Aesthetics

On the internet, aesthetics is the how visually pleasing something like a website or blog is. Aesthetics is important because if someone thinks a site is super ugly then they wont stay on it and look at the information unless they have to (like for an assignment).
Functionality is really important in web design because if it doesnt do what its supposed to, like have the info it says it does they'll exit and google another one. Legibility is also obviously really important because if the text cant be read easily then the information wont be read.
Ease of navigation is vital because if its too complicated and not straight forward and a person cant figure out how to get to what they want they'll get annoyed and exit.
I think Ebay is an aesthetically pleasing site. Its easy to use, has a purpose and is set out pretty nicely! The white background and black text make it easy to read and everything is categorised well.

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Candy Mountain

Google Reader

Having to choose an RSS reader between Bloglines and Google Reader, i chose Google Reader so that i wouldnt have to make another login and remember another password because im struggling with the amount of those i have to remember as it is! And google is usually kinda straight forward so i assumed it'd be ok to use. And i just put an RSS feed thing on the left bit of my blog that shows the last 5 del.icio.us posts ive done! :)

RSS and XML

RSS is used to publish frequently updated things like blogs and newsreels. When something is in RSS format, it can check the feeds for changes and recognises them which helps people stay informed and saves them from having to visit lots of sites individually to see what has been updated. It is an XML based format.

XML means EXtensible Markup Language. It carries data across the internet and is important so that data can be shared.