Web Design Musings

Short blog today. I am working on getting everything together for the MnCUEW conference tomorrow, so I am going to just write through some of my ideas and quandaries relating to the website design project. Feel free to comment with ideas or suggestions.

As I compiled a list of possible links, documents, pictures, etc. for my website, I began to think about how I wanted to organize the information. I wanted something that represented my persona, but also something navigable and user-friendly. The website’s audience will cater to both students and potential employers, so the layout decision has been difficult. That being said, I considered using a WoW game interface as the main page. If you’re unfamiliar with how the game’s classic interface looks, here is a link (note that I did try to find a pic with arrows and labels for what the items are--for those non-gamers out there--but was unable to find any):

http://images.tentonhammer.com/aoc/images/wowui.jpg

The image is overly busy. Mine would be vastly reduced. The icons present would be links. But with more consideration, I’m not sure the idea is feasible, for a number of reasons. One, I don’t know that any non-WoW players would “get it;” two, I think it may be a bit too unprofessional for hiring committees (even though it would speak volumes about my style/personality); three, I’m not sure the action bar icons are emphasized enough to act as links (which is my entire premise with this idea, but unfortunately the action bar icons are de-emphasized for game play); and four, I’m not even sure my vision could be achieved through the software we’ll be using.

So I am still hunting. While I’d love to have a practical project result at the end of the class to use for both my possible audiences, I’m not sure how I can fit everything together to reach them without a disjointed feeling. Ideally, potential employers would visit the site and get a sense of how I manage my classroom through technology; the trick, though, will be doing so without alienating my students: I want them to feel like the website is their resource and not just a self-promotional tool of mine.