Website Critiques

Hello!
Today I will be critiquing two websites based on the 10 principles of effective web design. I will be telling you what a good website looks like and what a bad website looks like. I will also tell you why and I hope these elements will help you in the future if you would like to make or open a website of your own. Also, it would give you an opinion of an actual user and what they are looking for.

The first website I looked at was called Statistics Canada .

Statistics Canada is a bad website. Though it has a lot of information. It is not visually attractive. You click onto the website and you are hit with tons of links and text. The logo is stuck right in the top middle of the website (a bright red leaf), because of the bold colour of it, your eyes wander over to it, but don't want to move away because the red is so bright on the neutral and calm colour scheme. Also because there is so much text on the main page, you just want to click the little "X" on the top corner of your browser. You just don't have to patience to look around, it makes you have to think. There is a search bar underneath the logo so if you write specifically enough you may find what your looking for, but when you search you get A LOT of different links, again, its frustrating. There is a navigation bar but there are so many links around it, you don't know where to click. They have used white spaces in the background but then all the information is crowded in the middle on the page. It is an OK website, it has a lot of useful information but because the main page is so crowded and unattractive it doesn't make you want to look around. This isn't a very good website.


The second website I looked at was called facebook.



Facebook is a good website. This is because when you click onto the site, you immediately know what its about, it doesn't make the user think. They have their logo in the in the top right hand corner. So your eyes go immediately go to it. Then when your eyes scan down it tells you what the website is about "Facebook helps connect and share with the people in your life." Under that there is an image that shows people around the world being connected by lines. To the side, there is a part where you can register and above that, there is a sign in box. It's organized in a clean box like layout, with a cool and calm colour scheme. There isn't a lot of information being thrown at you either. When you come to this website you can either choose to sign in or register, there aren't any advertisements that distract your eyes, it focuses your attention. The good thing about this website is that you don't have to click into numerous tabs or links to find everything. The most important things or features are right on the main page. Another good thing about this website is that it guides you through the registration process, you fill in your name, email, password, gender and age. You then click "Sign up". That's it, its simple and the website guides you through the process so you don't get frustrated. This is a good website. It's simple, clear and easy to use. Which doesn't make you want to click the little back arrow on the top right hand corner or your browser.

A Photo Shop Tutorial :)

Hello Everyone!
Today, I made a Simple Adobe Photoshop CS3 Tutorial on colouring an image (but I assume it works on any other version of Photoshop). It is a step by step process that will teach you how to make this:

I have provided some screen captures to help. :)

1. First you save and open this image into Photoshop.

2. Then you go into Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels
This will pop up. Set the numbers to 37, 1.56, 234
Press OK

3. Next go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer> Colour Balance
This will pop up. Set the numbers to:
Midtones; -47, -27, +12
Shadows; -10, +4, +9
Highlights; -15, 0, -13
Press OK

4. Now go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Selective Colour
This will pop up. Set the numbers to:
reds; -20, +10, -15, +19
greens; +86, 100, 100, 100
Cyans; +2, 0, 0, 0
Whites; 100, +9, +41, -21
Neutrals; +9, +5, -9, -3
Blacks; +17, +16, +21, +11
Press OK

5. Go to your layers. Duplicate the layer and set it to soft light. To do that, left Click on the selective colour layer you just made. Press Duplicate. Click on the duplicated layer. There should be a drop down tab in the left corner of your layers window. Click it and press soft light. Your layer window should look something like this.

6. Next Take this texture (credit sanami276) and Save it onto your computer. Then, open it into Photoshop. If you would not like to save this image simply left click on your mouse and copy the image. Go into Photoshop and paste it onto a new canvas.

7. Resize the texture so it is approximately 500pxl in height. Now copy and paste this texture onto the image (It should be the top layer). Now set it to "Screen". It should make a lighting effect. You can move the texture around with your arrow tool and place it where it looks best.

8. Take the eraser tool and erase the lighting effects you don't need off the image (eg; the face).

That's It! Your Done! The Final Image should look similar to this.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorials! If you have any questions, feel free to lave me a comment, thank you! :)