Elements of Webpage Design

Exploring the elements of design in website development, I chose to examine one of my favorite websites, rockcreek.com.

Rock Creek Outfitters caters to the outdoor enthusiast; offering a variety of outdoor clothing for men and women, recreational gear and accessories.

The site’s most important content is located at the top of its home webpage and the bottom of its home webpage. The site’s header includes the Rock Creek logo at the topmost left and then across the page lists the most essential aspects of a customer’s shopping experience: My Cart, My Account, Wish List, Shipping, Customer Service, and Track My Order. Below this includes the site’s search bar, its telephone number, and its acclaimed free shipping on orders totaling over $49. The footer of Rock Creek includes the site’s legalities and contact information, such as its return policy and mission statement. Each of these remains constant and does not change as the website modifies its seasonal offerings and sales, thus these are the site’s “given”.

In addition to the site’s topmost header and bottommost footer, the webpage employs the use of sub-headers, (Announcements, Events, Features, and News), in the heart of its homepage, keeping the site precisely organized. The simplicity of the site is what often makes Rock Creek a pleasurable shopping experience.

Utilizing the “given-new”, the “new” being the site’s variables, Rock Creek’s “new” can be found below the header and sub-headers, or by clicking on each of the “given.” Coupons and web exclusives are often found beneath the header, which are ever changing, as are the site’s featured products and awards.

The site’s development has made a great use in incorporating the “tree” model. The “tree” model easily breaks down the categories of each header and sub-header, and most notably the site’s “shop,” found on the right of the site’s homepage. The consumer is able to easily choose what product they would like to peruse simply by clicking on the various “branch” of the “shop” tree. The expansion of each branch allows the consumer to then further narrow down what they wish to possibly purchase through the greater “branches” of gender, size, popularity and price.

The “given-new” and the “tree” model are chiefly the main element of design used, however quite obviously the “table” model is used efficiently in conveying the measurements of the size chart, which aids in selecting the perfect fit unique to the consumer. In a way, the size chart is often another form of the given, as most sizes of tops and bottoms are universal in their dimensions/measurements.

http://www.rockcreek.com

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3 Mediums

Forget “To be or not to be,” “To Blog, PowerPoint, or Write” that is the new question. From the classroom, home, and office, more and more people have begun to explore the possibilities of the newest mediums of expression. So of the three, (blogs, PowerPoint, and the essay), which do I value most? –Actually, I would have to say that each holds its own niche; primarily after an author has established exactly what he/she is looking to best obtain, will an author choose one of three for use; each medium’s use is dependent on its nature of presentation, organization and formality.

The essay holds the trophy for being the most revered form of text and formality (essays are scholarly). The essay clearly captures the subject matter with its much defined structure: intro, thesis, body, and conclusion. For simple organization and its concise nature, I like the essay best. However, it can often times be boring, and if written poorly can become hard for any reader to keep focus on the essence the author failed to convey. But also, any author can attest that they know firsthand that essays can be boring and can be tedious for their readers if their writing becomes unclear, so thus essays are almost always edited at some point.

PowerPoint, is a great tool for the both the classroom and the board room. However, they have received a bad reputation in my personal book of likes. Why? … PowerPoints have seemingly become the sole tool, used by teachers and students alike, to convey information; and more times than not, the information conveyed becomes lost in an overexploitation of colors, whizzing/whirly things, and a chaotic compilation of noises. Personally the best PowerPoints are simple ones; with few animations, sparse text and more graphs/pictures than anything. Less is more … and PowerPoint is at its best as a uncomplicated visual aid. Utilizing PowerPoint as a substitution of one’s own thoughts, such as pasting up an entire pulling of quotes from a book or as a crutch of notes to read off, has made PowerPoints receive a bad rap too … especially in college where everyone is typically expected to have read the textbook. Personally, I have learned that the best way for me to best grasp the key elements of any topic/subject, is when I must be fully engaged with my ears and pen, and write my own notes. I confess, the convenience of simply printing out key slides from PowerPoint presentations has made me a lazier student.

Blogging, the newest source of text is often times my least favorite way of communicating/receiving text as I have a hard time finding reputable sources of information in many blogs. For me, blogs seem to be all hearsay, gossip, and personal gripes --not cold-hard facts, and few ever seem to be edited for an overall consensus of content, structure or censorship. Mix in even sillier uses of animation; many blogs look like something Jackson Pollock might have created while under the influence. The ability for anyone to write their opinions down and the informal nature of the blog are the only practicalities of the blog I find desirable –the mobility of a blog and its shorthand text can be fun and worthwhile when quickly reviewing something say like the Grammys or the latest scoop (just as long as it’s reputable, or from a source I have determined to hold an interesting/humorous viewpoint).