Web page design

Read the following words and word combinations and use them for understanding and translation of the text:

to emerge - появляться

to involve, to include - включать в себя

to stream audio and video - передавать аудио и видео

distinctive - отличительный

cluttered - запутанный, с помехами

to make sure - убедиться

background - фон

to elaborate - разработать

to separate - разделять

emphasis - акцент

permission - разрешение

to grab a restrained style - выбрать сдержанный стиль

to abound - быть в большом количестве

purpose – цель

to raise performance - поднять производительность, повысить эффективость

consistent - последовательный

bizarre typefaces - причудливые шрифты

to extend - расширять

to encounter - сталкиваться, встречать

to be intended for - быть предназначеным для

to implement - внедрять

speedy access - скоростной доступ

to undergo - подвергаться, испытывать

to grab users’ attention - привлекать внимание пользова-телей

The World Wide Web has existed for fewer than two decades, so it is not surprising that the principles and practices for the design of attractive and effective Web pages are still emerging. Creating Web pages involves many skills. In addition to the basic art of writing, many skills that had belonged to separate professions in the print world now often must be exercised by the same individual. These include typography (the selection and use of type and type styles), composition (the arrangement of text on the page), and graphics. To this mix must be added nontraditional skills such as designing interactive features and forms, interfacing with other facilities (such as databases), and perhaps the incorporation of features such as animation or streaming audio or video.

However new the technology, the design process still begins with the traditional questions any writer must ask: What is the purpose of this work? Who am I writing for? What are the needs of this audience? A Web site that is designed to provide background information and contact for a university department is likely to have a printlike format and a restrained style.

Nevertheless, the designer of such a site may be able to imaginatively extend it beyond the traditional bounds—for example, by including streaming video interviews that introduce faculty members.

A site for an online store is likely to have more graphics and other attention-getting features than an academic or government site. However, despite the pressure to “grab eyeballs, ” the designer must resist making the site so cluttered with animations, pop-up windows, and other features that it becomes hard for readers to search for and read about the products they want.

A site intended for an organization’s own use should not be visually unattractive, but the emphasis is not on grabbing users’ attention, since the users are already committed to using the system. Rather, the emphasis will be on providing speedy access to the information people need to do their job, and in keeping information accurate and up to date. Once the general approach is settled on, the design must be implemented.

The most basic tool is HTmL, which has undergone periodic revisions and expansions. Even on today’s large, high-resolution monitors a screen of text is not the same as a page in a printed book or magazine. There are many ways text can be organized.

A page that is presenting a manual or other lengthy document can mimic a printed book by having a table of contents. Clicking on a chapter takes the reader there. Shorter presentations (such as product descriptions) might be shown in a frame with buttons for the reader to select different aspects such as features and pricing. Frames (independently scrollable regions on a page) can turn a page into a “window” into many kinds of information without the user having to navigate from page to page, but there can be browser compatibility issues. Tables are another important tool for page designers. Setting up a table and inserting text into it allows pages to be formatted automatically.

Many sites include several different navigation systems including buttons, links, and perhaps menus. This can be good if it provides different types of access to serve different needs, but the most common failing in Web design is probably the tendency to clutter pages with features to the point that they are confusing and actually harder to use.

Although the Web is a new medium, much of the traditional typographic wisdom still applies. Just as many people who first encountered the variety of Windows or Macintosh fonts in the 1980s filled their documents with a variety of often bizarre typefaces, beginning Web page designers sometimes choose fonts that they think are “edgy” or cool, but may be hard to read—especially when shown against a purple background!

Today it is quite possible to create attractive Web pages without extensive knowledge of HTmL. Programs such as FrontPage and DreamWeaver mimic the operation of a word processor and take a WYSIWYg (what you see is what you get) approach. Users can build pages by selecting and arranging structural elements, while choosing styles for headers and other text as in a word processor. These programs also provide “themes” that help keep the visual and textual elements of the page consistent. Of course, designing pages in this way can be criticized as leading to a “canned” product. People who want more distinctive pages may choose instead to learn the necessary skills or hire a professional Web page designer.

A feature called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allows designers to precisely control the appearance of Web pages while defining consistent styles for elements such as headings and different types of text. Most Web pages include graphics, and this raises an additional set of issues.

Page designers must also make sure that the graphics they are using are created in-house, are public domain, or are used by permission. Animated graphics can raise performance and compatibility issues. Generally, if a site offers, for example, Flash animations, it also offers users an alternative presentation to accommodate those with slower connections or without the necessary browser plug-ins. The line between Web page design and other Web services continues to blur as more forms of media are carried online. Web designers need to learn about such media technologies and find appropriate ways to integrate them into their pages. Web pages may also need to provide or link to new types of forums.

Since the start of the 21st century the Web has become more and more integrated into people`s lives, as this has happened the technology of the Web has also moved on. There have also been significant changes in the way people use and access the Web, and this has changed how sites are designed.

Since the end of the browsers wars there have been new browsers coming onto the scene. Many of these are open source meaning that they tend to have faster development and are more supportive of new standards.

Notes:

HTmL - от англ. HyperText Markup Language — «язык ги­пертекстовой разметки»;) — стандартный язык разметки документов во Всемирной паутине.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - Каскадные таблицы стилей) — формальный язык описания внешнего вида документа, написанного с использованием языка разметки.

FrontPag e - программа для создания сайта и Web-страниц.

DreamWeaver - HTML-редактор компании Adobe

Assignments:

1. Translate the sentences from the text into Russian paying attention to the underlined words and phrases:

1. In addition to the basic art of writing, many skills that had belonged to separate professions in the print world now often must be exercised by the same individual.

2. The most basic tool is HTmL, which has undergone periodic revisions and expansions.

3. Many sites include several different navigation systems including buttons, links, and perhaps menus.

4. The emphasis will be on providing speedy access to the information people need to do their job, and in keeping information accurate and up to date.

5. These programs also provide “themes” that help keep the visual and textual elements of the page consistent.

6. Page designers must also make sure that the graphics they are using are created in-house, are public domain, or are used bypermission.

7. Although the Web is a new medium, much of the traditional typographic wisdom still applies. Just as many people who first encountered the variety of Windows or Macintosh fonts in the 1980s filled their documents with a variety of often bizarre typefaces, beginning Web page designers sometimes choose fonts that they think are “edgy” or cool, but may be hard to read—especially when shown against a purple background!