Personal Reflection

I found the thought of this assignment quite daunting to begin with.  I have had little experience with website construction and have very limited personal use of social media.  After reading through the module handbook and readings, I found I understood the task better, but still found the prospect intimidating.  However, upon starting to build the website, I found it easier than I had expected.  I set out a clear plan of action that included researching existing websites, creating a sitemap on paper, and collecting feedback in order to edit the site.  The planning was made easier by creating a visual sitemap as had been suggested in the module handbook, and the software itself made the construction fairly simple.  The considerations that needed to be made about user needs, as well as legal constraints were difficult, especially as the software is quite limiting for users who sign up for free.  I ensured that the site was clear and engaging, as well as being easy to read and user-friendly.  I wanted to make it bright and use images and links to external websites in order to direct users to other websites of interest.  I found this quite simple to undertake as the software is very user friendly.  Overall, I found that I enjoyed the assignment more than I thought I would, and have found the website to be successful.

Evaluation of Strengths and Weaknesses of the website

I created my 'first draft' website using my initial plan. I tried to make the website as clear and user-friendly as possible.  I wanted it to be informational and yet concise, easy to read and yet well structured.  Once I drafted the website, I obtained feedback from a sample of 10 users, aged from 25-85, to see what amendments should be made and what strengths they had identified.  The general feedback has been amalgamated as follows:

    Strengths

• Good choice of colour.  Warm. 
• Choice of colours makes text easy to read.
• Left hand navigation panel is very useful and clear.
• Good use of images.
• Clear signposting and links to pages.
• Links embedded in the text are useful.
• Clear and simple language.
• Easily accessible information.
• Very user friendly.
• Blog would be good to include user submissions.

    Weaknesses

• Some text is very small (e.g. the RSS feed button etc at top right of page).
• Homepage 'Welcome to...' font is too small.
• Image at the top of the page is difficult to decipher.
• No area for users to give reviews of books or discuss amongst themselves.
• 'Events Calendar' is the same as 'Future reads'.  Change or amalgamate?
• 'About Us' tab is unnecessary.

Following this feedback, I created a 'second draft' of the website, which is the version you are viewing today.  I have removed the 'About Us' tab and included that information on the homepage in order to demonstrate what the group is about from the front page.  I amended the name of the 'Events Calendar' to 'Future Meetings' in order to differentiate it from 'Future Reads' and have added detailed information about the meetings to that page, including location maps to the venue.  I have also added a user forum to encourage discussion amongst members.  In addition, I have changed the cover photo which people found difficult to identify, and changed and ensured uniformity amongst all page headings so that users will see a clear and uniform layout to the entire website.  

I feel that the website is quite strong, being clear and well laid out.  I have ensured that there are quick links between pages, as well as maintaining the clear side bar navigation so that users will always know where they are on the website.  I chose a strong colour and ensured that the text of the site is visible and readable.  I wanted to make certain that all pages of the website were linked to one another, so that users can easily click on a link embedded in the text whilst reading if they read something of interest and wanted to look at the page straight away, as this means users can very quickly and easily navigate around the site.  All content included on the site was written in simple, clear language so as to appeal to all users, and was structured into small paragraphs throughout the site so the information was concise but informative, and again making the site very user orientated and friendly.

As the Book Group would only be a relatively small enterprise, I felt that this website and the software used were perfectly adequate for this task.

Evaluation of Design Process

When designing this website, I started by deciding on a choice of company or group to make the website about.  I opted for a book group as I felt that this was a small enough venture to use this software in order to create a website.  Once I had decided to make a fictional book group, I researched existing book group websites in order to see how other groups had organised their sites, for example:

• https://billysbookgroup.wordpress.com/
• https://www.oxfordreadinggroup.org.uk/
• https://sites.google.com/site/booksonthebroad/

All the websites had similar components, for example 'Join Us' pages, 'Diary' pages for events, and 'Books we are reading/have read' pages.  After doing my initial research, I created a list of what I felt was necessary to put onto the book club website.  I was keen also to make the site more interactive than the sites I had found whilst researching book groups, so I wanted to include a place to get in touch with the site owners, a blog page summarising the meetings, and links to external reviews. 

Once I had listed the pages I wanted to include, I created a post-it note sitemap of the website so I could decide on the structure and order of the pages.  I ended up with the following sitemap:

Once I had decided on my structure, I created a free profile on Webnode and started to build my website.  I knew I wanted a clear layout and felt that a sidebar menu was better suited for the layout I wanted.  The options are limited for users of the free service, so I tried the options that were available and decided on the layout and colours that are currently being used. I felt that the colour was suited to a book club, and was clear enough for those users with visual impairments.  I set up the structure and subpages very easily using the ‘Edit Menu’ link on the homepage, which made structuring and editing the site very easy.  I wanted to use images of the books being read each week as well as images of Oxford throughout the website, and ensured that these images were all properly referenced and copyright was considered.  I also ensured during testing that the website was visible using Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as visible on Android and iOS mobile devices.

Once I had finished the first draft of the website, I submitted it to a test group for feedback.  Once I had obtained the feedback, I edited the website taking their comments into account, and have ended up with the final draft that is visible today.  I ensured that I submitted it to a test group as I had become very familiar with the layout and structure of the website and became oblivious to certain usability issues that were brought to my attention by the feedback group.  This process proved invaluable to my website creation. 

After I obtained feedback, I collected all the points into a list, filtered out the criticisms so that I could review them and make changes to the site.  I ended up deleting some pages and adding that information onto other pages or editing the information out altogether.  I added a ‘Forum’ page so that it made the site more user orientated and aimed to encourage discussion amongst users.  I stated on this page that the site would be monitored in order to make sure that submissions were appropriate as in reality the creator would supervise this page to maintain it and ensure submissions were suitable and inoffensive.  I amended the font size of the page headings and made sure these sizes were the same throughout the site so that it was very uniform.  I also changed the header image to the current image which was more demonstrative that the site is book related.  Some suggestions were unable to be acted upon, for example changing certain aspects of the layout or changing to font size for the links at the top of the page as these are dictated by the software.

If I had further time, or was launching this website in reality, I would have further test submissions and continually edit the page following feedback from users as well as following suggestions made directly to the staff through the ‘Contact Us’ page and through the ‘Forum’ page.

Evaluation of Software

I had several problems with the software throughout this process.  Firstly, as I was not a Premium member of Webnode, the choice of layout and colour schemes available were limited.  This said, I was able to find a layout and colour that worked well for my website.  The Premium membership would have also allowed me to make further changes to the website footer and page layouts that were not possible with the basic membership.

I found it very the creation of the pages and sub pages very simple and easy.  The basic available layouts mean that you can place boxes of information where you need them to be, and arrange information in an attractive and clear way for the users.  However on occasion it took a long time to be able to arrange the information on the page in the way that I wanted as the software was very slow and sometime would not allow me to put certain boxes of information where I wanted them to be.  I also found that I had difficulty with the installation of widgets onto the pages.  Some of the pages would not allow widgets to be installed, and on some occasions my browser security settings blocked the widgets from appearing.

Webnode is quite a secure and fluid website, and easily allows the inclusion of images and external links onto web pages, which made the creation very simple.  It allows you to tag every article and page and automatically creates a tag cloud which is useful.  It was an easy process to add Maps, RSS feeds and certain widgets to the pages (even though I had some difficulty with the some widgets after installation).  Webnode also includes a built in search function, which works thoroughly, and creates a sitemap for you automatically.  It was easy to set up the structure of the website using the ‘Edit Menu’ button, and working through the site adding content was very straightforward using the sidebar navigation.  It was also easy to create forms using the software as you could use a template or create your own form very easily, which made creating the ‘Become a Member’ page very easy.

In addition, Webnode makes it very easy to collect data from the website and analyse the popularity and usage of the website by automatically collecting and collating statistics from the website traffic.  This is very useful for companies and groups to track changes in user behaviour, popularity of changes made to the website and overall traffic to the site.

I did make use of the support available on Webnode, and their help and frequently asked questions sections did help me when I was unsure of how to make use of widgets and inserting images onto the website.  The availability of support is important when the creator is unfamiliar with website building and needs step by step advice on how to make use of certain functions.  However on the whole, the software was very easy to use from a novice’s perspective. 

I feel that Webnode is a good choice of software for the creation of small and medium sized websites.  It can be completely free to use, which is beneficial to smaller businesses, and can be fairly flexible.  Although I found some components quite complicated, once they had been worked out it was a simple process to achieve what I had planned.  It is a cheap and quick process that allows users to have a clear online presence without having in depth knowledge about web development. 

2089 words.

Our new blog has been launched today. Stay focused on it and we will try to keep you informed. You can read new posts on this blog via the RSS feed.

The blog will be updated once a month with highlights from the meet-ups and discuss some of the main points and opinions raised by the group at the discussion.  We will also update the blog with recommended reads, news from the literary world and with reviews of books we have read in our spare time.  If you wish to submit something to be included in the blog, then email us your submission for approval.