Web Design Principles and Theory

Saleh Alharbi
ETPT 5/7210 Introduction to Multimedia and Web Design

(University of Toledo)
Web Design Principles and Theory

Prepared for
Dr. Judy Lambert

Fall, 2014

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Date: 12/12/2014

Web Design Principles and Theory

Before I introduce my paper, I would like to introduce myself, I got my Master Degree in
1985 at a time where there was no online classes, however I learn online classes through my
work with Saudi Aramco. This is the first class that I am taking in web design but I am interested
to design my own website, because I am encouraging distance learning or online teaching. I
learned from introduction to multimedia course that there are eight kinds of intelligence which
would allow eight ways to teach, rather than one. In using the principles of multiple intelligence,
the learning styles of all learners can be met. Some people thinks that when they use too many
graphics, colors, and videos, it is considered to be an excellent site, in fact it is not. These types
of sites can take the visitors attention away from what they are looking for and get them lost.
Also, when the site has many images and videos, it might decrease the site's effectiveness
because the site will take time to load.
I learned from this course intro to multimedia that there are eight multiple intelligence
namely:1. Linguistic Intelligence: the capacity to use language to express what's on your mind and
to understand other people. Any kind of writer, orator, speaker, lawyer, or other person
for whom language is an important stock in trade has great linguistic intelligence.
2. Logical/Mathematical Intelligence: the capacity to understand the underlying principles
of some kind of causal system, the way a scientist or a logician does; or to manipulate
numbers, quantities, and operations, the way a mathematician does.
3. Musical Rhythmic Intelligence: the capacity to think in music; to be able to hear patterns,
recognize them, and perhaps manipulate them. People who have strong musical
intelligence don't just remember music easily, they can't get it out of their minds, and its
so omnipresent.

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Web Design Principles and Theory

4. Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence: the capacity to use your whole body or parts of your
body (your hands, your fingers, your arms) to solve a problem, make something, or put
on some kind of production. The most evident examples are people in athletics or the
performing arts, particularly dancing or acting.
5. Spatial Intelligence: the ability to represent the spatial world internally in your mind -the way a sailor or airplane pilot navigates the large spatial world, or the way a chess
player or sculptor represents a more circumscribed spatial world. Spatial intelligence can
be used in the arts or in the sciences.
6. Naturalist Intelligence: the ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals)
and sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations). This
ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it
continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence: having an understanding of yourself; knowing who you are,
what you can do, what you want to do, how you react to things, which things to avoid,
and which things to gravitate toward. We are drawn to people who have a good
understanding of themselves. They tend to know what they can and can't do, and to know
where to go if they need help. Critical thinking skills fit in here.
8. Interpersonal Intelligence: the ability to understand other people. It's an ability we all
need, but is especially important for teachers, clinicians, salespersons, or politicians -anybody who deals with other people.

As the five of the above intelligence are not in my top three applied to me, doesnt mean that
I am not strong in all of them. If my average score for any intelligence is above three, I am

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Web Design Principles and Theory

probably using that intelligence quite often to help me learn. I enjoy exploring how things are
related together, and I like to understand how things work. I like mathematical concepts, puzzles
and manipulative games. I am good at critical thinking. I have a very good sense of self, I like to
spend time by myself and think things over. I will often take in information from another person,
mull it over by myself, and come back to that person later to discuss it. I like working on projects
on my own. I often prefer to learn by trial and error.
I remember things visually, including exact sizes and shapes of objects. I like posters, charts, and
graphics. I like any kind of visual clues. I enjoy drawing. Effective techniques of enhancing my
learning using my spatial intelligence include creating and/or using pictures, maps, diagrams,
and graphs as I learn things.
Design principles that are used for web pages are: communications (email), chat forums,
video conferencing, Skype, and class web sites. Email allows everyone to communicate easily
and quickly. Email used to ask questions, answers, or directions between student and instructor
or colleagues in a business. Chat will be more influence to communicate with one person looks
like to the phone but use writing, Video conferencing is more effective among Instructor and
students which is more effective than Chatting because you have the opportunity to ask your
instructor and get answer immediately and you have a chance to have more clarifications. Skype
is a type of video conferencing it used between two persons, Class website is an effective way to
communicate among students and teacher. Emails is another way of communications which have
a very positive impact as it is easier to be used and can reach any person at any time.
The author of the article believes that there is a strong relationship between multiple intelligence
and features of web design, I agree with this concept. He incorporating Gardners theory into

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Web Design Principles and Theory

teaching, student mastery of concepts with increased levels of student motivation can be
accomplished.
Logical-mathematical intelligence seems central, because programming depends upon the
deployment of strict procedures to solve a problem or attain a goal in a finite number of steps.
Linguistic intelligence is also relevant, at least as long as manual and computer languages make
use of ordinary language. People with high verbal-linguistic intelligence display a facility with
words and languages. They are typically good at reading, writing, telling stories and memorizing
words along with dates. Verbal ability is one of the most g-loaded abilities.
I apply linguistic Intelligence in my web side in different sections, I uses simple and clear
language for example I explain in the main page the objective and make it easy to move from
one subject to other and from page to another page. Logical-mathematical intelligence seems
central, because programming depends upon the deployment of strict procedures to solve a
problem or attain a goal in a finite number of steps.
People who are strong in logical-mathematical intelligence are good at reasoning,
recognizing patterns and logically analyze problems. These individuals tend to think
conceptually about numbers, relationships and patterns.
Characteristics of Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: Excellent problem-solving skills, Enjoys
thinking about abstract ideas, Likes conducting scientific experiments, and Good and solving
complex computations
My top intelligence is logical, however I found myself in musical even though it was
ranked low on previous test. I noticed all four of these intelligences fit me but varies from one
inelegance to the other. I enjoy listening to music while I am working, I enjoy working with

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Web Design Principles and Theory

numbers and excel sheets, I enjoyed including both the musical and logical intelligences in my
website this week.
Web design considered to be an excellent tool to develop course materials online. The main
objective of Web development is to ensure information organized in the best manner for students
to learn. There are a design standard to address multiple intelligences, we are expected to capture
a viewer's/students attraction. Using multimedia has become an important and necessary in the
classroom, students can be involved without attending face-to-face classes. Mayer thinks that
people could learn better from a multimedia lessons conducted in user-paced segments more than
as a continuous unit, multimedia principle demonstrating that people learn better from words and
pictures than from words only. Software improves student learning because it inspires the brains
and helps active building of knowledge. Multimedia in the classroom matches with Howard
Gardners theory of multiple intelligences, suggesting that each learner possesses eight or more
intelligences. Each of these intelligences are resulting and developed on an individual basis
throughout various learning experiences. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences A person
rarely achieves high levels of creativity in more than one domain" (p.17). I believes that any
website developed need to be focusing on involving each intelligence. Harvard Multimedia
Principles restate how students learn the best with the use of multiple media tools such as audio,
video, presentations, etc.
Enabling all citizens to succeed using communication and information technology in their
tasks. Ben Shneiderman, a pioneer in the field of human-computer interaction.
The concept of universal usability is informed by several initiatives, primarily accessibility,
usability, and universal design. Usability is a measure of effectiveness. It describes how effective
tools and information sources are in helping us accomplish tasks. The more usable the tool, the

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Web Design Principles and Theory

better we are able to achieve our goals. Many tools help us overcome physical limitations by
making us stronger, faster, and more sharp-sighted.
Many people cannot differentiate between accessibility and universal usability.
Accessibility is concerned primarily with making the content and functionality of web sites
accessiblewithin reachto all users, while Universal usability goes one step further, striving
to make the content and functionality accessible and usable by all. The most common method for
achieving usability is user-centered design which includes user-oriented methods such as task
analysis, focus groups, and user testing to understand user needs and refine designs based on user
feedback.
Universal design incorporates access requirements into a design, rather than providing
alternate designs to meet specific needs, such as large print or Braille editions for visionimpaired readers.
In designing web sites our job is to reduce functional limitations through design. When we aim
for universal usability, we improve the quality of life for more people more of the time. On the
web, we can work toward universal usability by adopting a universal design approach to
usability.
There are three factors you can do while using online web development applications and
templates to ensure usability. To ensure (usability) I can open the template on different internet
browsers to guarantee design keeps its form for most of the users, another thing, I will be able to
notice among backgrounds and clearly of texts to ensure easy using usability, and It allows me to
choose if I will be able to print in differ size of papers such as large papers for those who have
difficulty in reading, and could be printed on Braille language.

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Web Design Principles and Theory

In the era of technology, it is important to involve students with all type of different
interactive, online resources for expanded learning. Deeper learning is a term increasingly used
to describe a variety of approaches in which students gain knowledge and skills by investigating
and responding to a complex question, problem, or challenge (Johnson, et. al., 2014, p. 8),
It is very important using different teaching approaches and techniques. It is significant for
teachers to link in many different learning techniques to their plan of teaching: for this reason the
classroom atmosphere should have a dynamic fluctuating in response to new technologies
innovative learning environments call for teachers to have a solid grasp of the underlying
pedagogies that support the use of technology in order to holistically transform the school
experience (Johnson, et. al., 2014, p. 17).
Many different approaches have been applied and explored in the classroom to determine the
best practices, such as learner centered approach and engaging students to promote effective
learning.
Another model is Hybrid learning models, which blend the best in classroom instruction
with the best in web-based delivery, place a strong method on utilizing school time for peer-topeer partnership and teacher-student interaction, while online environments are used for
independent learning (Johnson, et. al., 2014, p. 12). This permits students to develop their own
critical thinking skills through participating with others that can help them to see things from a
variation of perspectives and gives the teacher a little more for building teaching structure.

Reference:
Intrapersonal intelligence is the capability to reflect and monitor someone progress, such as
judgments, approaches, powers, and faults through individual efficacy and/or interpersonal

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Web Design Principles and Theory

skills. In order To gain intrapersonal intelligence skills and learning in general must be
reflected. Thinking is an integral part of the learning process, It allows us to learn more about
us and how we get learned, however it also helps us in improving our academic learning.
Interpersonal intelligence shares well the reflection and communication, thus one person
recognizes himself better, and we will be able to publicly aware of ourselves, therefore link
better with others. For us to influence students for these types of intelligences, technology and
web design could be introduced.
These intelligences can be grasped through communication techniques. Interpersonal
intelligence, and website will provide the opportunity to interact with each others through video
or instant messages which consider to be an excellent way to reach that type of
intelligence. Web design offers an opportunity to interact with people from all over the world
which was never before possible, and expands both intrapersonal communication and
interpersonal intelligence.
In my final project I design an educational website using Webnode. My website this time more
beneficial and interesting to everyone, I am going to introduce DISC personality theory
which help the team to Increase self-knowledge: how you respond to conflict, what motivates
you, what causes your stress and how you solve problems, facilitate better teamwork and
minimize team conflict. Develop stronger sales skills by identifying and responding to customer
styles, manage more effectively by understanding the dispositions and priorities of employees
and team members, and Become more self-knowledgeable, well-rounded and effective leaders.
As I am a certified a consultant to train DISC theory, I can actually use this theory for my
students in the future. My audience are, Managers, Teachers, college students, or anyone who is
interested to test his personality.

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10

DISC theory is a personal assessment tool used to improve work productivity, teamwork, and
communication. DISC is non-judgmental and helps people discuss their behavioral differences.
If you participate in the DISC program, you will be asked to complete a series of questions that
produce a detailed report about their personality and behavior.
The DISC model provides a common language that people can use to better understand
themselves and to adapt their behaviors with others. This can be within a work team, a sales
relationship, a leadership position, or other relationships.
In my website there are 6 pages developed as follows:
Page 1 Home page, which gives a brief explanation about DISC theory, by this I would
welcome students and hopefully engage them with the importance of DISC, also I include 2
Video explaining the theory.
Page 2 Instructor In this page I talk about myself as an instructor and my back ground and
experience.
Page 3 Assessment In this page I introduces two videos explaining how we can test ourselves,
this page include link to take test on line for those who are interested.
Page 4 Styles In this page, I explained all 4 styles supported by video explaining why people
are different.
Page 5 Benefits In this page, I explain the benefits of identifying your style and how you can
get along with other style at work and socially. Identify the relation between the four styles and
how we can benefits from each one of them to improve our style.
Page 6 "Web Design Principles and Theory" In this page I place a paper that explain the design
principles that I used to develop this website.
Page 7 Contact In this page, I identify my contact number, address and location.

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11

The foundation for the DISC model comes from the work of a Harvard psychologist
named Dr. William Moulton Marston in the 1920s. He developed a theory that people tend to
develop a self-concept based on one of four factors Dominance, Inducement, Steadiness, or
Compliance. This idea forms the basis for the DISC theory as it is commonly applied today.
Later psychologists and behavioral specialists developed a variety of practical tools to apply
Marstons theory. Currently, there are many assessment and measurement tools based on the
DISC model.
One way to describe the DISC model is to see it as a circle, representing the full range of normal
human behavior, divided into quadrants as described below.
Divide a circle in half horizontally. The upper half represents outgoing or fast-paced people. The
lower half represents reserved or slower-paced people. Outgoing people tend to move fast, talk
fast, and decide fast. Reserved people tend to speak more slowly and softer than outgoing people,
and they generally prefer to consider things thoroughly before making a decision.

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12

References
Clements, M. (2014). The Importance of Reflection in Education. Retrieved November 4, 2014,
Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2014) NMC Horizon
Report: 2014 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium

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Date: 12/12/2014