Moving forward

It’s time to restart the blog.  The History and New Media class last year taught me a couple of things.  I should not be working solely in new media, at least with respect to history.  It’s too much like my day job.  I cannot escape it, and I will use New Media tools and techniques, but it is too close to the work I want to leave behind.  The project itself though—a study of Rockford, IL, needs to be moved forward.  To that end, I have been reading and researching aspects of urban development in general, and development plans for Rockford in particular.  It’s been interesting reading so far.

My original plan for the website, and its structural outline, are not tenable.  I find that the questions I need to answer, which of course directs any research and thesis, are still ill-defined and shifting.  The whole purpose of the project still lacks any clear definition, except to explore the very broad issue of why Rockford is struggling.

Those who have lived in Rockford, or still live there, will have some sort of answer, which usually includes “the city’s just screwed up” and/or “it’s always been screwed up.”  That may be true, but it doesn’t explain Why the city is a still a mess, especially when other comperable cities have remade themselves as what one writer calls “Postindustrial cities.”  Rockford fits that description, but has not managed to come to grips with being postindustrial.

As I have read, some very basic questions have come to mind.  Again, the answers to these may seem obvious, but I think that for that reason they should be looked at.  Sometimes the things we find self-evident abscure real answers.

• What role does the Rock River play in the development, or attenuation, of the city?
• What role has race/class/ethnicity played in Rockford’s history?
• Why is the city leadership so fixated on the downtown district?
• How has the development of various highways affected the city?
• Why is the post-high school education level low?
• Why is the West Side stunted when compared to the East Side?
• Why has industry left Rockford?
• Why has Rockford had little success drawing in new companies?
• What are the growth areas in Rockford business?
• Is the negativity and defeatism seen in many Rockford citizens prevelent or is that a minority, albeit vocal, attitude?

Parting (screen)shots

It was an interesting, and exhausting, semester. That said, I learned quite a bit about an area that has long interested me. The copyright issue alone makes my head hurt. I also realized that melding many aspects of my “day job” with my educational pursuits wasn’t an especially happy mix. Live and learn, as they say. Good luck, everyone, and I’ll be seeing ya around!

mike

What the user sees when the navigate to http://www.behindrockford.org/

An early cut at the revised homepage

I’ve started to incorporate some changes and refining some navigational things.  The icon images are merely representative.  As is probably the case with histories like this, the images are only relevant to those who know the city.  I would expect that they could be interesting enough to draw a curious person in and find out what they mean.

mike

Mockup comments and observations

I tried to capture the comments and suggestions made during the review of my mock ups.  It’s always the case that you discover the holes in a design or proposal during its presentation.  While standing up there, babbling on, I could see things I had overlooked, or could have improved, and so on.

One question I feel I didn’t answer, at least fully, was Nicole’s.  While I described how the site’s subject is different from others, I don’t think I finished answering the question, or at least answered it completely.  The site would be aimed at those studying small to mid-sized cities, especially those communities affected by the shift away from manufacturing.  As I mentioned, I would look at the power relationships behind Rockford.  I think this dynamic is common and would be of interest to researchers.  I also think that those living in Rockford, especially people seeking to understand how to move the city “forward,” would find the site, and its underlying narrative, useful.

Email Form vs Client Popup

My initial impulse (demonstrated last night) was to take the simplest path which, for me, entailed using mailto:.  When prepopulated with a to: email address, it’s not hard to copy the address from the popped window to a web-based email site.  Assuming, of course, that some client is installed.  This doesn’t hold true at some internet cafes or public-access stations.  It’s a good criticism and having a form-based contact page is a worthy addition.  That places the onus upon me, then, to connect my site to the server email.

Search

As I said during my presentation, this was in, then out………..

About Me

This was another item I had considered and for reasons I’ve forgotten failed to put it in.  I think some brief bio would be appropriate, accessed by a link/button on the left.

Next Page Button/Link vs Scroll

A comment was made suggesting that instead of having scrolling text that a next page button be used instead (I forgot who made this comment, so if I have it wrong please correct me).  I think that a Next Section link would fit better than Next Page.  Though the mockup was sized for a 1024×768 screen resolution, many users (like me) resize their browsers to something else.  This resizing causes the text pane to potentially shrink so a vertical scroll bar will probably be rendered anyway.  Though I’m no fan of scrolling, it only becomes annoying when the scroll bar looks more like a fingernail clipping then some discernible control.  I think that keeping the sections fairly compact will reduce the amount of scrolling required by the user.

Section Summaries

I’ve seen this done and the technique is called something like Talking Menus.  I think the ability to do this hinges on the number of sections there are in the final narrative.  I can see where there could be quite a number of sections under each chapter, in which case the menu area would get pretty crowded.  A good compromise could be to just have very descriptive section headings.  Which brings me to…

Section block ellipsis etc

The block at the upper left corner of the narrative pane contains the section title.  If I go with very long or descriptive section titles then I really have to truncate the text with ellipsis when it’s in the upper box.  It’s a pretty common technique, though one that presents its own potential issues (for example, when the first several words of a string are the same).

Images/Navigation Bar Icons

I had created a version of the rightmost color image that was grayscale.  I used the color version only because I was waffling between the two.  I agree that it looks more unified to have all three match.  If I continue to use the images I think I would find a way to reduce them so more space is given to the narrative.

I like the idea of using icons in the navigation bar to replace the images at the top, thus freeing up space for the text.  It’s a fairly popular technique now and seen on more and more sites.  It all hinges, of course, on the titles I give to my chapters.

Summary

I think I have touched on all the comments from the review.  If I’ve forgotten some (which is likely) please let me know.  Thanks again for your honest critiques and observations.

mike

Mock Up – How Much is Enough….

I have worked up three pages:

1. The main page
2. An example second page
3. An example of what happens when you click the Contact link

The site is greatly simplified from some earlier discussion and mock-ups.  Most notable is the removal of a search capability and any archive functionality.  I want the project to be pretty focused upon examining the relationship between Rockford’s past, its present condition, and the role played by forces such as powerful industrial families, the Cosa Nostra, or whatever.  In effect, that means a monograph-type narrative and form, adopted for the web.

The presentation of the page, and it’s underlying functionality, are pretty straightforward.  Site navigation is accomplished by way of a navigation bar on the left side of the page. The bar would use javascript to enable text bolding upon mouse  roll-over.  In its initial state the page would open at the Introduction (or whatever I finally call it).  The area at the upper right corner of the navigation bar contains the Section Title.  When the user opens the site from the home page, this area reads Introduction.  The text in this area will change as the user calls different sections, but its placement will remain constant.  The intent is to provide the user with a fixed area so they will know at a glance where they are.

The fixed section text area is important because the navigation bar will expand and collapse as chapters are selected.  If the user needs to see where they are within the context of the overall narrative, they can reference the nav bar.  Having that fixed area provides some quick reference, I think, as well as further frames the text.

The area that contains the narrative (in white) will be scrollable as required when the amount of text exceeds the pane space.  There will be photographs as appropriate for the text, as well as diagrams or supporting material that detail those factors influencing Rockford.

A Contact button will be provided for user feedback or comments.  This will be nothing more than a simple HTML <mailto:/> tag that will leverage the user’s existing email application.

I will work on some sort of title for the site.  Some start a project or book or whatever with the title and some leave that for last.  I’m of the latter group, so this is a bit backwards for me.

That’s about it for now.  Please provide any observations and thanks to those who have commented on my previous work.

mike