Envisioning Your Web Presence

2.0 Envisioning Your Web Presence

1.0 Welcome!	2.1.0 Your Web Site, Unplugged 2.1.1 Comparison of other media 2.1.2 The Hypertext Medium 2.2.0 Articulating Your Message 2.2.1 Purpose 2.2.2 Mapping a Structure 2.2.3 Multimedia Options 2.2.4 Style and 2.2.5 Mechanics
3.0 Shaping the Pieces
4.0 Finishing Touches
Index of Terms and Resources
Feedback

Top Next >>>

2.1 Your Web Site, Unplugged

That's right, this part requires nothing but good old-fashioned gray matter, and maybe a notepad. HTML, in its ease and simplicity, can tempt us to skip the planning stage and quickly crank out an impossible-to-navigate virtual maze. To make a page--or several--that will be easy to travel, and easy to maintain, expand, or embellish, you'll want to decide how best to present your message to your audience. Start by reviewing how the World Wide Web and its features differ from other media:

<<< Previous Next >>>

2.1.1 Comparison of Artistic and Communications Media
Medium Capabilities and Limitations

Speed Permanence and Direction Tone Cost Collaboration Interaction

delivery feedback access production

Print and Photography slow delayed fairly permanent
and iterable derives only from 2D text and image variable possible delayed

Live performance immediate fleeting and irreversible full range variable possible immediate

Broadcast immediate delayed fleeting, but iterable on tape limited to audio and/or 2D video, and "community standards" variable expensive difficult delayed

Film very slow delayed fleeting, but iterable on tape limited by 2D format and aesthetic standards of studios variable expensive difficult delayed

2.1.1 **Comparison of Artistic and Communications Media**
Medium	Capabilities and Limitations
Speed	Permanence and Direction	Tone	Cost	Collaboration	Interaction
delivery	feedback	access	production
Print and Photography	slow	delayed	fairly permanent and iterable	derives only from 2D text and image	variable	possible	delayed
Live performance	immediate	fleeting and irreversible	full range	variable	possible	immediate
Broadcast	immediate	delayed	fleeting, but iterable on tape	limited to audio and/or 2D video, and "community standards"	variable	expensive	difficult	delayed
Film	very slow	delayed	fleeting, but iterable on tape	limited by 2D format and aesthetic standards of studios	variable	expensive	difficult	delayed

<<< Previous Next >>>

2.1.2 The Hypertext Medium

The World Wide Web

The WWW conveys information reliably and quickly.

How often will you need to update the content of your site?
Because of the non-directional flow of information on the web, and because eyes get tired reading computer screens, it's easy to get lost and distracted.
What about your site will be most memorable and useful? Why will people add you to their browser's bookmark list and keep coming back? How will you help them efficiently navigate through the sea of information?
The web is widely accessible, but not everyone has the same knowledge, software, hardware, and speed of access.
How does your site accommodate the technological abilities and limitations of your various audiences?
Because the web has unlimited "space" and few territorial boundaries, people on the web cooperate more often and easily.
Whose work dovetails with yours? What sorts of alliances would you like to create?
Many types of visual and audio media are available to add color and tone to your website.
Which elements of your website would be enhanced by tables, lists, links, graphics, sounds, or cartoons?
The web offers instantaneous feedback.
What would you like to know from or about your audience(s)? Would your visitors appreciate a search function or downloads of your files?
The web is still subject to copyright law, but its First Amendment protection, as the EFF Blue Ribbon page notes, is still in flux.
What are you doing to protect yourself and others on the web from unnecessary intervention by larger powers?

<<< Previous Top Home Next >>>

http://www.transaction.net/web/tutor/tutor2a.html
zisk@well.com