18 October 1995
E309K - Browning
Alfred Hitchcock The Master of Suspense
While browsing the enormous variety of sites and home pages on the World Wide Web, it is difficult to compare and contrast items that do not have anything in common. How can we say the "Wall Street Journal page" is better than "Joe's Page of Craziness?" Therefore the first step in critiquing web pages is by determining their purpose. The goal of a web page can vary from presenting factual information such as the "CIA Page," or displaying one's own computer generated art. Hence, the only way to judge a page is by examining what it tries to accomplish, and how it achieves its goal.
Once the objective of the page is established, three simple criteria can be used to determine its "net worth" (pun not intended...hehehe). First of all, one must ask "Does it complete its goal?" Does it present the information about SPAM accurately, or does it successfully present original artworks? Second, "How effective is its presentation?" This criteria can be divided into two parts first, how well written the textual parts describe the subject, and second, how the graphical parts are used to support the topic. The main areas of graphical representation would be the use of a background, the use of color to emphasize important points, and the use of images to decorate and support the main topic. A good web page should include background on the author and descriptions of the purpose. In addition, the page should be organized in a logical manner in which anyone would be able to find their information quickly and easily. Finally, one must determine how much effort and time was invested in developing the page. Obviously, a UT student's home page can not compare in complexity or size to the "Silicon Graphics page." Thus, by estimating the amount of work done per person on the project, one can equally gauge the effort and talent applied in creating the page.
After wandering randomly on the web, thanks to a site randomizer, the site titled, "Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense," caught my attention. Based on the works of Alfred Hitchcock, the page describes his biography, his movies, and other sources of related information. On the title page, Patricio Lopez lists many different links to more information about Hitchcock. One link tells of Hitchcock's life, other links describe trivial aspects of his work such as his cameos, memorable quotes, people who helped make his movies, and a guide to his films. By briefly examining each of the links, it is apparent that Lopez has thoroughly studied his films (on a casual level) and illustrates his knowledge throughout this site. In some of his other links, Lopez describes himself and his fascination with the cinema and Hitchcock. Thus, Lopez is trying to inform visitors about Hitchcock's life and work. In addition, the site successfully achieves this objective due to the detailed nature of the links and the introduction of lesser known facts, based on his intensive study.
After a more incisive inspection of the various links and the information contained within, I began to evaluate the organization of the site. Organization plays an important role in web sites since the general purpose of a site is to present information of some sort, so the reader could find information faster if the different subjects are arranged in a logical order. On the index page, the different links seemed to be arranged rather randomly. The first link, Hitchcock's biography, seemed to be in the proper position since it give a background and general introduction about the director. In addition, the last two links, showing where to get more information about the topic, was also properly arranged. The middle three links would probably be more effectively arranged in order of importance, such as : "people", "filmography", "cameos", and "wit." Since it seems that Lopez's general purpose was to talk about Hitchcock's work, it would be more effective if background and historical information would be placed first. By arranging the index in this manner, the visitor can view the more academic information first, and then browse over the trivial information before visiting another site. One negative comment about the index was that two links, "the Modern Hitchcock" and "the Hitchcock Square," had not been completed, and "the people" link did not seem to be working properly. It could be possible that this is a relatively young site and has yet to be completely finished.
The actual information in the different links are very well written and present the visitor with exactly what the index title suggests. This is another positive characteristic since the presentation and style tell the reader how informed and familiar the author is about the subject. Moreover, since the purpose is to inform, the quality of the information is the most important aspect of the site. The biography and historical information was both in depth and concise. It seems as if the text was all carefully thought out, but still required a little proofreading. Some parts had some spelling mistakes, and other parts contained awkward wording, but in general, the language seemed to be rather informal. Small mechanical errors such as these are a sign that the author rushed through the job so quickly that he did not bother to run a spell-check. There was not much style present in the writing, since it was basically expository, but the writing seemed quite biased positively toward Hitchcock. The author tried to keep an objective view, but he never provides any information in opposition to his opinions. Thus, I do not think this site would be appropriate as a reference site, but more accurately, an informative fan site.
The graphics used in this site seemed to be its weakest characteristic. Since the World Wide Web is a highly visual medium, it is important to take advantage of the graphics to aid in illustrating his ideas. The overall appearance creates a mood that alludes to the content of information presented in the site. The titles used at the top of each of the links (including the index) seemed to be completely fabricated by Lopez. If this is true, it shows that he has a good grasp of photo editing and is capable of adding more graphics to the page. These page headers were well done and composed in black and white. I believe that this was appropriate for Hitchcock, since many of his classics were originally cast in black and white. Moreover, I felt that the icon at the bottom of the links leading to the main index was a useful addition to return visitors to the starting point. However, there were few decorative pictures in this site. Lopez mentioned in his biography that he was trying to reduce the graphics so that the page could load faster. One of the major flaws in his visual representation is that there is no background in the site. It seems as if a little more color or texture would help make the site more appealing. Moreover, the text was all presented in black. The more important words and key phrases would have been better emphasized in different colors; especially in Hitchcock's biography where there is a large amount of information presented. Another simple modification Lopez should have made is to avoid using the courier font and use some formatting in his paragraphs. The courier font takes up more space on the screen and does not attract much attention due to its plain shape. Times Roman seems to be the standard font for communications through paper or the net, thus would seem like the proper font for the site. Text formatting appears to be another fault in this site. The paragraphs lack indentations at the beginnings, and the titles are not centered within the screen. Overall, it seems that the text is rather bland and lacks aesthetic value. One final criticism about the text in this page is that he rarely changes font size. The links in the index and other areas would stand out more if they could be more easily seen. Since the font size is small, and the area of blank space large, the text seems to be very small in comparison. Therefore, the images Lopez uses are effectively used, but he could benefit from more visually appealing graphics through the use of a background, colored text, and different sized text.
Patricio Lopez appears to have put a large amount of effort in his site. The many links on his index show extensive research and large time investments. Moreover, in his biography, he mentions how he is not a native English speaker since he has always lived in Mexico. Therefore, the language and grammar he uses is very advanced for someone learning the language. Furthermore, he also states that he is 17 years old and going to high school. This shows that he manages the site as a hobby and has little time to work on it; thus, it would be understandable why the site is rather simple in appearance. It seems that Lopez has placed a great deal of effort and time in developing an informative web site.
In conclusion, it appears that the site is still quite young and has much room for improvement. However, based on the criteria set forth above, this site qualifies as a good site due to its success at accomplishing its objective, and the great amount of work done in shaping his web site. However, with the exception of the title headers, the site is visually unappealing. With a little work, and a little artistic talent, the graphics could be used more functionally in supporting his key ideas and links. In general, the site is above average, but has potential to rank among the top web sites on the net.
Works Cited
Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense -->
http://nextdch.mty.itesm.mx/~plopezg/Kaplan/Hitchcock.html
This site describes the work, background, and trivial information about Alfred Hitchcock. The graphics are deficient, but the information was interesting. There are many pages dealing with the movies he's made, and many pages dealing with fun trivia, such as cameo or famous quotes.
Bibliography
Project Solon's Coffee Recipes -->
This site gave many recipes on preparing flavored coffees mainly with expresso. Nice background and small images, but basically boring. The content is useful, but not very interesting. The site is small - limited to one single page.
Silicon Investor - Home Page -->
This site offered many tools used for examining stocks and other securities. The plotting and price tracking options were very useful. Moreover, there were good links to other similar sites. The site was pretty large, and was deficient in graphics. I felt that there was too much information to analyze.
Linux Documentation Project -->
Talks about the Unix based operating system known as Linux. This page basically listed amn FAQs which help install and debug the operating system. There are also many links to places where software can be downloaded. The graphics are minimal since this is a text based site. The documents are extensive and talk about nearly every aspect of Linux.
Talks about the products designed by Origin. The site has no background, and the only graphics I saw were screenshots from the games that they were promoting. The site is very crude and simple, but they do offer information on employment, product support, and how to order their products. The site is roughly 10 pages, most of which is textual information.
Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense -->
This site describes the work, background, and trivial information about Alfred Hitchcock. The graphics are deficient, but the information was interesting. There are many pages dealing with the movies he's made, and many pages dealing with fun trivia, such as cameo or famous quotes.