Applying Design Rules

General design rules:

The following design rules were applied to my <object> topic note from assignment two. Each design rule is followed by an explanation of how it was applied to assignment two and improvements that I made for assignment three.

• The user is the king
  • The page is organized in sections
  • Improvements:
    • Added a contents section outlining the topic note and provided anchor links to the different sections
    • Each section is now numbered
• Use common sense
  • The users are assumed to be Dr. Stelovsky, Chris, and the rest of the ICS 415 class.
  • Users will access this page to learn more about the <object> topic note
  • Improvements:
    • Links have been added to outside sources (i.e., W3C, Opera, etc.)
    • Links/anchors are used in the throughout the document to aid user navigation
• Keep it simple
  • Used a graphic to enhance the users understanding of the object tag
  • Improvements:
    • Removed text that indicated obvious links
    • Removed underlined text
    • Used a simpler and faster loading applet example.
• Be consistent
  • Used a consistent layout
  • Improvements:
    • Made minor cosmetic changes.
    • Added examples for all attributes.
• Discriminate
  • Used different fonts for code and HTML tags
  • Document is ordered according to both logic and importance
  • Improvements:
    • Added a contents section to provide an organizational structure to the document.
• Be precise
  • Avoided use of colloquials
  • Used meaningful headings
  • Improvements:
    • Rephrased the entire document by removing wordiness.
    • Added links or explanations of possible insider terms

[View the revised <object> topic note] [View the original <object> topic note]

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Last Updated: February 15, 2002