This week we were assigned to read the following articles, “Creating Reader-Centered Websites”, written by Paul V. Anderson and, “Composing Multimodal Texts through Use of Images, Audio, and Video” written by Richard Beach, et.al. Both articles addressed different aspects of website design and layout. While I am familiar with some of the information presented to me in these articles, it was still refreshing to learn new concepts that advanced my knowledge of the technical aspects of website organization and design. While both articles focused on website formats as a whole, the aforementioned article, “Creating Reader-Centered Websites” written by Paul V. Andreson, brought my attention to my own digital portfolio and ways in which I could improve it. The article mentioned both visual and organizational tips that could increase my aesthetic appearance and create a more effective way of maneuvering through my digital portfolio. “In addition to helping readers see which elements on a page are related, the design should also signal the hierarchy among the elements. By contrasting the appearance of two items or sets of items, you can make the more prominent set appear higher in the page’s hierarchy.” (Anderson, Paul) This quote reminded me of how important and effective certain visual cues like boldness, size, and font can make a phrase seem. These cues draw the audience towards them allowing easy access to the subject that the public or audience might be the most interested in. Aside from the hierarchy concepts established in this article, sections regarding a website's appearance is also covered. When describing the overall appearance of a website, the three concepts were presented: order, harmony, and proportion.(Anderson, Paul) All of these terms are important in regards to a website's design, however the section on harmony caught my interest. “To achieve harmony, focus on the colors you use. Avoid colors that clash. Some word processing programs help you do this by providing palettes of harmonious colors. In some versions of Microsoft Word, choose Theme from the Format menu. Scroll through the Color Scheme option possibilities.”( Anderson, Paul) It was intriguing to learn about the “harmony” of website design and how color can play a major role in how it is perceived by an audience. I was aware of the basics of color, but it was still interesting to learn how color cooperated in “harmony” with the design of a website. Aside from the article pertaining to the visual aesthetics, and organization aspects of a website, the article, “Composing Multimodal Texts through Use of Images, Audio, and Video” written by Richard Beach, et.al. explains the different uses of multimedia forms. It was interesting to learn about this and how copyright affects the types of media people are allowed to use freely. Both of these articles explained in great depth the structure of websites and how the audience can view and operate them.

 

Works Cited:

 

Paul V. Anderson, “Creating Reader-Centered Websites.” (PDF in Canvas)

Richard Beach et.al “Composing Multimodal Texts through Use of Images, Audio, and  Video” from Understanding and Creating Digital Texts.(Canvas)