Camryn's Blog

Reflection of Week 4: What is Markup?

Week four’s deep dive into formatting in Markup and HTML, and thus looking more deeply at the headings, lists, code, rule, etc., forced me to look at the websites I use more analytically. I found that the online articles on Encyclopedia Britannica are great examples of utilizing markup and HTML to create both an organized and understandable webpage of information.

Real World Example

I chose to use the Crime webpage because it has an extensive amount of information that is organized into sections using multiple levels of headings and has a navigation section to allow users to move through the long article with ease. From the navigation bar, an individual can see thirty-six sections. Most of these sections only have up to the second level of heading organization with the exception of “The court system” section. In the body section of the HTML, “the court system” is listed as a second heading, indicating to the computer that it should be displayed as a second title beneath “Crime.”

The encyclopedia page also uses span elements to indicate important information or link to other supplementary resources that a user may be interested in viewing. In the introduction of the article, the word crime is bolded to indicate that a definition is being shown. Emphasizing key words with bolding indicates to readers that the information is important to know as they read through the rest of the article. Later, the authors will also use a special feature of the website and showcase a dotted line beneath words that users can click on to show details about the word as well as the definition without having to leave the article.

The website also utilizes links to send readers to other articles like Roman Law, Germanic Law, Chinese Law, and Indian Law. Not only does this provide the reader with easily accessible information, but it also gives the articles more views on those supplementary webpages than if they were not linked. While sparse, the crime webpage also uses images. A notable image is under The Court Systems section as it show an image of the U.S. Supreme Court courtroom. Users can also click on the image to see the description and the original source. Including this image, along with the metadata description, brings visual interest to the long blocks of text. It also provides more context to the topics discussed within the Crime webpage.

The use of headings, bold text, images, and links in this Crime article all allow users to understand the material and look through the webpage with ease. With the amount of information that this page has to display, I think the use of a navigation bar elevates the design and accessibility to a whole new level. Encyclopedia Britannica has utilized Markup and HTML to create user friendly pages, which allows them to spread information effectively. The only addition that I believe would improve the page is adding additional images or linking to a photo gallery so that users can see more than just images based on American or European court systems.

Posted In: Reflections