Материал: English_for_IT_I-II_years

7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement

Selective attention is very powerful, and Web users have learned to stop paying attention to any ads that get in the way of their goal-driven navigation. Therefore, it is best to avoid any designs that look like advertisements.

8. Violating Design Conventions

The more users' expectations prove right, the more they will feel in control of the system and the more they will like it. And the more the system breaks users' expectations, the more they will feel insecure. This means that they form their expectations for your site based on what's commonly done on most other site. If you deviate, your site will be harder to use and users will leave.

9. Opening New Browser Windows

Opening up new browser windows is like a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer's carpet. Don't pollute my screen with any more windows, thanks. Users often don't notice that a new window has opened, especially if they are using a small monitor where the windows are maximized to fill up the screen. Users hate unwarranted pop-up windows. When they want the destination to appear in a new page, they can use their browser's "open in new window" command.

10. Not Answering Users' Questions

Users are highly goal-driven on the Web. They visit sites because there's something they want to accomplish. Sometimes the answer is simply not there. Other times the specifics are buried under a thick layer of marketese and bland slogans. Since users don't have time to read everything, such hidden info might almost as well not be there.

11. Discourse markers: softening and correcting

I think; I feel; I reckon (informal); I guess (American); in my view/opinion (formal); apparently; so to speak; more or less; sort of (informal); kind of (informal); well; really; that is to say; at least; I'm afraid; I suppose; or rather; actually; I mean

I think/feel/reckon/guess and in my view I opinion are used to make opinion and statements sound less dogmatic - they suggest that the speaker is just giving a personal opinion, with which other people may disagree.

Home Page Hints

It's your 'cyberhome', but remember that websites are different from books or magazines. Think about these suggestions to make people want to stay.

1. Use a navigation bar to organise your hyperlinks to other pages.

2. Hyperlinks also let visitors navigate up or down long pages.

3. Keep your use of colour and buttons consistent. If a Next Pade button is a pink circle, all Next Page buttons should be the same, and in the same place on the screen.

4. If you use a lot of animations, your Web page will take a long time to download.

5. If you use a lot of graphics, animations and text your Web page will be too busy.

6. It's difficult to read a text that's next to an animation.

7. Keep texts short and simple! Surfers don't like reading on a computer screen much.

8. It's not easy to read multi-coloured text.

9. Lots of bright colours look nice at first, but often give people headaches!

10. Make sure you use a spell check and use good grammar.

11. Try not to use too much slang. People who visit your site may not understand.

12. Don't be afraid to be original. Good websites have something that is different about them and that comes from you!

Task 7. Discuss the following questions.

1. How would you design your personal website?

2. What graphics, images and colours would you use?

3. What would you say in your text?

4. How many pages would you have?

5. What would you call the links on your navigation bar to show the different pages?

Task 8. Match the words and phrases in the text with the definitions (1-7).

1. connections to a Web page or part of a Web page___________________________________

2. make or produce_______________________________________________________

3. plan or build a Web page________________________________________________

4. a group of organized Web links, usually in a line ______________________

5. does not change, always the same_________________________________________

6. the type of software that helps create Web pages_____________________________

7. new, not done before____________________________________________________

Task 9. Complete the sentences (1-8) with the words in the box.

busy consistent generate home pages structure

surfers upload Web-authoring

1. That Web page is much too _________________. I don’t know what to look at.

2. An FTP server is a computer that lets you ______________ files to the Internet.

3. The buttons on this page are not ____________ with the button on the last page.

4. Net never like reading a lot of text on the screen.

5. ____________ software means you don't have to learn HTML to make a Web page.

6. Many students have their own _______________________on the World Wide Web.

7. HTML creates the ___________________ for Web pages to run on a browser.

8. Web-authoring programs __________________HTML tags for you.

Task 10. Do you know how to design a website? What do people or companies need websites for?Read the interview and do make up the list of hints on web site advancing.

Interview: Website Designer

Part 1

• interviewer: What kind of people want websites and why do they want websites?

• saladin: People who feel they have to be on the Web because competitors are on the Web. They feel that not having a website is a sign of being behind the limes.

• interviewer: Other people have got a website and therefore they have to have one, too?

• saladin: Yes. The better reason is people who have information they would normally provide free – like brochures, application forms. anything that would normally be sent out by mail.

• interviewer: So it saves fax, postage ...

• saladin: Printing costs. I think it's particularly useful for colleges and universities.

• interviewer: Why is that?

• saladin: Because they tend to have a large amount of information to distribute.

• interviewer: If a client comes to you and asks you for a webpage, how do you set about designing a page for a client?

• saladin: The first thing I would ask for is all their printed promotional material. I would look at all that material and then discuss with the client how much of it to put on the Web. The most important thing is to decide who the audience for this website is, who it is aimed at.

• interviewer: Is there a danger of putting too much on?

• saladin: There's certainly a danger of putting too much on. Also, the client has to make a clear decision about how much time or money they're going to spend to keep the pages updated.

• interviewer: Aha, so it's not enough simply to have a page, you need regular maintenance of that page.

• saladin: Right, so these are the first two questions - who is it aimed at and how often will it be updated?

Part 2

• saladin: Once we've decided what materials should be put on, there are a couple of basic principles to follow. One is that there should never be any dead ends; you should never reach a page which has no...

• interviewer: Ah, which doesn't go anywhere?

• saladin: ... Which has no links to take you back to somewhere else. So that's one principle. And the other principle is to try to limit the number of steps that have to be taken from the main home page to any other page. I would normally aim for a maximum of four steps.

• interviewer: Do people give up if there are more than two or three links, they simply give up. Is that a problem?

• saladin: Some people will give up. Others will just never find the information, there are too many diversions. Another principle is not to have too many links to scroll through on one page. If you have a page which has 150 links and you have to keep scrolling through them, people will give up... they'll never find the links at the bottom.

• interviewer: What about graphics, sound and animations, and all these multimedia features? What's your feeling about these?

• saladin: Always ask why is it there? That's the first thing. And if it's there simply because it makes the page look nicer, think quite carefully about whether to put it there or not. The more of that sort of thing you have, the more time it will take to download the pages. Another factor to bear in mind is that there are still a lot of users with less sophisticated browsers than Netscape or Microsoft Explorer, and if you make the use of the page dependent on graphics and so on. You exclude these users. interviewer: So no dead-ends, no more than four steps from home, and pictures have to serve a serious purpose.

Part 3

• saladin: Another aspect of designing pages is to break the information into

relatively small sections.

• interviewer: Is that just because of the size of the screen, what you can see at onetime?

• saladin: It's partly that, but it's also to do with download time and printing. People can find they're printing forty pages of a document, most of which they don't want.

• interviewer: Is it a big temptation to add links to similar organizations? Is there strength in that, or is there a danger in that?

• saladin: In most cases it's a big strength. Browsers who come across your page, if they discover that your page is a very good gateway to all sorts of interesting sites, will bookmark your page because they know it's a good way to get to all the other sites. If they're coming back to it, they're exposed to your message every time. One final point: it is useful to have on the front page something brief which catches the reader, which says 'this is who we are'.

Task 11. What makes a good website? Discuss these questions.

1. Name two kinds of people who want websites.

2. Why is a website good for people with a lot of information to distribute?

3. What sort of clients is a website particularly useful for?

4. What does Saladin ask for first from client?

5. What important point must be decided?

6. What must the client make a clear decision about?

Task 12. Read Part 2 of the interview and complete the five design principles mentioned.

1. There should never be…

2. A maximum of…

3. Don't have on one page…

4. Don't use multimedia simply to make…

5. Remember there are still a lot of users with…

Task 13. Read Part 3 of the interview. Decide which of these statements Saladin would agree with.

1. Information on websites should be divided into small sections.

1. Long sections can be a problem for users who want to print from a website.

2. It's a bad idea to have a lot of links to other sites.

3. You want users to bookmark your site as a way to get to other sites.

5 Your website should start with a brief piece of information to attract the reader.

Task 14. a) Put these pieces of advice about website design into two sets: A (things to do) and В (things not to do).

1. Include graphics only to make it look nice.

1. Divide information into small sections.

2. Have pages with dead-ends.

3. Have a lot of links to other sites.

4. Have a lot of links on one page.

6 Start with a brief piece of information to attract the reader.

7 Forget about readers with less sophisticated browsers.

b) Give advice about website design using has/have to, must, and mustn't.

A: things to do

1. Divide information into small sections.

1. Have a lot of links to other sites.

2. Start with a brief piece of information to attract the reader.

4 Update your page regularly.

B: things not to do

1. Have a lot of links on one page.

1. Include graphics only to make it look nice.

2. Forget about readers with less sophisticated browsers.

4 Have pages with dead-ends

LANGUAGE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Exercise 1. Translate the sentences paying attention to the information below.

1. The latter problem has started to get special attention. 2. What happens when a boxer gets knocked out in the ring? 3. To get the best out of any language, some knowledge of simulation techniques is essential. 4. As people get older they grow more set in their ways and do not welcome any innovation. 5. You cannot get blood out of a stone. 6. You cannot expect to get anything without working for it. 7. He got his proposals accepted. 8. The point of equilibrium however is tremendously influenced by the temperature. 9.The results were affected by the presence of impurities. 10. This phenomenon has been dealt with by several researchers. 11. In ethers and similar solvents the frequency was unaffected. 12. No difficulties were met at all. 13. The reaction was followed by measuring temperature. 14. The experiment will be followed by testing the end product. 15. This usage is not followed in carbohydrate chemistry. 16. Hamilton's discovery was quickly followed by other new algebras. 17. No amount of selected examples, however convincing, can be relied upon. 18. What is watched or waited for seems too long in coming. 19. As far as other compounds of this series are concerned they will be dealt with in another chapter. 20. While such special cases are rather easily dealt with the general problem is considerably more difficult. 21. The changes in water content will be accompanied by alterations in salt concentrations, and the latter are also affected by the ionic concentrations of the food ingested. 22. This problem can be approached from several points of view. 23. The congress was referred to as a most representative forum in this field.

Exercise 2. Each sentence has a mistake. Find it and correct it.

1. The ability of tiny computing devices to control complex operations have transformed the way many tasks are performed.

2. I have upgrade my computer by plugging in expansion cards.

3. I used my new printer for printing the computer output on paper since October.

4. Various communication services becomes available on the Internet recently.

5. A multimedia computer has been installed in the office to process different forms of data a year ago.

6. She uses Word and goes into clipart to make cards for her friends when she was a child.

Exercise 3. Translate the sentences paying attention to infinitive constructions.