Slow
Much material, especially computer related, is held on US web servers. When browsing these sites from Europe the physical distances involved and the number of intermediate server connections slow data transfer rates. The Internet is also slowed by increases in traffic at both the source (i.e. US) and destination (i.e. University web server) ends. The effect of source traffic can be felt after lunch in the UK because the eastern seaboard of the US is beginning to logon.
Time Consuming Authoring
Originally when HTML was released all web pages were written by hand. The process was slow because authors had to remember or look up all the necessary tags, and then switch between editor and browser to see if the desired layout had been achieved. The authoring process was speeded by the introduction of special editors, which although still not supporting WYSIWYG editing, did provide help for the insertion of tags. Today, we now have full WYSIWYG dedicated web design applications and support from ‘traditional’ software packages such as word processors which can save as HTML. The remaining problem is that the WYSIWYG editors, while fast to operate, often do not support all the options available in each HTML specification. This situation will slowly improve.
High Expectations
Because most instruction is still presented using print media and not computer-based methods, when students are exposed to hypermedia/multimedia their expectations are often unreasonably high. They expect the material to be highly polished and professional looking. This is not going to be the case. While undoubtedly very good educational material can be constructed by individuals in academia, it is difficult and ultimately futile to compete with business organizations which use multimedia labs with teams of specialised experts to produce various software titles.
Requires a Computer
Computers are currently not as flexible as books in terms of where they can be read and consulted. For example, not many people use a laptop on the bus going home. However, depending on the subject matter being taught this does not have to be a serious limitation. If computer programming is being taught then a computer will be necessary anyway! Two other main disadvantages associated with computers include:
- Reading large amounts of text from screen can be tiring.
- Most computers only use a single monitor with a low resolution (compared with paper). If engaged in another activity, such as programming, then the programming environment and the web browser software are both competing for limited screen real estate. This is not a problem with books because a number of them can be open at once spread across the physical desktop.
Meta-Cognitive Skills
Learners to effectively use Internet-based instruction require meta-cognitive skills to navigate in non-linear structures with little external guidance.
Computer/Internet Literacy
English reading skills are taught all through school so that students can effectively read and consult a wide range of paper media (books, leaflets, posters, signs, etc.). However, the Internet, and the WWW in particular, requires these basic skills to interpret sentences and paragraphs, and needs an additional level of literacy concerning site navigation and user interface facilities. As well as additional web skills, students have been observed lacking basic computer skills such as the ability to effectively use multiple windows.
Clearly basic introductions to computer and the Internet must be available to students required to use the Internet as part of their course. However, computer/Internet literacy should not be seen as a ‘specific’ literacy. If it is then this can discourage students such as being told to learn statistics when not on a mathematical course. Instead, computer literacy should be presented as a ‘general’ literacy on a par with basic English and Arithmetic skills. For example, when learning how to use a Microfiche reader most people see it as basic literacy, not as Librarianship literacy.
‘Lost in Hyperspace’
Because material presented via a two dimensional computer screen provides no tactile cues, readers can sometimes become lost in large systems. To avoid this it is important to consider the following aspects of design:
- Consistent look and feel so that users know they are still within a certain site.
- An effective and efficient structure for the tasks the site is designed to support.
- Clear navigational buttons marking important landmarks such as a home page.
Judging Scope is Difficult
A contributing factor to becoming lost in a large online web of information is the lack of any cues pertaining to the scope of a site. With printed material a quick look at the font size used, total number of pages, and the physical size of each page (A5, A4, etc.) will give a rough impression of how much information is contrained in the publication. Using computers (this applies to CD-ROMs as well as the Internet) all the user can normally see is one screen. Some sites display a permament list of links to main sections along the left hand side of the screen, but this still does not full convey the scope of the site. Without this traditional book-type information it takes WWW users longer to gauge whether the site will contain the information they want or not.
Limited Formatting
In comparison with desktop publishing, web formatting capabilities are very poor. The situation is slowly improving with each new HTML specification, but the first task of a web designer is to discover the limitations of the medium. A few of the more important limitations include:
- Limited font control (relies on a client machine having the required typefaces).
- No full justification of text.
- No indentation possible (possible now with DynamicHTML).
- No control over leading (possible now with DynamicHTML).
Never Complete
The Internet is in a constant state of flux and can never be said to be complete. One disadvantage of this is that it can be difficult to work out which parts of a large web site have been altered since the last visit.
If referring to other web pages from an educational site, it is important to regularly check that a) the target pages still exist and are at the same URL, and b) that the content is still similar and worth referring to. If information is of great importance to a particular site, a solution is to ask for permission to copy the information and store it on a local web server that you know will not change. On this site the Periodic Table (see Advantages) was copied with permission onto the local server in case the target was altered. The added advantage of doing this is the copy acts a bit like a mirror site making downloads faster.
Inconsistencies in Browser Support
As can be seen in the Resources section, different browsers interpret and support HTML, JavaScript and Active X differently. For example, although IE 3.0 supported JavaScript it could not render image buttons which change when the mouse moves over them. This problem has been corrected in version 4, but this constrains site designers. Do you implement the latest gee-whiz effects that only the most up-to-date browsers handle, or design a plainer site which caters for the lowest common denominator? This is less of a problem if the site is designed for a specific course at a University where the lecturer can be sure all computers have a certain browser. This would also apply to Intranet systems with common software.
Cultural Differences
Because the Internet is global its users are members of many different cultures. While this is not a disadvantage, it does represent a design challenge and deserves mention. One difference often seen on web pages is how the US and Britain write dates. The US writes month, day, year, while Britain uses day, month, year. While in Britain it is easy to tell that 12.25.1997 is going to be Christmas Day, what date is 05.06.1997? Is it the June 5th (UK) or May 6th (US)? A solution to this problem is to write the month out in characters not numbers - 5 Jun 1997 or 6 May 1997. This is the approach adopted at this site on the main menu screen to specify when the site was last modified.
