybe that point could be expanded for the next revision! :P
But as for putting names and page numbers on their regular print essays, take a look at the MLA style handout I use.
I don't yet have a "screw head on so it won't fall off" handout, but maybe that's next! :)
I have to laugh when I compare #2 on your checklist to #8.
2. Do all your links actually work?
8. Is your content significant?
It's hilarious - do you put this on your papers to?
1. Put name in upper right corner
2. Number each page
3. Is your essay good, follow the guidelines, and is fully is interesting content?
I mean sheesh - #8 isn't exactly a checklist kind of item! ;-)