Derranique Dabney
March 31, 2014
Senior Project Research Paper
Mrs. C. Cooper

All of us at one time or another has browsed the internet. The internet has become such an important part of our everyday lives; it is no longer possible to escape the internet and what is has to offer. Successful web design relies heavily upon a visual concept. Without effective visual design, almost everything on the internet is meaningless. It is visual design that grabs people's attention and encourages them to analyze the piece more carefully. The internet is a primarily visual realm, which is why interactivity, visual elements, and new technologies are such important aspects of great web design.
“Since the 1990s (and really, for a select few people, even before that) website design was something that developed very, very quickly and changed rapidly over time. Website companies across the board have taken time and care to make sure that they are innovative and pushing boundaries, while also providing for viewers, visitors, and customers everything that they could possibly need to get the most out of their respective websites and other uses. Today, HTML5 looks poised to be one of the website designs of the future, but how exactly did we get here to where we are? And where have we come from with web design theory and practice, to reach 2013? Back in the early 1990s, HTML (the first iteration) was considered major website technology and innovation. Since then, CSS 1 and CSS 2, Javascipt, Flash, XHTML1, and even AJAX more recently have all come under as the hottest new thing in web design, some lasting mere months before something better innovated across the board. To get to where you are, though, you must know where you’ve come from – and with web design, that process is as intricate as it is innovative. Whether HTML5 or a separate web design theory in today’s day and age, users are more keen to exploring sites in a social, sophisticated manner. In 1996, Flash[->0] (originally known as FutureSplash) was developed. At the time, the Flash content development tool was relatively simple compared to now, using basic layout and drawing tools, a limited precursor to ActionScript[->1], and a timeline, but it enabled web designers to go beyond the point of HTML, animated GIFs[->2] and JavaScript[->3]. However, because Flash required a plug-in[->4], many web developers avoided using it for fear of limiting their market share from lack of compatibility. Instead, designers reverted to gif animations (if they didn't forego using motion graphics[->5] altogether) and JavaScript for widgets[->6]. But the benefits of Flash made it popular enough among specific target markets to eventually work its way to the vast majority of browsers, and powerful enough to be used to develop entire sites. Whether it’s enabling real time comments on blogs and news sites, or providing social share buttons and links to company and product sites, the web is more interactive today than it has ever been before. And that is really, truly saying something – after all, the web as a design was made to be interactive in the first place; that it’s overly interactive now speaks volumes of its ability to bring together people and the need for focused, effective web design to do so. Make no mistake, though – the web is still constantly and consistently innovating, and with it, website design will be consistently changing. Nowadays, there are more tablets, smart phones, and smaller mobile devices that can access the Internet than ever before around the globe, and website design has had to plan accordingly. With native mobile sites, and even tablet apps and specific mobile apps[->7] and sites for various products, website companies have recognized the immense value in providing tool-specific and product-specific designs that can work for any sort of mobile device or tablet. All in all, the evolution of web design has been both a fascinating and daunting innovation to observe over time. While the last twenty years have certainly been unique and noteworthy, the next twenty will no doubt leave even more to be innovated and achieved, as web design is only getting more and more intuitive and worthwhile. From here on out, it will be fascinating to see just where web design innovations can truly lead, and what people can do and achieve when it comes to effective and worthwhile web design in their own work and across the board. From here moving forward, website design will only grow in importance and impact as more and more people enjoy and use the Internet for business and social purposes” (Evolution Of Web).
One of the most important qualities of a great website is interactivity. An interactive website gives visitors ways to participate. “We interact with what we see on our computer screens” (Childs, 2). This interaction may consist of an annoying pop-up ad or it may even be a websites’ ploy to get one to discover everything the site has to offer. Either way, we will click and interact with whatever pops out at us visually. Without these visual components, there will be no internet, as we know it. The trick lies in a subtle use of web interactions to attract users and cause them to engage on a page. “The internet’s high level of interactivity and visual elements is very important” (Hobbs). It is the key element of any website. Visual components are important when planning the layout of a website. Nobody wants to stare at a website; they will go to another that has much more to offer as far as interactivity. When visitors get what they want on a website, they'll stay longer, return repeatedly, and post links to the site elsewhere on the internet. Interactive websites encourage these behaviors, so it's no surprise that the most popular sites are highly interactive. A website should be designed in such a way that users would be attracted and engaged on the site. This is how a website can reach its user effectively. The combination of design and functionality is something every designer should wish to implement on a website.
Good web design is effective and efficient in fulfilling its purpose, although it should incorporate interactive elements. “Since the internet crash of 2000, it has become extremely important that a web page be worth the time and money put into it” (Gentle, 22). Web designers must make sure that the websites they create reflect the hard work, dedication, and money used in making the websites. Users can and will tell whether or not time and dedication was put into making a website. Not even an entertainment website would be of any use if it is of poor design; it would not be able to compete with the users' patience. Users want to quickly scroll through the web page and find what they are looking for. They do not want to wait for the web page to load or even read through what they feel like is unnecessary text. “Users want to find what they are looking for in an ample amount of time, especially without hassle” (Lozada). Thankfully, new technologies and techniques have been created to meet the ever changing need for interactivity. These technologies and techniques are important because there are new trends every day, and people want to see that these new trends are being acknowledged. “As the internet becomes more sophisticated, visitor expectations change” (Gentle, 2). Users want to interact meaningfully with a website. The trick lies in a subtle use of web interactions to attract users and cause them to engage on a page. Users wants to be entertained on a website as they find want they need. This entertainment can be in the form of music, multimedia, GIFS, or even pop up ads. Either way, there will be an interaction. That is why interactivity on a website is so important. People will remember a good website. A “good” website consists of text, graphics, music, and other visually appealing elements. “This is all the reason why proper interactivity is important: to lure people in” (Miller, 57). Interactivity also can affect how quickly users find what they are looking for. Although it is important to make sure you do not have too much interactivity; if a user is constantly being interrupted by music, pop up ads, etc, it will take them longer to find what they need. If this happens too often, this will also cause them to leave the website. As I mentioned earlier, users want to find what they are looking for in an ample amount of time, yet be entertained. Be sure to have a sustainable balance of interaction. I believe all these interactive elements allow for a positive attitude about the site and will keep your website thriving.
Another extremely important aspect of web design is visual elements. The first impression of a website is also important. “People make snap judgments. It takes only 1/10th of a second to form a first impression about a person, and websites are no different” (The Importance Of). This 1/10th of a second is enough to form an opinion about the website and about whether they will stay on your website or leave. A bad first impression will generally cause people to stray away from using the website one has created. “The first impression one may develop about a website depends on many factors: texts, graphics, colors, fonts, and more” (Langston). It is closely related to why visual elements are important on a website and why great web design is so important. For example, mediataivas.com would be considered a greatly designed website. It has readable text, multiple pictures, GIFs, and changeable fonts. This is everything a website should consist of because they are all the factors the visitor will consider when looking at a website, although they might not even realize it. People need to look at things that are visually appealing to the eyes. A website may not be fully explored if the user does not visually like what they see. Successful web design relies heavily upon a solid visual concept. Without effective visual design, advertisements, posters, signs, brochures and other print materials are meaningless. It is visual design that grabs people's attention and encourages them to analyze the piece more carefully. Arngren.net would be considered a poorly designed website; it was even named one of the worst websites in 2013. It uses multiple color schemes, many of the same texts, and has no pictures. The website also has neutral colors as well as clashing colors, which makes the site difficult to navigate and read. This is because the texts blend in with the color schemes. “First impressions are 94% design-related” (Techniques to the). This proves that content does in fact matter, but is powerless when poor design is involved. The average person does in fact, look before they read. This theory was proven in a 2011 Stanford research project. According to Stanford, “…..design plays a more important role than text” (The Web Credibility). Design on a website can also be seen as a method of communication, which is basically the main aspect of having a website. It is generally used to portray ideas to an audience. We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Photos and images are excellent resources not only for creating an attractive and interesting design, but also for communication purposes. At its core, design is all about visual communication: To be an effective web designer, you have to be able to clearly communicate ideas to viewers or else lose their attention. People are complex though; if you give them a massive block of information, chances are that they will not bother to read it. “Images can often communicate a message faster, more clearly, and more emphatically than text” (The History Of). The designer needs to be aware of the messages being communicated via images and ensure they work in harmony with the rest of the websites communication and elements they are trying to portray to the visitor. An excellent example of communication using design can be found on andrewransonphoto.com; the web designer has incorporated a beautiful sunset landscape picture in the background but also has keywords promoting his business. Whoever looks at the picture will also notice the message in which Ranson is trying to convey to his customers. Ideally, the design and other elements that do the communicating work together to create a clear, unified message to visitors.
New techniques and technologies are also an important aspect of good web design. “As a web designer, one of the most exciting parts of my job is working with new technologies” (Miller, 15). Web designers really have to be up-to-date on all the new technologies and trends that are being used; these can help ensure that they websites in which they create are even better and more relevant. New technologies have even been created to make web designers jobs easier. “In 2012, all webs designing software was updated to CSS, instead of HTML” (Burns, 75). Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language[->8] used for describing the look and formatting[->9] of a document written in a markup language[->10], meaning that CSS can easily convert HTML (HyperText Markup Language) into the format in which it uses; if a website is being updated that was previously edited with HTML, it would not such a big hassle on the designer. Using CSS also makes web designing easier because with CSS, there is no need to go back and design the website: the tags that one embedded using CSS does the designing for them. The web designer just has to make sure that they know what tags to they need to use and use them properly. Using HTML, web designers had to first embed their tags and then go on to designing. Now web designers can embed their tags and design all at the same time. This simple change of technology and software now saves web designers a lot of time, money, and energy. CSS is more consistent than HTML because the format is similar at all times; using HTML, web designers had to choose which format would work best with what they were trying to achieve. “Web designing used to get highly annoying at times, especially when one would realize the format in which they chose was not the best to use” (Burns, 45). CSS makes sure websites have consistent format throughout. This also allows for easier navigation, which is an important aspect of great web design. This new CSS software update is one of the many simple forms of new technology that makes web design more effective and important.
Macromedia Flash, also known as Adobe Flash, is used for a wide variety of applications. It is now used widely by not only web designers, but graphic designers as well. “With Flash, the user can create realistic animation and multimedia experiences” (Childs, 201). Flash incorporates interactivity and visual elements into one. That is why it is such a widely used technology application: it adheres to many of the elements that compliments great web design. “To just create a website with text and images you can use HTML, JavaScript is another animation tool that many web designers used but they have strayed away from that because programming skills are needed to correctly use it” (What Is Good). These are both generally good applications to use when designing a website, but Flash has many more advantages and usage. Flash is a lot like CSS, but much easier because there is no need for programming skills. There is also possibility for interactivity between animations with flash unlike HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Other advantages are that you can use many more colors, which can visually compliment the website. Flash provides a scripting language that supports animation and offers more comprehensive support for graphics than any other web designing software. This is an advantage to any web designer because if the site was to crash, the scripting language tags would manipulate the data into remaining intact. The website itself will be able to navigate, although the website itself would have a few minor bugs that can be easily fixed. The user probably will not even notice that these bugs are there, so they will not lose any interest in the website. Flash can be used to create interactive media content with text, photos, music, video, vector graphics, voiceover, and a wide variety of motion graphic effects and animation. This is such an important element of Macromedia Flash because this incorporates everything that makes a website great into one. The internet is a primarily visual realm, which is why interactivity, visual elements, and new technologies are such important aspects of great web design. Interactivity is an important aspect of great web design because it allows whoever is on the website to be entertained and engaged. That person does not want to be bored on the website because they can and will leave when they please. Another extremely important aspect of web design is visual elements. Whoever is on your website wants to be visually entertained. If your website is dull, this will cause them to leave the website as well. New technologies and software is a growing aspect of great web design. CSS and Macromedia Flash allow for multiple things to be incorporated on a website as once, thus saving the web designer time, money, and energy. If these aspects of web design were not important, there would be no internet. Even if this was not, it would not be as widely known and appreciated as it is in today’s society. Interactivity, visual elements, and new technologies are in some way, shape, or form connected with what is considered great web design. We take for granted what is actually needed to make the website in which we are looking at so great. I hope in reading this research paper, that everyone will think about it and take into consideration what our daily lives would be like if the internet did not contain these simple, yet complex aspects.

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[->0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash
[->1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActionScript
[->2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Interchange_Format#Animated_GIF
[->3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript
[->4] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_(computing)
[->5] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_graphics
[->6] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_widget
[->7] - http://www.socialseomanagement.com/mobiledevatlanta
[->8] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_sheet_language
[->9] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_semantics
[->10] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markup_language