Well it is about that time.....
and I have finally come full circle with this once crazy, complicated and confusing course. The beginnings of this course were the most difficult to me, Writing as a Technology specifically, but looking back at it now it set up a great groundwork for everything else we did. You can never know where you are going, until you know where you have been.

Moving onto the All About Style Unit, I learned that I can have my own approach to style and writing, but still follow the rules that govern my writing and improve upon them to make them better. I can't make up my own language without following the rules because then my style would not be recognized, it would gibberish. So from this unit I got a hold of how to say what I wanted to say, but through words. Through speaking there is facial expression, tone, etc. This can too be expressed through written style.

The Visual Rhetoric Unit took style a step further by introducing the visual aspect. McCloud opened my eyes through an entirely new world; one that I still feel is the most effective, and somehow the world lost touch with this style of communication. The combination of words and pictures makes your personal style that much more apparent. The disconnect between words and picture can even further one's unique style.

In building the websites, I was really able to showcase my style using words and pictures. This was even taken a step further than comics. By following the Web Style Guide and Spider Pros, these were the specific rules that I followed (like following Strunk, White, and Williams) so that my style would be understood correctly.

In gathering all this useful information, I think I proved my understanding in my final website. It's been fun, it's been eventful, and it's been stylish. ;)

#1 Web Style Rule

The style rule that I feel is most important in web design is site design. Site design is what caters to the audiences needs. Without the interest of an audience, your website might as well be an all black home page, because no one will look at it. The Web Style Guide states it best. “The design of the site will determine its organizational framework. At this stage you will make the tactical design decisions about what your audience wants from you, what you wish to say, and how to arrange the content to best meet your audience's needs. Although people will notice the graphic design of your Web pages right away, the overall organization of the site will have the greatest impact on their experience.”Web design is the biggest factor in meeting a user’s needs. What the audience is looking for should be centered on the site design.

Spider Pro gives an excellent list on what to do and what not to do when it comes to web design. The elements I feel that are most important in this list are using a consistent look and feel and using recurring visual elements. These two things are key to having a professional, visually stimulating, respectable website.

WEB vs. PRINT

After reading Spider100 Do’s and Don’ts and the Web Style Guide, and having reviewed the elements of style, I was able to come up with some differences and similarities between writing for the web, and paper-based writing.

In the Spider 100 reading, I found many similarities with paper writing when it came to being grammatically correct, matters of spelling, writing about the subject, and knowing your audience. Whoever you are writing for and however your communicating, these three things still need to be very clear. Just because you are writing for the web does not mean that you can have misspelled words. In both print and the web, the subject and topic of discussion must be clear. When it comes to feedback, the way in which it is received may be different, but they still are welcomed. No one should publish anything without having it reviewed by an outside party.
One difference I noticed with the Spider 100 reading vs. print was the short sentences that are necessary for the web. The web is so fast paced, and when people are surfing the web they want to get information quickly. They don’t care for technical writing, or long explanations, short sentences are best for the web.

In reading the web style guide, one similarity I noticed with print was the organization of the information. The processes may vary in direction, but are accomplishing the same goal of clearly presenting the information. The five steps to organization from the web guide were: divide your content into logical units, establish a hierarchy of importance among the units, use the hierarchy to structure relations among units, build a site that closely follows your information structure, and analyze the functional and aesthetic success of your system. With this in relation to print, there has to be the same kind of organization; dividing paragraphs into logical sections, establishing the piece in order of importance (depending on the piece), and building on that draft.A major difference in the web style guide was planning. A majority of the people who are involved in the planning of the website, will never actually use the website. Companies hire someone to make their companies website, but that person has no immediate connection to the company. So when the site is being planned out and the layout, color, content and everything is being worked on, the client who is requesting the service is not even present. This is very different from the planning for a print document. There is much more hands on involvement, foe example with a book or a magazine. Since the web is more advanced people feel the need to let someone else take on the task, and don’t really get that involved.