Research Articles Base: Weblogs

Hyperlinks and Hypermedia

A FUN WAY TO USE HYPERLINK AND HYPERMEDIA         The Hyperlink is a guided reference to a website or a document that you can use to follow along a certain pages or searches of specific data or element within the given address while Hypermedia is the same links with the same function as in hyperlink but it can use various media including audio, video and graphics to provide a link. It is very easy to create a link whether it is a hyperlink or hypermedia and it is even easier to predict if a certain text or media is a hyperlink if you are using window based system try to point the mouse arrow and it will be highlighted click the links that should be clicked to follow along the pages or document that you want.       Almost all links are guided accordingly some links will be highlighted when the mouse is pointed some lines will make an action or movement including changes in forms and shapes of links, some links will buzz in sound of different kinds while some links is automatically self executed to transfer the page. There are also links that can download various files including documents, pdf file, audio and video and this has been very helpful in most industry, government and academe for they can transfers various files around the world using links from one pages to another they can actually distribute various data and media using the hyperlink.       Hyperlink and Hypermedia is almost the same in function when click but hypermedia is more entertaining, usually all videos in YouTube is a hyperlink simply clink the video and your sure to watch your favorite videos that you have search. Again this hypermedia has been very useful in promoting various products, promoting oneself and socialization function and most of all the use of such links in social networking sites are free. Social networking site provider like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter etc. is free to join they will even be the one to create a hyperlink and hypermedia to the pages that you have created ones you have join this sites you are automatically entitled to click as many links as you want and therefore you can reach a vast majority of people in using the hyperlink and hypermedia.       Almost everything that you have clicked from various website is called links whether it is a hyperlink or hypermedia. The industry have become very popular and exciting and most of all engaging in a sense that promotion and development has been very easy using the internet and other media and links has been very much credited in to this revolution of information superhighway. If you know a little bit of webpage design or internet use you can develop your own business by simply tagging, chatting and emailing that comprises mainly on hyperlinks and other media.       Google ad sense provided a click and earns opportunity for most web pages who would like to earn simply by advertising a link in their website that every links would count if clicked by the viewers. Everyone is free to advertise in the worldwide web using various free advertising website usually you must register in their website if you want to advertise, upon approval of your registration you are now allowed to create an advertisement that can be broadcast all around the world and if more people has seen you link you are more or less assured that you can gain a customer because your link is always open 24 hours a day 7 days a week.        To give you an example of website that is offering free advertisement is; www.craiglist.com , www.sulit.com.ph, you can also search for a job or business by creating a hyperlink in some website like; www.elance.com or www.freelance.com , www.myownbusiness.org and if you want media and software the best place to visit is www.freewarefiles.com or www.download.com  and if you want a hypermedia www.youtube.com and www.metacafe.com  includes all the hypermedia that you want if you want music you may  visit www.last.fm,  www.mp3raid.com or other websites. For your cell phone www.zedge.net . All this are just examples of a hyperlink and hypermedia.       Here is a fun way of building links if you are curious how to build one 1. Open up two pages of your Microsoft Word and save it in my document folder 2. Just type your name or any other text that you like no matter how long or how short it maybe on the first page and on the second page insert photo or images. 3. Now highlight all the text or the name in your first page and right click it then choose hyperlink, a new windows will appear then choose the second page that you have just saved, click ok. 4. Do the same on the second page. Don’t forget to save it. 5. Now you have created a hyperlink 6. To open the link you may need to push the control key on your keyboard before clicking and it will work just fine. You can also use other office programs like PowerPoint, Publisher and Excel to create one.       Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Hyperlinks and Hypermedia

A FUN WAY TO USE HYPERLINK AND HYPERMEDIA The Hyperlink is a guided reference to a website or a document that you can use to fol...

Website Analysis: Australian National Film and Sound Archive

Website Analysis: Australian National Film and Sound Archive   According to Darlington (1005), an effective website is one that provides value to the audience or visitors, underpinning the goals of the website and the needs of such audience. In this paper, the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) website will be assessed. A website purporting to inform, preserve, render affiliation and generate revenue, NFSA website primarily educates people about Australian screen and sound heritage through specific services such as national programs, access to collections relating to the audiovisual media and expertise in audiovisual preservation techniques. The website also provides downloadable high resolution images, information on screening loans and useful links to other organisations. NFSA website also serves as an online shop selling Australian and other international CDs, DVDs, books and giftware. Heuristically, there are specific features of NFSA website which are inappropriate.   Initially, NFSA website has presentation and color scheme problem. The website makes use of unmatched color combinations while being dull at the same time because the colors are concentrated on a specific place. As Mitchell (2005, p. 50) puts it, color choice is subjective and the combination of these colors pleases the audience aesthetically. However, the author continued that when using colors on the website, designers should choose colors that offer visitors easy access to information, one of the key pointers that NFSA website missed. Particularly, when a visitor moused over a specific section in a page, it changes its colors that did not match with the rest of the sections at all. There is no problem, however, with the font type and size, making it readable. Nevertheless, although the website makes use of font color to present informations regarding the site itself and privacy policies, such features are underemphasized because of the similar font size with the main text. Inconsistent use of font colors for the subheadings in each page is also evident.   Further, the use of images of the website is also disturbing specifically because of the unsuitability of the theme of the image to the page content and there are pages that require images such as the services and preservation pages but are proved to be lacking. The ‘what’s on’ page is overloaded whereas the ‘the collection’ is the page that necessitates a number of image as it features national and specialised collections of audiovisual materials, taking away the pleasant viewing experience. Apart from the missing graphics, another weakness of the NFSA website is the failure to optimise the use of heights and widths and keeping the images in best formats. Addison (2004, p. 82) mentioned that in making a website more effective there must be primary and secondary images to make it more appealing. Ratner (2003, p. 23) also points out that the color schemes and images used in world wide websites impacts perceptual and visual impairments. The universal usability must consider that perceptual impairments and disabilities include difficulties associated with four fundamental senses as vision, hearing, smell and touch with visual disabilities that fall along the continuum.     In terms of flexibility and efficiency of use, NFSA website is poor particularly in aspects of navigating into new windows. Nielsen (n.d.) relates that flexibility and efficiency of use handles the classification of the user as the experienced or experts to the inexperienced or beginners and even intermediate. Such dilemma is evident in the home and shop pages. In the former, there are specific shortcuts to other contents or pages, but the problem is redundancy. Two among the examples of redundancy is the search the collection icon and the site search option and the privacy policy with contents that is also on about this site section. In the latter, the informations regarding the NFSA Shop, new releases and shop catalogue are compressed in the shop page but other sections of such page pops up in new windows. One plausible feature of the shop page, however, is the feedback section although it looks misplaced because considerably it should be in the contact us section. In lieu with this, the contact us part is considerably kept in an easy to find portion of the pages. Realising the principle stipulated by Nielsen (n.d.), there is the possibility that users will be confused especially the beginners in using computer applications. Simply, NFSA is not friendly for first time users although it is clear of what information and services it aims to provide the website’s visitors.      What makes the NFSA website more difficult to navigate is the ‘too-many-clicks’ dilemma. This is apparent in the shop page which is fragmented and lacking of spontaneity. There are three features of this page – Secure Online Purchasing and Ordering Information – which requires careful thought. The rationale behind this is that contextually the pages offer overlapping informations. NFSA must realise that there are risks associated with not investing in Web usability as the quality of websites reflect on the perception of visitors regarding that website. Provided that NFSA website is basically for educating a visitor about Australian’s audiovisual heritage, unacceptable task times such as the too-many-clicks predicament or from an unacceptable rate of errors and confusion during task completion, this may result in unacceptable learning curve of the visitor (Ratner, 2003, p. 66).   NFSA website poorly positioned links that are very important. The menus of each page confuses the visitor as sections are not grouped in a proper order while there are specific sections that must not be in the menu or should be combined in order to avoid redundancy. Although menus are relatively balanced, the problem is on its hierarchical nature (Preece, 1993) wherein some of the sections should be prioritised because it contains more useful information than the other. There are also confusing text like in the New NFSA releases section, it was said that the visitor needs to check back shortly for information on new releases. However, in the shop page, a particular title of a new release was named; New NFSA releases section is under the Shop page notably. It could also be said that NFSA website conforms to non-standard layouts and bad linking system. Visitors could possibly have to go through four to five pages more before they can locate what they are looking for thereby some more links are needed in more appropriate places like what is already mentioned the contact us section. Because of the fact that the website contains poor links, another inherent problem of the website’s design is the ‘from and to’ feature. NFSA website could not track or could lose track of the sections they have already visited. The system is not showing signs or hints to the user that the page is already visited. Nielsen (n.d.) calls this error trapping or the program that detects and responds to navigational errors.   In order for a website to be effective, it should provide the quality and value to the visiting experience. NFSA website has three purposes: informative, archival, affiliation and profit-generation. However, there are specific features or programs of the website that is rather undermining the quality and value of the website itself. First is the problem of presentation and poor color choices and second, the use of images. The colors chosen does not necessarily reflect the ideals of the industry (audiovisual industry, that is) to which NFSA belongs because the website is not creative enough. This is also evident in the choice and non-existence of graphics/images, impacting perceptual and with emphasis on visual difficulties. Third, the website lacks functionality when it comes to navigation; it is not user-friendly. With connection to the third is the problem with locating needed informations. The website requires more than four clicks before landing to the desired page. This is also due to the fact that, fifth, the links are poorly positioned links.     Reference:   Addison, D 2004, Small Websites, Great Results: The Blueprint for Creating Websites that Really Work, Paraglyph Press.   Mitchell, S 2005, Create Your Own Website: Using What You Already Know, Sams Publishing.   Nielsen, J n.d., ‘How to Conduct a Heuristic Evaluation’.   Preece, J 1993, A guide to Usability: Human Factors in Computing, Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley.   Ratner, J 2003, Human Factors and Web Development, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.     Online Source:   http://www.designersmind.com/articles/the-20-most-common-mistakes-in-website-design/   http://www.itwales.com/998660.htm Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Website Analysis: Australian National Film and Sound Archive

Website Analysis: Australian National Film and Sound Archive According to Darlington (1005), an effective website is one that provide...