Website Conventions

Website Conventions

Your task is to conduct research on the conventions of web pages to support Martin’s Design lessons. You will be asked to identify the codes and conventions of website interactivity.

1.       Go to a news website such as BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk) or The Guardian (www.theguardian.com/uk)

Describe the layout of your chosen website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

The website layout of the BBC is plain and simple with a white background, quite boring, with lots of information crammed in and not many pictures. It has simple colours red white and black. It has the lastest news scrolling along the top.

2.       Why do you think this format was chosen?

I think the format was chosen as most of the news webpages are laid out in the same way.

3.       What would the user expect a hyperlink to look like? Screen print an example:

Hyperlinks are usually in blue text and is anything you can click on that will direct you to a different page within the website. They are usually headlines from the news with a small picture next to it, to connote the headline.

These are hyperlinks.

4.       What feedback does a user expect when they mouse-over a link (text or image)? Why do they look this way? Screen print an example:

When you hover over any text or an image the feedback you are expected to see is for the images to appear darker and the text to be the main focus. The cursor will change to a little hand to interact with the website. More text appears to give the user a little insight to what the article could be about. The URL address to the website that the page is from appears in the bottom left hand side of the page.

This is the website before there is any user interaction.

This is the website after user interaction.

5.       List four websites that would fulfil each Uses and Gratifications category:   

Personal identity- Facebook allows users to post online about their personal lives.

Entertainment- YouTube allows viewers to look up entertaining videos and vblogs.

Escapism- Avatar websites allows users to create their own avatar that could represent themselves but also allows them to escape from the pressures of life into a fantasy world game.

Information- BBC news website allows users to look at all the recent news headlines.

Social-Twitter allows users to post ‘Tweets’ to their friends and followers

6.       How do each of these websites differ visually?

All of the websites differ visually as they are all intended for different purposes and genres. The avatar websites feature lots of pictures and bright colours and lots of interactive features, it appears friendly to the users.

Facebook and twitter are both visually similar with pictures that suggest the sites to be social and for networking purposes, although facebook features other hyperlinks on its page that directs you to other pages and forums.