You are now ready to test, publish, and promote your own website. You will apply what you have learned about self-testing, target audience testing, online and traditional promotion techniques, and ongoing website maintenance and evaluation.
Create three teams of students according to the type of website they designed: personal, organizational/topical, or commercial. Within each team, each member should present his or her website to the team for evaluation, explaining how he or she developed and implemented his or her website plan. Each team then chooses the top two websites in their group according to overall design and the degree to which each website achieves its stated goals and purpose. Next, have the entire class evaluate the top two websites from each team and select the one website whose design and implementation best fits its stated goals and purpose.
Join with two other students to create a team. Assume the team is charged with the responsibility of identifying free or low-cost online promotional techniques for a new informational website whose audience will be parents with young children interested in finding information on online educational programs and apps. Create a presentation for the website’s owner that summarizes at least three online techniques the team recommends. Give reasons for your recommendations.
Use a search engine to identify at least three affiliate programs. List the services and costs for each program. If possible, find user reviews of each program. Explain how you might use the program to market an e-commerce website
Use an employment search engine such as monster.com to locate SEO jobs in your area. Choose three jobs to compare. List the skills and requirements needed for each job. What qualifications might you need to be considered for the positions? Compare the duties listed. Based on your research, create a job description related to SEO that you feel would be of value to a small business such as the Fit4U website. List the education and work experience you would find valuable, as well as the tasks required of this position.
Search the Internet for articles that deal with security issues surrounding rich media ads and other online ads. Find recommendations for your browser settings. Check the settings in your browser. Summarize what you have learned about security concerns and recommendations. List the steps you took, if any, to protect yourself.
Web marketers use a variety of advertising techniques, some of which enable the web marketer to identify website visitors’ actions and then analyze these actions to develop the web metrics or analytics necessary to evaluate website performance. Some of these data-gathering techniques might be considered an invasion of privacy by website visitors. Research the ways in which web analytics data is gathered and analysed. Create a presentation for your class that describes data-gathering and analysis methods and related privacy concerns. Discuss the effect of data gathering from two perspectives: as a website visitor and as a website owner.
Research companies that offer web analytic services. Choose three to research further. Compare the companies to determine what services they each offer and the costs of those services, and obtain client reviews. What type of reporting do they offer? As a web designer, would you find this type of reporting helpful?
As a website designer, you can use in-app advertising to monetize, or earn money to support your website. Research costs, methods, and effectiveness of in-app advertising. Find services that help you create messages and reach your target audience. How do these companies match user profiles with a company’s products or goals? How would you use this approach as a website designer?
in the Case Study assignments in the previous five chapters, you have created your website plan, generated the text content for your webpages, and created or gathered and optimized the images for your website.
Join with another student to evaluate avatar-creation websites.
a. Locate two reputable avatar creation websites.
b. Describe terms of use and costs for using the services.
c. Describe the steps needed to create an avatar.
d. If possible, create an avatar of your own.
Browse the web and locate three websites that effectively include links to video, audio, or images from YouTube or other original sources.
a. Describe the animated or multimedia element and explain how the element is used by a visitor.
b. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of including this type of content on your website.
c. Which of the three websites does the best job of incorporating animation and multimedia?
d. What might you change about how any of the websites link to external animation or multimedia sources?
Describe the differences between streaming, downloadable, and pseudo streaming media. List the advantages and disadvantages of each. Use a search engine to find websites, forums, or blogs where web professionals discuss which method is best. Describe any experience you have with watching or listening to media on the web, and what type of delivery was used. If possible, discuss your experiences with accessing media on different device types with varying bandwidths and screen sizes.
As you have learned, analytics report on website usage data, including views, sharing, and more. Find at least two articles discussing what a web designer or website manager needs to track using analytic tools. Research CMS platforms’ analytic capabilities. Are any CMS platforms more robust than others? If so, how? Describe, as a web designer, what tools you would use to provide your client or company with website analytics, what data you would track, and how you would measure the website’s success.
Research the types of widgets website designers can add to their website. Find two sources for reputable, safe gadgets or widgets. List the concerns website designers and website visitors have with making website content accessible to users of all devices and platforms, and address any restrictions or guidelines for including widgets. Discuss the advantages of including this type of content on a website.
Find two blogs or articles that discuss micro-interactions. List types of micro interactions. Have you encountered these? Describe how web designers use micro interactions to increase UX. What negatives or limitations, if any, are mentioned about micro-interactions? Choose one type of micro-interaction to research further. What technologies might you need to implement it? Describe how, as a web designer, you would use this on a website.
In this Case Study assignment, you begin to create, gather, and prepare some of the content that you have determined in your website plan will help achieve your website’s goals and objectives. First, you need to review guidelines and principles presented in this chapter and previous chapters. Specific sections for review are detailed in the assignment.
Join with another student to create or describe a vector image you would add to an existing website of your choice, such as a personal website you have created, or your school’s website. If available, use image-editing software to create a vector image that you could use on the website. If you do not have access to image-editing tools, sketch an image by hand. Discuss the website for which you would use the image, and explain how your image’s colours, lines, and size meet the needs and support the goals of your website.
Use a search engine to find a list of fonts and font stacks considered to be web safe. Join with another student to research how to use CSS to create font stacks. Include discussion about techniques, tools, and commonly used font stacks. Explore the use of generic fonts. Explain why or why not you might use embedded fonts in your website. Discuss why including similar backup and generic fonts can meet the website’s design goals, and why it is important to include them in your website.
Use a search engine to identify sources of images in the public domain. Create a list of public domain image sources, including the website name, URL, type of images, and required credit information, if any. List factors you should consider when using public domain images. Explain how an image becomes part of the public domain.
Create a table or other comparison tool in which you list three types of photo storage websites or services. Use a search engine to include the following information about each.
a. For which devices or platforms is the photo storage website available?
b. Is the photo website owned or under the control of any company or organization? If so, are there any restrictions upon its use? Is there a storage fee?
c. Find reviews about the photo storage website. Would you use the service? Why or why not?
d. What features does the photo storage website offer? How might you use the service as a web designer?