Reflections

This is my first time to open a blog account and use it regularly, and I must say, the experience was strange at first, because there was this sense of 'I'm feel like I'm talking to myself but the whole world can hear me' sorta thing. But still, this has been an invaluable experience as I research and explore a new means of communication in this digital, IT rich age.

I enjoyed designing the blog and in the process, look high and low (literally) on the blog page for functions that will do what I have in mind. For the first time, I learnt to insert and remove breaks using the 'Edit Html' function, add a hyperlink, and customise the positions of the boxes of information.

Writing the blog, I was also aware of the importance of visual attraction hence the pictures. I enjoyed surfing the net for suitable pictures and seeing how my blog grew over the weeks, from a blank white page to something that resembles a blog. Even my brother exclaimed in surprise 'You are blogging? That looks like a blog!' since I had expressed a non-interest in opening a blog account.

This blog turned out to be more of a personal journey of experiences I encountered in communication, design and blogs related rather than a discussion. All in all, I am pleased with this blog and I hope you will find this site informative, interesting and insightful.

Image source:
http://goflorida.about.com/library/graphics/sunset3.jpg

The ABCs of good web design

I was just viewing an Australian media site and I was thinking how organized and professional it looks, because the design of the layout draws my attention to the headings and allows me to choose which topic I want to read.

There are alot of information on the site but the good thing is that it doens't look clustered. Each subject is placed under a bright coloured heading in a box, allowing the reader to quickly glance to find the topic he/she is looking for.

The colour that occupies the largest surface area is green, and this is show on top of the page, where the background of the ABC logo is an emerald green and the toolbar below that also in a lighter shade of emerald green. At the bottom of the page, links in the ABC are displayed with a green background. My guess why the green colour is used so vastly is because it is a colour that symbolises freshness. Gaze into a cluster of green-leaved tree and that leaves you feeling refreshed.

The writing register is short, exciting and professional, which reflects the company. The font used is non serif, which gives an illusion that it takes up less space and therefore more words can be ingested, without leaving a look that is cluttered.

A great feature that this site has is putting a few stories in each box, and the audience is able to choose which story to read just by a click of the 'next button.' What is interesting about it is also each story is accompanied with a picture, and that helps to imply a message to the reader as well because 'a picture speaks a thousand words.' I think this is a very creative way to squeeze so much information on just the main page, without looking like a mess.

All in all, I think layout of the main page is neat and good for the readers to navigate their attention easily. I will certainly be frequenting this site in the coming days.

Reference and image source:

http://www.abc.net.au/