ICAWEB424A Evaluate and Select a Web Hosting Service
Last Week
Last week we discussed aspects of social networking and how we relate to it. Let us look at the class discussion in the Forum on MyKangan. (The link requires for you to be signed into MyKangan).
Some of the discussion points and evaluations:
Facebook
How interactive is the site?The site is very interactive as a user can communicate with others through many ways (e.g messaging, chat, comments, statuses, posts, sharing media) 9/10
How intuitive is the navigation? Facebook isnt very inituitive, especially for beginners new users, there isnt really much of a tutorial on how to connect with friends, upload images, posts, etc. And the navigation is a little bit hard to use. 6/10
How responsive is the site (speed)? Facebook loads very fast on a desktop/laptop but i find it tends to be slow and laggy on a smart phone and can take awhile to load/refresh. 7/10
Advertisments: are there frequent ads, pop-ups or spam? The ads are all interesting to the user and related to a user’s “likes” (which could be books, movies, games, etc). 7/10
Visuals, layout and graphics: Facebook has a boring blue and white colour scheme, although the layout may be modern and clean it isnt very appealing, its too simple and boring. The website is very text based (especially if you have a lot of “friends” that post alot of statuses, etc), but it does have some images if someone has uploaded them. 4/10
How interactive is the site? Facebook is very interactive when it comes to interacting with other users. You can engage them in different ways from chatting to posting on their ‘wall’. I find the wall feature a bit corny and there is no wall anyway, so it is just a page in a text editing software. The fact that you can communicate with others, post songs, documents, videos, photos, graphics and links is excellent. Interactivity:9/10
How intuitive is the site? Facebook is not very intuitive. When you are new to Facebook you do not quite know what to do. It is rather boring to look at and you cannot understand the navigation easily. You get better at it through experience. I would rate it: 5/10
How responsive is the site? It is pretty fast. Mostly happy: 9/10
Advertisements? I do not like ads, I hate pop-ups and that goes even more for spam. Facebook is good in regards to ads, their ads are targeted and generally of interest to me.8/10
Visuals? What visuals? It looks like a text editor! Very boring in layout, in use of images and in colours: 2/10
Federico’s verdict: 6.7/10!
Linked In
Linked In is not very interactive because the site is now dated and the only interactions are when you email someone or they contact you. The topics of interest are not very regular and there is not alot of activity on a daily basis. 6/10
The navigation is also dated and like many SNS sites it takes time to navigate around the site to get used to it. 5/10
Linked In site speed is fast and there is not a page load time problem. 8/10
Linked In doesn’t have ads although I have noticed that they are promoting ads like facebook style ads to appear in the near future. All members have the ability to advertise their own business. 3/10
The visuals and graphics of Linked In are also dated and in need of an upgrade. You cannot edit your own images to how you want them to look and the whole page layout is boring. 4/10
On Linked In you cannot search for a person unless you are logged in. This makes it good for privacy reasons although if you want to use the paid version you can see who has been searching for you which seems to contradict the privacy aspects of Linked In. 5/10
Linked In is 80% text based and 20% images. 2/10
Paul’s verdict: 33/70!
Social Web in HTML
We will look at ways to include content in a Social Networking website and how to incorporate content from your website on another site.
You can use HTML to embed sound, video, websites and other objects.
Iframe
Iframe is a command that allows you to embed a website or a video into a frame. Example for code:
ICAWEB424A Evaluate and Select a Web Hosting Service
Evaluate Social Networking Sites
Before you will be able to evaluate Social Networking (Web-)Sites (let us call them SNS to make it easier) you need to define what a SNS is.
SNS – Definition
In our first class we looked at how to define a SNS. We seemed to agree that it needed to allow you to create a profile as much as to share information with others, to upload content and to be able to leave comments. It should allow you to chat to others.
This is a pretty wide approach and I believe applies to Facebook, YouTube and any other SNS.
Let us look at some other definitions:
‘A SNS is a web-based service that allows users to share a public or private profile with common users and explore connections with others within the site.’
(Boyd & Ellison, 2007 – Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication)
This is a fairly wide and inclusive defintion that applies well to SNS.
List of SNS
Popular SNS found at SocialMediaToday.com
How many of the sites above have you come across? They were listed as 40 of the most popular SNS on SocialMediaToday. Here is a list of popular sites (source: Wikipedia)
Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Qzone
Sina Weibo
Formspring
Habbo
Vkontakte
LinkedIn
Bebo
Tagged
Orkut
Netlog
Friendster
hi5
How would you evaluate SNS? What criteria would you apply? Have a brainstorm with your colleagues (or alone) and afterwards discuss what makes a good SNS in your opinion.
Photo Montage by SGlider12 on Webdesign.org – Click image for great Gimp tutorial
Uncle Sam Wants You, WWI Propaganda Poster for US Army recruits, Design by James Montgomery Flagg, 1916, image found at: Live Auctioneers
The grass layer has been turned into a clipping mask with the shape of the rabbit below.
Fruity Design – This is great for a menu, very appetizing thumbnails – found at: WeddingPhotography.com
Pink Ribbon Day – Swiss International Style Reference – by Hwan Rochanabuddhi
The Glossy Reflection is transparent on top and gets whiter towards the bottom.
Text and Shapes – This design lends itself to an interactive use – found at: Smashing Magazine (click image for inspiring article on table of content design)
Concept for Gallery Screnshot
Experimental Photomontage by Robert Heinecken
Photomontage: Amir Ebrahim Photography
Light Streaks – Courtesy of: PhotoshopEssentials
Italian movie poster found on Abduzeedo.com
Free Transform and Ctrl – I am loving it!!!
Text-based Table of Content – Very Graphic and Black and White- found at: Smashing Magazine (click image for inspiring article on table of content design)
Luminescent Lines – Courtesy of: PSDLearning
Photo by ariadna on morgueFile
Photo by frenchbyte on morgueFile
Contemporary design in style of Construcitvism by Teo Brito found at LauraGreen92 – click image for more information and link to her blog
Source: morgueFile, Photo by matei
Work by Egon Schiele, found at Mom.org
Table of Content from Textbook – This design lends itself to an interactive use – found at: Smashing Magazine (click image for inspiring article on table of content design)
Finding the Right Candidate for a Job… – Photo AdamRiley from www.projectnoah.org
Courtesy of The Art of Mass Effect Universe’, 2012
Based on a photo by delboysafa from morgueFile.com
Custom Shapes and Custom Shape Icon
Courtesy of The Art of Mass Effect Universe’, 2012
Mosaic of Sofia Coppola – by Maurizio Galimberti – www.mauriziogalimberti.it
Grassy Rabbits
Illustration by Tavis Coburn found on DzineBlog.com
Layers in Photoshop are like a Collage of images stuck on top of each other…
Illustration by Kate Miller, found on DzineBlog.com
Photo by matthewbridges on morgueFile.com
Geese in Ameland, Photo by Frans Schouwenburg
Vista Lighting Effect – Courtesy of: Tutorial9
The Face by drfranken found on ChromoArt.de
Found at Inc.com
Photo by dharder on morgueFiles.com
Outlined text changed in size and colours dropped into the individual letters with Eyedropper tool using LMB + Alt
Setting the grid up.
Photo by clarita on www.morguefile.com
Study – Lines and Grace Kelly – by Federico Viola photo: courtesy of GettingCheeky.com and curved lines wallpaper: courtesy of FreeFever.com
Michael Pointing in GTA V – Courtesy of Rockstar
Colours, Numbers and Boxes – very happy and alive, personally I do not like the distortion of the word content – found at: Flickr
Your Lipstick Needs You, an entertaining take by Digital Media Artist Samantha Cain. Courtesy of: Samantha Cain, http://www.behance.net/samanthacain
Photo by clarita on morgueFile
Study – Lines and Grace Kelly – by Federico Viola photo: courtesy of GettingCheeky.com and curved lines wallpaper: courtesy of FreeFever.com
Examples of Output and Display for web-content. Image: live.surveyshack.com
Image source: Data Center Knowledge
Work by Justin Anderson
Some of us have there most enjoyable moments in nature at the beach, Photo by rivediamoci on morgueFiles
ruthworkx -http://ruthworkx.files.wordpress.com
From ‘Henri’s Walk to Paris’ 1962 – children’s book by Saul Bass Found at: Brainpickings.org
Illustration: Tavis Coburn – Illustration for for an article predicting trends in Apple’s mobile strategy. Found on: TavisCoburn.com
I Want You – Emily Strange, The lovable Emily Strange came to life in 1991, designed by Nathan Carrico for Santa Cruz Skateboards. She is referred to as a counterculture icon. I would just call her a sceptic. Image found at: Kollectable Kaos
Screenshot of Endless Alphabet 2, courtesy of AppsPlayground.com
Photo by agathabrown on morgueFile
Multimedia Production Cycle – This image is under the Creative Common Agreement, you can use it but will need to reference this site: www.classoffederico.wordpress.com
Based on photo by hotblack from morgueFile.com
Photo by hotblack on morgueFile.com
Milk Poster – Swiss International Style Reference – by Annabel Stephen Salip
Illustrator unknown – found at: Ephemera – World of Rare Books
This is a template for a business website found at TemplateMonster. It is interesting in the sense that it breaks up the main image as part of the navigation. The sound it comes with is annoying.
Image Source: www.photoshopessentials.com
Illustration by Gary Neill found on Dzineblog.com – http://garyneill.com/ http://garyneill.tumblr.com/
Illustration: Jamie McKelvie – Art Brut Record
Photo by Seemann on morgueFile.com
Based on image by hotblack on morgueFile.com – F.Viola
Swiss travel poster from 1934 by Herbert Matter – Source: http://swisstype.wordpress.com/work/
From ‘Henri’s Walk to Paris’ 1962 – children’s book by Saul Bass Found at: Brainpickings.org
Screenshot – 82 Everyone is a Marketer by Seth Godin from What’s Your Story by Joyce Hostyn
Illustration by Jessie Ford, found on DzineBlog.com
Photo by mconnors on morgueFile
‘For Great Road Trips: Switzerland’ Poster by Herbert Matter in (Swiss) International Style – Source: http://swisstype.wordpress.com/work/
“Step into my office” Source: The Age, click image for link
Lines and Gradients- Courtesy of: psdtuts+
A Beautiful Piece by Aerosol found on his Facebook
Image from morgueFile by lemai13
What Time is it Now? by King_Bobbles
Based on photo by xandert found on morgueFile
Photo by DTL on morgueFiles
He loves OHS! – Photo by Karpati Gabor on morgueFile
Only practice will help you learn! Photo by BreonWarwick on morgueFile
The concept was used on the German side as well with this ‘Auch du sollst beitreten zur Reichswehr’ [You too should join the German Army], design by Julius Engelhard, Image: courtesy of mental_floss
Text and Shapes – This design lends itself to an interactive use – found at: Klafferty.com
The calming effect of horizontal lines, image: courtesy of flickr.com, Photographer: jaikdean
The gentle curve of the river and the light green tones of the grass give this image a calming feel. The montains and the clouds have a less calming effect. Image: courtesy of Icon Photography School – http://www.photographyicon.com/line/
Typographic with Colours and Photos – The use of large numbers is effective and the low opacity of the boxes works, personally, I find it looks a bit dated- found at: JuxtaPost.com
Illustration: Jamie McKelvie – Suburban Glamour Comic Series
Peace- Swiss International Style Reference – by Maryam Chananeh
Vertical lines of a dark fence, image courtesy of p.ic – Photo Internet Collection – www.photoic.wordpress.com, photographer: Federico Viola
Massive Attack – The Essential Mix
Illustration by Jessie Ford, found on DzineBlog.com
Using the Reflect tool (o) to reflect the i downwards as if it has collapsed in front.
Couple found at http://frenchbydesign.blogspot.com.au
Screenshot from What’s Your Story by Joyce Hostyn
Photo by mcconnors on morgueFile
Britons, Lord Kitchener Wants You! Propaganda poster design from WWI by Alfred Leere. Image: courtesy of WorldWarEra.com
Based on photo by dhester from morgueFile.com
Good Morning! Photo: wallyir, from: morgueFile.com
![The concept was used on the German side as well with this 'Auch du sollst beitreten zur Reichswehr' [You too should join the German Army], design by Julius Engelhard, Image: courtesy of mental_floss](https://classoffederico.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/world-war-propaganda_auch-du-sollst-beitreten.jpg?w=384&h=491 "world war propaganda_Auch du sollst beitreten")
RAE - Research and Exploration 