Learning Aim A

The Use of Websites

Introduction

Websites are used for a very wide range of purposes.

Typical uses of websites

There are millions of websites on the internet. They are used for almost every conceivable purpose
including business, personal and entertainment purposes. Some of the more common purposes of
websites are described in the following sections.

1. Presenting information

Websites are commonly used both for presenting information, such as news, and for product
advertising. Most companies have their own website. One of the best known news websites is BBC
News (www.bbc.co.uk/news).

2. Storing information

Websites can be used to archive information. The ‘cloud’ concept is a relatively recent development
in information storage. It involves using the internet to store information rather than using local
storage (such as your computer’s disk drive or a USB memory stick).

3. Browsing and searching for information

The internet search engine Google has become such a part of our lives that the verb ‘to Google’ has
been included in the Oxford English Dictionary. If you ask someone question, you may get the
response, ‘Just Google it’. The internet has also become a useful source of real-time information.
For example, if you are meeting someone at the railway station or airport, the quickest way to check
real-time updated information is via the internet.

4. Improving Productivity

Email has revolutionised personal and business communication, enabling people to share
information and send documents to each other quickly and so improving productivity. Facilities such
as video conferencing allow people to have ‘virtual’ meetings, enabling them to work collaboratively
without having to spend time travelling.

5. Making Decisions

Many websites provide information which helps individuals and businesses to make decisions. Price
comparison websites like Compare the Market (www.comparethemarket.com) and Money
Supermarket (www.moneysupermarket.com) help people to decide on the most suitable insurance
policy, loan or other financial service.
 6. Communication with People

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, have become very popular as they allow people to
communicate with their friends. They can let all their friends know what they are doing with status
updates and they are able to chat with friends through an instant messenger type interface. Many
other instant messenger services, such as Yahoo Chat are popular and some include video chatting
as well as text chat.

7. Media Sharing

Another area that the internet has revolutionised is how we listen to music or live radio, and how we
watch films. Sites such as Apple iTunes allow consumers to purchase and download music, while
sites such as YouTube let people view and share videos on a wide range of subjects. Radio stations
now broadcast digitally and so you can listen to them over the internet. Some radio stations are
only broadcast digitally such as BBC Radio 6 Music.

8. E-Commerce

There has also been a huge increase in the number of goods being bought online, both from online-
only retailers like Amazon and high street chains, such as Tesco and John Lewis. A large proportion
of Trade business is now conducted online.

9. Education

The internet contains a vast resource of information on just about every subject imaginable. You can
find information on encyclopaedia websites or specialist websites. Some of these, such as
www.tomshardware.co.uk, which provides lots of information about PC hardware, give details on
training courses and contains video instructions on how to do all sorts of practical things.

10. Downloading Information

Many websites provide digital content for you to download. iTunes is one of the best known
websites from which you can buy and download music. Many software vendors allow you to
download their software products directly from their website.
Activity

Make a list of all the websites you visit in a week and classify each of them using the list above.

Websites I visit Website use (see list above)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.
Features of Websites
Introduction

Websites are constructed on many different features. It can be useful to think about these when
designing your own websites.

Target audience

Most websites will have a target audience and their content will reflect the interests that group. For
example, a site aimed at children may have bright colours, animation, lots of relevant images, clear
simple text and simple, easy to use features. On the other hand, a website with support and
resources for professional programmers might have plain colours and few, if any, images. The text
would be technical and high level.

Websites run on a wide range of hardware and software platforms. You can view a website using a
range of hardware devices, including mobile phones, tablet computers and laptops. There is also a
variety of different operating systems and browsers that you can use to view websites. It is
important to ensure that a website is compatible with all these different platforms, and this can
sometimes be tricky to achieve.

Construction features

There are many different features that you can include when you’re constructing a website to allow
users to interact with it and to make it more interesting to use.

1. Hyperlinks and templates

These are links, which in the most basic form are displayed as underlined text. When you click a
hyperlink, you are taken to another web page or to a different website.

Many websites use templates or styles to define the layout and formatting of all the pages on the
site. This helps ensure consistent layout and formatting of the site.

2. Forms

Forms allow users to make input and interact with the website. The simplest type of form is a search
box which allows the user to input text which is then searched for on the site. More complex forms
may be used, for example, to allow users to register their details with the site to receive updates.
Forms can also provide a method for website users to feedback information (e.g.) on a product or
service they have received) to the people running the website.

3. Hot spots and action buttons

A hot spot is similar to a hyperlink, except that it uses an image rather than text. Action buttons
allow website users to access interactive features, such as submitting a form or searching for page
content.
Interactive Features

4. Registration

This allows the site to keep its users’ details and to email them updates about the site. Registered
users can log on to the site and do things that standard users cannot, such as review items, leave
comments or add other information to the site (e.g. status updates). Registration is completed by
filling in a form.

5. Email links

Some sites provide links that allow you to send emails to the site to request further information or
ask a question.

6. E-Commerce

Many websites sell goods or services online. E-commerce websites allow users to search for and
view products, and place those they wish to purchase in a virtual shopping basket. When they have
chosen all the items they want to buy, they can go to a ‘check-out’ page where they can enter
delivery details and pay with a credit or debit card. E-commerce is the prime function of some
websites, such as Amazon and online banks. Other websites use e-commerce as an added feature.
For example, a rock band’s website might have information about gigs, but also offer T-shirts and
other merchandise for sale.

7. Online forums

Forums are very useful way to get questions answered about almost any topic. With a forum, you
can place a question or comment (known as posting) on the website, which all users can read.
People will usually respond to your post if it contains a question or a request for help.

8. Aesthetics

The way a website looks is very important, both to encourage users back to the site and also to
reflect the quality of the organisation it represents. There are a number of aesthetic aspects to the
design of the website:

 Colours – these should be complementary rather than clashing. The target audience may
dictate the choice of colours. If you are designing a website for children, for example , bright
colours would be suitable, but more subtle colours may be a better choice for an adult
audience. A consistent colour scheme across the pages that make up the site is important.
 Layout – various layouts are possible with headers, columns, side bars and footers. As with
colours, consistently is important.
 Graphics and other media – these need to be laid out neatly within the other features of the
site. Images should be of good quality. The same applies to any video, animation or audio
you add.
  Text – You should preferably use only one or two different font for site, and you should have
a consistent scheme of formatting for text which is used to headings, subheadings, plain text
etc.

Remember – The best way to enforce a consistent design is to define style sheets which are used
throughout the site.

9. Accessibility

Not everyone who visits a website will have good eyesight. The needs of users with visual
impairments must be considered. These users may need to use text readers, which convert text to
speech, and the site should include alternative text which describes non-text items (such as images)
to these users. See Unit 3 A digital portfolio, for more information on websites and accessibility.

Activity

Revisit the list of websites created in the previous activity. For the sites you visited most often
identify the following:

 Who do you think the target audience is for the website? What features on the website
appeal to that audience?
 What interactive features do the website have?
 How do the websites look, what features make them aesthetically pleasing?

Website Use Target Features that Interactive Aesthetics

audience appeal features

Just checking

1. Why can it be difficult to make sure people who view your website can see it the way you
expect them to?
Answer:

2. What is a hyperlink?
Answer:

3. What the benefits of getting your users to register with your website?
Answer:
Types of websites and improving user experience
Introduction

Broadly speaking you can divide websites into two main types: static and dynamic. This section will
discuss these two types of site and also what features you can add to improve the experience of
users visiting your website, to make their visit more enjoyable and to give them a reason to come
back to the website.

Static websites

A website is one which is not regularly updated and does not have any dynamic content. When the
internet was first used, a large proportion of websites were static: they presented unchanging
information across a series of web pages. The fact, there are still many static websites, but they are
no longer popular, due to the fact that they do not change very often and they do not have any
interactive features to attract users. Static websites are created using HTML.

Dynamic Websites

Dynamic websites include information which changes often, sometimes automatically using data
feeds from other sources. Dynamic websites allow the user to select and view information based on
the information they enter. Sites of this type include online banking sites, where users can see up-
to-date information on their bank transactions and make payments and e-commerce websites,
where users can search for products which match their requirements and purchase them online.
These type of websites make use of web programming such as PHP and ASP.NET , as well as HTML.

Dynamic Interactions

Social networking sites such as Facebook use dynamic interactions to allow users to customise their
pages, to enter status updates, to see those of their friends and to share updates and media.

10. Interactivity through embedded digital assets

Embedding digital content including images, animations, sounds and videos makes a site more
interesting and visually appealing.

For example, your favourite band probably has a website. A band website with photos, tour dates,
their latest news and song lyrics is something you might want to visit once a week or once a month,
depending on how often it is updated (this is static content) but if the website has a forum on it,
where fans can post messages and discuss the band’s latest album or recent gigs, then you might
want to visit the site more often, because now it is interactive (this is dynamic content)

11. Customer feedback forms

Forms that allow users to leave feedback or request further information are another way that can
allow a site to interact with its users. Having a form to allow users to register with the site so email
updates and other information can be sent to them is a way many websites use to keep in touch
with their users and encourage them to come back to the site again.

12. Applying style sheets

Another aspect of website design which can help attract people to the site is its visual appeal. A
well-designed website with complementary colours, a consistent look and feel to all the pages and
easy navigation is likely to give users a much more positive experience than a messy one with
clashing colours, many different fonts etc. One method that is used by all professional websites to
maintain consistency and to make updating easier is cascading style sheets (CSS). These specify the
formatting of font, styles and sizes, colours and backgrounds for each page of a site.

Activity

Kids Sporting Life is a local charity that encourages young people to get involved in different kinds of
sport. They have asked you to help them develop a new website. The management team at Kids
Sporting life are unsure what style of website they would like. You have offered to produce a report
to help them understand websites.

Choose two different types of website. Purposes could include: presenting, storing, browsing and
searching, or downloading information; improving productivity; making decisions; communicating
with people; media sharing; e-commerce; education. Present your findings in a report.

Research the two websites and prepare a short document that covers the following:

 The purpose of the website.

 An explanation of the intended uses and features of each website
 A discussion how the features of each website improves presentation, usability, accessibility
and performance.
 A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each website

Tips

 Make sure that you research two different types of site

 Before you start writing think about how you will structure your report so that it is clear.
 Include as much detail as you can about each feature.

Criteria: 1A.1, 2A.P1, 2A. M1, 2A.D1

 Activity
sheet 1
Website features
Learning aim A

For each of the purposes below, find examples of two websites that fulfil that purpose. For each
website, describe the features that help it fulfil its purpose and state whether the website is static or
dynamic.
Purpose of website Example website Features Static or
dynamic?
Presenting information 1
(e.g. advertising, news)
2

Storing information 1
(e.g. archiving, cloud)

Browsing/searching 1
(e.g. search engines, train
times)
2

Improving productivity 1
(e.g. email, collaborative
working)
2

Making decisions 1
(e.g. financial, managerial)

Communicating 1
(e.g. social networking,
video conferencing)
2

Media sharing 1
(e.g. listen to live radio,
watch films)
2

E-commerce 1
(e.g. shopping, banking)

2
 Education 1
(e.g. libraries, online
learning, assessments)
2

Downloading 1
(e.g. data, media)
2

Features can include: hyperlinks, action buttons, hot spots, templates, email links, registration and
logins, forms (user input and feedback), accessibility, e.g. text to speech, e-commerce facilities, online
forums, etc.

Further tasks
For each of the websites you have identified consider how the features of the site improve the
way it looks and makes it more usable (e.g. how does it make the site attractive to users and
encourage them to return to the site on a regular basis?).

For each website you have identified list two strengths and two weaknesses.