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Writing Assignment 3
February 22, 2001 UWM students who are seeking information on a specific faculty member or course can access UWM faculty Web sites. Faculty Web pages usually contain information on a faculty member and the courses that they teach. The pages usually consist of biographical data, contact methods, course descriptions, assignments, and notes, and links to Web sources related to the faculty member or the courses that they teach. All the information contained on a Web page should be in a format that provides ease of use and efficiency when students are trying to access information. This report will evaluate the home pages of three instructors by examining their usefulness and effectiveness when accessing instructor and course information. The three home pages belong to Jin Zhang, Gerald Alred, and William Haseman. These faculty members are all from different departments and they each instruct a few courses. This report will examine the content and page design of each faculty member's home page in an attempt to explain what constitutes a good home page. For the purpose of this report all of the home pages were viewed in Internet Explorer 5.1. Jin Zhang's home page http://www.slis.uwm.edu/Zhang/jin.html Jin Zhang, an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies, provides a home page for students or anyone who is looking for information about him or the courses he teaches. The home page consists of two frames; at the top of the left frame a counter appears along with the text, "Zhang's Web page." The left frame also contains a table with eight links used to navigate through the Web site. The links are titled, "Introduction," "Education," "Working Experiences," "Courses," "Research Activities," "Publications," "Honors and Grants," and "Some Web Sites". Below the table is a small welcome animation. The right frame consists of Jin Zhang's name in flashy yellow text above a black and white photograph of the professor with identification and contact information listed below. Jin identifies himself as an Assistant Professor at UWM and includes his postal address, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. At the very bottom of the right frame is a graphic of a mailbox and mouse that serves as a link to contact the professor through electronic mail. The frame design used for Jin's home page allows for easy navigation, since the main links will always be displayed on the left and when the links are clicked on a new page opens up in the right frame that pertains to the link that was clicked. However, frames are not the preferred method of design because they increase download time. The identification and contact information is in the center of the right frame along with the photograph and flashy text. Everything inside the left frame also has a center alignment. The table inside the left frame is yellow and the background inside the frame is a textured tan. A patterned background inside the right frame is green with reddish brown blotches that resemble tree branches containing leaves. The variety of backgrounds and colors is not pleasing to the eye and they distract from the content of the page. Gerald Alred's home page http://www.uwm.edu/~alred/ Gerald Alred, professor of English, has a home page that presents the information contained on the page in a straightforward format. Four main links are in the middle of the screen when the home page downloads. The links read as follows: "Contact Information," "Course Material," "Program Links," and "Resource Sites." Under "Contact Information" are Professor Alred's postal address, office address and hours, and phone and fax numbers. The current courses Professor Alred is teaching are on display under "Course Material" with folder icons next to each of them that link to the syllabus for each course. Links to programs in the English department at UWM are under "Program Links." The last link, "Resources Sites," has more links to UWM information along with offbeat links like the Internet Movie Database. The design of this page is very conducive to efficiency and quick use. Each main link jumps down to a section within the home page and an arrow is provided in each section to allow a user to jump back to the top of the page to view the main links again. This design makes scrolling unnecessary as users can just click the arrows and links. The majority of information on the page is left justified making for efficient reading. Very few graphics are on the page, which makes the download time quick. The only graphics are the gray, and gold and black horizontal rules (lines) separating each section and the small squares on the bottom of the page giving the page a subtle but sleek look. Also, on the bottom of the page is the last day the page was updated. The date reads February 11, 2001, which shows Professor Alred maintains his page on a regular basis. Dave Haseman's home page http://www.sba.uwm.edu/haseman_d/ William (Dave) Haseman, professor in the School of Business Administration, provides a home page that contains quite a bit of biographical information. In addition, he provides links to classes and programs he is involved with. When Professor Haseman's home page appears his photograph is on display next to his contact information (postal address, phone number, and e-mail address). On the other side of his picture, to the left, is a column of nine rectangles, which serve as links. A welcome statement, the professor's teaching and research interests, and personal information are also included on the home page. The information on the home page is organized nicely but the scrolling involved to view all the information is not efficient. To view the nine links one must scroll down, as they all don't fit within a single screen. The font size used on the page is also quite large making the page longer than needed. Colors used on the page, brown and tan, are subtle so the focus is on the content of the page rather than the design. Conclusion The three home pages presented in this report all contained useful information. Two of the pages have a design that presents their information well and the other page has an outstanding overall design. Gerald Alred's home page is the most effective in presenting the information contained on his page. The use of the arrows and links on the single page allows users to quickly jump from section to section when seeking information. A single page also lessens the time spent on a Web site, as users won't have to click from one page to another in a site looking for information, as it is all contained on the single page. Another contributing factor to the time users will spend on Alred's home page is the time it takes for the page to download. The page only contains a few graphics so the download time is very quick and users won't have to wait long for information to appear on the screen. The overall format on Gerald Alred's home page is something to keep in mind when designing a Web page. Users will appreciate the organized format so they can easily find what they need and will be glad to visit again. |