Non-Textual Content
Interactive elements, media, and other non-textual context which are woven with text make your web site unique. A variety of non-textual elements are available to be included in your web site: documents, artifacts, oral history selections, quotations, photographs, paintings, video clips, songs, newspaper articles, or a recording from an interview. Remember: A single multimedia clip can be no longer than 45 seconds and you have an overall size limit of 100 MB.
Incorporating Non-Textual Content into Your Web Site
Non-textual content should do more than illustrate or decorate a page. How will photographs, documents, maps, etc. help the viewer better understand your argument? Incorporate historical evidence for your viewer to examine and discover. Documents, photographs, or newspapers are good ways to do this. Consider lower resolution, smaller thumbnails with links to larger resolution, easily legible versions. Think about ways to use non-textual primary source elements as proof for your argument.
Add Your Interpretation
Pages of illustrations, media clips, or documents without a purpose will not help you prove your argument. Adding interpretive captions, rather than just descriptive, will help the viewer understand how that element builds your overall argument and gives it a purpose.
Similarly, putting all of your photos or media clips in a separate "photo gallery" page won't help tie it to your argument. Integrate non-textual elements into the text. Putting all the illustrations on a separate page would be similar to a documentary having only text for the first five minutes and only photographs for the last five. It would be boring and not make much sense! |
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