Web Design

After content, design is the most important thing when creating a web site. Without solid content, there would be no need for a website, but without proper design, it can be difficult to use the website. We've all seen websites that were difficult to look at because of lack of space or a horrible color contrast.

Figure 1a: Reddit's /r/nosleep forum, which is a place to share original scary stories, is the first to come to mind when I think of poor color contrast. Their use of space to separate the different posts helps navigate when they choose to make their page dark to add ambiance.

Figure 1b: The forum also has a "Lights On" version (the light bulb icons on the right hand side of the screen) to make it easier to read (or less spooky). Again, their use of space helps break up the long list of posts to choose from.

Project Idea 

 

Archaeology and documents research of Grubb's farm ruins in Loudoun County, VA

I'm studying this farm for my Historic Archaeology course and would love to make a website for it.

Resources and Tools I'll be Using:

• Resources
• maps 
• deeds
• census records
• local archives and historians
• Tools
• timeline
• video/photos of site
• perhaps some type of basic photo editing/design to show overlays of the property to see how it has changed over time

Headings and subheadings are great for breaking apart different sections of a webpage. Organizing your content into easy-to-read lists is another way to aid reading and comprehension. Changing the formatting of your text is another option (italics, underline, bold).

While a blog may serve my needs to share information about the Grubb's farm ruins, I would say a tool such as Weebly may serve me better in the creation of the site.

Canva is a tool that, while it may not be helpful to me, as my project does not seem to require too much artistic design, it may help some others. Pixlr is an online photo editor that helped me with the screenshots earlier in this post.