Focus on web design task - www.southendunited.co.uk

For this task I have researched www.southendunited.co.uk and will write a summary addressing my reaction to the site.

The purpose of the site


The website has been created so that football fans of Southend United - like myself - can access news, videos, biographies, photos and more associated with the club. The site includes recent and old news which can be viewed any time. News is stored over time in the news section of the site. The news is about nearly everything to do with the club - game reports, transfers, recent/upcoming events, club statements and more. You can also listen to live commentary of games on the Blues Player. There are also pages for the biographies of each player. These biographies contain details on the player's histories - their amount of goals scored, their previous clubs and more. You can also buy Southend United related items online in the online shop such as replica kits, footballs and even plush toys.

The intended audience

The site authors have created the website intending it to be viewed by Southend United fans, or anyone else that wants to find out about the club. This could be fans of opposing teams looking for directions to the stadium or even investors looking to invest in the club.

Does the site reach its intended audience?

Southend United fans can recieve a great experience from the website. They have an easy method of quickly getting news and information about the club, its players, the stadium and more. Fans of opposing teams can find out any information needed easily such as directions to the stadium simply by clicking a link and the information is shown instantly. Investors will be able to take a look at the website and see if the club is a secure enough business to invest money into.

Is the site useful to myself?

As a Southend United fan the site is quite useful for myself - I can see the news whenever I want on my mobile phone or computer, I can see video interviews, or look up details on the players in the biographies if need be. I use the site quite regulary to check the score of games I don't go to as well, which is displayed near the top of the webpage and is quite efficient.


Interesting fact that the site addresses - The Blues Player

The website has a video player - Blues Player. This allows you to listen to games live as they're happening. You can either listen to the commentary from BBC Radio Essex or just watch the text commentary come in or even use both. You can also see interviews with players and other staff using the player. However you have to pay a sum of £4.29 per month to use these services.

Is the site reccommended?

If you are a Southend United fan then I do reccommend that you use this website. You will find all the information you need about the club on the website. If you are a fan of an opposing team then I reccommend that you use this site to find out any transport details about getting to the club's stadium.

Site improvements

I think that the site could make some improvements. One could be that the site could tidy up its toolbars. Some of the toolbars are uneven and don't look very effective. Apart from that I cannot think of any other reccommendations.

Overall the site is effective and delivers information efficiently. With only the problem of how it presents its toolbars, this is a good site to use in my opinion.

Research task - W3C

Please note that all the information from this post has been found from the following website: http://www.w3.org/Consortium/facts

How did the W3C get started?
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was founded in 1994 by the inventor of the internet - Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee wrote the first server (called "httpd") and the first client program (a browser and editor called "WorldWideWeb") in October 1990. W3C was started in collaboration with CERN and with help from DARPA and the European Commission.

Who can join the W3C?
There is a list of many companies that are members of the W3C such as Cisco, CERN, Google, Apple, Facebook, the Mozilla Foundation, Oracle and more. However any entity can join the W3C including commercial, educational and governmental entities as well as individuals. Any entity that can sign the Membership agreement can become a member. Members can be from both profit or non-profit organisations.

Is there a cost to pay to join?
To join the W3C you have to pay a membership fee. For a profit organisation in the UK there is a price of €68,000. Non-profit organisations, governmental organisations and any other kind of organisation in the UK has to pay €7,800. The cost can be calculated using this page of the W3C website - http://www.w3.org/Consortium/fees.

Mobile Web - chosen technology to research

http://www.w3.org/Consortium/fees

Over the past few years W3C has developed a number of web technologies that match the needs of mobile device users. This includes CSS Mobile (a profile of the cascading style sheet language that matches the need of mobile web authors), SVG Tiny (a profile of the web's scalable vector graphics format well suited to the capabilities of mobile devices) and XHTML for mobile (which defines a subset of XHTML for mobile).

This is my internet design blog

I am James Leeder, also known as Jim. This is my blog for my "Design for the Internet" module in my university degree at Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford. I am studying the BSc Business Information Systems and am living on campus in the student village. Expect to see more posts arriving soon displaying my work for this module.