As the deadline for this project approaches I'm trying to move from higher-level concerns, and that brings me to website design. At first blush, making a website for a project like this is simple: just do research, present the findings, and lay everything out on a website. Simple right? Not so much.
The problem, it seems, is a one of design. It's a problem of information architecture. Yes, I have a lot of information, but what's the best way to lay it out? Ironically, Weebly doesn't give you many options, and rather than make things easier, it makes it a lot harder to create a well-designed and intuitive website. The first obstacle, for me, was how to best divide my project into clear and discrete sections using the navigational bar template in the header section of each page. Immediately, it was getting overly crowded, so the first thing I had to do was remove the link for the "home" page, which because of Weebly's layout actually functioned more like a splash page; it could be eliminated, because why would anyone really need to navigate to a splash page?
The problem, it seems, is a one of design. It's a problem of information architecture. Yes, I have a lot of information, but what's the best way to lay it out? Ironically, Weebly doesn't give you many options, and rather than make things easier, it makes it a lot harder to create a well-designed and intuitive website. The first obstacle, for me, was how to best divide my project into clear and discrete sections using the navigational bar template in the header section of each page. Immediately, it was getting overly crowded, so the first thing I had to do was remove the link for the "home" page, which because of Weebly's layout actually functioned more like a splash page; it could be eliminated, because why would anyone really need to navigate to a splash page?
Removing the link for "home" gave me a little bit of room, but it was still crowded, and every section needed to prove itself worthy. Then, I decided that the section formerly titled "The Problem" was not distinct enough from the "Introduction," so I merged those two. I kept on going. What I ended up with, I hope, are five sections, which can be read in both linear and nonlinear ways (a big reason why I stopped using Atavist, which uses the infinite vertical scroll, and jumped to Weebly, which allows for separate pages). Further, the separate sections allow for some hyperlinking (I actually have a hidden sixth section for footnotes which the other sections hyperlink to), which is an important part of th experience I wanted to create.
Today I'm going to begin putting up the videos and interviews, and more than likely I will run into more tech problems!
More to come.
Today I'm going to begin putting up the videos and interviews, and more than likely I will run into more tech problems!
More to come.