Thoughts
After forumulating my project proposal, I found much of this chapter of Digital History to be incredibly helpful. For example, the section on Text discusses issues such as font style and length of text. While font style seems to be such a tiny detail, there are some good insights about contrast and the use of specific styles. Additionally, this section addresses academic sites and the length of text which should be included. “Chunking” of text is an accepted strategy and it is widely believed that short passages of text are best used on educational sites. The audience has a short attention span and dislikes to read text on screen. More recently, longer text passages have become more prominent, as screen technology improves. This seems to bode well for my plan to present my site as a blog. There will be a decent amount of text but it will be easy to load, will quickly capture interest and allow for easy reading.
The section on images and multimedia also offers some small, helpful suggestions. Using a thumbnail image allows the site to load quickly, and the designer can place the images close together for comparison and contrast. Smaller images might look better in a blog post and I like the idea of using a small thumbnail as a link to another location. However, I think that a full size image showing up on the page as soon as the viewer arrives at the site has a strong impact as well. Colors and image size are great ways to help emphasize a point, but it’s also important not to get caught up in the “bells and whistles” and end up with something tacky.
As a sidenote, it is really helpful to be able to view the examples within the Digital History sections. It is something that I’ve taken for granted throughout the reading, but it really came through in this chapter. The details about color, font and text are much better understood when one can view them online as opposed to reading a book and having to imagine an example.
As another sidenote - I have never really given much thought to web standards before reading this chapter and the discussion about adhering to web standards. There are ten very convincing reasons to learn the standards, especially Number Six, which mentions providing a foundation for accessibility. The final section of our Digital History chapter discusses accessibility as well. I had never heard of Sections 508 or 504 before this reading. I would like to discuss their ramifications to the digital world more in class!