Inquiry and analysing

Statement of inquiry: How can the World Wide Web be used as an advertising tool? 

• The internet has now become a very popular thing in today's world. Online advertising is a form of advertisement which uses the internet to get a promotional message across to consumers. If you advertise online, you do have a lot of competition because thousands of companies advertise online. There are many ways that you can advertise online such as, before YouTube videos, on the sides of pages such as Facebook and also pop-up ads.

• The real life global issue I have chosen is smoking. I have chosen this issue because we see it everywhere, but we always underestimate what it does to us. Tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year worldwide. Current statistics show that tobacco will cause over 8 million deaths every year by 2030. The number of smokers have been decreasing in countries like the US and UK but in other developing countries, smokers are slowly increasing by 3.4% each year. According to the Gates Foundation, people in Bangladesh spend 10 time as much on tobacco as they do on education. Around the world, smoking related diseases kill 1 in 10 adults. Diseases caused by smoking include, cancer, heart disease and lung diseases which includes emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airway obstruction. On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than non-smokers. In the US alone, which contains 5% of the worlds smokers, the tobacco industry spends nearly $36 million on advertising and promotions per day. 

Smoking causes premature aging. 

Smokelines are available to help people. 

Ways of advertising: 

• Newspapers 
• Brochures
• Magazines
• Blogs
• Websites
• Videos
• On the television
• Billboards on the roads
• Radio

All these are great methods of advertising a product or a message and to spread my message, that smoking kills, I will be making a website using Dreamweaver. I feel like this is the best and most efficient method because of the amount of people that spend their time on the internet these days. There will probably be a higher chance of someone viewing an advertisement online that in a newspaper. 

Brainstorm: 

What I want on my website? 

Page one: What is smoking? - Explain smoking, show videos (maybe interviews with smokers) and pictures (visual aid).

Page two: Effects on smoking - Show statistics and what diseases it causes. 

Page three: Smoking in real life - How smoking is advertised, how anti-smoking is advertised. Show pictures and examples of different advertisements. 

Page four: Overcoming smoking - What will happen if you overcome smoking, how you can stop smoking, is it easy? 

Extra:

• Pictures
• Videos
• Attractive colors
• Pretty font
• Interesting content

What I need to ask myself after creating my website:

1. Is my website design attractive?
2. Is the information interesting?
3. Is there too much information - too many words? 
4. Is there enough visual aid - pictures, videos etc.
5. Are there too many things on the website that makes it look cluttered? 
6. Am I getting my message/point across to the reader? 
7. Does the font or background color distract the reader's eye?
8. Can I add anything else to get my point across? 
9. Is my information off track - is it relevant?  
10. Is the layout pleasing to the eye?

References: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking

"Main Page." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015.

www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact.../effects_cig_smoking/

N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Feb. 2015. 

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/smoking.html

"Smoking: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.

https://bubbl.us/ - Brainstorming app

easybib.com - MLA formatting website. 

Features of a good and bad web design

Features of a good website design

1.     Catching the reader’s eyes:

Colour – Using different colors makes the website more appealing for the readers to look at. Also, using bold colors will catch the reader’s eye.

Contrast/size – Using size and contrast to make some things stand out and other things to be smaller. So when the reader is on the website, his eyes will directly settle on the bigger objects.

Design elements – You can use these to catch the reader’s attention. For example, if there’s an important picture, you can use a big arrow to drag the reader’s eyes onto it.

2.     Spacing:

Spacing of text – How far apart your sentences are affects how the reader will be reading the text. If your lines are too close to each other, it will make it very easy for the reader to lose his place. Too much space can also cause the reader to lose his place. Also, you have to make sure your text is not getting lost behind images or that it’s not crossing any borders.

Empty space – When your website is too empty, it makes it very dull and boring and will not make your reader want to read further. However, if you add too many elements and overcrowd your website, it will look too messy and confusing.    

3.     Navigation:

Where can you go – Your website should be easy to travel around. Navigation buttons can be placed near the top of the page where it’s easy to find and also clear so that they are easily identifiable.

4.     Text:

Font choices – Your font should match with the theme of your website. For example, if you have a retro blog, you wouldn’t want your font to be too formal.

Font sizes – Font sizes are important because they need to be large enough to read but also, you need to tell the difference between normal text, sub-heading and headings.

Line length – Your lines/sentences shouldn’t be too long that they drag on across the page because that will be hard to read. A smaller column of text makes it easier to read.

Paragraphs – Paragraphs are easier to read than long essays covering a whole page of your website.

Features of a bad website design

1.     Background:
Color – Putting a gray color as your background makes it very dull.

Images – If your background is too messy or flashy, it makes it hard to read the contents of the website.    

2.     Text:

Text – It shouldn’t be too small to read or too big. Sentences that are too long. Paragraphs that have too many bolds, italics or capital letters.

3.     Navigation:

Where am I – No navigation buttons to indicate which page you are on, or which pages you can visit.

4.     General design:

Home page – Unattractive home page that bores the reader.

General – Too many pages. Information that is too long. Images cluttered that makes it look messy. 


Powerpoint presentation: