Task One - Researching the web.

For my first assignment for my web design modual i was asked to look at and compare a number of static web sites to see if i could identify the common conventions of a web site. but i also wanted to include some more unusual and creative designs inorder to gain inspiration for future assignments.

I started off by look at a rather basic website just to identify the conventions.

The first website i looked at was http://disparue.org/gallery/. This is an online gallery for screen captures from popular television shows. This design is very simple. It consists of a title at the top to show what the website contains and who designed it. There are two links below that to allow the user to navigate around the site. The content is displayed very basically down the left hand side and a simple table has been used to display photographs and information.

I choose to look at online galleries because the website I was given to design for a later task is for a tattooist who will be using the website to display photographs of their work, so I thought I would get a head start by exploring this genre for my research task.

I then moved on to looking at a slightly more complex website. This too is an online gallery for screen caps called screencap paradise - http://www.screencap-paradise.com/.

This website includes the common conventions such as a title, a body of text, headings, and a navigation bar. It also includes a banner to set the mood of the web site and to give the viewer a sense of what to expect from the website. Here a photograph of a tropical beach it used to convey the idea of paradise. Also a table has been used to display the contense of this website. It looks like three columns have been used with the main body of text and images in the centre, a smaller column for additional links for navigation down the left hand column and a column down the left hand side for other information such as terms and conditions of use.  

I then looked at http://www.fractured-simplicity.net/  which is another online gallery for displaying work. Although this website appears to be a lot more complex than the on above, it is in fact a much simpler design consisting for just one basic table with the nav bar along the top.

However I think that it is the fact that this web site is more colourful and the use of graphics that make this web site look more complex than it actually is.  

I then moved on to looking at more unusual and creative designs. 

http://missm.paperlilies.com/ is a good example of how graphics can make a very simple web site look quite complex. This home page contains very basic information and just a few links for navigation which are beautifully worked into the design.

The graphics also reflect the personality of what can be found on this website as it is a gallery for hand made Photoshop brushes. The graphics too look delicate and hand made automatically giving the viewer a sense of the content of this web site.

The last website I looked at was http://www.deadly-nightshade.com/. I really like the creatively unconventional layout of this website. Again this website contains all of the usual convention, such as a banner, navigational links, and main body of text and images (displayed in a table).

However the banner has been unusually placed down the left hand side of the page with the navigational links placed over and integrated to become part of the composition. This therefore resulting in the main body of text and images been displayed more towards the right hand side. This fresh layout conveys high quality and creative as well as been very aesthetically pleasing. I am sure this home page would encourage any viewer to explore the website future.

I have found looking at the different layouts and designs very useful and will be taking all of this research on board when I begin to design my own website for this project. I have particularly found interesting the different layout styles and how just simple things like placing the banner in an unusual place can have a very interesting effect on the whole composition of the page.