How the design, function and content of web pages influence the meaning and value of information free essay sample

Web sites are swiftly becoming, and in some cases are already, the preferred media choice for information search, company presentation, shopping, education, gaming, socialising, and much more. In this day and age, where visual symbols play an increasingly important role in our day to day lives, the design, content, and function of web pages, play a pivotal part in influencing the meaning and value of information. The meaning and value of information can be worked out by a few simple questions; who is the author of this information? Who is the supplier? Why is it provided/what is its purpose? Who are the intended audience? What is the source? And finally, how current and accurate is it? The last two questions are probably the most relevant when it comes to the value, as if it were a secondary, out-dated, and inaccurate source, it would not be very valuable. The terms design, function, and content must be looked at and defined to answer this question. We will write a custom essay sample on How the design, function and content of web pages influence the meaning and value of information or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Design of a web page mainly refers to how the page looks to the user and the layout of it as well. Whereas function is all about how the website works, whether it is easy or not for the user to navigate around the site or whether or not links and images work on the site. Finally, content is the text, images and other elements that make up the core of the web page. In this essay we will be looking at issues ranging from the opportunities the web provides us with to present information, to the challenges that are created when information is displayed online. In addition to this, we will also be looking at issues such as how we are able to establish the quality of our information as well as how the presentation and design of web pages influence the value of our information in particular. The web provides us with many opportunities to present our information on our web pages. It enables us to attract key audiences through the use of styling our web pages. This is apparent in websites aimed at children, which will have loud/bright colours, interesting fonts, and easy to use features. A prime example of this would be the cbeebies BBC website, here the site is; easy to navigate, bright and colourful, and even has some cartoon style fonts in use to attract their main audience of children. The web also allows us to present information in a way that enables us to communicate our goals and ideas with the general public. For example, you can use links to websites you want your users to visit. I made use of this in my personal page, where I invited users to check my racing team’s page, to create public awareness. Not only this, but the web allows us to present our information in a way that lets users disseminate between what they want to know and what they don’t. Integral search bars are a perfect example of this but also navigation tools such as putting in a category function to a website. If I had had more information to present a navigation tool would have definitely been a priority for my web pages, however, with there being a small amount of information, I felt this would not be of great use. Finally, the web provides us with the opportunity to present information around the globe. The internet is becoming more world-wide as time progresses and with this, comes the opportunity to reach out to audiences around the globe. With the introduction of browsers that can translate a whole page, language is not a large issue anymore. In addition to the web providing us with opportunities to present our information, the fact that it is on the web influences the way in which it is shared with others. A company who uses the internet, for example, rather than newspapers or local adverts to increase public awareness of themselves, will most likely come across as modern, current, innovative etc. Marc Benioff highlighted this point when he explained, â€Å"The companies that will be successful in the future recognise the need for fundamentally changing the way they engage with their customers, and are transforming themselves into social enterprises and radically altering the way they manage their businesses. † This highlights the need for companies to embrace the internet, and that the web presence of information can indeed influence the way in which it is shared in a positive way. It helps answer one of the questions posed earlier about how current the information is. There are several challenges that derive from having information online on web pages. One of which being the challenge of accessibility. This is a key challenge in having information in web pages being online. A website needs to be as accessible as possible, meaning making your website accessible for people of various backgrounds, abilities and disabilities. To do this, one must design and develop the web page so that all users have the same access to the information, as well as the functionality and features of the site. One such way I found that I was able to do this was through the use of ‘ALT’ tags. An example would be ‘alt=An image of the three OSW racing cars. ’ ‘ALT’ tags are a way in which people who may have a visual impairment are able to know what is on the web page through the use of a screen reader. Getting a website to function, and do so well, can also be a large challenge. Attracting users to your website is only half the battle. If a user arrives at your website and they are unsure of how to navigate their way through, for example, then they will probably leave as quickly as they came. One such way in which I tried to address this was by making it clear to users how to get between my pages. I put my links at the top of the page in a clear and concise way so that users will be able to navigate easily without any stress. These challenges reflect how the design, content and function influence the meaning and value of information. If a website is not accessible for everyone, then some people will obviously be unable to assess the meaning of your information. Just as if users cannot actually use the website they will not value the information. This quote from ‘usability first’ highlights this perfectly, â€Å"When users feel stupid, their blood pressure goes up, their heart rate increases, and they get a little hot under the collar. This visceral negative reaction begins to harm trust and brand perception almost immediately. † Establishing quality of information on web pages is paramount to getting users to value your information. Design, function and content of web pages can all help to establish the quality of information. Information that is presented to you in a disorganised way that is even hard to understand will be of less use to you. This is why design is so important in influencing the quality of information. Getting the design of your web page right can make information so much easier to understand and therefore, perceived as better quality by users. One such way I tried to make my information easier to understand was through separation of my subjects into clear and concise paragraphs. Function is equally as important when it comes to quality of information. As we have seen previously, if the web page is hard to use and functionality is poor then they are not going to value that information. Finally, content also plays a key part in securing the quality of information. In order to secure this quality, the content must be accurate, relevant, and whenever possible up to date. If the information isn’t accurate, relevant or up to date then users will not regard it with high quality, nor will they value the information. The value of information on web pages can be influenced by design and presentation through more than just establishing the quality. A key area within design and an issue that greatly affects how users will value your information is colour schemes. In web design colours play a critical role, they create emotion, they influence purpose and they make us react in different ways. This means that the wrong choice of colour scheme can actually harm how users value the information of web pages. This topic is of particular interest to myself, and actually poses a challenge as I have a colour blind deficiency. When I was making my style sheets I had to keep in mind the fact that colour is so important. Not only did I have to choose which colours to go with but I also had to make a decision on which style sheet I would use for each page and why. In the end I decided to use the creative style sheet for my personal page because I’d like to think of myself as creative and this gave me the opportunity to portray this. I chose orange as the dominant colour on this page for two reasons; one being that it is the colour of my racing team, and two, that it is associated with enthusiasm, ambition and creativity. Again, giving me the opportunity to get across my ideas/goals, i. e. hinting to users that I possess those traits (or that I think I possess them). The meaning and value of information is very important when it comes to making a web page. We have seen that the design, function and content of web pages all play a huge role in influencing this. For example, we have seen that the web provides us with multiple opportunities to present our information such as getting our information across to key audiences and communicating our goals and ideas with them. In addition to this, the web presence of our information helps increase the value of information through appearing to others as modern. We also looked at the many challenges that are created when having a web page and how overcoming these challenges by making your website easier to use through functionality, can indeed influence in a positive way, the meaning and value of information. Also, we assessed the importance of establishing the quality of our information and how the design, content and function of our web pages enabled us to do this. Finally, we looked at how important design and presentation, and colour schemes in particular, are in influencing the value of information. To sum it all up, the design, function and content of web pages have a broad influence on the meaning and value of information. However, in order to have a positive effect, the design, function and content of our web pages must be used correctly and efficiently.