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last.updated 5.31.05

 

Web Site

Purpose

Web sites, as we know, are currently used for multiple commercial, personal, and professional purposes. However, the best and most usable web sites are those focused on a specific purpose and consider the target audience. In the context, of this class, the development of a web site can be used to demonstrate a culmination of the principles that we have discussed throughout the semester. For this project, you will be asked to demonstrate a basic knowledge of web authoring by develop a web site for a specific purpose and audience.


Epistemological Process

To begin this project you have to choose the purpose of your web site. You are strongly encouraged to develop a web site that serve a purpose other than just fulfilling this assignment. Some suggestions include:

  • developing a personal web site that can be used to market yourself to potential employers
  • developing an informational web site about a particular topic (e.g., resource page, clearinghouse)
  • working with a client; this can be a club, organization, small business, office on campus. If you choose this option, remember, you are working with the client and will need to negotiate with this person throughout the process

If you are having problems making this decision, consult the instructor.

Once you have determined the web sites purpose, you will also want to learn about the web site's target audience. Make sure you keep them in mind as you compose the site. Note that you will have to justify these decisions in your portfolio.

Genre Analysis

To understand the audiences' expectations for the web site that you are developing, you will want to look at similar sites and analyze the generic features of these texts. Therefore you will need to seek out three examples of the target genre (type of web site) and use these sample to describe the rhetorical parameters of the genre.

Use the following questions to prompt a 300-500 word description of the genre. Do not just answer the questions, write a cohesive text.

Target genre

  • What three specific sample sites are you looking at?
  • Why do you think that this type of site will be most effective for your target audience?
  • What textual features are consistent across all of these samples?
    • Also consider doing some research to learn what others say about this type of document. Be thorough here. You are creating a check list for yourself.
  • What features that only appear in one of the samples do you find effective, especially for your purpose? Why?
  • What features do you see that you want to do, but currently do not know how to?

Submit Genre Analysis to the instructor in the body of an email by the beginning of class on October 31, 2005.

Audience Analysis

To compose an effective web site , you will want to appeal to the target audience. However, your site may also be visited by other audiences and you will want to be persuasive or informative to these audiences as well.

Use the following questions to prompt a 300-500 word description of your audiences. Do not just answer the questions, write a cohesive text.

Target audience

  • Who is this document intended for? Why?
  • What is your relationship to this audience?
  • What does this audience value? believe? what is the audiences' educational level? expertise? what discourse communities does the audience belong to? How do you know this? You may have to do some research to answer this question and support your response. Also do not feel that you have to address all of these questions, but try to answer most of them.
  • What types of appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) do you think will be most effective with audience? Why?
  • What type of access do you think your audience has to the web? Use demographic research to address this question.
  • Using your answers to the questions above, what advise would you give to a person composing a web page to this audience? What should they do? What should they not do?

Secondary or unintended audiences  

  • Who are some of the secondary audiences? What unintended audience should you anticipate? Briefly compare them to the primary audiences?

Submit Audience Analysis to the instructor in the body of an email by the beginning of class on November 7, 2005.

Usability Test

Web authors use usability testing to understand how their target audience responds to various versions of their site–sometimes while they are developing the site, sometimes when they are considering a site overhaul. By asking the representatives of the target audience to do a speak aloud protocol while s/he navigates the site (as a typical user), the web author can learn how individuals use the site–what they like or dislike, what they expect, what they do.

For the web site that you develop, you will conduct usability test on a beta version with two representatives of the site's target audience. In a report, you will...

  • include both tests with the results
  • write of summary of your conclusions that
    • explains the results of your test
    • explains why they are significant
    • explains what you will do to respond to these results

Submit Usability Test results to the instructor as an email attachment named "<last name>UT.doc" by the beginning of class on November 28, 2005.

 

The instructor will not grade any of these three submissions, but will make comments on them. Nonsubmission of these homeworks will result in a deduction of 10 point per homework; late submission will result in the of five points per homework. You will be expected to consider these comments when you compose the portfolio.


Writing Instructions

Using what you have learned from the genre and audience analysis, develop a beta version of your web site. This beta version should

  • link to at least three pages in the site
  • these three pages should help the site be usable (focus on the most important pages)
  • preview what other pages will be added to the site (include the links, even if they are broken)

Once you have a complete beta version, conduct the usability test. Using the information that learn from the usability test, make appropriate revisions to your web site.

The final web site should be a negotiation between...

  • the site's purpose
  • the target audience's needs (as per your genre, audience, and usability research)
  • design principles

Submit the URL for Web Site in the body of an by the beginning of class on December 5, 2005.

Criteria

In addition to the general evaluation criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...

  • a site that soundly negotiates between the site's purpose, the target audience, and web design principles
  • a site that is workable
  • an ability to stimulate interest
  • appropriate use of conventions

last.updated 08.21.05