The Analytical Engine Online: Designing For Use

This lab module transforms you from a WWW newbie surfer into a WWW power user, as we look under the hood for the first time at WWW pages. You will be given a quick, but essentially complete, overview of HTML, the language used for developing all Web pages, and some insight into the concepts of good interface design.

Lab 4.1: www/intro.html

Lab 4.2: Text Processing

Lab 4.3: Getting Hyper

Lab 4.4: Multimedia Effects

Lab 4.5: Structured Information

Lab 4.6: You've Been Framed

Lab 4.7: Design Considerations

Examine the evolution of the user interface
Discuss the desirable features of a user interface
Explore the composition of a WWW page as an example of an interface.
Illustrate how completed systems are constructed by using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to design some sample pages
Use the techniques illustrated in our sample pages to develop your own home page

Module Quiz

Print
References

In the text portion of this module we introduce you to the principles of system design. We concentrate on an important part of the design of any system, the user interface¹. By this we mean that aspect of a program or machine that is visible and accessible to the user - the look and feel of the beast. We explore some of the desirable features of a user interface and speculate on the ways in which we might interact with computers in the future.
¹pp. 86, 123, 131

We use the HyperText Markup Language (HTML²), the language used to describe all World Wide Web³ pages, to demonstrate the principles of interface design. We review most of the major features of HTML, showing you how to modify existing pages, incorporate new features into them, and ultimately, to create you own from scratch.
²pp. 29, 70, 82, 89, 90-91
³pp. 9, 14–15, 67–71

Our guiding metaphor in this module is architectural drawings. We liken the process of designing and implementing a WWW page to that of designing a building. Our job as architect is to devise a plan that combines simple, existing parts into a functioning whole that not only conforms to its users' expectations, but does so in a stylish, distinctive fashion. Then, we leave it to the browser⁴/construction worker to implement our creation.
⁴pp. 9, 14–15, 70–71, 143, 146

	Print References
In the text portion of this module we introduce you to the principles of system design. We concentrate on an important part of the design of any system, the user interface¹. By this we mean that aspect of a program or machine that is visible and accessible to the user - the look and feel of the beast. We explore some of the desirable features of a user interface and speculate on the ways in which we might interact with computers in the future.	¹pp. 86, 123, 131
We use the HyperText Markup Language (HTML²), the language used to describe all World Wide Web³ pages, to demonstrate the principles of interface design. We review most of the major features of HTML, showing you how to modify existing pages, incorporate new features into them, and ultimately, to create you own from scratch.	²pp. 29, 70, 82, 89, 90-91 ³pp. 9, 14–15, 67–71
Our guiding metaphor in this module is architectural drawings. We liken the process of designing and implementing a WWW page to that of designing a building. Our job as architect is to devise a plan that combines simple, existing parts into a functioning whole that not only conforms to its users' expectations, but does so in a stylish, distinctive fashion. Then, we leave it to the browser⁴/construction worker to implement our creation.	⁴pp. 9, 14–15, 70–71, 143, 146

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