Borrowed Words Site Critique

by Kael Wagner, Megan Vacura, Ryan Lowe

Purpose

The purpose of our site is to express our thoughts through other people’s words. We wanted to make a casual and fun site that included quotes from people of all sorts. Taking all of our thoughts, humor, and opinions into account, we compiled a list of main headings, which include:

• Topics
• People
• Mood

In finding the various quotes, we searched for people that inspired us, made us think, and/or made us laugh. We view our audience as people who just want to relax, waste time and enjoy whatever comes their way.

Design

One of our goals for this site was that it be easy to use and semi-formal. We wanted our voice and image to be casual, non-authoritative, young, and fun. Therefore, our site design is fairly simplistic, with a clear list of our main topics and once into a specific category, another list of subtopics. We tried for a hierarchy of menus leading to a web of content.

Each quote has its own page including, not only the quote, but also the person who said it, and where we found it. Below each quote are buttons that direct you to the next quote and the last quote. Content interlinks throughout the whole website, so one can easily jump from a quote in the Life subtopic to another quote from that same author. We tried for continuity by keeping the buttons, banners and page layout consistent throughout.

We felt that the words speak for themselves. We did not include pictures or a lot of graphics. This is a text-driven site. The same red gradation scheme was kept throughout the website for consistency.

Problems

There were not a lot of problems faced by the team to create this web site. One problem, however, was the large amount of stuff that could go into this site. It was quite the task to pick the quotes. In some areas we had a lot and in others we needed more. Because of this, it was hard to decide who would make the list and who wouldn’t.

Another problem that we faced was the large number of pages that went into this site. Linking them together and seeing how everything was going to go together was a major task in itself. Navigation was very difficult to figure out since we did not just want to make a site with lists of quotes. We had to figure out a way to categorize them so that the site could be navigated but not feel like a list.

Time was an issue while working on this site. We knew what we wanted to say and how we wanted to say it, but we found time was a major constraint. A different page was created for every single quote. We would have liked to put more quotes on the page but time was not with us and so we had to use fewer quotes than we would have liked.

Responsibilities

Throughout the entire project, quotes had to be found. It was the responsibility for all three of us to find the quotes. This was the hardest part of the project but with the three of us working together we were able to accomplish it.

The design of the project was the work of all three. We had a couple of sessions where we sat down and discussed how this project could be accomplished. The three students presented ideas and a vote was employed. If the idea was thought to have some merit then it was implemented in the web site. Kael, Megan, and Ryan all had pretty much the same idea when it came to making this web site. They had a few different ideas for the layout but the three all had a pretty good idea on how it was going to look.
Kael was kind of the leader of the group, he came up with the idea to make a site of quotes. Kael also looked for quotes while keeping track of the official ones that were going to be used. This was Kael’s idea so he was making sure that it ended up working towards what he initially thought.

Megan looked for quotes while keeping track of what part of the website they would go into. She had a big hand in deciding how the site would operate also. Once we had all the quotes we were going to use, Megan worked on dividing them up and putting them where they belonged.

Ryan was right there besides the other two looking up quotes and pulling them in for use. He also contributed to the site design, putting his thoughts in when necessary. During the project it was Ryan’s job to create the banner along with all the links buttons, side banners, and navigation buttons. He also helped sort quotes and build the web site.

The responsibilities were divided up evenly with everyone working on what needed to get done. The three were able to work well together to create a quality web site. We hope that all who visit will enjoy our hard work.