Excerpt from Term Paper :

Much of the time this goes hand-in-hand with enabling users or readers to easily navigate a website or document, as simplicity makes navigation simpler, but at times these two can also be in opposition to each other. Navigation makes the access of necessary and important information -- from the point-of-view of both the author and the reader -- more likely to be found and obtained, and thus utilized (Markel 2009). Developing visual means to allow for simple navigation is one of the essential goals of document design, and these documents vary in contrasting ways when their success in this goal is assessed.

Xbox Return Shipping

The Xbox return shipping document contains many graphic images that make the process of shipping a game console to a repair facility very easy. At the same time, there is abundance of graphical information that makes the document less simplified and less easily navigable. Though each individual piece of information on the document is easily understood, the combination and conflagration of all of these pieces of information creates some sense of confusion with the document. The designers of this document attempted to go too far in simplifying the presentation of information, resulting in an overall reduction in the navigability of the document due to the sheer abundance of the information it presents.

Healthcare Legislation Key Provisions

This document has a very strong visual header at the top, which is an effective means of attracting attention in both documents and websites (Markel 2009). The document is further subdivided by sections headings and sub-headings, appearing in large-font red ink and bold black ink, respectively. While this greatly aids in the navigation of the document, enabling readers to find relevant information relatively quickly, an increase in the visual separation between sections and specific pieces of information would be even more beneficial in this regard. Still, this document achieves a strong balance between simplicity and navigability, utilizing the principles of each to enhance the other. The document's language is also simple yet comprehensive, providing a full and adequate understanding of the information without abundant technical detail -- again, simplicity is key.

Conclusions and Recommendations

It is recommended that the Xbox document be revised to contain fewer visual elements, increasing the simplicity of its presentation of information...

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The healthcare provision document needs visual enhancement, also to increase navigability. This will cost some simplicity in both documents -- in the textual information in the case of the former and the visual presentation in the case of the latter -- but overall communication will be rendered more effective. The principles of both document and web design are best served by a meeting of the simplicity and navigation purposes.

Summary

The contents of this report begins with a letter of transmittal, which itself summarizes the contents to follow and provides context to the report itself. This letter of transmittal is followed by the report's abstract, which provides a more technical summary of the research methods, findings, and conclusions -- in this case, the application of Markel's criteria to the Xbox shipping instructions document and the healthcare legislation key provisions document, resulting in a determination that both documents were highly successful but not entirely so. The executive summary following the abstract provides an overview of the various sections of the following report, providing a clear and comprehensive outline of the sequence of the following information and providing a general understanding of the report's perspective.

The report proper begins with an introduction, outlining the scope of the report -- Markel's criteria and the two documents analyzed utilizing this criteria -- and its origins in the desire for understanding through application. The purposes for the report, namely enhanced understanding and a comprehensive view of information design principles, are also stated. The research methods of simple comparative analysis are briefly stated, followed by an overview of some of Markel' criteria. This is followed by summaries and analyses of the two documents based on the criteria of Markel's described previously, resulting in recommendations for the emendation of both documents despite their efficacy. Concluding remarks reinforce these recommendations and provide an overview of document…