Preparing the travel guide

When I was thinking about how to deal with this assignment, I wanted to make sure I was following the instructions, and I also wanted to go a bit beyond the requirements, so that the results would be more than just a list of links.

I first thought about the nature of this assignment.  The focus is clearly on writing for the web. I found this a bit odd, given that the course is about visual design and display, rather than about using words. Most of my experience is with words, and I took this course to learn more about something that I know little about, namely the visual aspect of presenting information. However, I was willing to focus on the verbal, since obviously it is an important part of a web page.

In thinking about how to present information, I thought about travel sites I have been to.  One of my favorites is a series in the New York Times, which is entitled to A weekend in, followed by the name of the location that is being treated. These pieces follow a chronological order and describe what the visitor can do, where to stay, where and what to eat, and what parts of town to meander in.  I had to decide whether I should a structure like this, which I liked but which was not my idea. Not that borrowing ideas was a foreign concept; most of human discovery and thought is done by building on the work of others. I decided that it was OK to use this concept, but I would not look at the New York Times during the period that I was preparing the assignment. That is what I did.

The assignment did not ask for any visuals, or at least, I hope it did not.  The focus seemed to be entirely on writing style. Nonetheless, I noticed that some of the others made heavy use of pictures in their work. And there was no doubt that these pictures enhance the appeal of the sites that they have created. So hopefully I did not miss something in the instructions to this assignment that required the use of pictures.

Because I wanted my site to be more than just the story, I decided to include a list of resources on a second page. That way, the story could entice the reader to develop some interest in the location, and also give them the hard facts when it came time to make some choices or arrangements. I think I would have missed something if I had just provided the resources. The travel sites that I most like are those that tell a story, or bring a human element into the picture. In doing my research, I came across a number of sites which were simply lists of hotels, each with an address and phone number, but not even a link. I wondered who would find such a site of any use.

Advertisement