Designing for the Web
Supporting learning communities with ICT
Lecture 4
16th October 2013
A little history…
Earliest memories?
The Internet is not the Web
Switching on the Web
Moodle
Hand coding
Old school… (and new)
HTML by hand
<html>
<head>
<title>My first web page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is my first web page</h1>
<p>Hello World!</p>
</body>
</html>
Authoring HTML
Using thimble, and
creating the HTML by
hand,
write a brief introduction to
your Course topic for
pupils.
More tags…
<em>
<strong>
<a href=“…”>
<img src=“…” />
<table><tr><td>
<br /> <hr />
<object …> and <embed …>
WYSIWYG HTML Editor
Learning HTML
O2 Learn / Decoded
Codecademy
W3Schools
Shay Howe’s Guide
HTML 5
<canvas>
<video>
<audio>
<article>, <footer>, <header>, <nav>,
<progress>, <section>, <summary>, <time>
Thinking about design
For real people, and for children…
Effective web design
Don’t make users think
Don’t squander users’
patience
Make use of effective writing
Strive for simplicity
Don’t be afraid of white
space
Conventions are our friends
Test early, test often
A selection from Friedman, 2008
Design principles
Content is king
Intuitive navigation
The pages belong to the site
Layout
Golden ratio
Rule of thirds
Symmetry
Balance
Design Principles
Unity
Proximity
Repetition
Colour and style
Emphasis
Placement
Isolation
Contrast
Form follows function
Anatomy of a webpage
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/principles-beautiful-web-design/2
Conventions
Separate content and
presentation
Functional formatting
Links, images and media
Typography
Layout
Navigation
Home, About us, Contact us
Web 2.0
Further ideas
Use of a base colour
Fonts (don’t use comic sans)
Hierarchy
Proportion
Limit choice
Occam’s razor
Standards
Platforms and
browsers
W3C
Accessibility
Intellectual property
Privacy
In education?
Audience
Readability
Engagement
Interactivity
Dumbing down?
Pedagogy
Investigation
Play
Social
constructivist
Behaviourism
E-Safety
Over to you

Designing for the Web