Looking to the future

The biggest problem I've seen from working on the guide so far is that there is not much room for change. Once you build it, it may be hard to describe how to change something to someone who has no idea how to work around websites. While right now the website is fine, there are things that may need to be changed in the coming years. I know I would not want to keep coming back to the same website over and over again.

Outcomes

Employ and justify user-centered approaches to technical communication.

This is the approach I would say that I have comes closest to what I have done. I have wanted to focus on bringing new information to people that focuses on them personally. This is evident in the website we just completed, freshmen helpers. It is designed and focused to concentrate on freshmen and their needs specifically.  being able to focus on the user is important to understand because once you know what they need it becomes easier to help them.

Users

Since our users are freshmen at Texas tech, they will mainly be 18 years old. A majority of the new students will also be inexperienced in there knowledge of Lubbock. Our purpose is to educate them in the diverse culture of Lubbock and all that it has to offer. We want to deliver them all the information that we feel that they may need in their time here at tech. While they may know what they want to major and classes to take, college life is much more expansive than just school. We want to offer them the full college experience, so that they may enjoy everything that tech offers.

Colors

With our website having a Texas Tech based theme, we would be going with the colors of red, black, and white. These colors blend well and will give the website a clean look to it. Red and black are complimentary of each other. We will have to choose a background and lettering combination that is easy on the eyes. A red background with black font would not be easy on the eyes for anyone viewing the website. 

Website #2

Our group has decided on a website that we will use to help incoming freshmen with learning about Texas Tech and Lubbock. It will be done from the point of view of current students so it has its own unique viewpoint. We have split the project up into me and Alex doing the storyboard and proposal and Rock and Brian doing the manual. We will all contribute in our own ways to the website overall. We set some deadlines for each item as well. The proposal we want to have finished by March 1. The website we want to have finished by April 10. And the manual we want to have completed by April 24.

Website Improvement

The first thing I would do if I had more time is make my side menu better. Instead of just having text I would have buttons or something that is better to look at. The way it looks now is just very plain. The next thing I would work on is the spacing. Working on the website on the big screens in class and working on the smaller screen I have at home gave me two very different looks. What may look good on the bigger screen at school did not look the way I wanted when I would get home and look at it on my screen. The last thing I would work on if I had more time is the pictures. I would try to crop and resize them so that they looked more appealing on the eye. I would also give them borders so that they were each their own and stood out.

Microsoft expressions

I've finally started using Microsoft expressions to create my website and all I can say is, "Thank God for this program." Before I was using this program I felt like Nemo lost at sea. Now I can actually start making my website look how I had it pictured in my mind. I didn't even look at any other programs. I just went with what Dr. Rice said and hoped for the best. While at first it was a little confusing and I had to mess around with it for a bit, it became much better after I got to tinker around with it today. I probably will never open notepad ever again.

Website storyboard

I'm in a group trying to raise awareness through social media for sickle cell disease. I told them this class would be perfect for me to design a website for us to try and spread some information.

What I hope to learn

Coming into this class I had very little idea of what it may be about. I've always had an interest in the Internet and how it works. The first thing I'm hoping to learn writing or understanding HTML code better. It is something I have a basic idea of but not to my liking. The second thing I hope to learn is how to create a website. There are organizations I'm in that could use some help with a website. The last thing I hope to learn is how to organize and decorate a website. The website I hope to redesign would be my fraternity's local chapter website.