Week 3 Readings

Anyone can create a website. Stop and think about that for a minute. How often do we turn to the Internet for information? If the information that we are searching for is for either personal reasons or for educational reasons, how do we know the information is accurate. Especially if anyone can create a website. The World Wide Web is a great tool, but not all of the information on it is accurate; therefore, it is important to check out a few things about a website before you take it seriously. One item is to check to see what the purpose of the website is. Is it a government website (.gov), a commercial website (.com), educational (.edu) or there are even others that it could be. Once you have determined the purpose, something else to look for is the currency or when was the last time the website was updated. If the website was last updated a year ago, then there is a good chance that the information is outdated. There are several other things that you can look for to see if the website is accurate as well. Such as the clarity, the appropriateness and the objectivity.

Before I started to read the assignments, I knew to check the credibility of a website or an article, but I did not know to what extent. I also didn't realize everything that could make a good website. For instance, you should create a website with the thought that everyone has a 800x600 resolution. That will eliminate the need for scrolling to view the information on a website. Someone is not going to want to constantly scroll back and forth or up and down to look at the important information on your website. Rather, the viewer wants to see everything right in front of them.

The viewer wants to be able to navigate around a website with ease. If they have difficulties or click on a link that doesn't take them anywhere, the viewer will leave and go to another website. If the website is too busy or too difficult to read, again they will leave. An attractive, easy to navigate and easy to read are parts that make a good website, good.