Evaluation

There are many forms and conventions used within my main website however, some have been

challenged and developed throughout. After researching other websites, I started to design my own

layout for my website. I have used the conventional layout of the row at the top and columns

underneath; however, I have challenged the usual convention of three columns under the top row

by changing it to four, but, one of the columns is for advertisements. This is another way I have

challenged conventions of a website as I felt it was important to have advertisements on my

website. Having the advertising space means that I would gain money from the advertising company

to use that space, therefore, this could pay for the web hosting and domain, and any leftover money

could go to charity. The advertisements on my website are related to the theme of my website, so

therefore are also appropriate. I have also followed the convention of having my logo in the top left

hand corner of the page as I feel it has the best effect on the page. However, I have kept the logo

black and white because I feel it has the best look and does not distract the viewer too much but it is

memorable. Not only this but I have found a font from the internet to create he lettering on my logo

called Jellyka Saint-Andrews Queen as I felt it was unusual and not a font that people have seen

before on a website. I also used this as the font for my title, which also challenges the usual

conventions of a website as they are more often than not plain fonts, but I felt it looked more

consistent with the logo to have the same font.

Not only does my website follow and challenge conventions of a real website with the layout, logo

and title text, it also has other aspects as well. Like most websites my website also has links to each

page on one page and links around the page. This is because it shows conventions of a real website

and also makes it a lot easier to find your way around the website and go the exact page you need to

go to. Although most websites have a colour scheme that usually matches their logo to keep the

consistency between the pages, my logo is black and white so I thought it would be interesting to

have each page as a colour scheme rather than the whole website having one. I have kept the

background white as most websites do as it makes the pages and text clearer, but I have used pastel

colours on each page for text box background and also the navigation bar. I have also used imagery

on each page as I feel this is a website that needs to have visual aid to make people want to be

healthy, therefore I have used pictures on each page that fit the colour schemes to make the overall

look more interesting and challenge the usual conventions, making it unique. I have also added polls

onto a couple of the pages to make the website more interactive with the audience as I feel a lot of

websites don’t and people like to get involved and have a say. I have made the polls the same colour

as the navigation bar on that page so that there is continuity throughout. I think that the overall look

of the website is unique and different which makes it more appealing to people.

If I were to get my website distributed, I would have to go through a web hosting company and also

get a domain so that it is accessible via the internet. I would pick a web hosting company that give

you a choice of prices for using their space. This is because it would be unnecessary for me to pay a

lot of money as I would be needing to donate money to a charity with the money I get from

donations and advertising; therefore, I would need a cheaper option that would allow my website to

have all the functions on it available, which a free one wouldn’t. I would also need a cheaper option

as my domain name would also have a charge from the web host, as they usually give you a domain

name that is suitable and as the two together would usually have monthly fee, I would pick a

cheaper option so that it would be beneficial for my website and I would still definitely have money

left over to donate to a charity.

The target audience for my website would be mainly women from their mid twenties onwards, but it

can be used by men as well. The colours are quite girly, light colours but because they are pastel

colours and, there are colours that are stereotypically seen as male colours, for example blues and

greens, making it targeted toward some male audiences as well. I have also used advertisements on

each page, one for weight watchers and there is another for Muller Rice as they are both healthy

things, both of these can relate to any age group from my target audience, making the whole idea

more appealing to the audience. Not only this, but I have used images that are colour coordinated

on each page so that they are much more visually pleasing, this will also appeal to my target

audience as it is not food that anyone younger would go to the supermarket and take notice of

whereas people around my target audience would. I also thought that it is the sort of food that

mum’s will pick up for the children’s lunches, which was where I got the idea to talk about how

mum’s or dad’s could get their children or school involved in the campaign or even to help them out.

Not only this, the idea of the images are so that the viewers themselves find them attractive and

want to read the recipes, and start following the campaign. I have also used recipe of Jamie Oliver’s

on the website as I think his food appeals to many people around my target audience age. Not only

is his food healthy and tasty, he also has a variety of time based meals, which is perfect for working

parents or busy family’s. There are his thirty minute meals and for the busier people and on his

website there are lovely home cooked meals for people with more time on their hands. This is a

huge role in attracting my target audience as people like to know the recipes they see are from a

chef they like, and therefore will enjoy making it. To go with the recipe, I also have a video that takes

you through it step by step, making it even easier for any age group in my target audience to create

this recipe, as it gives them visual aid to help them understand the method.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the tasks of making both my preliminary site and main website, I have found that there

is a vast amount of technology used for different things that go onto a website. When starting on my

preliminary site, I found that a lot of technologies I was using, for instance Final Cut Express and

iWeb were difficult and at times very trying. This was mostly because I had no experience in using

them and therefore needed to find things to make them look better. Creating my preliminary site

was a great help as it mean that everything I had learnt I could improve and develop and therefore

create a site that could be published and used. I started off by creating a basic layout on iWeb so

that I knew where I wanted everything to be and the sizes that everything needed to be, as I find

iWeb very awkward in the sense that you cannot scale things down to the exact size you want, it will

only let you scale things down or up to the size that it lets you. Therefore, creating the boxes made

editing the images a lot easier. I then started to edit my images on Photoshop. I had done some brief

work on Photoshop for my preliminary site, but only things like cropping, however I started to learn

new tools and how to create a very aesthetically pleasing image and also logo. Although at times I

found creating my logo extremely frustrating, mostly because there were so many layers and to

work on a layer you have to click on it and I would often forget and end up moving the wrong thing;

but, I felt the end product was worth it. At first I also found Final Cut Express very hard work as I had

no idea how to use it, but when I created the video for my main website, I found that it was much

easier because I knew what I was doing and what tools to use. Because of this it meant I could spend

more time cleaning up the editing of the video. Overall I would say that, although the technologies

had their complications, they each helped to create a website that functions properly and I am

pleased with. I also feel that because of my previous experience in creating the preliminary website,

it gave me more help when creating the newer website.

In conclusion, I feel as though my website would reach out to its target audience with the various

attractions on the site, that would not only help them understand what the campaign is about, but

also interact with them in a way that they can feel involved and therefore want to get involved. I

have made the layout so that this is an easy task even for the elderly generations to navigate their

way around the website, and the colour schemes on each page are simplistic yet effective. The logo

is also recognisable as it is unique and also black and white, which also makes it clear. All together I

feel that website shows a clear understanding of the forms and conventions that are in a real

website, and would therefore be appropriate to be published by a web host.