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Thesis: Developing a website for University

As we all know, Joomla is a very friendly platform for educational purposes and also used for creating websites for college and university. It is nice for writing a graduate work based on Joomla. When I was finishing university 4 years ago, the subject of my thesis was: “How to create a website for Graphic Arts Department using CMS”. A real website for the faculty was made and the process was documented and explained in detail. I decided to share my experience and have written this article which is dedicated to the students who may be thinking about creating a similar experience and to the teachers as kind of a methodological material. In this article we’ll walk through an example of creating the website for the university’s faculty.

Why to choose website development as a thesis subject?

Two and half years ago I graduated from the Kuban State University and chose website development as a Thesis for my diploma. Why I took this way? When a person have devoted years to the educational institution and have learned particular choice of subjects over this time, this is a good idea to make a website for the faculty of chosen university as a thesis since the final result will help matriculants and a future generation of students to keep up to date with all necessary requirements related to both the educational process and further progress of personal knowledge. A personal website of the faculty is an essential tool nowadays since this is a direct way for all interested persons to get requested information from first hands and with my help it’s possible to systematize the information and make it is user-friendly. As a result of this, visitors may get answers within the site which will optimize a work of deanery that can receive more personalized questions and spend considerably less time on FAQ via e-mail / telephone. These arguments were a rationale for the choosing of the subject of my thesis.

In this article I’m going to tell how I did proceed with preparing my Thesis based on Joomla step by step and what result was finally reached.

Planning and designing

Any work should be started from projecting the website architecture. First of all, I had to think which goals the website pursues. I decided to create an informational platform that unifies process of interaction between deanery and students as well as make life easier for matriculants. By other words, to duplicate information from information stand to website and the person may get or request all necessary information via gadget and be informed of important announcements. This is quick, suitable and practical. And it's good to think about potential features. Here are some things I've considered:

• Content structure in front-end
• Contact form
• File repository
• User Permissions in back-end

Of course, this list might be easily extended with additional features like online training schedule (calendar components), Questioning (form components) or basic profile for registered users and so on. But I won’t consider it within this article.

Preparing the Specifications

Now I have a basic conception and understanding which features should be used to create a website. Once I get clear in understanding this, all further work will be built consequentially. That is the key to success. Writing the specifications will help me immensely in time management.

Let’s talk about website features in details:

Content Structure. I’ve separated it in three conditional parts:

• Common information (history, departments / cathedra, magistral staff)
• To Student (information for students: examinations requirements, worksheets)
• To Matriculant (terms of admission, recommended handbooks)

Gallery. Since it’s a Graphic Arts Department, I was needed to shoot photo content of outstanding works for both students and teachers. For releasing gallery I’ve used Phoca gallery with two categories: student works and teacher works. Of course, in other cases it's possible to use any other 3rd party extension (even content plugin) to create such a feature.

Contact form. I’ve used standard Contacts component.

File Repository for easily uploading .pdf and .doc files via Media manager and inserting links in the content.

Prototyping and design

The design of the website is its facade and will be estimated by my Head of the thesis, deanery and soon the commission staff. To avoid unpleasant template changing “on the run” it's necessary to care about it by projecting user interface of each page via schematic layouts. There are lots of free and commercial software and online tools for sketching mock-ups. I'm using my favorite tool and start doing mock-ups and do not forget about consultation with my Head.

Communication between the people involved is absolutely crucial. Once UI sketches are approved, it’s time to create designs in any lovely graphical software or tools like Adobe Photoshop, Gimp or whatever else. I've used Photoshop in university computer class and consulted with affiliated persons who managed me with a diploma.

Creating structure and programming

At previous steps I have defined conception, structure and prepared sketches and designs of the website’s pages. Now it's time to create a website from scratch - basic structure and features according to specifications. I started doing it without necessary content which I will have to be adding during all the process step by step according to its availability, but now I need a structure: Categories, Articles and Menu Items. Once I finished doing this task, I go on with modules according to design sketches and install and configure 3rd party extensions. It was Phoca gallery which I’ve chosen because I was looking for a solution providing easy images management in the back-end side.

At current step I wasn't care about front-end design, but bear in mind module grid and its positions which are important for the next step: template layout.

Last touch: I need to create a few users with limited back-end access for representatives (Secretary) who will manage website soon. So, I have to set up permissions according to flexible Joomla ACL features and create one user who may manage content of news category and another person who will have extended permissions, but unable to change something in global. That’s all about my specifications.

Template Layout

Well, I’ve organized the complete structure of the website and released all necessary features throughout components. This means that I have got a working prototype. A big work have done. But I still have a long way to go. Now it’s time to increase muscle mass to the body or wear doll into elegant clothes: I am starting to create a new template according approved designs and module grid. I’ve used Warp Framework (which I personally love) to create template with responsive design which is very important since my idea-fix is accessibility of a website on all modern devices and gadgets which was a part of my speech and what was demonstrated during protection of the thesis. To be compatible with smartphones and gadgets became a part of our life and especially for students who love gadgets, thereby making faculty’s website a mobile friendly is a must-have solution nowadays. It’s all what I've said during the final speech. Now I have to complete template development and do layout for all internal pages. Finally, make beta-testing with some special attention since website should correspond at cross-browsing requirements and be mobile-friendly (hello to responsive design) which is possible to achieve as according external frameworks, so with standard Joomla 3 features with Twitter Bootstrap.

Documentation

So, I’ve created website which is ready to use. But it is only 50% of the work. Another part is presentation and elaboration of the explanatory note that is crucial. Let’s talk about it in detail. I made a request to deanery for rules of how to write explanatory note / theoretical part of the thesis according university requirements and, possibly, get some samples. But now I am focusing on the content itself.

Table of Contents (short example):

• Introduction
• Common concept of website
• Websites classification
• Criteria of choosing CMS
• OpenSource CMS & software
• What is CMS Joomla
• Basic concept of a framework
• Steps of creating the website
• Objectives of the site
• Structure of content and navigation
• Module grid
• Design concept and designing
• Creation of website sketch and releasing the features
• Template development
• Content management and preparing the site for opening
• Beta-testing and moving to hosting
• Appendix A. Glossary
• Appendix B. How to manage content in back-end
• Appendix C. System Requirements

That’s enough to cover all necessary subjects. Thereby my explanatory note can be divided into 3 parts:

• Rationale for creating the website. Why, which tools to use, preparation of the specifications.
• Proceedings. Tells me how to go step-by-step.
• Management. Short documentation for persons who will manage the content of the website.

Once I have completed this, I submitted explanatory notes for revision and final acceptance.

Preparing for defense

I have successfully finished with both theoretical and practical parts of my thesis and now I must prepare for the defense - the most exciting and important part of my work. One of the thesis requirement was a preparation of posters. That's importnant since it could enhance the effect of a speaker with visual components. In my case, I’ve prepared two A1 format posters united in one conception and have printed it in the press. Yes, now that’s better!

Making video is a good visual advantage that might play in the background while I speak. That also needs some time and creative approach but the results are well worth it. I've used special software to capture the screen and record short videos of website front-end and back-end process, then prepare static images and proceed to add all these components in special video program. For instance, for video capture I have used Camtasia studio and proceeded video in iMovie on my favorite Mac.

Final step is moving website to university hosting / server. I asked affiliated persons to grant me all data access for migration to the server and make sure all is fine with the subdomain name. I also though to getting reinsured by unforeseen circumstances and took my laptop to have ability to show the presentation at localhost as well as copied the website and placed it on temporary polygon in Internet (in case if the laptop won't be compatible with screen projector and we have no time to fix it or univeristy server will be unavailable. It's important since it was a final day and I had to avoid any problem!).

Before my appearance, I made sure I’ve prepared everything: took laptop with preinstalled website at localhost, made sure I've got a flashcard with all data and etc. All little things are important, thus I was patient and kept my soul in peace.

Defense of the Thesis

The bell tolls and my finest hour has come. It’s time to make presentation of what I’ve reached in the university during these years. SO, what my speech was about? I told why I decided to choose such thesis’ subject, what advantages my website will give, told in detail about the process of the development and for sure told how I’ve applied the knowledge acquired in the university and how I communicated with teachers. It’s then I’ll be pleased of the understanding my thesis won’t be kept in archive, but really makes favor to educational institution I’ve been studied at.

That’s what I’ve done for my university in 2012 with Thesis: “Website development for Graphic Arts Department of Kuban State University”.

About author

Eugene has been a part of and worked in many of the web development roles over the years, taking on various projects. At the present moment, he is involved as a team manager working inside his personal projects. This blog is specifically dedicated to start-up businesses, team management, and how to maximize your success with Open Source ideology.

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The design and aesthetic performance of web sites (Entire thesis)

This thesis investigates the visual aesthetic performance of Web sites. An experiment was conducted in which a Web site, designed with three controlled levels of 'visual enrichment', was evaluated on a number of measures by two subject groups. The measures used represent facets of the Categorical-Motivation model of aesthetics, plus others directly related to the performance of Web sites. The results of the experiment indicate that the drivers of site evaluation were primarily exploratory variables that represent 'novelty', 'interest' and 'fun'. This supports the argument that an important question to consider when designing a Web site is not merely 'can the site's audience use the Web site?', but also 'does the site's audience want to use the Web site?' Visual, audio and interactive appeal are, as the findings show, very important design considerations. This research adds to a body of knowledge that seeks to understand aesthetic phenomena and develops a theoretical framework that will prove useful for the investigation of visual interfaces.

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A Literature Review: Website Design and User Engagement

Renee garett.

1 ElevateU, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Sean D. Young

2 University of California Institute for Prediction Technology, Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

3 UCLA Center for Digital Behavior, Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Proper design has become a critical element needed to engage website and mobile application users. However, little research has been conducted to define the specific elements used in effective website and mobile application design. We attempt to review and consolidate research on effective design and to define a short list of elements frequently used in research. The design elements mentioned most frequently in the reviewed literature were navigation, graphical representation, organization, content utility, purpose, simplicity, and readability. We discuss how previous studies define and evaluate these seven elements. This review and the resulting short list of design elements may be used to help designers and researchers to operationalize best practices for facilitating and predicting user engagement.

1. INTRODUCTION

Internet usage has increased tremendously and rapidly in the past decade ( “Internet Use Over Time,” 2014 ). Websites have become the most important public communication portal for most, if not all, businesses and organizations. As of 2014, 87% of American adults aged 18 or older are Internet users ( “Internet User Demographics,” 2013 ). Because business-to-consumer interactions mainly occur online, website design is critical in engaging users ( Flavián, Guinalíu, & Gurrea, 2006 ; Lee & Kozar, 2012 ; Petre, Minocha, & Roberts, 2006 ). Poorly designed websites may frustrate users and result in a high “bounce rate”, or people visiting the entrance page without exploring other pages within the site ( Google.com, 2015 ). On the other hand, a well-designed website with high usability has been found to positively influence visitor retention (revisit rates) and purchasing behavior ( Avouris, Tselios, Fidas, & Papachristos, 2003 ; Flavián et al., 2006 ; Lee & Kozar, 2012 ).

Little research, however, has been conducted to define the specific elements that constitute effective website design. One of the key design measures is usability ( International Standardization Organization, 1998 ). The International Standardized Organization (ISO) defines usability as the extent to which users can achieve desired tasks (e.g., access desired information or place a purchase) with effectiveness (completeness and accuracy of the task), efficiency (time spent on the task), and satisfaction (user experience) within a system. However, there is currently no consensus on how to properly operationalize and assess website usability ( Lee & Kozar, 2012 ). For example, Nielson associates usability with learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction ( Nielsen, 2012 ). Yet, Palmer (2002) postulates that usability is determined by download time, navigation, content, interactivity, and responsiveness. Similar to usability, many other key design elements, such as scannability, readability, and visual aesthetics, have not yet been clearly defined ( Bevan, 1997 ; Brady & Phillips, 2003 ; Kim, Lee, Han, & Lee, 2002 ), and there are no clear guidelines that individuals can follow when designing websites to increase engagement.

This review sought to address that question by identifying and consolidating the key website design elements that influence user engagement according to prior research studies. This review aimed to determine the website design elements that are most commonly shown or suggested to increase user engagement. Based on these findings, we listed and defined a short list of website design elements that best facilitate and predict user engagement. The work is thus an exploratory research providing definitions for these elements of website design and a starting point for future research to reference.

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. selection criteria and data extraction.

We searched for articles relating to website design on Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) because Google Scholar consolidates papers across research databases (e.g., Pubmed) and research on design is listed in multiple databases. We used the following combination of keywords: design, usability, and websites. Google Scholar yielded 115,000 total hits. However, due to the large list of studies generated, we decided to only review the top 100 listed research studies for this exploratory study. Our inclusion criteria for the studies was: (1) publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal, (2) publication in English, and (3) publication in or after 2000. Year of publication was chosen as a limiting factor so that we would have enough years of research to identify relevant studies but also have results that relate to similar styles of websites after the year 2000. We included studies that were experimental or theoretical (review papers and commentaries) in nature. Resulting studies represented a diverse range of disciplines, including human-computer interaction, marketing, e-commerce, interface design, cognitive science, and library science. Based on these selection criteria, thirty-five unique studies remained and were included in this review.

2.2. Final Search Term

(design) and (usability) and (websites).

The search terms were kept simple to capture the higher level design/usability papers and allow Google scholar’s ranking method to filter out the most popular studies. This method also allowed studies from a large range of fields to be searched.

2.3. Analysis

The literature review uncovered 20 distinct design elements commonly discussed in research that affect user engagement. They were (1) organization – is the website logically organized, (2) content utility – is the information provided useful or interesting, (3) navigation – is the website easy to navigate, (4) graphical representation – does the website utilize icons, contrasting colors, and multimedia content, (5) purpose – does the website clearly state its purpose (i.e. personal, commercial, or educational), (6) memorable elements – does the website facilitate returning users to navigate the site effectively (e.g., through layout or graphics), (7) valid links – does the website provide valid links, (8) simplicity – is the design of the website simple, (9) impartiality – is the information provided fair and objective, (10) credibility – is the information provided credible, (11) consistency/reliability – is the website consistently designed (i.e., no changes in page layout throughout the site), (12) accuracy – is the information accurate, (13) loading speed – does the website take a long time to load, (14) security/privacy – does the website securely transmit, store, and display personal information/data, (15) interactive – can the user interact with the website (e.g., post comments or receive recommendations for similar purchases), (16) strong user control capabilities– does the website allow individuals to customize their experiences (such as the order of information they access and speed at which they browse the website), (17) readability – is the website easy to read and understand (e.g., no grammatical/spelling errors), (18) efficiency – is the information presented in a way that users can find the information they need quickly, (19) scannability – can users pick out relevant information quickly, and (20) learnability – how steep is the learning curve for using the website. For each of the above, we calculated the proportion of studies mentioning the element. In this review, we provide a threshold value of 30%. We identified elements that were used in at least 30% of the studies and include these elements that are above the threshold on a short list of elements used in research on proper website design. The 30% value was an arbitrary threshold picked that would provide researchers and designers with a guideline list of elements described in research on effective web design. To provide further information on how to apply this list, we present specific details on how each of these elements was discussed in research so that it can be defined and operationalized.

3.1. Popular website design elements ( Table 1 )

Frequency of website design elements used in research (2000–2014)

Seven of the website design elements met our threshold requirement for review. Navigation was the most frequently discussed element, mentioned in 22 articles (62.86%). Twenty-one studies (60%) highlighted the importance of graphics. Fifteen studies (42.86%) emphasized good organization. Four other elements also exceeded the threshold level, and they were content utility (n=13, 37.14%), purpose (n=11, 31.43%), simplicity (n=11, 31.43%), and readability (n=11, 31.43%).

Elements below our minimum requirement for review include memorable features (n=5, 14.29%), links (n=10, 28.57%), impartiality (n=1, 2.86%), credibility (n=7, 20%), consistency/reliability (n=8. 22.86%), accuracy (n=5, 14.29%), loading speed (n=10, 28.57%), security/privacy (n=2, 5.71%), interactive features (n=9, 25.71%), strong user control capabilities (n=8, 22.86%), efficiency (n=6, 17.14%), scannability (n=1, 2.86%), and learnability (n=2, 5.71%).

3.2. Defining key design elements for user engagement ( Table 2 )

Definitions of Key Design Elements

In defining and operationalizing each of these elements, the research studies suggested that effective navigation is the presence of salient and consistent menu/navigation bars, aids for navigation (e.g., visible links), search features, and easy access to pages (multiple pathways and limited clicks/backtracking). Engaging graphical presentation entails 1) inclusion of images, 2) proper size and resolution of images, 3) multimedia content, 4) proper color, font, and size of text, 5) use of logos and icons, 6) attractive visual layout, 7) color schemes, and 8) effective use of white space. Optimal organization includes 1) cognitive architecture, 2) logical, understandable, and hierarchical structure, 3) information arrangement and categorization, 4) meaningful labels/headings/titles, and 5) use of keywords. Content utility is determined by 1) sufficient amount of information to attract repeat visitors, 2) arousal/motivation (keeps visitors interested and motivates users to continue exploring the site), 3) content quality, 4) information relevant to the purpose of the site, and 5) perceived utility based on user needs/requirements. The purpose of a website is clear when it 1) establishes a unique and visible brand/identity, 2) addresses visitors’ intended purpose and expectations for visiting the site, and 3) provides information about the organization and/or services. Simplicity is achieved by using 1) simple subject headings, 2) transparency of information (reduce search time), 3) website design optimized for computer screens, 4) uncluttered layout, 5) consistency in design throughout website, 6) ease of using (including first-time users), 7) minimize redundant features, and 8) easily understandable functions. Readability is optimized by content that is 1) easy to read, 2) well-written, 3) grammatically correct, 4) understandable, 5) presented in readable blocks, and 6) reading level appropriate.

4. DISCUSSION

The seven website design elements most often discussed in relation to user engagement in the reviewed studies were navigation (62.86%), graphical representation (60%), organization (42.86%), content utility (37.14%), purpose (31.43%), simplicity (31.43%), and readability (31.43%). These seven elements exceeded our threshold level of 30% representation in the literature and were included into a short list of website design elements to operationalize effective website design. For further analysis, we reviewed how studies defined and evaluated these seven elements. This may allow designers and researchers to determine and follow best practices for facilitating or predicting user engagement.

A remaining challenge is that the definitions of website design elements often overlap. For example, several studies evaluated organization by how well a website incorporates cognitive architecture, logical and hierarchical structure, systematic information arrangement and categorization, meaningful headings and labels, and keywords. However, these features are also crucial in navigation design. Also, the implications of using distinct logos and icons go beyond graphical representation. Logos and icons also establish unique brand/identity for the organization (purpose) and can serve as visual aids for navigation. Future studies are needed to develop distinct and objective measures to assess these elements and how they affect user engagement ( Lee & Kozar, 2012 ).

Given the rapid increase in both mobile technology and social media use, it is surprising that no studies mentioned cross-platform compatibility and social media integration. In 2013, 34% of cellphone owners primarily use their cellphones to access the Internet, and this number continues to grow ( “Mobile Technology Factsheet,” 2013 ). With the rise of different mobile devices, users are also diversifying their web browser use. Internet Explorer (IE) was once the leading web browser. However, in recent years, FireFox, Safari, and Chrome have gained significant traction ( W3schools.com, 2015 ). Website designers and researchers must be mindful of different platforms and browsers to minimize the risk of losing users due to compatibility issues. In addition, roughly 74% of American Internet users use some form of social media ( Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart, & Smith, 2015 ), and social media has emerged as an effective platform for organizations to target and interact with users. Integrating social media into website design may increase user engagement by facilitating participation and interactivity.

There are several limitations to the current review. First, due to the large number of studies published in this area and due to this study being exploratory, we selected from the first 100 research publications on Google Scholar search results. Future studies may benefit from defining design to a specific topic, set of years, or other area to limit the number of search results. Second, we did not quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these website design elements. Additional research can help to better quantify these elements.

It should also be noted that different disciplines and industries have different objectives in designing websites and should thus prioritize different website design elements. For example, online businesses and marketers seek to design websites that optimize brand loyalty, purchase, and profit ( Petre et al., 2006 ). Others, such as academic researchers or healthcare providers, are more likely to prioritize privacy/confidentiality, and content accuracy in building websites ( Horvath, Ecklund, Hunt, Nelson, & Toomey, 2015 ). Ultimately, we advise website designers and researchers to consider the design elements delineated in this review, along with their unique needs, when developing user engagement strategies.

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Think of yourself as a member of a jury, listening to a lawyer who is presenting an opening argument. You'll want to know very soon whether the lawyer believes the accused to be guilty or not guilty, and how the lawyer plans to convince you. Readers of academic essays are like jury members: before they have read too far, they want to know what the essay argues as well as how the writer plans to make the argument. After reading your thesis statement, the reader should think, "This essay is going to try to convince me of something. I'm not convinced yet, but I'm interested to see how I might be."

An effective thesis cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no." A thesis is not a topic; nor is it a fact; nor is it an opinion. "Reasons for the fall of communism" is a topic. "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" is a fact known by educated people. "The fall of communism is the best thing that ever happened in Europe" is an opinion. (Superlatives like "the best" almost always lead to trouble. It's impossible to weigh every "thing" that ever happened in Europe. And what about the fall of Hitler? Couldn't that be "the best thing"?)

A good thesis has two parts. It should tell what you plan to argue, and it should "telegraph" how you plan to argue—that is, what particular support for your claim is going where in your essay.

Steps in Constructing a Thesis

First, analyze your primary sources.  Look for tension, interest, ambiguity, controversy, and/or complication. Does the author contradict himself or herself? Is a point made and later reversed? What are the deeper implications of the author's argument? Figuring out the why to one or more of these questions, or to related questions, will put you on the path to developing a working thesis. (Without the why, you probably have only come up with an observation—that there are, for instance, many different metaphors in such-and-such a poem—which is not a thesis.)

Once you have a working thesis, write it down.  There is nothing as frustrating as hitting on a great idea for a thesis, then forgetting it when you lose concentration. And by writing down your thesis you will be forced to think of it clearly, logically, and concisely. You probably will not be able to write out a final-draft version of your thesis the first time you try, but you'll get yourself on the right track by writing down what you have.

Keep your thesis prominent in your introduction.  A good, standard place for your thesis statement is at the end of an introductory paragraph, especially in shorter (5-15 page) essays. Readers are used to finding theses there, so they automatically pay more attention when they read the last sentence of your introduction. Although this is not required in all academic essays, it is a good rule of thumb.

Anticipate the counterarguments.  Once you have a working thesis, you should think about what might be said against it. This will help you to refine your thesis, and it will also make you think of the arguments that you'll need to refute later on in your essay. (Every argument has a counterargument. If yours doesn't, then it's not an argument—it may be a fact, or an opinion, but it is not an argument.)

This statement is on its way to being a thesis. However, it is too easy to imagine possible counterarguments. For example, a political observer might believe that Dukakis lost because he suffered from a "soft-on-crime" image. If you complicate your thesis by anticipating the counterargument, you'll strengthen your argument, as shown in the sentence below.

Some Caveats and Some Examples

A thesis is never a question.  Readers of academic essays expect to have questions discussed, explored, or even answered. A question ("Why did communism collapse in Eastern Europe?") is not an argument, and without an argument, a thesis is dead in the water.

A thesis is never a list.  "For political, economic, social and cultural reasons, communism collapsed in Eastern Europe" does a good job of "telegraphing" the reader what to expect in the essay—a section about political reasons, a section about economic reasons, a section about social reasons, and a section about cultural reasons. However, political, economic, social and cultural reasons are pretty much the only possible reasons why communism could collapse. This sentence lacks tension and doesn't advance an argument. Everyone knows that politics, economics, and culture are important.

A thesis should never be vague, combative or confrontational.  An ineffective thesis would be, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because communism is evil." This is hard to argue (evil from whose perspective? what does evil mean?) and it is likely to mark you as moralistic and judgmental rather than rational and thorough. It also may spark a defensive reaction from readers sympathetic to communism. If readers strongly disagree with you right off the bat, they may stop reading.

An effective thesis has a definable, arguable claim.  "While cultural forces contributed to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the disintegration of economies played the key role in driving its decline" is an effective thesis sentence that "telegraphs," so that the reader expects the essay to have a section about cultural forces and another about the disintegration of economies. This thesis makes a definite, arguable claim: that the disintegration of economies played a more important role than cultural forces in defeating communism in Eastern Europe. The reader would react to this statement by thinking, "Perhaps what the author says is true, but I am not convinced. I want to read further to see how the author argues this claim."

A thesis should be as clear and specific as possible.  Avoid overused, general terms and abstractions. For example, "Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe because of the ruling elite's inability to address the economic concerns of the people" is more powerful than "Communism collapsed due to societal discontent."

Copyright 1999, Maxine Rodburg and The Tutors of the Writing Center at Harvard University

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• RIT Libraries
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Why search this literature?

It is crucial for graduate students to search the thesis and dissertation literature to make sure that an idea or hypothesis has not already been tested, explored, and published.  An additional reason to search this literature is that it is rich with ideas and information not found elsewhere.  If graduate students do not continue on as academics or if students that came after them in their programs did not continue their research, this literature may be the end of the line for scholarship on a topic.

ProQuest has published dissertation e-learning modules covering the usefulness of using dissertations as a research source.  See link below:

• Dissertation eLearning resources from ProQuest Uncover the value of dissertations.

Library Databases

All graduate students should, at minimum, search the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database (PQDT) to see if the research they are proposing to do has already been done by a student at another institution/university.  RIT dissertations and theses have been included in PQDT since approximately 2006.

• Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window Identifies Ph.D. dissertations from U.S. & Canadian universities since 1861. Abstracts from 1980. Master's theses from 1988. Many with full-text.

RIT Digital Institutional Repository

• Digital Institutional Repository The digital institutional repository for the Rochester Institute of Technology, managed by RIT Libraries.
• ProQuest - Most Accessed Dissertations/Theses

Each month ProQuest updates this list of the top 25 Most-Accessed Dissertations and Theses across all subjects, based upon total PDF downloads. Find out what is trending.

The web sites below should also be consulted as appropriate to perform a full and thorough review of the dissertation and thesis literature beyond your introductory search of ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.  Consider whether a particular country or part of the world would have an interest in your potential research topic.

Only large-scale repositories of dissertations and theses are included here. You may also need to search individual university repositories directly.

• Ebsco Open Dissertations Search thousands of open dissertations and theses from over 50 participating libraries.
• EThOS (from the British Library) EThOS offers a 'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education.
• Indian Institute of Science Dissertations and theses from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
• Indian Theses and Dissertations (Shodhganga) Over 130 participating Indian universities and over 8800 ETD documents.
• National ETD Portal (South Africa) South African theses and dissertations.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). The NDLTD Union Catalog contains more than one million records of electronic theses and dissertations. Search the Union Catalog from here: http://thumper.vtls.com:6090/?theme=NDLTD
• OhioLINK ETD Center Electronic theses and dissertations from colleges and universities in the state of Ohio.
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations OATD aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 600 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes over 1.5 million theses and dissertations. RIT is included.
• Theses Canada Canadian universities voluntarily participate by submitting approved theses and dissertation to Theses Canada. Click on "Search Theses Canada" under the Introduction on the left hand side of the page to begin your search.
• TROVE From the National Library of Australia - Search Trove to explore amazing collections from Australian libraries, universities, museums, galleries and archives.
• Next: Thesis Writing Guides >>

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Methodology

• What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall research objectives and approach
• Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

• Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
• Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

• Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

• Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
• Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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Thesis: The WordPress framework focused on SEO

The selection of WordPress themes is huge: Practical layout templates for the popular content management system that differ considerably in terms of design , functionality , and price , make it possible to implement an extremely diverse array of web projects without barely a single complication. Ever since version 3.0 was released and the API theme was introduced, frameworks have come to the forefront. These basic frameworks – standalone themes with basic core functions – form the basis for new website layouts that are referred to as child themes in WordPress. One representative of this is Thesis, the framework of DIYthemes whose purpose is to visually change your WordPress project and optimize it for search machines.

What’s behind the Thesis framework?

What differentiates thesis from other wordpress frameworks, terms of use and available thesis packages.

In 2008, the website developer Chris Pearson published his Thesis theme for WordPress on DIYthemes.com. The basic principle behind the layout template: to make the possibilities of theme design accessible to a wider majority of WordPress users. His basic template was quickly accepted, so Pearson was able to pursue consistent work on the theme. With Thesis 2.0 and the available child theme technique , the initially simple template has finally grown into a true kit for the development of versatile website layouts . For this reason, Thesis theme is included today as a WordPress framework.

Thesis may be a framework for WordPress themes, but it’s very different from the structure of the content management system in comparison to other parent themes. With three toolboxes, skins, and site tools, the people in charge of Thesis deliberately use terms that are just as foreign to a WordPress developer as to an inexperienced user. In terms of the functionality of the tools , nothing is different: when working with Thesis, users feel less like they’re working on a WordPress theme, but instead – as already mentioned – feel like they’re working on a homepage kit. This is why Thesis should be differentiated from other platforms as a WordPress framework. This concept ensures that even a proven WordPress programmer correctly understands how the individual components function and are used only after a certain period of training time – a fact that has already drawn some criticism.

Once you’re a bit more familiar with the three features for layout, design, and page management, you’ll quickly recognize the advantages that the strictly separated blocks provide for your web project.

Thesis boxes are basically the widgets in the building kit. Every box, which you can easily drag-and-drop to the layout of your page in the visual template editor, expands your project by the respective function. Using boxes you can implement, for example, an e-mail contact form in your sidebar, social media buttons under a post, or a list of the most popular posts at the end of a page. You can determine the exact placement without have to write a single line of code. In addition to the standard boxes, there are many other function templates that have been developed by members of the Thesis community or professional programmers.

2. Site tools

An important component of the Thesis framework philosophy is search engine optimization. The parent theme is therefore designed to support your WordPress websites in the fight for the best possible placement on Google and other search engines . For this reason, all Thesis themes benefit not only from modern HTML5 technologies, but also from clean code and the bundling of HTTP requests. With the site tools, you can also implement a variety of essential SEO features , such as the ability to create mark-ups based on Schema.org , register your project with Google and Bing, create alternative 404 error messages , or set meta tags for individual pages and articles.

Thesis Skins determine the design of your WordPress project. The developer team themselves refers to them as improved versions of the standard child themes. Unlike a lot of standard themes that are sold separately, Thesis Skins are by no means rigid and can be modified using various presets and options – without the need for programming knowledge. You determine the positioning of sidebars , the colors of individual objects, or font style and size with just a single click. The “Classic Responsive Skin” comes installed standard with Thesis, is automatically optimized for performance and search engines, and displays well on mobile devices as well as on desktop PCs. Alternatively, you can also choose “Blank Skin” and design your own template entirely from scratch. Users of the Basic Plus or Professional Edition also have access to the “Pearsonified Skin” and “Social Triggers Skin”, both of which are based on the classic skin. More templates are available from third-party vendors such as wpThesisSkins.com .

To use the Thesis framework you need a valid license. Considering your plans and objectives, you can choose one of the following three packages:

As a developer, the Professional Edition is an excellent choice. You get the full range of available features and all of the Thesis Skins. In addition, you can integrate the framework into all your WordPress projects and use it for all domains that belong to you. If you want to use the Thesis framework as the foundation for your customer’s websites, it is necessary to purchase a client site license as well. In addition, you have full access to the member forum, e-mail support, and all current and future updates as of Thesis 2.0.

The Basic Plus license also contains all of the skins, but only applies to one domain at a time, contains fewer templates, and has to be renewed after twelve months. The Basic variant is also supported by DIYthemes for one year at a time and requires payment to be renewed. The inexpensive license offers only the fundamental skins (“Blank” and “Classic Responsive”) and boxes, and is aimed primarily at operators of simple WordPress projects. You can upgrade both licenses to the Professional license at any time.

Thesis strives to be different from comparable frameworks with its skins, boxes, and site tools, and is generally quite successful. This deviation from the WordPress platform is comprehensible, but in some cases, because of the necessary training time , is a seemingly avoidable hurdle that is perhaps not suitable for every developer and website owner . The change to other themes away from the Thesis framework is also not necessarily easy to accomplish. But if you look behind the scenes and get familiar with the basics of the theme framework, you will quickly learn to appreciate its benefits.

• All finished templates as well as original designs offer numerous options for search engine optimization by default.
• Themes can be created quickly and easily according to the building module principle .
• Themes also automatically adapt themselves to mobile device screens and are optimally equipped for the future with HTML5 support.

The excellent visibility that the Thesis framework gives your WordPress project isn’t its only feature. With little effort and no coding knowledge you can add functionality to your pages, change the positioning of individual elements, adjust colors and fonts, or customize the appearance of your error code pages. Designed skins exist parallel to the framework can easily be updated without losing your adjustments. On the official homepage, you can also get a more detailed picture of how your WordPress website could look based on Thesis. In the Skin demo , you can see an example website including useful explanations of the individual elements. With this you have the choice between six different skins as a layout basis.

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Now that it seems like everyone has a great-looking website, creating a competitive technology website design is difficult to do. A good website design is user-friendly, looks good, and is informative while incorporating the company's message.

The best tech website designs are all the above, while maximizing the limited real estate on the homepage.

We’ve put together 10 of the best modern tech websites as examples to inspire you with your own website building. These websites are intuitive, simple, and do a great job of minimizing load times.

Feel free to use the following links to jump to a specific example or just keep scrolling.

• Avast Academy

1. Avast Academy

Avast Academy is the first website on our list, and it serves as a good blueprint for other tech websites. Its mission is to provide cybersecurity and privacy without compromising performance.

The website homepage immediately draws attention to multiple navigation paths, each highlighting one of its services. One quick scroll shows you all of its blog designed to provide value to visitors and attract more business in the future.

What We Like: Built with Content Hub , this website delivers a highly intuitive, replicable experience with a high conversion rate.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dropbox, it’s a file storage service. Dropbox’s website design is a great example of the saying ‘less is more.’

The first thing you see upon entering the website is the social proof of 700 million registered users. Both highlighted buttons on the page direct you to their paid plan options, a great way to increase your conversion rate.

The rest of the clickable options on the page give you more information about the other services Dropbox offers. This website also maximizes its available space by using navigable menus that drop down when you hover over the button.

What We Like : This website is a great example of how to implement efficient and intuitive design into your website. Everything has a purpose; even the white space is used to highlight a potential conversion path for their services.

3. Dribbble

Dribbble is a website that allows designers to host their portfolios, so it’s almost by necessity that it has a great website design.

Each button is clickable and brings a video background to display examples of designs the website hosts. You can even use the website to check out other web designs for inspiration (after finishing this article).

What We Like: This website’s design doubles as beautiful and strategic. With each click, you are taken on an aesthetically pleasing journey that shows why people use this website. This is a website by designers, for designers, and that comes through in the homepage design.

Moz is an internet company that helps businesses improve their SEO efforts to improve their rankings in search engines and gain more website traffic. This website utilizes an old-school feel, with several drop-down buttons, and makes the most of its whitespace by emphasizing the CTA in the middle of the page.

This website also does an excellent job of engaging the visitor, as the first thing they see is, “Your SEO success story starts here.” This simple sentence connects with the user, between themselves, Moz, and success. That one simple line is effective advertising at its best.

What We Like: Moz’s website gets right to the point. They show off their CTA, promise success, and have the social proof to back it up. This website is an excellent example of website design.

GitHub is a Git repository hosting service that lets you store coding projects on its website. This website tries to sell you the idea of endless possibilities. It starts with its stunning background image, showing a planet and satellite to symbolize the unlimited creativity that its users have yet to discover.

The encouraging tagline ‘let’s build from here’ does a great job of including the user in the customer journey. After all, GitHub is powered by its user base and defined by its collaborative abilities, so this one word ends up emphasizing GitHub’s core values.

What We Like: With a beautiful design, social proof, and a welcoming start to the customer journey, GitHub is a great example of how to pass along your company mission without blatantly stating it.

Since its inception, Apple has been at the forefront of innovation and design. Its website is no less extraordinary. The first thing you see when entering its website is Apple’s newest technology. Apple knows its customer base better than anyone else; they know that Apple customers are there to admire and buy Apple products.

Unlike the other websites on our list, Apple does not need a sign-up button or free trials. Apple simply needs to display its products because you’re there for a reason.

What We Like: Apple’s website should serve as a case study on how to build a website for an established customer base. The homepage is simple, stunning, and gets straight to the product with no other steps needed.

Airbnb has changed the landscape of rental homes and marketplace business by blending its customers and users into one and serving both. Its homepage does a stellar job of communicating this by having options to rent and turn your home into an Airbnb.

The first thing you see are top rental properties with a price toggle. Pay attention to how many options there are for which type of rental property you would like to take your next vacation in.

What We Like: Airbnb is another great example of prioritizing products. This is a great strategy for established companies where the business is self-explanatory, and people are really only visiting when they’re ready to explore purchasing/renting options.

Trello is a task management software that aims to maximize productivity through an organized, card-based approach. This website’s minimalist design helps draw user attention to the CTA in the middle of the screen, with an offer on the top right.

The clickable dropdown buttons at the top of the screen also helps Trello provide as much information about their products as possible without compromising the website user experience .

What We Like: Trello’s website is beautifully designed, maximizes space, and puts emphasis on the CTA. By following all of the core design principles, Trello has designed an effective website that leads to conversions.

One of the oldest sayings in the development world is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Google has been one of the most well-known internet companies for decades, and yet its homepage has remained mostly the same. There is a search bar in the middle of the screen with options to search by text, voice, or image.

While Google has made tweaks and optimizations to its homepage, the core design principles are the same. Create a simple but memorable experience for visitors that keeps them coming back.

What We Like: Google’s homepage delivers value immediately. People know why they’re going to this website and so does Google, so it removes any barriers for people to find what they’re looking for.

10. SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a music hosting service that lets people upload and listen to music for free, or pay a subscription for added benefits. SoundCloud’s homepage emphasizes its CTA of a free trial, has a search engine, and features trending music and artists.

This website homepage is jampacked with easily accessible features to help its users get started right away. You can tell that SoundCloud has the utmost trust in its product, as its goal is to get people to try it right away.

What We Like: SoundCloud is a great action-oriented website. Every aspect of the page allows the visitor to take action by uploading/searching for a song, creating an account, or just browsing available music.

Getting Started Designing a Technology Website

Using these principles, you should now be able to design a website for your business needs. Remember to emphasize your CTA, draw attention to important details using whitespace, and make sure that every part of your homepage serves a purpose. Other than that, you’re ready to get started.

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Reimagining Design with Nature: ecological urbanism in Moscow

• Reflective Essay
• Published: 10 September 2019
• Volume 1 , pages 233–247, ( 2019 )

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• Brian Mark Evans   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1420-1682 1  

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The twenty-first century is the era when populations of cities will exceed rural communities for the first time in human history. The population growth of cities in many countries, including those in transition from planned to market economies, is putting considerable strain on ecological and natural resources. This paper examines four central issues: (a) the challenges and opportunities presented through working in jurisdictions where there are no official or established methods in place to guide regional, ecological and landscape planning and design; (b) the experience of the author’s practice—Gillespies LLP—in addressing these challenges using techniques and methods inspired by McHarg in Design with Nature in the Russian Federation in the first decade of the twenty-first century; (c) the augmentation of methods derived from Design with Nature in reference to innovations in technology since its publication and the contribution that the art of landscape painters can make to landscape analysis and interpretation; and (d) the application of this experience to the international competition and colloquium for the expansion of Moscow. The text concludes with a comment on how the application of this learning and methodological development to landscape and ecological planning and design was judged to be a central tenant of the winning design. Finally, a concluding section reflects on lessons learned and conclusions drawn.

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The landscape team from Gillespies Glasgow Studio (Steve Nelson, Graeme Pert, Joanne Walker, Rory Wilson and Chris Swan) led by the author and all our collaborators in the Capital Cities Planning Group.

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Evans, B.M. Reimagining Design with Nature: ecological urbanism in Moscow. Socio Ecol Pract Res 1 , 233–247 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-019-00031-5

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Received : 17 March 2019

Accepted : 13 August 2019

Published : 10 September 2019

Issue Date : October 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-019-00031-5

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