First step - Mobile Design

 I have finally been able to start the new website design; I am making it a goal to finish the website before the semester ends, so now I am thinking I might have to use other research articles to do my final project. In my internet/web development II class, my teacher taught us to begin with the mobile design first as most users today use mobile devices. So, this week I have been working on the primary foundation of any web page, the home page, and the mobile design. 

I went with the standard hamburger menu on the top left side because the top-left hamburger menu is very intuitive for individuals in the same class I mentioned. I also placed the logo in the top center of the website, the intuitive or customary placement for logos is the top center or top left, but I found the top left too close to the menu. Lastly, I did finish the footer which mainly needs the basics of every website, including legal, contact information, and the brand.

The mobile design must be intuitive for the user to navigate easily and not be scared off by a complicated or different site. Currently, I decided to go with the traditional black and white colors that the Batmon Logo has a bright blue to add a little color since some color is popular among middle-schoolers websites. Most of the gaming websites I saw for ages middle school and up had black, white, and maybe one color. Also, I am still planning the homepage. I need more images and need to write content for the page. The next step after finishing the home page is designing the other pages. 

Here is the top of the website preview and the menu (menu pages will change): 

 

Here is the bottom footer (not done):

ER and Design

 This week started off bad; I went to the emergency room on Monday and was released that same night. What I have is not serious and the major symptoms that affect me the most should be gone in a week, and the illness will go away on its own, too; it is not COVID, thank goodness. Although it makes me want to hurry up and get better to get my booster shot. I have been very sleepy and woozy from the medicine and antibiotics, so I have taken it slow, but I hate doing nothing. This week I just further planned my design and researched analytics information. This week in my e-commerce class, our chapter included website analytics terms and ways for businesses to use these analytics for their benefit. Specifically, what caught my attention is that I need to focus my research on unique visitors because views and page hits are not the best. The reason views are not the best is because one visitor can view a page or page(s) multiple times, and hits are only HTTP requests, meaning it does not guarantee the visitor stayed for long or their behavior. Also, I learned about algorithms; I was not aware that Google has different algorithms that are put to use, and it is important to be aware of them and manage them for the best search engine marketing results. For example, an algorithm named Panda sought to eliminate low-quality websites from search results. Due to this algorithm, the importance of high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, and great Search engine keywords is crucial to appear in a search engine result. 

Kenneth C. Laudon; Carol Guercio Traver. E-Commerce 2021. Pearson. 

Image from: https://unsplash.com/photos/zhZydTyNMPg. 

Inspiration and Mobile Layout

 I know we are on spring break and it has been very relaxing but I started working on the setup of Batmon's website using Wix. Wix is a platform to develop websites quickly. I could try to code everything from scratch but for a beginner that would take a lot more time. So, I set up an account and started drawing out my basic concept for the website first on the mobile layout. In my internet/web development course, we are taught to start with a mobile design first and that is what I started doing already in the image below. I am still planning the content but now have a more clear idea of what content will go in each section. I know Wix has analytics but I need to look more into Google analytics since my main focus has been on SEO and some design research. I have the color palette down so far and the layout below. I need to next find out what pages the website will have in the menu. 

Accessibility, SEO and Content Optimization

While finding research for my project I found what I believe will be my main 3 factors for the research behind making a website's design competent. The three factors are accessibility, SEO strategy, and content optimization. A website's design must be aesthetically pleasing, have the proper color palette, and it must have accessibility features for individuals with disabilities. While writing and editing my background paper, I found that individuals with disabilities actually use the internet more than those without disabilities. I also found that internationally, a study found that in most countries more than twenty-five percent of the population do not reach adequate literacy to participate fully in society. Hence, the importance of accessibility on web pages should be equally important to the content and functionality. On my own, I see there are a lot of websites that do not have accessibility features, even large companies who have professional websites sometimes tend to lack accessibility features. Below is an image of the workflow that should be followed for designing an accessible website. 

Image and information from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050912007934 

Rephrasing Research Question and SEO

I was able to rephrase my research question, and Josh helped me narrow down my research topic to where I can still use the research articles I have already gathered so far. Josh also helped me find some research articles because he has a talent for keywords. Once again, search engine optimization is emphasized while researching this project. I seek to answer why a website is so important to have a great SEO ranking? From what I have read about search engine optimization, the answer is to increase website traffic; the website must have the correct SEO methods to have a higher rank on tons of websites. Research shows a large percentage of website traffic comes from search engines. In addition to great SEO rankings, the website must also have these major components: Usability, Accessibility, and social media to promote websites. 

Information and image from: https://ibimapublishing.com/articles/JIEBS/2016/969476/969476.pdf 

In my CIS233DA Internet/Web Development, we have learned that usability and accessibility are CRUCIAL for websites because users will not stay if the site is not intuitive enough. Companies can actually get sued for lack of accessibility. We have also learned that most of the American population has problems with accessibility, such as color contrast, further emphasizing the importance of accessibility. I know I have to find a way to import accessibility features into the website and make it very easy and intuitive to navigate. 

Information from: https://www.teaching-materials.org/accessibility/#/13