Website Project

Website Project

The third assignment (the Website Project) requires you to create a website, based on your previously developed website plan. You will do this using a website publishing platform called, ‘WordPress’. This is intended to assess your familiarity of the conceptual knowledge and your ability to apply the practical skills taught in lectures and tutorials. The assignment also requires you to consider how to implement the management and design issues that were raised in your website plan. The assessment criteria for the website project are based on elements of website quality, which will be discussed extensively in lectures. These include: general professionalism of the site; consistent and detailed information; quality of the text content and the absence of copyright breaches (i.e. make sure you write your own content); ease of access to all information; navigation (e.g. ease of use, no broken links etc); and the visual appearance the site (e.g. colours, layout, and overall vibe appropriate for your business).

Important Point

The biggest question to ask yourself prior to submitting your Website Project is, ‘Would I (as a potential customer) be interested in booking or purchasing a product or service from this company’s website?’ For your answer to be yes your website must look professional, trustworthy, and be a true reflection of the business’s underlying philosophies, goals, and purpose. If your answer to that question is no then something must be missing from your website (possibly a number of things). To simplify; if your business is a hotel, does your website look like a hotel website? If your business is a festival, does your website look like a festival website? Make sense? If your business sells a product or service (and most will), can the customer purchase or book that product or service online? If the answer is no, then your website fails to achieve your business’s most crucial goal; to increase profit through the use of online channels and today’s pervasive, digitally converged business environment. Finally a comment on the content (primarily the text) contained within your website – do not copy text content from anywhere. You are required to generate this content yourself. It is an employable skill and a major component of this assignment. We will be working in an internationally accessible online environment. If the content on your website beaches copyright in anyway, you will more than likely receive an academic breach notice and your website project will be marked accordingly (i.e. you receive no marks for any copied content).

Due Date

Friday Week 11 (17th October), 11.59pm.

Submission Protocol

Submit assignment by providing your tutor with administrator rights to your website. You will be shown how to do this in lectures and in tutorials. Ensure you have the capacity to do this correctly before the due date.

Website Domain Extension

When you create your website, you will be required to provide a domain name to set it up. The domain name normally is the same as your business name. However, in order to ensure the public do not view your website as a functioning business, and to ensure they are aware the website is associated with a university assignment, when entering your domain name, place 1220hsl directly before your business name

For Example:

1. Company Name: AnarchistAthlete
2. Normal Domain Name: anarchistathlete
3. Assignment Domain Name: 1220hslanarchistathlete
4. Assignment URL: www.1220hslanarchistathlete.wordpress.com

Website Disclaimer

On the contact page and any page where you set up some sort of monetary transaction, you will place the following disclaimer (to ensure the public do not view your website as a functioning business):

This website has been created as part of a UNIVERSITY ASSIGNMENT for the course ‘Information Systems for Service Industries’. This course is undertaken as a first year subject for numerous Bachelor of Business degrees offered by Griffith University. The business concept that is the focus of this website is purely fictional and does in no way, shape, or form constitute a real business. All commerce, trading, and monetisation functions associated with this website have been created to show that the administrator (tertiary-level student) has sufficient understanding of the manner in which websites and online marketing can increase a business’s overall market share and ultimately generate increased financial return. YOU CANNOT PURCHASE PRODUCTS, PROCURE SERVICES, OR CONDUCT ANY BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS FROM THIS WEBSITE. Yours Sincerely, The Administrator.

Website Set Up Procedure

1. Click Here to sign up your website
2. Enter Your Griffith email address (use only your Griffith email address)
3. Create a username
4. Create a password
5. Enter your domain name (website address, i.e. 1220hslyourdomainname)
6. Remember to place 1220hsl in front of your domain name
7. Choose the .wordpress.com Free option only
8. Do not pay money for any service from WordPress
9. You will now be sent an email from WordPress detailing where you go from here
10. It will simply ask you to ‘activate’ your website by clicking on a link
11. You will then most likely be taken to the administration log in page
12. Add your tutor as an administrator straight away

Website Project Task Sheet

This document will, in an easy to understand manner, assist you successfully complete your third assignment (the Website Project). The third assignment is the construction of a business website. It is your chance to produce what you have proposed in your Website Plan and show how you will use today’s digitally converged environments and online marketing channels to increase your business’s brand awareness, community engagement, and ultimately, profit. Your website needs to look professional, reflect the underlying philosophies and goals associated with your business, and provide new avenues for your target audience to find your business and purchase or book whatever product or service you offer. Check out the task sheet for further information and remember that we cover everything in lectures and tutorials so your attendance during this period is extremely important.

DOWNLOAD TASK SHEET (4.53MB)

Website Project Marking Criteria

Everything you need to know about this assignment and everything you need to access is essentially provided in the lectures and tutorials. In saying that however, the most important components of setting up your website are provided in the sections above and in the Task Sheet for this assignment. The marking criteria associated with this assignment (provided below) is, however, crucial. It is your lifeline, use it well. This document provides a guide to how your third assignment (the Website Project) will be marked. Use this guide as a checklist to ensure you have covered all required aspects of the assignment to a high standard. An assessment of each aspect of the assignment will be undertaken and a mark will be given. This will provide feedback to the student through an indication of the quality of the students work addressing each criterion.

DOWNLOAD MARKING CRITERIA (0.11MB)

Website Themes Worth Checking Out

1. Chateau (simple but multiple options and as such very effective)
2. Stay (this theme is really good for hotels and businesses based on accommodation)
3. Pictorico (cool looking grid or tiled portfolio based theme, seen this used quite well by students in previous semesters)
4. Ullustratr (a portfolio based theme good for creative businesses or where announcements are regular)
5. Espied (a portfolio based theme good for creative businesses or where announcements are regular)
6. Sidespied (a portfolio child theme of Espied. Great for showing off your photographs or images)
7. Spun (simple yet funky theme that might be good for vintage, retro, or businesses focused on homemade products or services)
8. Oxygen (another portfolio style theme, however, could work for a multitude of business types)
9. Goran (I could see this used quite well for a business offering professional services, stylish, minimal, widget areas on home page could work well for a multitude of businesses)
10. Edin (similar vibe to the Goran theme and offering the same potential, I like the point of difference in the way the menu is set up and functions)
11. Tonal (sometimes simple and minimally styled website are best)
12. Hemingway (a new theme made available this year which looks pretty cool and easy to use to me)
13. Sketch (responsive portfolio based theme, minimal, easy to work with, again might be good for vintage, retro, or businesses focused on homemade products or services, cute demo too)
14. Adaption (a flexible and responsive theme. Strong structure supports any type of content, full-width featured images help your content pop, and there is something interestingly different about this theme)

Important Note: The links above re-direct you straight to the theme’s instructions page. You can activate any of these themes from within your WordPress dashboard. I have re-directed you to the theme’s instructions page as most of these themes do something unique – that is why they look good – and as a result, it is crucial that you read the instructions so you can set it up successfully.

Hyperlink To The ‘Creative Commons’ Image Resource Bank

Click Here to check out some of the resources (images, audio, video) available under flexible Creative Commons licences

Hyperlink To The ‘WebTreats’ Social Media Icons Resource Bank

Click Here to check out the multitude of social media icons that are made freely available by Webtreats (if you can not find a social media icon that suits your business here then you are not looking hard enough)

Hyperlink To The ‘Subtle Patterns’ Backgrounds Resource Bank

Click Here to check out the endless range of backgrounds that are made freely available by Subtle Patterns (once again if you can not find a background image that suits your business here then you are not looking hard enough)

That is all I can think of guys.  If anything is at all unclear about this assignment, please do not hesitate to let me or your tutor know so we can sort out any issues you may be having as soon as possible. All the best.