techcycle2

Tech Workshop - Cycle 2, Website Design & Development
While having excellent content is still the hallmark of a great website, there is a lot of attention on style these days. The web design trends identified in the articles below are all about websites becoming more beautiful and usable. The result of this workshop will be the launch of your very own unique website.
 * web design trends for 2009
 * top 10 web design trends for 2010

What do you need to think about to design and build a website?
These days almost anybody can build a website, but that doesn't mean anyone will want to visit it

What is the purpose of your website?
The answer to this question will help you understand what content is the most important and therefore should be the easiest to find.

Who is the target audience?
The answer to this question will help you target your content appropriately. It will also help you determine the look and feel of the site.

Next think about:
You want to ensure your content is accurate, timely and concise. There is nothing worse than going to a site where:
 * Content**
 * the content is wrong
 * the content is old
 * the content is scrolling down and down the page

You can help your users find your content by:
 * Ease of Use**
 * organizing it well
 * providing meaningful navigation
 * providing consistency throughout site

Web users expect interactivity. The web is not the place to publish your hardcopy brochure online. It is the place to take the appropriate brochure content and reorganize into a truly interactive web experience.
 * Interactivity**

Content, Images, Action!
There are lots of ways to juice up your website with images and animations, but you should keep your site goals in mind when thinking about using multimedia content.

The best use of multimedia content will:
 * reinforce the site's goals
 * tell a story
 * aid in navigation

Day 1 - Website Design Process

 * Website Development Process
 * Web Design Process
 * weebly

Day 2 - Content vs. Layout

 * The Machine is Us/ing Us (video)

- identify when content is complete - identify when content is on web - schedule & plan for usability testing - schedule & plan for functional testing . try out website on different browsers (Firefox, IE, Chrome, Safari - PC or Mac)
 * Website Plan should include:**

- 12/9/09 - 12/16/09 - 1/6/10 - 1/13/10 - 1/20/10 - 1/27/10, site launch

Day 3 - What is usability?

 * What is usability testing? (video)
 * The "Mom Test" for Website Usability (video)
 * Usability checklist
 * Website usability for children

Day 4 - How do search engines work?

 * How internet search engines work (web crawling)
 * How google works (page rank)
 * How to get better visibility on Google (video)

Day 5 - What the difference between a website, a wiki and a blog?

 * Blogs in plain English (video)
 * Wikis in plain English (video)