Course Materials: CourseQuest 3
Renovation, Maintenance, and Rejuvenation:
Creating a Vital Website
Link rot, old news, and stagnant content are just a few of the hazards of web development. Like caring for a home, the only way to keep a website vital is through ongoing evaluation and updating.
| Task | Process | Product | Evaluation | Conclusion |
Task
Your mission is to develop an action plan for sustaining and/or expanding your website. Post your plan as a page on the web.
Then, develop one new area of your website that includes advanced level coding/programming, content, or applications. Post your new web content.
Process
The Information Architecture process contains four steps: research, strategy, design, and implementation. This CourseQuest focuses on the fourth step, implementation.
Read the Implementation area of the Information Architecture section of the website.
Read Classroom Use : Project Development, Project Management
Step 1: Management
A good information architect knows the importance of quality management strategies.
Read Management : Policies, Promotion, Staff Involvement
Step 2: Maintenance
Building your website is just the beginning of the web development process. Ongoing maintenance is a critical componment of an effective website. Create a plan for ongoing website maintenance.
Read Maintenance : Ongoing Maintenance, Error Detection
Read Enhancement
Read Castro Chapter 26.
Step 3: Evaluation
Evaluation is something that must be done throughout the web development and maintenance process. Create a plan for ongoing website evaluation.
Read Evaluation : Issues, Validation, Types
Read Usability : Testing, User Characteristics, User Technology, User Experience, Resources
Hutmate Discussion 6 - Issues Focus
This semester you've explored a wide range of issues and topics related to information architecture. Focus on one of these areas in-depth. I've provided some questions to stimulate interest, but you do not need to answer these questions directly.
Select a topic of interest from the list below. Begin by locating and citing AT LEAST 3 online or print articles not already used in class. These should be related to the same general issue or topic. Summarize your findings. Then, pick a particular point for discussion. End with a couple questions that might be used for discussion.
Choose from the following areas:
Content Issues. Questions to stimulate your interest - What types of needs assessment are most effective? What are the attributes of content objects in particular types of projects? How do museums, libraries, and other organizations organize complex content? Are top-bottom or bottom-top approaches more effective? What are examples of essential, special, dynamic, interactive, and duplicate content elements?
Standards and Open Source Issues. Questions to stimulate your interest - What's the current status of XHTML? What technical standards are most important? How do I access and make use of open source materials? What's meta-data and why is it so important?
Management Issues. Questions to stimulate your interest - What are issues regarding linking to outside resources? What about deep-linking? What policies should be put in place for website management? How can mistakes be avoided? How can I password protect areas of my website? How do I keep my website updated?
Evaluation and Usability Tests. Questions to stimulate your interest - How do novices and advanced users react differently to websites? What approaches do people use in navigating websites? What about children versus adults? Do regional and cultural differences exist in web use? What are different types of evaluation such as heuristic?
Four areas are available for posting your Discussion assignment on Oncourse. Post your assignment in ONE area.
Be sure to reply to a posting made by another student. Share a reply in ANY area. Your reply should contain substance and an example, NOT just "cool site" or "I agree". You will receive up to 3 points for the Discussion activity: 2 points (2=excellent; 1=adequate) for your posting and 1 point for a quality reply.
Step 4: Technical Enhancements
There are many advanced web development tools you might want to incorporate as you expand your website.
Go to the Enhancement area section of the course website.
Read Overview.
Read Utilities : Search Engines, Web Tools
Read Chapter 16: Tools and Software in Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 3rd edition by Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld.
Read the Javascript area of the Enhancement section of the course website. Also read the following areas: Introduction, Transparent Javascripts with Dreamweaver, Basics, External Scripts, Repurposing Code, Cool Scripts, Resources.
Read Chapter 19: Scripts and Chapter 20: A Taste of JavaScript by Elizabeth Castro in HTML, XHTML, & CSS, Sixth Edition.
Read the Social, Collaborative, and Interactive Technologies area of the Enhancement section of the course website. Also read the following areas: Blogs, Forms, Management Systems and Forums, Polls and Surveys, Social Networking, Syndication and RSS Feeds, Wiki.
Read Chapter 25: Syndication and Podcasting and Chapter 17: Forms by Elizabeth Castro in HTML, XHTML, & CSS, Sixth Editio
Read the Multimedia Technologies area of the Enhancement section of the course website. Also read the following areas: Animated Gifs, Audio and Podcasting, Images, Documents, Flash, Presentations, Slide Shows, Video and Videocasting
Read the Server-Side Technology area of the Enhancement section of the course website. Also read the following area: ASP, CGI, PHP, Cold Fusion.
Read XML.
Read Share Your Site.
Read Chapter 24: Getting People to Visit by Elizabeth Castro in HTML, XHTML, & CSS, Sixth Edition
Skills Building Activity 3 - Scripting and Usability (5 Points)
Complete the Skill Builder exercise below. Upload the file(s) to your web space. Create a link on your personal page. This Skill Builder exercise is worth 5 points.
Create a simple web page based on one of your favorite books or authors. You may hand-code or use Dreamweaver. You can use either internal or external CSS. Consider trying some contrasting colors in fonts or backgrounds to add visual interest without being distracting. Include at least three visuals. For example, you might copy book covers from Amazon.
Technical Requirements (3 Points)
Requirement 1. Use a javascript to serve a particular function. For example, you might add a Javascript footer that shows the current date or a rollover menu with graphics.
Requirement 2. Create a simple form. For example, you could have users vote for their favorite book from a list. Then, the information could be sent to you through email. It must function properly.
Requirement 3. Incorporate a widget (i.e., current weather widget, LibraryThing widget), embedded YouTube video, or other cool mini-application into your page. It must be embedded, so it can be viewed from your page.
People come to this course with a wide range of experiences. This is an opportunity for beginners to have success and advanced users to build new skills. Those people coming to the course with advanced skills, may choose more advanced activities such as the use of PHP, ASP, or Cold Fusion rather than the suggestion technical requirements above. Another idea is to incorporate an RSS feed into your page. Please email your instructor to have your idea approved if it varies from the requirements above.
Suggestion: You do not need to write all the code from memory. Feel free to copy chunks of coding that you think might be useful. If you copy from a commercial site, they may request that you include a comment in the code citing your source. Keep in mind when you copy, your code can become messy. Make sure to clean it up when you're done!
Usability Requirements (1.5 Points)
Test your page on different computer platforms and operating systems (i.e., Mac (System 9, OSX) and Windows (2000, XP).
Test your page on both Internet Explorer and one other browser (i.e., Netscape, Safari).
Test your page on two different sized monitors at different screen display resolutions (i.e., 600x800, 1024x768) and color depths (Change the screen resolution and color depths in the Control Panel on Windows and in the Screen Preferences on Macs)
Note each platform used, browser version used, displays used, and any differences you see in the different situations. View your page at 3 different display sizes and color depths. Notice any differences in functionality.
Write a brief overview of the technical components you used for this project and the results from your usability tests.
Validation Discussion Requirements (.5 Point)
Validate your XHTML with a validator. Note the validator at the bottom of your page. It's very possible you won't be able to valid all scripts. If so, simply include a note to me indicating your validation problems. You'll find that as you integrate more advanced applications they often cause problems with validation. The feature may or may not be worth the validation issues. Include this issue in your forum discussion.
Post a message in Oncourse SBA3 area when you're ready to have your activity graded. Be sure to include your URL. Also, provide a list of your required elements and the discussion of usability and validation. No replies are required, however you'll want to check out the techniques your classmates used. These ideas might be useful in Project 3.
Step 5: Content Enhancements
It's time to reflect on the value of the web. A primary value comes from the interesting, relevant, and authentic information that can be shared. Rather than just rewriting existing information, the web provides the opportunity to share unique types of information and can encourage collaboration and communication. It's time to go back and re-examine the sections of the course that focused on website content. Consider how you might expand your website with original content.
Hutmate Discussion 7 - Content Analysis
Examine the information architecture of a content-rich website. Rather the focusing on the surface level technical aspects, examine the architecture of the information. For example, look at the organization of the information (i.e., file structure, data placement, data access), navigation, and content selection and presentation. You can decide how you'd like to present this information.
You also need to make AT LEAST TWO references to articles you've read in the course.
Do not just pick a school or library website. We've already analyzed "organization websites". Your selection should focus on a "collection of information" within a website. For example, you might choose a historical photograph collection at a museum, a lesson plan collection at a school, an online database of insects, or a recipe collection. You're free to select an information-rich website in any field.
Rather than posting in separate areas, we'll share all of our projects in one forum in the Discussion assignment area on Oncourse.
Be sure to reply to a posting made by another student. Your reply should contain substance and an example, NOT just "cool site" or "I agree". You will receive up to 3 points for the Discussion activity: 2 points (2=excellent; 1=adequate) for your posting and 1 point for a quality reply.
It's time to work on your final product. It has three components:
First, apply what you've learned to the development of an action plan for your website including management, maintenance, and evaluation components.
Second, build a new, content-rich component into your website.
Third, apply at least two advanced technical techniques to a revision on your website. For example, you might incorporate Javascript, forms, audio or video elements, or other advanced techniques.
Keep in mind that your content and technical aspects should make substantial contributions to your website.
Review the Content area discussed in the Information Architecture section.
Quiz 3
When you've read all the assigned readings, it's time to review what you learned and take a quiz.
Go to Oncourse, select CourseQuest 3 Quiz.
Your Quiz is worth 5 points.
Product
Your project has two parts: The Action Plan and the Website Expansion. It also has two components: Technical and Content. The project is worth 15 points.
Part 1: Action Plan
Create an action plan for renovating, maintaining, and rejuvenating your website. Be sure to include management, maintenance, and evaluation components. Discuss specific examples of areas of your website that should be monitored, regularly updated, expanded, or enhanced.
Also, discuss any revisions that you made based on peer evaluations. Be specific.
Your action plan should be at least 2000 words. It should be posted on the web.
Part 2: Advanced Applications - Website Expansion
Your action plan should also discuss ways that the website will be expanded over time. This plan should discuss the technical and content components that were chosen and describe how they were integrated into the website. Your expansions should be discussed in depth and fully developed using advanced web applications such as JavaScript, forms, audio/video, Flash, interactive elements, widgets, or other cool features. Consider Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis, forums, and other interactive elements. Also consider the use of audio and video. Link to your "expansion pages" within your action plan report.
You must have both Technical and Content Components.
Technical Component
You must include AT LEAST TWO advanced web development applications in your expansion project. These may include advanced features such as JavaScript, XTHML, audio/video, Flash, interactive elements, widgets, or other cool features. Students who already have a range of skills may choose a more advanced area such as PHP, ASP, or Cold Fusion. If you are unsure about your choices, check with the instructor.
Novice web developers may choose more simple applications than those with more expert skills. Your project should CHALLENGE your personal skills. Don't try to compare your project with your classmate. Instead, be true to the needs of your audience and content.
You are free to use built-in tools within Dreamweaver or hand-code. You may also copy scripts and ideas from web sharing sites to accomplish your goals.
You may also link to outside vendors or free sources. For example, you might link to a blog you set up or a poll you've built in a survey website. However, you may only link to an outside source for ONE of your two technical requirements.
Content Component
The content component includes content BEYOND that used in the technical component area. in other words, you can't count your technical elements as content elements.
Your content expansion should include interesting, original material such as writings, oral histories, student artwork, photographs, stories, original audio, or other elements. Although you might wish to add more items or resources later, it should have enough content to be usable. For example, you might have interviews with 5 past city council members posted with the idea that more would be added later. Or, although the local park contains 30 species of tree, you may only include information and photographs of 7 species.
Although the content should be "original" you're free to make use of friends, peers, or students. For example, you might post the skits written by your class or the photographs taken by your grandfather.
A few ideas are provided below. However you're free to develop your own idea. Keep in mind that this component should add SUBSTANTIAL content to your website.
- Virtual exploration environment - art exhibit (i.e., quilts, paintings, crafts), scrapbook, museum, field trip
- Interactive learning environment - review, practice, tutorial, test, game, simulation
- Sharing forum - book and movie reviews, interactive events calendar, poetry contest
When your project is ready, post the URL in the Hutmate Discussion 8: Project 3 Peer Feedback forum.
Evaluation
The following criteria will be used to evaluate your project. The project is worth 15 points.
Action Plan Components
- Management component (1 Point)
- Maintenance component (1 Point)
- Evaluation component (1 Point)
- Your plan should include the following elements (2 Points):
Action Plan has a clear, distinct statement of purpose
Action Plan contains a brief summary of current website status
Action Plan identifies people and resources to facilitate implementation
Action Plan has goals that stress ongoing website enhancements
Action Plan is feasible given support
Action Plan provides a timeline of clearly defined steps and activities
Advanced Web Development: Technical Elements
- Explanation of Technical Component (1 Point)
- Technology Component 1 (2 Points)
- feature functions without error
- effective use of technology
- contributes to the needs of audience & content
- feature functions without error
- Technology Component 2 (2 Points)
- feature functions without error
- effective use of technology
- contributes to the needs of audience & content
- feature functions without error
Advanced Web Development: Content Element
- Explanation of Content Component (1 Point)
- Content Component (4 Points)
- contributes to the needs of audience & content
- effective use of web - quality organization & presentation
- quality information navigation & access
- significant additional content
- contributes to the needs of audience & content
Conclusion
Some old buildings are falling apart, while others are valuable historical resources. The difference is the care that takes place to preserve and maintain them. The same is true of websites.
Remember, it's always easier to maintain a website than start from scratch. A little regular maintenance can rejuvenate your website!
Hutmate Discussion 8 - Project 3 Peer Feedback
Explore the projects submitted by your peers. Although no points are associated with this assignment, it is suggested that you provide feedback if you have ideas that might be helpful.
You're done!
| Task | Process | Product | Evaluation | Conclusion |