Interdum nec, metus. Maecenas ornare lobortis risus. Donec mattis quam aliquam risus. Nulla non felis sollicitudin urna blandit egestas. Integer et libero varius pede tristique ultricies. Cras nisl. Proin quis massa semper felis euismod ultricies.
http://www.rob-larsen.com/school/dtc355/
Over the course of the creation process for my DTC 355, I went through quite a few design styles before settling on my final version. I enjoy using Photoshop and Notepad only, because the evolution process of the page becomes a lot more organic, in my opinion. The final version is complete, but leaves room for growth as I see fit, which is the perfect definition of a hypertext.
The page is designed to (basically) fit within a standard 800x600 web space, and is actually the first design I've built at this resolution since around 1999-2000. I chose to work at a low resolution for two reasons, neither of which was to support outdated browsers. The first reason was to work with a confined space to test my ability to create on a limited canvas. The second was to break those boundaries I created ever so slightly to make the page pop off the screen. The user sees gray bars and background, and assumes the page stops there. They see the quad confined to the blue, and it makes it seem as if nothing exists beyond the created walls. However, with the placement of the title and its proximity to the background and guidelines, it gives the page depth not usually achieved in basic HTML (Williams).
I tried to vary alignment, while at the same time keeping alignment consistent. For example, the left menu bar has its items all aligned, and a pyramid style and most of the error page text is aligned on the left side at a ruler. However I tried to then change up the font, type weight, and positioning to have the passage "Error: This Page is not complete" stand out in English, which is the likely language of my viewers.
The chrome on the title gives it a high level of contrast as opposed to the very subtle tones that blend into each other in the rest of the page. These colors were chosen because they hold to my current site identity standards, as well as blending together pleasantly. When text or images would become too large for the page, it can easily be extended straight downwards, or cleverly leave to a larger, more inviting space for large design elements.
Jeffery Keedy notes that "everything should be permitted, as long as context is rigorously and critically scrutinized" (Keedy, 275). At this point in my page, I feel that I have little to no context, as it's just in its earliest form. The only context I could apply to the page is that it exists within the same directories as my main web portal (which is incomplete) and it's a page designed for class. As context continues to develop, the page might change, but at this point I've taken the liberty to work with a few different fonts in different typographical arrangements and see where the development takes them.
Works Cited:
Keedy, Jeffery. Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World. Ed. Carolyn Handa. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2004. 362.
Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer's Design Book. 3rd ed. Berkeley: Peachpit P, 2008. 13-80.