Saturday, August 31, 2013

What I have learn and need to remember from chapters 1-6!

HTML is used to define content’s meaning, and CSS is used to define how content and Webpage will look.HTML has three principal markup components: elements, attributes, and values.
Elements are like little labels that describe the different parts of a Web page.
Attributes contain information about the content in the document, as opposed to being content itself.
Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, It contains information about where a file is and what a browser should do with it. The first part of the URL is called the scheme.  The second part of the URL is the name of the server where the file is located, followed by the path that leads to the file.

To start an HTML5 page:
1. Type <!DOCTYPE html>
2. Type <html lang="language-code">, where language-code is the language code that matches the default language of page’s content
3. Type <head> to begin the document head of page.
4. Type <meta charset="UTF-8" /> to declare the character encoding of your document as UTF-8.
5. Type <title></title>. This will contain a page’s title.
6. Type </head> to end the document head of page.
7. Type <body> to start the body of my page. This is where the content will go (eventually).
8. Leave a few blank lines for creating a page content
9. Type </body> to end the body.
10. Type </html> to end my page

The document head is where I define the title of page.
The body element encloses my page’s content, including text, images, forms, and anything else.
Creating Headings
HTML provides six heading levels for establishing the hierarchy of information in pages. Mark up each heading with one of the h1h6 elements, where h1 is a top-level heading, h2 is a subheading of an h1, and h3 is a subheading of an h2.

To group two or more headings:
1. Type <hgroup>.
2. Type <hn>, where n is a number from 1 to 6, depending on the level of importance of the heading that I want to create.
3. Type the contents of the header.
4. Type </hn> where n is the same number used in step 2.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for as many headings as I want to be part of the hgroup.
6. Type </hgroup>.

To designate a group of links as important navigation:
1. Type <nav>.
2. Type list of links structured as a ul (unordered list) unless the order of the links is significant, in which case should structure them as an ol (ordered list).
3. Type </nav>.

The article element represents a self-contained composition in a document, page, application, or site.
To create an article:
1. Type <article>.
2. Type the article’s contents, which could include any number of elements, such as paragraphs, lists, audio, video, images, figures, and more. 3. Type </article>.

To define a section:
1. Type <section>.
2. Type the section’s contents, which could include any number of elements, such as paragraphs, lists, audio, video,images, figures, and more.
3. Type </section>.


To add a comment to HTML page:
1. In your HTML document, where I wish to insert a comment, type <!--.
2. Type the comments.
3. Type --> to complete the commented text.

To begin a new paragraph:
1. Type <p>.
2. Type the contents of the new paragraph.
3. Type </p> to end the paragraph.

If want to provide author contact information for the page:
2. Type <address>.
3. Type the author’s email address, a link to a page with contact information, and so on.
4. Type </address>.

The date time Format:  YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss
To mark important text: <strong>
To emphasize text: <em>
To cite a reference: <cite>
To quote a short text: <q>
To highlight a text: <mark>
To mark the defining of a term:
1. Type <dfn>.
2. Type the term you wish to define.
3. Type </dfn>.

To mark an edit involving newly inserted text:
1. Type <ins>.
2. Type the new content.
3. Type </ins>.

To mark an edit involving deleted text:
1. Place the cursor before the text or element that wish to mark as deleted.
2. Type <del>.
3. Place the cursor after the text or element that wish to mark as deleted.
4. Type </del>.

To mark text that is no longer accurate or relevant: <s>
To specify fine print:
1. Type <small>.
2. Type the text that represents a legal disclaimer, note, attribution, and so on.
3. Type </small>.

To insert line or break: <br>
Meter: measurement

6factors to remember when create a webpage: Format, color, size and resolution, speed, transparency and resolution.

To insert an image on a page:
1. Place the cursor in the HTML code where I want the image to appear.
2. Type <img src="image.url", where image.url indicates the location of the image file on the server.
3. Type a space and then the final />.



To offer alternate text when images don’t appear:
1. Within the img tag, after the src attribute and value, type alt=".
2. Type the text that should appear if, for some reason, the image itself does not
3. Type ".

A link has 2 main parts: the destination and the link.


To create a link to an anchor:
1. Type <a href="#anchor-name">, where anchor-name is the value of the destination’s id attribute create an anchor”).
2. Type the label text, that is, the text that is highlighted (usually blue and underlined by default) and that when activated will take the user to the section referenced in step 1.
3. Type </a> to complete the definition of the link.




Monday, August 26, 2013

Basics and Methods Summary!



Information must be:
Useful: Your content should be original and fulfill a need
Usable: Site must be easy to use
Desirable: Image, identity, brand, and other design elements are used to evoke emotion and appreciation
Findable: Content needs to be navigable and locatable onsite and offsite
Accessible: Content needs to be accessible to people with disabilities
Credible: Users must trust and believe what you tell them
Project Management: develop a project plan, project team roles and responsibilities, kick-off meeting, and website requirements.
For developing a project plan it is important to include usability activities in my project plan, so I can build in the time and resources to carry out those activities. Step-by-step usability guide is: Plan, Analyze, Design, and test and refine.

Scope: Means what needs to be done for the project to be considered complete.
At the beginning of every project, it is important to think about the audience that I’m trying to reach, the tasks they come to complete, and how addressing those needs compare to that of your organization. 
There are two types of goals/ objectives to consider:
·         User goals are users’ task scenarios.
·         Usability goals should measure your users’ ability to accomplish tasks on your site.

 Areas of Expertise are:
Accessibility, Business Analysis, Change Management, Content Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Marketing, Metrics Analysis, Project Management, Quality Assurance, Subject Matter Expertise, Technical Development, User Research, Usability Testing, User Interface Design, and  Visual Design.

kick-off meeting:
Discussion topics at your kick-off meeting should include:
·         The site’s audience
·         Users' main scenarios
·         Whether the current site meets users’ needs
Also, it is important to discuss the business case and project plan including: Scope, Vision, Goals, target audience, and Content.

Website requirements: are a list of necessary functions, capabilities, or characteristics related to your website and the plans for creating it.
There are: Business Requirements, User Requirements, Functional Requirements, Quality-of-Service Requirements, and Implementation Requirements.


User research: usability testing, first click testing, system usability scale, and contextual interview.
When budgeting for usability testing should consider these elements: Time, Recruiting Costs, Participant Compensation, and Rental Costs
Elements of a test plan are: Scope, purpose, schedule and location, sessions, equipment, Participants, Scenarios, Metrics, Quantitative metrics, and Roles.
First Click Testing allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the linking structure of your site, including the navigation, to see if users how to get around the site and complete their intended task.
Benefits of using a SUS:
Is a very easy scale to administer to participants.
Can be used on small sample sizes with reliable results
Is valid – it can effectively differentiate between usable and unusable    systems.

Usability Evaluation: usability testing, first click testing, system usability scale, and heuristic evaluations and expert reviews.


Information architecture: organization schemes, organization structure, content inventory, and wire framing.
Exact organization schemes objectively divide information into mutually exclusive sections.  
Examples of exact organizational structures include: Alphabetical schemes, Chronological schemes, and Geographical schemes.
An organizational structure is how you define the relationships between pieces of content. 
The three main organizational structures are Hierarchical, Sequential, and Matrix.
A content inventory is a list of all the content on your site. Your inventory will typically include text, images, documents, and applications.
A wireframe is a two-dimensional illustration of a page’s interface that specifically focuses on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities available, and intended behaviors.

User Interface Design: organization schemes, organization structure, user interface elements, and wire framing.
Interface elements include but are not limited to:
·         Input Controls: checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, list boxes, buttons, toggles, text fields, date field
·         Navigational Components: breadcrumb, slider, search field, pagination, slider, tags, icons
·         Informational Components: tooltips, icons, progress bar, notifications, message boxes, modal windows
·         Containers: accordion
Interaction design: use cases, card sorting, and prototyping.
Card sorting is a method used to help design or evaluate the information architecture of a site.
prototype is a draft version of a product that allows you to explore your ideas and show the intention behind a feature or the overall design concept to users before investing time and money into development.

Visual Design
Parallel design:
·         A range of ideas to be generated quickly and cost effectively.
·         Several approaches to be explored at the same time, thus compressing the concept development schedule.
·         Concepts generated to be combined so that the final solution benefits from all ideas proposed.

Content strategy: Cords sorting, writing for the web, develop a project plan, project team roles and responsibilities, organization schemes, organization structures, task analysis, and content inventory.

Content Strategy focuses on writing and curating useful content by planning the creation, delivery and governance behind it.

Accessibility focuses on how a disabled individual accesses or benefits from a site, system or application. Section 508 is the governing principal for accessibility.

Web Analytics focuses on the collection, reporting, and analysis of website data.