As is often the case, I find myself thinking about the websites I frequent the most when reading each week’s material. Eric P. Kumpf’s article “Visual Metadiscourse: Designing the Considerate Text” (Technical Communication Quarterly 9.4) reminded me of all the horrible websites I have seen, and why others keep me going back time and time again. Kumpf offers a definition of metadiscourse, and cites several scholars who further “explain its usefulness during the writing process for helping readers interpret and understand textual content” (p. 401)

Kumpf offers an alternative to Vande Kopple’s “seven classifications [for metadiscourse],” in which he discusses the application of ten different “ad hoc categories” (p. 404), which I think are far more relevant than Vande Kopple’s. Whereas an inappropriate font type in an essay is somewhat irritating, it is something the marker must overcome, but a similarly irritating font type used on a website will undoubtedly result in the user leaving.

• First impression: the curb appeal Kumpf speaks of is certainly something I have experienced, whether it is because of an improper font type or a ‘wall’ of text, I am almost certain to leave. “We see documents before we read them: this initial encounter evokes an aesthetic response but one with immediate practical consequences.” (p. 406)
• Heft refers to the wall of text I spoke of previously, some websites are far too like a ‘Word document,’ and I often skim read them before scrolling to the bottom.
• Convention refers to expectations we might have; for instance I would expect a news website such as http://news.bbc.co.uk/ to show a main headline with several other stories beneath, easily categorized. However, as Andrew’s presentation showed last week, the Fox News website was disappointing and did not support the expectations I had of a news website.
• Chunking is another? tool that Kumpf cites to ease the reading of texts. It is the spaces between words that allow us to navigate and understand what we have read, and effective use of chunking online allows us to better understand content.
• External skeleton refers to the ‘bones’ of the text, i.e. page numbers and headings. I feel this is less important? (encountered) on the internet, as page numbers are somewhat obsolete but effective tagging of pages helps readers separate information.
• Consistency is something we come to expect from regularly frequented sites. It would be discouraging to go to a website that changes repeatedly. While updates are necessary, a familiar (sense) WC? must remain.
• Expense incurred to create a website while sometimes obvious is not always necessary. Take for example “Oh No They Didn’t” http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/ - a live journal community created for free to share celebrity gossip. The layout is simplistic and almost text-free, with large chunks of text hidden behind cuts. The photos posted are of a high quality and commenting is encouraged. If one were to compare “Oh No They Didn’t” to “Perez Hilton,” (the most frequented gossip website) one would notice the expense differences, though that is not to say that the former is not effective.
• Attraction “describes the ability to maintain readers once engaged.” This is key to the understanding of Kumpf’s ten ad hoc categories, I feel. Without a good first impression, supported by clever use of chunking and consistency, attraction cannot be maintained. I have been guilty of looking only at photos, and skimming the text, as Kumpf describes when referring to The National Geographic, which uses a photo on every page to draw readers in, encouraging them to read further.
• Interpretation is key to understanding the text by way of graphs/charts, etc. If I were shown a graph detailing the current economic crisis on the BBC News website, I would expect an apt description to explain the graph, as well as putting the article into context.
• Style ultimately is the creator’s choice. The analogy of “wearing a striped shirt with plaid pants,” amused me. Often there is no accounting for taste, and if a website looks imperfect, my interest is lost.
The internet allows us to be choosy, and while many website fail the ones that work, work well, and for a reason. Kumpf’s article provides ten ad hoc categories that if followed would help create more easily read text’s online. The relationships we have with our most frequented websites, be it mindless celebrity gossip (of which I am fan) or intellectually gripping news websites are personal, and while I recognise how some author’s do not fulfil Kumpf’s categories, I like them nonetheless . “Oh No They Didn’t” is not particularly stunning, in fact it follows a very basic blog format, but it is one of my most frequented websites.

Website design: Viewing the web as a cognitive landscape
Deborah E. Rosen and Elizabeth Purinton
ASOS.com is the United Kingdom’s largest online fashion and beauty store., offering its own label as well as branded fashion and designer goods. It specialises in selling affordable versions of outfits worn by celebrities; ASOS is an acronym for “as seen on screen.” ASOS.com has grown to attract over 2 million shoppers every month and has 1.5 million registered users, of which I am one. Each month ASOS.com sends a glossy magazine in the post, which includes both articles and fashion-looks. The expansion of the website has come over the last year. It is certain a recognizable brand amongst young women in the UK, with many spending hours browsing the website – something I used to do when working in a call centre over the summer!
Camille Parker Bowles’ daughter, Laura Lopes (nee Parker Bowles) is a fashion columnist for both website and magazine, and whilst the ordinary ASOS shopper is not from such aristocracy, ASOS conveys a certain lifestyle that shoppers can seemingly buy in to. The aspirational quality of ASOS.com is confirmed by the “Celebrity Look” pages on the website, where certain items are recommended in order to allow shoppers to create celebrity looks, like Kate Moss’.
ASOS.com provides potential customers a number of features, including individual catwalk model videos for most clothing items on the site. Additionally it runs a fashion blog at blog.ASOS.com. The blog posts articles related to celebrity and entertainment whilst linking clothes worn by or similar to the people featured on the main retail site.
Rosen and Purinton discuss the sensory stimuli of a ‘brick-and-mortar’ retailer and how if done properly can encourage shoppers to spend longer in store and more money at the tills. I would like to suggest that ASOS.com creates/has achieved a similar buzz on the website. Colour is used sparingly, but has edge and sophistication while text is punchy and effective. Rosen and Purinton cite the “many elements of design and graphic art [that] can be used to convey content on the web. The choices are truly endless.” ASOS.com has seemingly got this right.
This article, written in 2004 by Susie Mesure for The Independent discusses ASOS.com’s growing success on the internet ‘high street,’ proving that while a difficult thing to get right, when done properly, generates healthy capital.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/demand-from-wannabes-helps-asos-post-first-profit-535085.html
Below are 2 screen grabs from ASOS.com, the first I think illustrates the ease customers have when browsing the website. Clothing is categorized into women’s and men’s and then there are several sub-categories such as “Day dresses,” “Evening dresses,” “Knitwear,” and so on. The second screen grab is evidence of what I think, is the ‘aspirational’ lifestyle ASOS.com sell too. The texts demands customers to “MAKE LIKE AGYNESS DEYN IN HIGH IMPACT HUES LIKE SHIMMERING TURQOUISE.” Photographs of the ‘copy’ dress and the shoes to go with, are placed alongside the photograph of Agyness. Typically, they are selling a ‘look’ and a lifestyle. I along with many of my friends shop at ASOS.com, and while I spend more in ‘brick-and-mortar’ Below are 2 screen grabs from ASOS.com, the first I think illustrates the ease customers have when browsing the website. Clothing is categorized into women’s and men’s and then there are several sub-categories such as “Day dresses,” “Evening dresses,” “Knitwear,” and so on. The second screen grab is evidence of what I think, is the ‘aspirational’ lifestyle ASOS sell too. The texts demands customers to “MAKE LIKE AGYNESS DEYN IN HIGH IMPACT HUES LIKE SHIMMERING TURQOUISE.” Photographs of the ‘copy’ dress and the shoes to go with, are placed alongside the photograph of Agyness. Typically, they are selling a ‘look’ and a lifestyle. I along with many of my friends shop at ASOS.com, and while I spend more in ‘brick-and-mortar’ retailers, the ease of a website like ASOS.com has me and many others coming back time and time again every pay-day.