HOW BIG IS IT?
EVALUATING A WEBSITE
That's almost a trick question. The size of a site can be evaluated in several ways.
- the amount of disk space or bytes, megabytes gigabytes, etc that it occupies. In this case, about 257 MB. about 190 of that is media and zip file downloads
- The number of files, which means pages, pix, sound files anything with a .xxx in its name, that's about 1270
But these figures change quickly; That is a major characteristic of a dynamic website. If you divide the disk space by the number of files, you get a file densiity
- The number of "screens" it takes up.By that kind of figuring. a 5 MB that uses, say, 300 screens is bigger than a 20 MB site that uses 130 screens. Using many small screens is better becuase it cuts down on the load time for each screen. Genereally 5 screensful of material, meaning you hit the intermedidate sized scroller key 5 times is considered the limit per screen. If I am dealing with a graphics webtoy I like to kepp it to 1 screenful per screen. Text screens can be a bit larger and information screens can be largerst of all.
- What can I do here? is another measure of size. Most websites let you do 7 to 12 things, usually sign a guestbook, post to a forum and 5 or 6 other things. Some websites enable you to shop and buy things, some enable you to play games. We are in the top 10% of webistes with onboard things to do with over 20. In fact, I had to invent a new term: Web 3.0 to cover this
you can divide the number of things to do into the file density to get the activity density, which is another way to evaluate "How big is it". For example, if you have 20 files for every 1 MB space, you have less density than if you have 25 files. If you have 5 things to do in that space in either case, then you have less activity density than if you have 10 things to do. We have over 100 things to do (many of these are sub-functions) and some draw on pages from other sites.
- How much does the website subsume, that is other related sites. In the case of Space Patrol, we do not just link to other sites, we integrate them. If you go to the Monrail Mall you can go to other websites and buy things, and not just a few of them; you can play games at other websites. The Academy is acrawl with links to subject matter. By using saved Google searches, I can link to gigabytes of material on each subject and you can choose the ones that work best for you. ROCKET CITY Space Port leads to other sites. With that kind of measure. we probably are over 100 GB. In turn, we are also subsumed at places like Swapsale.
- Another measure is the amount of information per page. Pages using graphic info have an inherent advantage in this data density; it being said that a picutre is worth 1,000 words. This also applies to activity per page: the Brain-O-Graph is probably the biggest thing in the world with all the things you can put in, settings to adjust, instruemnts and JOB's
- And, yes, there is still another measure. If you are into the "Space Cadet" thing then this site is HUGE
. If not then it is so tiny that you will not notice it. Although it is a repository for things 50-63.
so If you ask "How big is it", I can just stretch my arms apart and say "This big".