How does the design (primarily aesthetics) of websites inhibit or enable digital literacy?
For my inquiry paper, I am interested in the formats of websites, and what makes one better than another? I'm particularly interested in this subject because we visit so many websites in our daily lives that it has become a routine. Through my own personal experiences, I know that there are many websites that are cluttered that it becomes extremely difficult to find any information, or a website so spare that it is equally difficult to find information. Web design classes are available to people starting at a relatively young age, I know many high schools that offer such classes, then why are there still poorly designed websites? If websites are poorly designed, then does that mean the designer is a digital immigrant, rather than a digital native? What subjective qualitative measurement should be used to determine a success of a website? How do you determine that the website is well designed and the audience is not digitally illiterate? To what constant is digital literacy held? Can it even be a constant?
Good question, Maitreyi. A lot of your research here could come down to what "digital literacy" is. Do you mean that design of Web sites allow someone to have a literacy of digital spaces or environments? What is this literacy? HTML knowledge? Or is this more of an accessibility issue? For example, how can someone who has a disability access certain Web sites? How does a design inhibit literacy?
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