Create 1 - Appearance

Good Appearance Sites:
EngageNY: I have used this site for several years. It plainly lays out grade levels and modules. You just have to click on which you are working on and it will direct you straight there.

BrainPop: This site has been also used for quite some time. Our school has a subscription to this site. It has information for students and is interactive.

Google Earth: This site is clear and concise. My students get on this sometimes in computer lab. They come back telling me what all they have seen using this site.

Khan Academy: This is a free site that I have just become familiar with last school year. It is a free site and is broken up into grade levels and topics.

Code: This is a site that I've recently learned about. Our school has recently begun teaching students how to code. I was super excited to pick my kids up from activity today to learn that one of my girls is the best coder in second grade.

 The above sites have traits that have a good appearance.  They are not cluttered with too many images and whistles.  If too many are there, it will confuse the user.  These are easy to navigate through and their links are working correctly.  Information on the sites are usable for a teacher to use.  Having these traits exemplify sound design ideals. 


Bad Appearance Sites:

 DiscoveryKids: Looking at this site, it is hard to know what to click to see anything. There seems to lack some direction on this site.

 Scratch: This is described as a site to create games, stories, and animations. I had no idea where to begin to create.

 Education News: This site would be good, but there is way to much to sift through. My eyes just keep going back and forth seeing what is all on the page.

 Sign Up Genius: This site seems like it would be wonderful. But in reality, it took me forever to set up a sign up for parents. I was so worried it wouldn't do right, I didn't even send it out. I could have sent a text message to all parents about food for the party in the time I worked on this site.

 Craigslist: Oh my word. I hear of so many people purchasing things from this site. But, looking at it gives me some anxiety. So much on one page. Teacher friends have bought school items such as books, tables, and bookshelves off of this site.


The sites above do not exemplify a sound design due to several factors. First, the layout is confusing to the user.  Several of them have too much information on the home page. It overwhelms the user, therefore they do not benefit from it.  If the designer of the site puts too many moving graphics, etc, it could take away from the usefulness of the site.



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