Rose Anderson
GDT 150

Site Definition and Planning


General Site Description: I would like to design a Web site spotlighting a Michigander's Vacation Guide to the 'Valley of the Sun' in Arizona, specifically the greater Phoenix area. I have been to Arizona several times and have a passion for the Southwest, and even plan to move there someday. I am intrigued by the Indian art, jewelry, icons, cacti, the desert and mountains, and bring back things to decorate my house every time I go, and even have a subscription to Phoenix magazine. I would like to feature these different categories as buttons with links: 1) Photo Opportunities: for people who like to see the sights, I would provide them with a selection of places to see, day trips to go on. 2) Art Lovers: I would provide a selection of artist communities, galleries, museums. 3) Animal Lovers: I would provide a selection of zoos, wildlife habitats. 4) Plant Lovers: I would provide a selection of botanical gardens, national parks. 5) Children Lovers: I would provide a selection of activities or places to go with children. I would also like to have a category featuring Upcoming Activities, with current events. Possibly, I could have another category showing short testimonials by people who have been on vacation in Arizona and telling their experiences, where they went, or places they recommend to go. There could be a form they fill out with a space to type in their little story, and submit back via e-mail. Then these little stories could be put up on the Web site from time to time for other people to see. I can see placing a short, descriptive paragraph next to the category's button on the home page, to tell what information you're going to get if you follow the link. For example, if I listed the Heard Museum as one of the places to go, the name of that museum could be a link to click to get to their actual Web site. I could do this for all of the places I list.

I have some new, original photographs of scenery that I took on my last trip to Arizona in March, that I would like to scan and use. I also would like to use some southwest graphics that I have collected over the last few years. These graphics/clip art could be used to create navigational buttons for these different categories. I would also create a logo/title to use on every page in the site. I would like to use colors most often associated with the southwest, like teal, rust, tan, black, gold. Probably create some backgrounds in Photoshop. I would like to use at least one gif animation on my site.

Site Goals: The goals of my Web site would be to educate people about Arizona who have not been there already, help them by giving them a guide for some things to do on a vacation in Arizona. I would also like to have a category featuring a list of Upcoming Activities, and change them from month to month, so people wanting to visit Arizona will know some of the events that will be taking place when they plan to go, like exhibits, concerts, plays, etc. It would have to be kept current to be successful. The goal of the site would be to help people to plan their vacation to the Phoenix area in Arizona. The goal of my site is to want people to go to these wonderful places.



Site Technology: I would create my Web site using the required Dreamweaver software, and html. I'd like my site to be able to ideally be viewed by Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, on both Windows and Macintosh platforms. It would have an external audience and be used by typical modem connections. There will be user interface by using a feedback form. I would try to keep my file sizes of photos, and graphics small so the download time will be minimal. I will keep the most important things for the audience to see toward the top 4 inches of the screen, and try to minimize scrolling vertically, and make sure there is no scrolling horizontally. Test out my site on other peoples computers, and browsers.


Audience Profile: My audience would be a broad range of people and ages, from the baby-boomer age group to people approaching retirement age, to young adults wanting to explore traveling. People that might visit the site would be anyone planning a vacation (baby-boomers) with children (people like me), maybe visiting parents/grandparents in Arizona (people like me), young adults thinking about going to college in Arizona (people like my son), older adults looking for a place to retire, people with bronchial problems, like emphysema (people like my father and mother-in-law), or professionals there at a conference (one example is, doctors that I know that have gone to medical conferences in Arizona.)

The users would be able to get quick information by going directly to where their interest lies, be able to find out what kind of place it is, the location, times, etc. They would be able to access the site from my personal URL any time of the day.

They would want to return to the site to get periodic updates on information regarding upcoming events, and activities.



Similar Sites: The first site I chose when I looked up Arizona, was http://expedia.msn.com/wg/North_America/United_States/P3038.asp
This site had a very subtle look to it, nothing flashy. It featured a lot of things going on all over the home page. The type was too small. One thing I noticed was the navigational bar at the top of the page with links, was also featured at the bottom of the page. There was a navy blue side bar with reversed out white text, which I thought was really hard to read. The site did feature small graphical icons next to the text link, which is something that I planned on doing on my site. Although this site was informational, it wasn't nearly as organized looking, as the other sites.


The second site I chose was: http://www.arizonaguide.com/
I really liked this Web site. It was bursting with information and was very aesthetically appealing, with photos, graphics, colorful, but tasteful. It had a category for everything you could think of and lots of links. There was a list of subjects on the left, the changing information was in the center and on the right side was a box with advertising, and another box with Marketplace, and below that, a Related Sites links section. Those were present and stationary on all pages. It didn't have the look and feel of Arizona and the southwest. I was very impressed with this site though. It used both text and graphic navigational methods. It was more fun to use and look at than the first site. It featured a link just for kids, that was very educational. It was a good site for students doing research and reports on Arizona. It showed some artistic-looking maps. It was a good site for people wanting to learn more about Arizona to go to. A good site for people who plan to take a trip for Arizona.


The third site that I chose was: http://home.about.com/travel/ then I followed the link to: http://phoenix.about.com/
This site was different from the first two sites. It reminded me of a newspaper, with lots of text in columns (tables) on the home page. It had lots of links. It gave an example of what I want to do, as far as an "Upcoming Events" category. However, for me, the way it was laid out, was too much to look at, at once. It had too many lists all over the place. I prefer a cleaner, simpler look, so it's easier to follow. The colors are predominately grays, navy blue, and red, not very southwestern looking. There was also a big box at the bottom of the home page with a list of sponsors and links to them.

 

 

 

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