I decided that since I am now an avid blogger I decided that I would compare blogs that I discovered on the web. I determined what aspects of the blog would act as effective, and what aspects wouldn’t.
I found this blog online: http://www.samnangsim.com/blog/
This blog is incredibly easy to read and follow. There is a wonderfully colorful graphic at the top, and there is no other bright color on the rest of the page. This makes the blog fun, but not to bright or overwhelming. The blog is also designed so that the beginning and end of each individual blog post is light blue, as the rest of the posts are white. This makes it very easy to see the individual posts; they don’t run together. There is also white space between each post, as well as the date it was written. This blog is very effective because any visitor could read it without any trouble. The site has no clutter and is very organized.
I also found this blog online: http://mcornwell.typepad.com/
This blog isn’t terrible. It has no horrible color schemes or flashing lights. The reason I don’t particularly like this blog is because it is too busy for me to understand! I think the format is actually pretty simple, but there is so much content! I am overwhelmed when I look at the page. It might be because I’m not used to the sidebars and other links to different sites. The sides of the blog seemed to be organized under larger categories but it is just difficult for me to follow. Maybe I will get better at this as I become more used to reading blogs, especially blogs of notable people or places, which might have more content like this blog.
I think an activity to help students learn about effective design is using PowerPoint in Microsoft Office. I think the students are pretty familiar with this program, but what they aren’t familiar with is using links that you can click on within a PowerPoint slide that will take you directly to a different slide. With students designing their PowerPoint’s in this way they will see how the design not only affects how much information the viewer gets out of it, but it also affects how entertaining and easy to read it is.
Here's my Presentation!
http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AezJTi3Z4PHzZGZ0OXJtMl82enpxdzUzZGI&hl=en
Megan, great examples of good and not-so-good blog layouts. I liked that each of the posts in the first blog were clearly sectioned off from the other posts, leading to less confusion about where blogs begin and end.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great work on your interactive powerpoint. You stop and ask your viewer to do certain things step-by-step, which keeps people active and involved in the presentation. Also, I really liked that you included a youtube video at the end. It was a full visual/audio presentation for people who learn better that way.