Of all events that took place in the Twentieth Century, the Apollo Moon landings were quite possibly the most momentous. As we are now reaching forty years since Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon's surface, the Lunar landings are events that happened before many people on the planet were born. This may explain why more and more people simply believe that the Moon landings didn't happen and that the whole thing was actually faked. But, for the people of the 1960s, the mission to get to the Moon and back was very real.
On the BBC website, there is a now a collection of television and radio programmes which cover the Apollo Moon landings. As many of these programmes were originally broadcast before and around the time of the missions, they allow us to see for ourselves how real the events were for people at the time and their thoughts, hopes and concerns about the missions. The earliest item in the archive is an episode of The Sky at Night broadcast in 1960, just after the first man (Yuri Gagarin) had entered space. There are a further four episodes of The Sky At Night in the collection from 1961 (looking at the possibility of life on the Moon), 1969, 2006 and 2007. Also available are several news reports from the late 1960s, an episode of Panarama from 20th July 1969 which asks whether going to the Moon is a waste of money and a few more recent programmes looking back at the missions.
This is a great opportunity to view and listen to rare broadcasts which tell the story of one of mankind's greatest leaps. As far as I'm aware, they are only available in the UK, but let me know if you know any different!
Friday, 19 June 2009
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
New pages and updates
It's been a busy few weeks here at Bob the Alien towers. While astronauts are up in space fixing and improving the Hubble Space Telescope, I've been adding new stuff to my site. It's also been a record breaking period of time with the website breaking its record for the most number of visitors in one day when it received 1630 visitors on 13th May. So I would like to say a big thank you to all visitors who continue to support this site.
As far as developments go, firstly I've made it easier to send me emails. Selecting the Email option from the top of each page will take you to a page containing a simple form. Fill it in, click on "send" and you're done! There's also a similar form for the Ask an Alien section, so you can send any queries you have about space within seconds, or minutes, or however long it takes to write out your question and press send.
Other recent additions include "The Rise and Fall of Pluto", a page which tells the story of the discovery of Pluto, its recent demotion to dwarf planet and new status as Plutoid and a new page called "Modern Astronomy" which provides information about modern astronomy (believe it or not!). A profile of Edwin Hubble has also been added to the Famous Astronomers section. Currently in development is a page about living in space, one about the future of space exploration and a page about space exploration. After completion, a new page about the lifecycle of stars will finally appear (the page was actually planned when the site was originally created back in 2000 and has always had a presence on the site despite containing no content!).
So that's the plan for developments in the near future. Will update again soon!
As far as developments go, firstly I've made it easier to send me emails. Selecting the Email option from the top of each page will take you to a page containing a simple form. Fill it in, click on "send" and you're done! There's also a similar form for the Ask an Alien section, so you can send any queries you have about space within seconds, or minutes, or however long it takes to write out your question and press send.
Other recent additions include "The Rise and Fall of Pluto", a page which tells the story of the discovery of Pluto, its recent demotion to dwarf planet and new status as Plutoid and a new page called "Modern Astronomy" which provides information about modern astronomy (believe it or not!). A profile of Edwin Hubble has also been added to the Famous Astronomers section. Currently in development is a page about living in space, one about the future of space exploration and a page about space exploration. After completion, a new page about the lifecycle of stars will finally appear (the page was actually planned when the site was originally created back in 2000 and has always had a presence on the site despite containing no content!).
So that's the plan for developments in the near future. Will update again soon!
Monday, 27 April 2009
Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System - How do you solve a problem like Bob the Alien?
Something that has been concerning me for sometime about Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System is the site's name. Sometimes I don't think it suits the website's content. Obviously the Solar System part of it is okay seeing as the site is about space, but the Bob the Alien bit of it it can be seen as a bit childish. This wasn't a problem when the site was being planned and initally developed, seeing as it was originally aimed at children in their last three years of primary school (aged 8-11). However, feedback from visitors suggests that the site's users are older than the original target audience, and as such, newer content has reflected this and is more in depth. I wouldn't say it's more complex, but it tends to go into more detail. A typical example can be seen by comparing one of the site's earliest pages (Jupiter's Great Red Spot) with one of its more recent (Journeys to Jupiter). However, the information provided on the Journeys to Jupiter page, which may be useful for anybody wanting to know about Jupiter missions, is likely to get ignored by a lot of visitors simply because as soon as they see the website's name, they instantly think it's for children. Although children are of course the site's primary audience, I think that the amount of content on a page, such as Journeys to Jupiter, may put off that audience too. In other words, who is a page like Journeys to Jupiter aimed at? It may be too detailed for children but at the same time give the impression of being too "immature" for older readers.
I suppose part of the problem does stem back to the original planning of the site. As is explained elsewhere on the website (although I'm not too sure where - I know I deleted a load of old pages recently so may have got rid of it!), where was I? Oh, as explained elsewhere, the site was originally designed as an experiment. Back in the summer of 1999, when I was at University, the internet was becoming more and more important, and the role it would play in education would be vital. My "experiment" was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the internet in education. It basically came down to the question 'Could computers replace teachers?' Originally I planned to evaluate a load of educational websites and find out what users liked and didn't like about them. However, that seemed too much like hard work, and I couldn't really find a site that suited the aims of my research, so I decided to design my own. I deliberately had to set quite a narrow audience age range, and experimented with different navigation techniques (images, texts, hyperlinks), different kinds of multimedia (graphics, photographs, animation and sound - which is why the site used to play music!) and based the design on the learning theories of the time. The Solar System was chosen as the subject matter primarily because it is a topic I enjoy and one which is sadly under-taught in schools, at least here in the UK. Also the circular nature of the Solar System suited the learning theories quite well since web-based learning was largely thought to be about the user forming their own path rather than being told where to go. Come to think of it, I think I mentioned all this in an earlier entry. Oh well, I shall continue anyway. When planning the site, I decided that it would be good for the site to resemble a spaceship console with a window in the middle of the screen with an image of what can be seen through the window, and information about the image next to/below the image. I then decided that, due to the age range, it would be good if the spaceship belongs to somebody else and the website visitor was a passenger on board the spaceship. I decided that the owner of the spaceship should be an alien and, as a temporary measure, decided to name that alien Bob. My next step was to design a logo for the site (think I had to have one ready as part of my project's proposal) so quickly put together one with the title "Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy" never with the intention of actually using it on the site. And that was it. No more planning of the site was done until development began in early 2000 and since I hadn't really thought about alternative names for it, decided to use its proposed one and got on with putting it together based around the idea that the user was being taken on a tour by an alien. Due to time constraints, I changed it to a Solar System tour meaning that I could narrow the site's scope and only concentrate on the objects of the Solar System rather than the entire galaxy. Originally there was going to be one page about each of the planets, one about the Sun and one about the Moon. As development progressed though, it became obvious that there was too much about each object to squeeze onto one page, so I had to split each planet into sections which would go onto different pages. Broadly speaking for each planet, there would be an introductory page (usually just below the planet's main menu), a page about any of the planet's main features, a page about the planet's moons or its most famous moon and ten facts about each planet. As the site talked about the Sun, it became clear that a page also had to be written about stars and that too then had its own section. This then caused the need for a section about galaxies, although the two sections have since been combined. It was also important not to ignore the minor objects in the Solar System: asteroids, comets, etc, so these received pages. Some of the pages about planets mentioned space missions, so a section was created about space exploration. The site grew rapidly from its original design of 12 pages and, on completion, ended up with 96 pages. Throughout the expansion, it kept to its original aim of targetting children between the ages of 8 and 11. But this was not easy, and I found it sometimes prevented me from going into as much depth as I would have liked. After completing the site, I visited a school to see how pupils in my targeted age range used the site; this was to find out what they did and didn't like about it and to observe how they browsed it. However, because the site was also put onto the internet, it meant that anybody anywhere of any age could visit it. And it quickly became clear that, despite the site's design and targeted audience, it was getting visitors of all ages and one thing they wanted was more detailed information.
After finishing university, the site remained on the Internet and, although I didn't initially do much with it (I think realising that had to do 8 times as many pages as I originally planned put me off going anywhere near it!) I gradually returned and began expanding on information that was already there and began adding new pages. But, because I was no longer doing it as a project, I didn't have to keep to its original design aims of targetting a certain audience and so, as the site began to grow again slowly, newer content tended to be more detailed in response to what its actual audience wanted to know about. As the site has evolved over the years, it has got more and more away from its original audience. Sometimes it has probably gone a bit too far the other way. The Visits to Venus page is rediculously lengthy and detailed. The font has changed and has been reduced in size and the pages have been given a more mature look. But, its name has stayed the same! I suppose its audience isn't that much older than its original target audience (my research shows most visitors are between 10-15 years old) but I sometimes think that even some of them may find it a bit childish to be going on tour with Bob the Alien. Plus I'm not too sure how appealing younger visitors may find the site now that it seems to have grown up a bit. And I also think that there are potentially a lot of older visitors which would benefit from the information provided but are instead put off the site simply due to its title. I recently put a survey on the site which asked visitors what they think of the site. I was actually looking for comments from people who don't like it seeing as guestbook entries tend to be positive (apart from the ones from people who think it's funny just to fill them with swear words and nothing else!). Although the vast majority of comments are positive, there are some that comment that the title is too childish. One person noted that the site was too "kiddish" for him so won't visit it.
So the question is, what to do about it? Renaming the site is an option but could prove disastrous. The site is now fairly popular and, when I look into reports about how people get to it, find it is linked to by many educational sites, particularly schools. It is getting a good reputation based on how the site is now, so it may not be worth changing it. As well as having built up a history and reputation, changing the name would mean registering a new domain and then having to remove all references of Bob the Alien from the site. But could renaming it result it in becoming more popular? And what would I rename it to? Another option is to split its content. Basically, to have two pages for each topic instead of one. For example, one page I wrote a while back was about the Space Shuttle. Originally, the page was very detailed, going into the reasons for designing it, the different designs for it and so on. While writing it though, I noticed it went on forever, kind of like this blog entry, so rewrote it and cut most of the technical bits out. In the end, I was left with a page which, like the Journeys to Jupiter one, covers the subject matter well but probably doesn't have the right audience on this site. So, if I split the content, there could be a page which gives the simple information and a page which gives more detailed information. However, this would mean keeping the name of the site so probably doesn't resolve the problem. Another option would simply be to design a new site. Keep this site as it is. Remove the more in depth pages and put them onto a new site, and replace the detailed content on this site with simpler content. But that would be a lot of work, and I get the feeling that the less successful site would probably get neglected. Oh well, I shall ponder over my thoughts and make a decision. It'll probably be to not change anything, but who knows?!! And just in case you were wondering what it looked like when I mentioned it earlier, below is the original logo for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy. It doesn't look too much different from the logo that was eventually used.
Bob the Alien's Original Logo (before production of site)
.gif)
Bob the Alien's first logo
I suppose part of the problem does stem back to the original planning of the site. As is explained elsewhere on the website (although I'm not too sure where - I know I deleted a load of old pages recently so may have got rid of it!), where was I? Oh, as explained elsewhere, the site was originally designed as an experiment. Back in the summer of 1999, when I was at University, the internet was becoming more and more important, and the role it would play in education would be vital. My "experiment" was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the internet in education. It basically came down to the question 'Could computers replace teachers?' Originally I planned to evaluate a load of educational websites and find out what users liked and didn't like about them. However, that seemed too much like hard work, and I couldn't really find a site that suited the aims of my research, so I decided to design my own. I deliberately had to set quite a narrow audience age range, and experimented with different navigation techniques (images, texts, hyperlinks), different kinds of multimedia (graphics, photographs, animation and sound - which is why the site used to play music!) and based the design on the learning theories of the time. The Solar System was chosen as the subject matter primarily because it is a topic I enjoy and one which is sadly under-taught in schools, at least here in the UK. Also the circular nature of the Solar System suited the learning theories quite well since web-based learning was largely thought to be about the user forming their own path rather than being told where to go. Come to think of it, I think I mentioned all this in an earlier entry. Oh well, I shall continue anyway. When planning the site, I decided that it would be good for the site to resemble a spaceship console with a window in the middle of the screen with an image of what can be seen through the window, and information about the image next to/below the image. I then decided that, due to the age range, it would be good if the spaceship belongs to somebody else and the website visitor was a passenger on board the spaceship. I decided that the owner of the spaceship should be an alien and, as a temporary measure, decided to name that alien Bob. My next step was to design a logo for the site (think I had to have one ready as part of my project's proposal) so quickly put together one with the title "Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy" never with the intention of actually using it on the site. And that was it. No more planning of the site was done until development began in early 2000 and since I hadn't really thought about alternative names for it, decided to use its proposed one and got on with putting it together based around the idea that the user was being taken on a tour by an alien. Due to time constraints, I changed it to a Solar System tour meaning that I could narrow the site's scope and only concentrate on the objects of the Solar System rather than the entire galaxy. Originally there was going to be one page about each of the planets, one about the Sun and one about the Moon. As development progressed though, it became obvious that there was too much about each object to squeeze onto one page, so I had to split each planet into sections which would go onto different pages. Broadly speaking for each planet, there would be an introductory page (usually just below the planet's main menu), a page about any of the planet's main features, a page about the planet's moons or its most famous moon and ten facts about each planet. As the site talked about the Sun, it became clear that a page also had to be written about stars and that too then had its own section. This then caused the need for a section about galaxies, although the two sections have since been combined. It was also important not to ignore the minor objects in the Solar System: asteroids, comets, etc, so these received pages. Some of the pages about planets mentioned space missions, so a section was created about space exploration. The site grew rapidly from its original design of 12 pages and, on completion, ended up with 96 pages. Throughout the expansion, it kept to its original aim of targetting children between the ages of 8 and 11. But this was not easy, and I found it sometimes prevented me from going into as much depth as I would have liked. After completing the site, I visited a school to see how pupils in my targeted age range used the site; this was to find out what they did and didn't like about it and to observe how they browsed it. However, because the site was also put onto the internet, it meant that anybody anywhere of any age could visit it. And it quickly became clear that, despite the site's design and targeted audience, it was getting visitors of all ages and one thing they wanted was more detailed information.
After finishing university, the site remained on the Internet and, although I didn't initially do much with it (I think realising that had to do 8 times as many pages as I originally planned put me off going anywhere near it!) I gradually returned and began expanding on information that was already there and began adding new pages. But, because I was no longer doing it as a project, I didn't have to keep to its original design aims of targetting a certain audience and so, as the site began to grow again slowly, newer content tended to be more detailed in response to what its actual audience wanted to know about. As the site has evolved over the years, it has got more and more away from its original audience. Sometimes it has probably gone a bit too far the other way. The Visits to Venus page is rediculously lengthy and detailed. The font has changed and has been reduced in size and the pages have been given a more mature look. But, its name has stayed the same! I suppose its audience isn't that much older than its original target audience (my research shows most visitors are between 10-15 years old) but I sometimes think that even some of them may find it a bit childish to be going on tour with Bob the Alien. Plus I'm not too sure how appealing younger visitors may find the site now that it seems to have grown up a bit. And I also think that there are potentially a lot of older visitors which would benefit from the information provided but are instead put off the site simply due to its title. I recently put a survey on the site which asked visitors what they think of the site. I was actually looking for comments from people who don't like it seeing as guestbook entries tend to be positive (apart from the ones from people who think it's funny just to fill them with swear words and nothing else!). Although the vast majority of comments are positive, there are some that comment that the title is too childish. One person noted that the site was too "kiddish" for him so won't visit it.
So the question is, what to do about it? Renaming the site is an option but could prove disastrous. The site is now fairly popular and, when I look into reports about how people get to it, find it is linked to by many educational sites, particularly schools. It is getting a good reputation based on how the site is now, so it may not be worth changing it. As well as having built up a history and reputation, changing the name would mean registering a new domain and then having to remove all references of Bob the Alien from the site. But could renaming it result it in becoming more popular? And what would I rename it to? Another option is to split its content. Basically, to have two pages for each topic instead of one. For example, one page I wrote a while back was about the Space Shuttle. Originally, the page was very detailed, going into the reasons for designing it, the different designs for it and so on. While writing it though, I noticed it went on forever, kind of like this blog entry, so rewrote it and cut most of the technical bits out. In the end, I was left with a page which, like the Journeys to Jupiter one, covers the subject matter well but probably doesn't have the right audience on this site. So, if I split the content, there could be a page which gives the simple information and a page which gives more detailed information. However, this would mean keeping the name of the site so probably doesn't resolve the problem. Another option would simply be to design a new site. Keep this site as it is. Remove the more in depth pages and put them onto a new site, and replace the detailed content on this site with simpler content. But that would be a lot of work, and I get the feeling that the less successful site would probably get neglected. Oh well, I shall ponder over my thoughts and make a decision. It'll probably be to not change anything, but who knows?!! And just in case you were wondering what it looked like when I mentioned it earlier, below is the original logo for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Galaxy. It doesn't look too much different from the logo that was eventually used.
Bob the Alien's Original Logo (before production of site)
.gif)
Bob the Alien's first logo
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Spring update
It's been a while since I last updated this blog but that doesn't mean Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System has been getting neglected. Towards the end of last year, I began to update the look of the website. Turned out that this was a more time-consuming exercise than I first thought but I've finally got the entire site looking new and fresh. If you see any old-style pages anywhere, let me know and I'll get them sorted.
There have been a couple of new additions to the site. In the astronomy section, there is a section about Famous Astronomers. Every month, a new profile of an astronomer will be added to the site. The page launched (or relaunched - it's actually been half-complete on the site for about a year!) in March 2009 with a profile of Nicholas Copernicus, the astronomer often credited with being the founder of modern astronomy since he provided that best evidence that the Sun, and not Earth, is at the centre of the Solar System.
Also added to the site is a page called Journeys to Jupiter. This page describes the missions that have taken place to the Solar System's largest planet. A similar page about the Voyager mission is currently in development and should be completed shortly. The Space Exploration section, which includes the Voyager mission page, is this section that is the least complete and, in the parts that are complete, out of date. Nothing appears in the Living in Space section, and the page about future space missions hasn't been updated since the site was launched in 2000. It currently shows "future" missions as being between 2001 and 2005!
Other minor changes are more questions and answers added to the Ask an Alien! section, a section that has been mostly ignored since being added but is set to be greatly expanded. The main menu page has a slightly new logo (as does this blog) and the page about the Hubble Space Telescope has moved from the Space Exploration section to the Astronomy section.
Now that the cosmetic update to the website is complete, it gives me more time to concentrate on the content. As well as completing the pages that have links on the site but no content and also adding more content to Ask an Alien!, the Space A-Z is also going to be improved and then, I'll be going through each of the other pages and updating the content of all of them! Looks like Bob the Alien is going to have a busy spring!
There have been a couple of new additions to the site. In the astronomy section, there is a section about Famous Astronomers. Every month, a new profile of an astronomer will be added to the site. The page launched (or relaunched - it's actually been half-complete on the site for about a year!) in March 2009 with a profile of Nicholas Copernicus, the astronomer often credited with being the founder of modern astronomy since he provided that best evidence that the Sun, and not Earth, is at the centre of the Solar System.
Also added to the site is a page called Journeys to Jupiter. This page describes the missions that have taken place to the Solar System's largest planet. A similar page about the Voyager mission is currently in development and should be completed shortly. The Space Exploration section, which includes the Voyager mission page, is this section that is the least complete and, in the parts that are complete, out of date. Nothing appears in the Living in Space section, and the page about future space missions hasn't been updated since the site was launched in 2000. It currently shows "future" missions as being between 2001 and 2005!
Other minor changes are more questions and answers added to the Ask an Alien! section, a section that has been mostly ignored since being added but is set to be greatly expanded. The main menu page has a slightly new logo (as does this blog) and the page about the Hubble Space Telescope has moved from the Space Exploration section to the Astronomy section.
Now that the cosmetic update to the website is complete, it gives me more time to concentrate on the content. As well as completing the pages that have links on the site but no content and also adding more content to Ask an Alien!, the Space A-Z is also going to be improved and then, I'll be going through each of the other pages and updating the content of all of them! Looks like Bob the Alien is going to have a busy spring!
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Happy New Year!
Ok, so it's slightly late, but welcome to 2009! Bob the Alien has been a busy alien over the Christmas and New Year period, beavering away at updating the look to his website. The planets, moon and Sun pages are all done now, but will be updating again soon with a slight colour change. Other sections have seen updates. The astronomy section, which is still in development, has received its new look and a new page too! (The Scientific Age of Astronomy). A page about famous astronomers is in development but is likely to be one of those pages which gets published as complete and added to over time. Space Exploration is next on the list to be revamped. At the moment, you'll probably find that going to some pages on the site takes you to on old style version of the page. Over the next month or so, this should all be sorted to add consistency to the entire website and make navigation easier. One thing I've noticed about the new look is how difficult it sometimes is to navigate the site through the old style pages. So I believe changing the look and making naviagtion easier is nothing but good news for the website and looking at visitor numbers, it looks like you think so too! Once the new look is complete, I'll be updating some of the older pages, and then I'll be looking at expanding sections!
2009 is looking to be an exciting year for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System!
Bob the Alien
2009 is looking to be an exciting year for Bob the Alien's Tour of the Solar System!
Bob the Alien
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Site down
At the moment my website is currently unavailable. Don't worry though - it'll be back very very soon (hopefully by Friday 17th). There is a chance that it may go on and off sometimes over the next week or so seeing as it may be moving to a new host, but it definitely will be back. The new look to the site is still going well. Just about all of the pages about the planets are nearly updated with just Neptune and Pluto/Dwarf Planets to go. And then it'll be on with the rest of it!
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Bob's New(ish) Look!
If you've ventured into the Mars section of this website, you may have noticed that it looks a bit different to the rest of the site. Over the next few weeks, I plan to give the site a fresh new look, seeing as, despite the addition of a number of pages and a few tweaks here and there over the years, it still looks quite similar to how it looked when it first appeared on the Internet nearly nine years ago. So, the black starry background has gone and has been replaced by purple. Lots and lots of purple. Perhaps a bit too much. Let me know if you think it is better or worse than before. What I want to do is make the site look better and become easier to navigate. What I don't want to do is put people off it, so email me or leave a comment on this blog to let me know what you think of the new look!
This website was originally designed as an educational project assessing the Internet as a learning resource; its design was based around an educational theory about concentric learning which had something to do with the learner following their own path around an educational resource and not being told what to do. This meant that they were not given a set place to start or to finish their educational journey, and they didn't have to read from beginning to end (like a book) to acquire the information they need. The circular nature of the Solar System was ideal for the project. Originally, the learner was going to be presented with a picture of the Solar System with the various destinations as clickable links. Where the user clicked first was up to them. It would be their interest that would guide them to their first destination and then to their next. After completion of my project, I decided to continue development and maintenance of the site. For years, it has used its concentric approach, which is ideal because the nature of the Internet means that most visitors to the site don't actually visit the home page of it. They usually get here from a link in a search engine, and go to a page which, if the site was designed to be read chronologically, would be somewhere in the middle of it. Once they've visited, they either get the information they want and leave, or continue to browse seemingly randomly. But, this method doesn't suit all visitors. Like I said, most people enter the site at any of the pages (for some reason, the ten facts about saturn page seems to be the most popular). Hopefully, they like what they see and decide that they want to more of it. But they may not want to just browse randomly. Instead they may want some kind of direction. I believe that with the new links on the left hand side, if they feel that they don't know where to go next, or what they may have missed out on already, they can go on to browse in a more orderly and logical way.
All of the pages in the Mars section have been given the new look. I'll probably play around with them a bit more over the next few days until I'm happy with the look, and then I'll begin the process of updating the rest of the site. If you want to see the new look now, go to Mars and have a browse. Or, have a look at the images below. Which ones do you prefer? The first and third images are the old pages, the second and fourth are the new ones.
Apart from attempting to make the site look more attractive, the main aim of the redesign is to make the site easier to navigate. Earlier this year, I changed the control panel at the top of the page to include links to different parts of the site. But, although I thought it looked good, I still felt something was wrong with it. So, the top control panel has been slightly changed. It still allows quick access to the main destinations (the planets, sun and the Moon) and "feedback" links (email, guest book and this blog), but all other links have been moved into more logical categories which will now appear on the left of every page. At the bottom of each page is a bar containing additional "gadgets". Currently, there is one there to translate the page into other languages and a search box. The space there also allows for future additions (such as a place to download a printable version of the page, seeing as yellow writing on a purple background doesn't print too well!). This means that the main content will take up the main body of the page, with all navigation links around it. The way it is now designed means that it should be easier to browse the website either chronologically or randomly, allowing for different learning styles.
This website was originally designed as an educational project assessing the Internet as a learning resource; its design was based around an educational theory about concentric learning which had something to do with the learner following their own path around an educational resource and not being told what to do. This meant that they were not given a set place to start or to finish their educational journey, and they didn't have to read from beginning to end (like a book) to acquire the information they need. The circular nature of the Solar System was ideal for the project. Originally, the learner was going to be presented with a picture of the Solar System with the various destinations as clickable links. Where the user clicked first was up to them. It would be their interest that would guide them to their first destination and then to their next. After completion of my project, I decided to continue development and maintenance of the site. For years, it has used its concentric approach, which is ideal because the nature of the Internet means that most visitors to the site don't actually visit the home page of it. They usually get here from a link in a search engine, and go to a page which, if the site was designed to be read chronologically, would be somewhere in the middle of it. Once they've visited, they either get the information they want and leave, or continue to browse seemingly randomly. But, this method doesn't suit all visitors. Like I said, most people enter the site at any of the pages (for some reason, the ten facts about saturn page seems to be the most popular). Hopefully, they like what they see and decide that they want to more of it. But they may not want to just browse randomly. Instead they may want some kind of direction. I believe that with the new links on the left hand side, if they feel that they don't know where to go next, or what they may have missed out on already, they can go on to browse in a more orderly and logical way.
All of the pages in the Mars section have been given the new look. I'll probably play around with them a bit more over the next few days until I'm happy with the look, and then I'll begin the process of updating the rest of the site. If you want to see the new look now, go to Mars and have a browse. Or, have a look at the images below. Which ones do you prefer? The first and third images are the old pages, the second and fourth are the new ones.
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