Module 3: Legal Issues

• Have you used images or words on your web page or website that contravene copyright laws?

No, I have not used any images whatsoever that belong to Curtin.
My Volcano Picture is the only picture I have used and that was via an outside site, not Curtin, we were just simply told to use the particular site by Curtin and therefore Curtin has no control or Copyright Laws over the image.

According to the Curtin Copyright Statement under the 'fair dealing' provisions of the Commonwealth of Australia Copyright Act 1968 -

" an individual may make a single copy of a "reasonable portion" of the material
on this site without prior permission or payment, provided it is for the
purposes of research or study, criticism or review"

So no, I have not used words that contravene the Curtin Copyright Laws and if I unwittingly have then I am permitted to use small pieces for study/research, such as I have been doing, will do.

• Would you be in breach of copyright if you put the Curtin logo at the top of your web page for an assignment?

Yes I would, the logo is a registered trademark of Curtin University and any inappropriate use of the logo is regarded as a breach of procedures.
In the past permission to use the logo was permitted but now the only exceptions are contracted affiliates and educational providers of Curtin and they are also required to follow on terms agreed with the University.
It is protected from unauthorised use and only can be used after approval from the University Marketing committee and to do that a request must be sent in writing to them and must state why it will be used, where it will be used, how it will be presented, and finally, the dates the logo will be used.

Module 3: Optional ‘standards’ task 2

Test your web page according to the W3C standards by going to their ‘validator’ page. If your page does not conform (it probably won’t!) record in your learning log why you think this is: try and identify the particular tags or code that are causing trouble. Are the problems related mostly to display, usability, or accessibility?


Result:Failed validation, 7 errors
Well as expected my Web page failed the W3C Validator and i wasn't sure what to expect results wise but it was interesting to see.

Most of the errors relate to 'closed' tags and the tags are closed so i have no clue why it is saying it's wrong, especially since my Volc page displays fine and every tag is in use and working.

I think maybe it might depend on the markup language?

Module 3: Optional ‘standards’ task

Make a summary of what you believe are the 5 most important ‘rules’ for writing online. Think about any differences between the articles: for example, is the advice in Nielsen’s paper -- written in 1997 – still current?


A list of what I think are the Top 5 important rules to consider for Writing online:

1. Put the focal points of the document in the first sentence/paragraph, a list would be suitable also.
2. Try to steer clear of visual distractions.
3. Use links that relate to your topic's but try to make sure that those links do not lead your readers away from your page completely.
4. Make your sentence's/paragraphs as short as possible whilst still getting to the point, a lot of text can drive users to just simply scan or to go away from your page , BUT remember also if they really want to read your page they will print it out so perhaps add a PDF printout file for them to print out.
5. Try not to base your work on providing a massive amount of links, especially to external sites, the net is forever changing and if you have a page with a bunch of dead links your page will then become useless.