Links Page Assignment
Description / Prep / Final Requirements / Saving
A links page helps your users by directing them to resources beyond your site, as with our Design & Code Resources. For example, if you're building a Final Project on John Coltrane's early career, then your users would probably be interested more generally in Coltrane or jazz, and they'd appreciate your recommendations - plus, they might discover your links page after doing a Google search and then go on to discover the rest of your site.
For example, if your topic is "religious cults of Ancient Greece" (a great idea for a website from last semester), then closely related sites would include other sites on Ancient Greek religious cults while generally related sites might include history sites on Ancient Greece or academic sites on the study of religion.
A links page is similar to the further reading page you've just developed but with main two differences: (1) it focuses exclusively on online resources and (2) supplies lengthier descriptions ("blurbs") for each source (20-60 words).
Your job is to
- Predict your users' needs and arrange suitable categories of links — as in Michael Goeller's chess links or Josh Ronsen's John Cage links.
- Find sites for each category of users' needs and write detailed blurbs about the sites' most significant features. For example, if you had 3 sites listed under a category such as "Equipment Retailers," you'd want to explain why to visit Site A (low prices, but only two brands) as opposed to Site B (good equipment reviews and lots of brands, but high prices) and Site C (good for beginners and has a weekly product-review page).
- Provide at least 15 links/blurbs total.
- Give a brief introduction near the top of the page explaining how the page is organized, or anything else you might helpfully explain, for example, to users who don't know much and need beginner tips — it's often good to have a whole section of your page devoted to beginners' needs.
- Provide a subnav with anchor links accessing your different categories.
- Use white space and other design fundamentals (such as contrast between headings, body text, and links) to make your page optimally legible and skimmable.
A further goal of this assignment is to help refine your Final Project idea: As you do the research your Links page for the Prep stage, see what aspects of your topic aren't well covered — areas that your Final Project might take up. Following the Prep stage, we'll build the Links page in class using HTML 4 Layout, the primary aim of which is to simplify your layout code by using a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) to format your page, that is, to add colors, fonts, etc.
Prep
Please type your responses to each part below on a text file (e.g., Notepad or MS Word), save it as "prep" to your "hw" folder, and bring a printout to class - don't worry about writing polished prose, just get the info down. (Using this prep, we'll build your Links page in class.)
- Describe the site you're thinking of building for the Final Project and compose 3 personas of your site's users.
- List 5-7 specific questions or tasks these users might have in mind when visiting your site or other sites related to your topic (e.g., "User 1 wants to build a low-cost aquarium stand"; "User 3 wants to understand the different eating habits of South American and African tropical fish").
- Use Google, Librarians' Index, Infomine and other search resources to find at least 15 sites that could be useful for your 5-7 questions/tasks.
- Under your questions/tasks, list each relevant site and URL, along with pertinent details (e.g., "Excellent on African and Brazilian fish, but...").
- Think about what areas of your topic don't seem well covered, and revise your Final Project concept if it has evolved.
Final Requirements
Completed Links Page drafts should
- Be saved as "links.htm" to the "mid" folder inside your "425" folder, along with your stylesheet (and your completed Prep is in your "hw" folder);
- Employ HTML4 layout and a functioning stylesheet;
- Include a brief introduction, at least 3 anchor-linked subcatgories, and at least 15 links and blurbs;
- Include no extraneous language such as "This site..." or "This is..." or other unnecessary phrases;
- Include detailed descriptions of each listed site - e.g., the best part of the site, what's not so great, why it's better for a specific purpose than another similar site, etc;
- Use contrasting fonts for headings and body text;
- Have no permissions problems.
Going forward, think of a "special feature" you could add to this page to make it more attractive and less utilitarian for the Midterm: Add an inset like "Top 10 Facts About ..." or "Important Tips for Beginners" or "Favorite Albums by ..." or a map or diagram — anything that could appropriately jazz up the page and make your users feel extra welcomed and informed.
Saving
Save your prep in your "hw" folder.
Save your Links Page and other related files in your "drafts" folder on Eden.
return to schedule
~Jonathan Bass
