Internet Communication Fundamentals

1
Internet Communication Fundamentals Strategies

• Effects a communication perspective
• Unique features of the Internet (Web) as a
  communication medium
• Web design setting reasonable goals
• Types of Web design
• Basic elements of good Web Sites
• Dos and donts in Web design

2
Effects A Communication Perspective

• A simple hierarchy of communication effects
• Behavior (actions, performances)
• Attitude (beliefs, values, opinions, judgments)
• Emotion (feelings, likes)
• Cognition (knowledge, information, thinking
  process)

3
Effective Communication

• Communication that comes from trusted sources,
  reaches the targeted audience with appropriate
  format (means and channels) and content, and
  achieves the intended goals.

4
Unique Features of Internet as a Communication
Means

• Although the Internet has inherited some
  features from the traditional media, it is
  distinct in several ways
• Interactivity
• Non-linearity (hypertext and hyperlink)
• Multimedia capability
• Porous quality (in pieces)
• Varying speed (connection speed dependent)
• Varying browsers (IE, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera,
  etc.)
• Varying display (monitors, mostly 14 and 15)
• Almost unlimited choices (too many possible
  links!!)

5
The 28.8Kbps Factor

• About one-third of the people using the Internet
  are connected through 28.8Kbps modems. A bit --
  a contraction of the phrase binary digit --is the
  most elemental unit of computer information,
  either a 1 or a 0. One byte is made up of 8
  bits. Therefore, a 75KB (75,000-byte) file would
  take 20.8 seconds to transfer at 28,800 bits per
  second.

6
Web recent trend

• From text-based, to more graphically-represented.
  From more passively transfer information, to more
  interactive, or even more immersive
  (immersed)
• Example http//flysworkshop.net/as/
• Example http//www.activeworlds.com/ or
  http//www.worlds.com

7
Internet Communication Goals

• General goals
• Information
• Entertainment
• Service
• Marketing
• Persuasion
• Pure presence

8
Internet Communication Goals(Marketing)

• Some specific goals in marketing
• Brand-building
• Direct marketing
• Online sales
• Customer support
• Market research
• Content publishing/services

9
Three Major Types of Web Sites

• Brochureware
• Show-biz
• Utilitarian

10
Brochureware

• Brochureware sites are the most commonly deployed
  ones on the Web. They are normally static,
  non-interactive and boring about-my-business
  sites.

http//www.spam.com/
11
Show-biz

• Show-biz sites mean two things First, those
  misguided attempts to lure visitors to shows of
  products second, flashy and showy sites that
  feature technical dexterity.
• Example Liptons margarine http//www.tasteyoulo
  ve.com/

12
Utilitarian

• Utilitarian sites are those that offer Web
  surfers a genuine service and experience -- an
  interactive information/service utility. Federal
  Expresss (FedEx) site is a classic example.

13
Schools of Web Design

• Early ASCII text
• Classic three-part Web page
• Modern graphic slabs
• Postmodern fragments
• Early virtual 2D/3D scene, metaphor

14
Early ASCII Text

• Influenced by the hierarchical organization
  common in previous information systems such as
  Gopher, FTP and Telnet, the early ASCII design
  style relies heavily on hierarchical organization
  and links to extend meaning. This school is
  obsolete.
• Example a telnet web page design.

15
Early ASCII Page Example
16
Classic Three-Part Web Page

• The classic three-part structure of head, body
  and column is popular with the use of graphical
  browsers because the visual impact of a single
  screen has more visual impact that the scrolling
  browsers, such as the Lynx browser.
• Example our course site

17
Modern Graphic Slabs

• Marked by the use of graphics to draw attention,
  reveal choices and provide ornament, this style
  runs the gamut of expressions ranging from a
  single-graphic slab to a mixture of graphics and
  text often arranged in a grid to reveal
  functionality.
• Examples compare whitehouse.gov and amazon.com

18
Postmodern Fragments

• Instead of conceiving a page as a fixed
  structure, a postmodern style generates a page
  based on user requests by the use of CGI
  programming to dynamically create web pages and
  graphics on the fly.
• Example HotWired (http//www.hotwired.com/membe
  rs/)

19
Early Virtual Scene

• The early virtual page involves Virtual Reality
  Modeling Language (VRML) and can be viewed as an
  environment in which the room or the scene
  becomes a unit of attention for the user.
• VRML
• Adobe Atmosphere
• Digital Space
• Activeworlds..etc.

20
Elements of Good Web Sites

• Good sites are good communities
• Good sites are relevant (e.g. personalized
  content)
• Good sites entertain (pleasing)
• Good sites do not stand alone (linked)

21
Some Dos in Web Design

• Know your audience
• Build in interactivity and feedback (when
  necessary)
• Provide good and user friendly navigation
• Create consistent, pleasing and efficient look
  and feel
• Keep files short and small (45KB or below per
  page)
• Content, content, content
• Link to most relevant resources
• Use graphics and multimedia only when they are
  necessary and efficient

22
Some Donts in Web Design

• Avoid
• monster page overloaded with information
• multimedia overkill example1
• meaningless links
• clown pants (disorganized pages)
• KOOL design (overly fancy but empty sites)
• sukers
• worst websites