Disoriented Stumbling
In the chapter “Designing for the History Web“, Cohen and Rosenzweig describe a websurfer’s actions as “disoriented stumbling rather than rational, linear touring.” Because of this aptitude for jumping and skipping via hyperlinks, web designers should carefully construct their sites to be as naviagation-friendly as possible. Cohen and Rosenzweig do a nice job of trying to outline some general points, but they don’t seem to have any real standards. In fact, they imply that with such a new entity as the internet, supposed gurus and their design standards are full of bunk. Yet the other reading on ten reasons to use web standards revolves around the assumption of standards and their importance. Are there any agreed upon standards? Do you have your own standards that you impose on websites you view?
Regardless of whether there are or are not set standards, people can definitely see the difference between mediocre websites and really good websites. The example that Rosenzweig and Cohen of a website that puts it all together is the Mesoamerican ballgame website. I think that this website is awesome, and if one has a moment, it is worth investigating. I can only envision the programming and planning that went into the website. One thing that did linger with me as a question, however, was whether people found the use of flash a deterrent? I have it installed on my computer, and the site used its abilities wonderfully, but if you were visiting the site and did not have it, would you spend the time to install it? Has flash become enough of a standard to incorporate it into a site without worry?
The combination of the Tufte article, the list of 10 reasons supporting web standards, and the Design chapter combine to form an interesting interpretation of how and why to construct a website. Hopefully my chimera-like synthesis of the ideas will yield a well-designed and clearly presented site. I am very open to any thoughts or suggestions people have about the design of my project.