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REVIEW:
Wine Site: ESLflow's guide to communicative activities
P. Snashall points out in his Web review submission:
__ ESLflow is designed
to be used by esl teachers to create lessons. Mainly it is designed as a resource
full of communicative activities. So far some reviewers have been generous.
__ The esl editor at
About.com* wrote
"ESL Flow is a brillant site using a flowchart metaphor.
Grammar concepts are cleverly organized into functional patterns for which an impressive
array of linked resources from the Web are employed. Resources are organized both
for students and teachers and include grammar, speaking, dialogues, readings handouts
and lesson plans."
__I think my site is great
too and I use it so have been designing it to be functional. However, I am a little
worried about some things.
__ I elected to use a
big page design, and I'm not sure if other people can get used too it ( I love it
- I don't have to click through pages - everything is there).
__ I am very confident
about the content of my site. I know it's some of the best esl teaching ideas in
the world. I work in an inspiring hothouse of teaching in Bangkok. But, as yet I
haven't learned HTML. (I teach 40 hours a week).
__ The design of the
info concerns me . I'd really like to be reviewed. Now major search engines are beginning
to list me highly in certain categories; ie communicative activities for esl and
I want my design to match the content.
Regards, Peter Snashall
* Reviewer says:
I was assigned to critique a web site in my "Page Layout
with the computer" class at Foothill college in CA, and I picked this site since
at the same time I'm taking an ESL class, so it is interesting for me to discuss
the ESL site.
1. The flowchart navigational system is helpful, and should be particularly good
for teachers.
__ However, the colors
reminded me of Easter, so, I would suggest using a slightly different color scheme
unless it is intended to bring a flourish, spring feeling to the site.
2. This site is fairly big, but almost every page downloads quickly, which is nice.
__ Because there are
not a lot of big graphics or photos on the upper levels of hierarchy, the site is
simple visually and easier to work with. The more complex graphics at lower levels
do not seriously impede navigation.
3. I like the flowchart navigational system
__ However, as a designer
I found some elements that might warrant a change: some words are underlined, and
thus they appear as links even though they are not. Some elements are hard to read
since there is not enough contrast between the background and type on it (an example
is light pastel colors on a white background.)
__ There seems to be
a lot of misalignment, so it would be nice if all lines and columns were properly
aligned. On subpages there are a lot of small graphics where you don't expect them,
and I'm not quiet sure how they related to the topic. Also, these graphics appear
on third or fourth level, and are not consistent with the graphics from the first
levels.
__ It is nice that the
logo appears on every page, so the viewer can recognize that he is still in the same
site. Also, the color scheme is maintained through the whole site, which holds all
pages together.
4. As I said, the flowchart navigation is a clever metaphor...
__ but it is hard to
figure out that these small bullets are actual links because there no text links.
Also, with graphics turned off, there wouldn't be a way to get to many locations.
I also found some dead links, and on some subpages, if you are on the third level,
the only link up is to the home page, while sometimes you just want to get to the
parent level.
__ As it says in the
introduction, all lessons can be printed with Internet Explorer, and not with Netscape,
so it would be nice to have a cross-platform solution.
__ This site is big,
it would be nice to have a site map. In this case it would be easier to understand
the structure of the site. Without the map it is easy to get lost in the sublevels.
Also, it might be a good idea to make the external links open in a new window. Right
now, external links open in the same window, which makes it easy to get separated
from the site, or lose it entirely.
5. SPAM
__ The advertisements
provide clutter, but if this site is free it is hard to get rid of them. Also, according
to well-known web masters, it is not necessary to put counters, especially on almost
every page (who cares?). Since the number of pictures is limited, every banner or
link exchange attracts the viewer's attention away from the information.
__ The site has very
few web tricks, which is nice. Since the site is full of useful information and there
is no need for taking up more memory by putting in gadgets and tricks.
6. I couldn't figure out right away the reason for using different bullets as links.
__ Perhaps it might be
better to use a single symbol, or to make the difference in the significance of the
symbols clear. There is some nice animation, which should stop automatically after
several loops. Otherwise, as in the case with banners, it takes the attention away
and might distract some viewers.
__ As the author wrote
in his comments, he likes big size pages. Unfortunately, most people don't have large
enough monitors, and when only part of page appears, it might be not clear enough
to understand the information (I have an average size monitor, and I had to scroll
all the way to the right to see all links). Having to scroll horizontally might be
annoying for a viewer, since you have to do it for every line of type that you read.
Olga
* WD&R
Comments: Is there anything else left to be said???
__ Olga, this is an excellent
review -- we are so pleased that you decided to send it in! (Other schools use our
site as teaching aid, but we never get to share in the results!) I believe you should
get an "A"
for this review.
__ Olga points out many
things that we would have stressed as well. Particularly the spam part. If you read
our piece on "Banners Spoil the Site" you get another view
of the situation. Since that article we've seen literally hundreds of sites where
truly inappropriate banners appear. It's a shame too, because so many site owners
feel the banners are justified in bringing in readers. It's as if they're saying:
"Our content isn't good enough, so we'll use banners to bring in readers."
Don't get me wrong: I'm not just picking on Peter. But I do think in Peter's case
that there's got to be another way to do it rather than banners! This is good, valuable
content -- it doesn't deserve blinking banners. IMHO. I think I'll do an article
on better techniques that can take the place of the Banner Exchanges. Would anyone
like that? [YES] [NO]
The About.com review referred to above may still be at: http://esl.about.com/msub8.htm
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