I'm finished!

I made it! I am not ecstatic with the result, but I am satisfied. This is the most challenging class I have ever taken. I am very happy that I didn't give up.

Back from Tampa

I had a crazy few days before going to class to present. I got panicky trying to get everything to work, and a couple of times, ended up with indecipherable stuff on my screen and had to start back.

The experience: KompoZer was frustrating, to say the least. I think if I had had a tutor to sit down with me through this and explain just the simple "how to's" of it, I would have been more sane. Instead, I would get frustrated, scap the mess I had in KompoZer, and go back to writing everything out in Notepad. Then I would be unable to make something work there, and go back to KompoZer. Eventually, I just had to start from scratch and go ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Ideally, I would have done external stylesheets and kept control of the whole thing, but when I had to drop everything into KompoZer, that changed.

My plans for my page were nothing like what I ended up with, but, in the end, I am happy that anything showed up there at all. Also, I am happy that, although it is not snazzy, it is organized.

Today's lesson:

I came back from Tampa with some ideas about things I wanted to change. For instance, I wanted to be able to click on the pictures in my photo gallery and enlarge them. Seems pretty simple. A classmate mentioned Googling free photogallery templates. I found one that looked pretty simple and followed the directions, but it didn't work. I really don't understand Java Script, and I am not sure what I did wrong.

I think I am getting to the LARGER LESSON here: I need to build on the foundation I have, no matter how small, and be patient with what I know and fully understand. I can't jump ahead and just hope that, by chance, I will hit a button and my work will be transformed. I have to build on what I have.

At this point, that means doing the "simplest" things that need doing: Fixing my links, putting in a footer, and making sure everything is in there that the list requires.

Practice, learn, practice, learn, practice, learn. Be patient where you are, and be happy with all that you have learned.

Regrouping

I am starting over again. I am determined to take something away from this class besides the memory of failure. I haven't failed, for I have learned so much and internalized so much that I didn't have a clue about before. But, I will feel like a failure if I just throw together a site with no organization. At the very least, I want to have mastered external style sheets and the use of HTML. As for graphics and drawing, I have decided that the skills I need for even begin to get a handle on that are way beyond where I am right now. If I am going to get anything meaningful out of a drawing program, that will require another course. I literally spent days trying to find a gimp tutorial that I could make sense of, and I've tried to get a handle on Photoshop Elements, but I really need some separate instruction.

So, to recap, I am going to master something well when I leave this class. It will not be everything, but it will be a base, something solid, that I can take away. I want to make sense out of something in all of this.

Lesson 12: SmartWebby

A free design guide.

Web Design Tips:

Wait. . . Before I go here, I want to go back and take a few more notes on last week's sites:

One Page Love: Luigi Marco Simonetti: Gray, simple, yet cool.

Ideas: Gray with library red writing.
Subtle brush stuff like on Altgold and Zahngold.
CSS Imagine: Samtech: leaves under paper in corners.
DamonBauer: colors.

I'm now switching tactics. First I had planned to do a site devoted to Hastings Library Youth. Then I decided that was too much stress, and I would make a site about making a site. Then I could be thinking about what I was learning as I was learning it. BUT, I now am back to the Hastings Youth. It is better suited to a web page, while the other topic is more suited to a blog. The library site is better suited to something that will be constantly changing.

Latest and Last Plan:

One page devoted to Teen Lounge: Take pictures on the 15th!

One page devoted to Past Events: Picture Hastings, Halloween, and Talent Show.

One page devoted to Upcoming Events: December Poetry Reading: Juice up the True Say and Found Art.

One page devoted to Story Time

One page devoted to In the Works: Teen Book Club

Now, Smartwebby:

I looked at the feather tutorial that Pamie recommended. This would be some handy knowledge if I decided to use images like that. I don't have Dreamweaver, but there is probably something comparable in Photoshop Elements.

A place that I may want to revisit when I sit down with my site this weekend:

"Cool Text Effects Using CSS Styles in Dreamweaver." It's under CSS Styles Tutorial. I don't have Dreamweaver, but maybe I can translate to the tools I have. Specifically, I want to get rid of the underline and use text spacing.

{A short interruption: Pamie alerted us to a website called Post Modern Shrines by Michael De Meng. Don't forget to go back there when you have time!}

Still Lesson 11: Inspirational Websites

Cool Websites dk: I was intrigued by the green background and parchment-type paper in a thumbnail of a website called Topia World. Upon enlarging it, I wasn't so enchanted, but I did notice something I haven't yet encountered on a website. It's a 3-D menu in the form of floating cards in a circle. You can click on an arrow on either side to spin to the next card. Topia World is a fantasy game website. Actually, the more I look at it, the more I am appreciating it. There is very subtle movement, too, when you move the mouse without actually clicking on the arrows. The cards float left, right, up, or down, depending on where you point. This further creates the illusion that the cards are floating.

I just clicked on Rudebox, and I'm seeing a pattern here. Now I'm in the center of a room, and when I click on the arrows, the room spins. The menu is on display on different sides of the room. Again, moving the mouse moves your perspective up, down, etc. When you click on a place to go, like video, you zoom in, and fade into a different scene. Wow. In the new window, the menu remains on the left, and when you move to different parts of the menu, the menu, and the layered textures that make it up, move, too. There is so much going on visually that it is hard to describe in words. I admire the artistry involved in this.

There were many "I'm so old" moments for me on this site. The menu is written in graffiti-style writing - and I can't read it! Some words I can make out after sitting there a while or moving the mouse over them and watching the words being written (That's another feature I've never seen).

Also, I'm not technologically/visually sophisticated enough to realize that the countdown numbers on the first screen were just reflecting the download time. I sat there saying, "Gosh Darn it - What is this newfangled thing?" Then I didn't have the sense to click the mouse when it was finished to start the tour.

What's more, I didn't notice the subtly incorporated "sound on/sound off" button. When I finally figured out what to do with the mouse, "WHY YOU SO NASTY?" blared out loud enough to blow me off my chair.

Wow. It doesn't take very long before a person can become visually illiterate.


CSS Heaven:

Hooping.net: I can really appreciate the difficulty of trying to stuff as much information as possible into as little space as possible. This site does everything possible to remedy overload. For example, pages are lined up vertically at an angle, so that you can see about 5 clearly and then can scroll forward if you want. Meanwhile, beneath that area but still above the fold are a set of three pictures which are switching out by the use of fades. Meanwhile, a very slow scroll menu is in between. A menu, with large type (relatively) is on the right and there's a place above to input personal info. This is a very delicate balancing act, getting all of these elements in one space. It almost doesn't work, but it does. It is extremely easy for me to feel overloaded by stimuli, but this works well enough that I don't just click out. If I were truly interested in the info here, I would be happy to stay.

FWA:

OMG. I found most of the thumbnails somewhat disturbing. I just clicked on the RoutanBabyMaker 3000. An idea engineered by Volkswagen, it is creepy genius. I picked that thumbnail out of many because of the cute, yet disturbing quality of the baby. That's because it is a virtual baby made out of a convergence of two photos, one of mom, one of dad. The baby's eyes move when you move the mouse. The site is made, I think, to appeal to women whose biological clock may be ticking, or who may just want to be mothers. Brooke Sheilds is the model. The goal of making a baby, supposedly, is to show you how safe the Routan is. From here you can go from designing a baby to designing your own car.

Aside from the marketing genius, the design of the site is pretty effective. The menu is a designed to look like a radio, and when you move your mouse over it, a blue light comes on for each menu item. I hit on the VW radio button, literally, and a promotion for thing called "Sign and Drive" comes up. Move the mouse over the cars, and the headlights come on. I was totally sucked into this. Can you tell I'm a children's librarian?

I consider myself pretty saavy when it comes to advertising, but they got me this time!

Best Web Gallery: These thumbnails are much more inviting. A lot of them appeal to me, and I'm not sure what to click on first. I'll try Paperheads. (BTW, I like this gallery. When you float over a thumbnail, a slightly larger version of the site comes up. Cool.) Oh, I really like this! I have no idea what is being promoted here, but two guys in business suits and paperbags for heads (with faces drawn on) come up in front of different backgrounds. Each background stays for a while. The first looked like somewhere in Tokyo, the next was on a beach, the next was in a convenience store. . . Oh, it looks like they are back in Tokyo.
This so cool. This company does web design. The menu on the right provides four visuals of work they've done. You can click on any number of pages for each client. A simple "About Services, Contact, Clients" menu is on the top of the primary screen. There is too much to describe in words what I like about this site. It is hilarious and cool without trying too hard. I'm sure it, too, will be passe one day!

Lesson 11: More Inspirational Web Sites

CSS Creme! Best Web Flavours

Larissameek.com: I like that when you float the mouse over her tag at the top or the "about" ticket next to her picture, they change color. Also, her links change color, but in addition have a little grooved thing that pops up as you pass over it. Also, she has a lot of information on the page without making it look too busy or crowded. I think that has to do with the relative size of all the elements: the type, the pictures, etc. - everything balances nicely. I also like the background. It's subtle - a dark sort of wallpaper over which a smooth similarly colored slate is placed. That is not solid, but graded, yet everything is so subtle that works together. I wonder how she made those cartoony lollipops at the top?

I notice quite a few of these sites have quite a bit of black and subtle grays. On the other hand, there are sites with a lot of white and clean, simple fonts. Doodies Doodles is one that I like: her artwork is colorful, yet has a pastel look to it. It looks very good on a white background.

Lesson 11: Advanced Topics

I'm trying to stay afloat here. Not being able to make sense of GIMP tutorials on layers, I've hit a brick wall. I've spent hours and hours starting over with it, and it's not clicking. What I really need to do is sit down with someone and do a hands-on lesson. I would have not been happy about traveling to Tampa for more classes, but this is very hard to do with a book and on-line tutorials. I gave up on GIMP and went to my husbands Photoshop Elements 2. I got some books out of the library and am looking them over, trying to figure out the basics. If I had come into this class with even a basic understanding of the image program, I wouldn't be in such a funk. It stresses me to go on to advanced topics when I'm back in remedial basics, but I have to go on.

This week we look at five to ten websites on places to get inspiration.

I will start out with "One Page Love":

I like Sako Karalekian's very simple one pager. I sort of had something in mind like that for my page. She uses images of office stuff like paper, tape, push pins, and is very minimal. That's what I like; not a page that blows you out of the room with too much stimuli.

I also like Marianna Gibara's. Again, very simple. I don't know though - Isn't that organic swirly stuff getting old? Maybe not yet. I just seem to see it everywhere, from websites to t-shirts, which makes be think people will soon tire of it. I do like it, though.

Web and iPhone Application Development: Here is a very simple site with some movement. Though I like the cleanness and simplicity of it, I still don't like images moving on a site. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy.

I love the chapstick conspiracy by Zeke Shore. This is only one item in his portfolio. As for his site, I like that, too. You can scroll through each item, while his menu remains static on the left-hand side.

Lesson 9 Advanced Topics (Continued)

Pandora Internet Radio: This project is part of the Music Genome Project. How music is composed is a mystery to me. I have no background in music and no idea how it works. The terminology is foreign to me. To read about the music genome project, then, is just as mysterious. This projects assembles musical qualities into a "genome."
The project examines attributes of the music, referred to as "genes," such as harmony, vocals, rhythm, instrumentation, etc. and matches similar types of music. For example, I chose a song by Bjork, and then the project brought up a song with similar qualities by a different artist. You can create up to 100 stations based on various artists, songs, or musical attributes.

I think that the concept is really cool. However, I guess when I decide I like a musician, I just want to hear that person. I don't necessarily want to hear other music like that person. I don't know why. But, I do think it is quite amazing that this sort of thing can be done.

I am not going to look at other web editors and text editors at this time. I am still struggling with how to use the one I have now. Because our book suggests using separate external style sheets, I am trying to build by pages step-by-step, using HTML. I want to learn how that works. Our MacDonald text warns against getting tangled up with the WYSIWYG editors. I want to be able to keep a handle on future changes.

I am also struggling with the fact that I have never learned Photoshop or a drawing program before. This is just too much new material to learn. I am just going to have to do the best that I can at this point with my text and some very simple graphics.

Lesson 9: Advanced Topics

Scripts are short pieces of code that add certain functions to your site. You can actually cut and paste a piece out and put it into your own.

In order to put an MP3 (compressed music file) on your site, you need to make a .M3U file in notepad.

Websites: FlashVista is a flash directory with flash resources and tutorials. I've been looking at some examples and the one that I like best is Thibaud's portfolio. He has all these little cards like color swatches, and when you hit on one, they all fan out. Then you can zoom in for a closer look. It's subtle. That's the only kind of flash I like. I am now on MONO*craft and fascination is competing with annoyance. I like the backgrounds, but the way everything starts flying by the screen when you put the mouse on it is driving me crazy. I feel like I'm playing a video game.

Flash Tutorials: The one that I wouldn't mind learning to do when I get beyond the basics is how to make the camera focus change effect in flash. Looking through the tutorials makes me think I have to get back to the basics first.

Site Pal Avatar: No thank you. I don't know why, but I find these fake cartoon people really annoying. Interesting to see how it's done, though.

HotSripts.com: a directory that compiles Web-programming information and resources. There are lots of scripts you can click on. This is all new to me. If you click on JavaScript, for example, you will see a clickable list of books, references, scripts and programs, software, tips and tutorials, and websites. Again, something to revisit when I get beyond truly understanding our text. Right now I'm combing through Chapter 7 again.

Basic Info about MP3's: MP3 is a technique for compressing audio files. The systems for doing this are called codecs. Earlier codecs were for real-time playing; MP3's were for downloading. Apple's iTunes offers AAC. ACC proved better than MP3 in testing.

How to create M3U files and streaming audio: I did not know this: When you are listening to streaming audio, you're listening to something as it's downloading. Streaming allows visitors to listen quickly. When not streamed, it takes longer and the person ends up with a copy of the audio item on their computer. To set up streaming audio, set up a text file that contains the link pointing to the MP3 you want to stream. Then save the file with an m3u extension.

Audacity: Free, open-source software for creating and editing sounds. You can use it to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings, edit various sound files, cut, copy and splice . . . There's a book that explains it, too! (I wish there was a book for GIMP. Reading the manual and flipping back and forth between screens is not cutting it for me.)

Musicovery Internet Radio: I'm trying to figure out how to select things. I see the "mood" box, and I'm cruising around there, but I wonder if there's a way to do a search for a particular artist. It doesn't look like there is. Also, I keep getting the message that my selection is too tiny. I don't know what that means or how to get out of it. I am kind of having fun seeing what I come up with by chance.

What I did yesterday

Below is the culmination of all my days off from work trying to figure this stuff out. (Of course, I couldn't include my background, my picture, or the groove border I used.) I think now that I spent too much time on GIMP for too little return. I made a valiant effort, but I must stop putting my energy into it. I must go back to HTML. This time I will start over with my real website. Below was just practice.


I am building a web site at the speed shifting tectonic plates. I mean I am going slow. I mean I am doing it piece by piece. I mean I have tried doing bits and pieces at least fifty times and I get tangled up and confused every time. This has been a truly humbling experience. I tried to find a picture of tectonic plates on stock.xchng, but there wasn't one there. I'll have to say that building this site is happening as slowly as your toenails grow.

My book is telling me that using inline images is the simplest way to arrange pictures. I'm going to add a bit of code to make the picture float left.

Mmmmm. . . . I love plain vanilla.


So, my action plan has changed. I have decided that instead of devoting my website to something I am doing at work, I am going to devote it to the trials of learning to make a website. This subject may be better suited to a blog, but all things considered, this is the best thing to do. There is too much newness, learning, and stress connected to my job and too much of the same in this class to lump the two together. Not doable.

So, keep going . . . .

Lord, Help Me

In class, we are now on Chapters 15 and 16. In terms of what I'm now understanding and learning, I'm back on Chapter 7. It is so very discouraging. I have had the last few days off from work, and I've spent hours just trying to find tutorials to the most basic parts of GIMP. Paths, Dialogs. . . I don't get it yet. But, I have to start somewhere, so I will forge ahead.

I am not by any means ready to put into practice the techniques in Chapters 15 and 16. In the case of Chapter 16, I don't care as much because I personally hate things that move and jump around on websites. Cannot stand them.

Chapter 15 address issues that I will eventually incorporate, providing I catch up. It is about fancy buttons and menus. A few basics:

Dynamic buttons, also called rollover buttons, change subtly when a mouse hovers over them. Some dynamic buttons have three pictures: one for the initial state, one for the hover state, and one after the button's been clicked.

It is important that buttons are lined up, the same size, and consistent throughout. To accomplish this, go to www.buttongerator.com

Reminder: anti-aliasing is a feature that smooths the edges of a font by blending them with background.

Be careful when naming buttons so that you don't get tangled. Use a descriptive name, followed by an underscore, followed by the button state (normal or mouseover).

To keep things simple, make a picture list. Use a JavaScript element called an array. Create two arrays, one for the normal images, one for selected buttons

MacDonald also suggests preloading images so that buttons are as responsive as possible.

There is a section describing the alternative way of setting all this up in Dreamweaver or Front Page. I don't know yet if KompoZer has anything Komperable.

For now, in order to save myself, I MUST go back to chapter 7.

Lesson 8: Imagery

I am such a technophobe. This is how much: My husband has had Adobe Photoshop 3.0 for what seems like years, and I’ve never touched it. I am going to look at the tutorials for the first time.

Notes: Gimp: Open source software to edit and retouch photos and images. Photoshop Elements is Photoshop Lite, according to the first turtorial on YouTube. I just downloaded gimp in case I get overwhelmed by Photoshop.

The first tutorial went down very easily. I edited one of my pictures and compressed it enough to email. What I learned:

1. For brightness/contrast: go to colors

2. To sharpen: go to filters, enhance, sharpen

3. To compress, go to scale, image, percent. Make sure locked. Bring down to about 20% (451?)

4. When asks quality, choose around 70%. Lower means smaller file, but too small may lead to degredation.

The Joy of Painting with Gimp tutorial has no sound and is about 10 times to fast to follow. Waste of time.

Oh my God! I just spent so much time searching for an understandable tutorial for Gimp. Good Lord! If I ever learn how to do this, it will be my mission to make a tutorial that is understandable, i.e. visible, audible, and at the right speed. What’s the point of doing the tutorial at the speed of light? If I could process that fast, I wouldn’t be doing the tutorial.

I finally found one the right speed. I bookmarked it. To distill:

1. Scaling (I think this is like compressing) click scale tool, drag handles, or lock to keep proportional.

2. Cropping: Pick exacto knife icon. Click inside area when done.

3.Cutting with transparency. Get paths tool. Pick stuff you want. Shift V, Conrol I, Delete.

Chooe PNG format for images with transparency.

Part 2 of the tutorial shows how to make a button in Adobe Flex. ? I’m not that advanced yet.

I’ve been perusing a number of tutorials for Gimp on YouTube, and so many of them are talking about “dialog”. I don’t see that anywhere on mine, so that must be something old.

I’ll go on to the other websites for this week and see if they help.

Let’s try the Gimp User Manual: I don’t know why I have the tools screen but not the image screen. I’ll have to put an email out to the class. I have spent all day doing this. Gotta stop!

Chapter 5: Beaird

Imagery:

Things to remember: Is it relevant? Is it interesting? Is it appealing? I have to be careful that I answer these questions correctly with my imagery. If I take a picture of a bunch of teens hanging around Teen Lounge or playing games, how will I make that look intriguing? The backdrop of the library meeting room isn't that exciting. Hmm . . . I really want to use images of the actual library and people because using flashy, even slightly stylish images, would look like I was trying too hard. That is just NOT our library. Anything that looks commercial would look fake.

Maybe not for this project, but for future reference: get free stock photography from Stock.XCHG
I doubt I will ever be purchasing images in any form, royalty free or not.

Google Ganking: getting an image off a search and then manipulating them to fit your needs. Don't do it. Assume images are copyrighted. If an image is marked as free, let the creator know how you are going to use it.

Hotlinking is another no-no. That's when a site links to files on the designers' own servers.

Creative cropping. I don't often compliment myself in this course, but I have to say I do have an eye for composition. That is probably the ONLY time I will feel confident in this course. Maybe not, though. I could have a breakthrough.

I have GOT to look at my video tutorial on Photoshop. This is something that my husband has played with, but I haven't.

Typography Websites (Continued)

Microsoft Typography: Reading about TrueType. It looks like that's what is on my screen right now. It's a digital technology developed by Apple, but now used on both Apple and Microsoft platforms. The TrueType rasterizer is the program that reads the font description and generates the bitmaps.

Micorsoft ClearType: Technological innovation that improves screen readability.
The TrueType rasterizer is the program that reads the font description and generates the bitmaps.

This site doesn't do much for me. It's getting into detail that is beyond me at this point.
But, I'm looking to download some of the free fonts. I don't even know how to install a font. I need a tutor. What I really need is to have taken a basic "How to use a computer" class before this. This little things are big stumbling blocks simply because I don't have the basic knowledge.

ABC Typography (virtual museum). I'm a little confused by this site. I'm trying to look at the classical typefaces, but every link is dead. Okay, I was able to open the 20th century, and at least read about Albertus, Eras, and Rockwell. The links on the drop-down menu are dead. Same is true of the modern collection. Interesting to find that some fonts were designed, at least in part, to compensate for the difficulties of reading from a screen and laser printing. Lucinda Bright is an example, d.o.b 1991.

A List Apart:

Typography Websites

Typography Websites:

I Love Typography: My favorite part was the portion of found type. I did a little reading on the history of humanist type. I have never really thought of the historical and cultural influences of type. It shows how much I take it for granted. I was surprised to read in the Beautiful Web Design book that there was such an outcry against sans serif.

I Love Typography: 15 Examples of Excellent Web Typograhy:

I like the type and the whole look of the website of Jesus Rogriguez Velasco. There are a lot of elements mashed together in the graphics, but also a lot of white space so that you’re not overwhelmed. It makes you stop and take time to look at each graphical element. Oh, yeah – I like the font, too, the larger sloppy looking one that he must have put in as an image. I like the oddly shaped search box, too. Picture at the top: There’s an old floppy disk, a giant computer, and a monk tumbling down.

There’s Bearskinrug again. I remember that from our text.

Typographica: Typography Journal and News

Cyrus Highsmith, a designer and faculty member a the Rhode Island School of Design, points out in his interview that 1,800 new typefaces a year are introduced to the public and wonders what that effect will have on the people who see them. Will they become more sensitive to type design, or less? I have the feeling I always have: overwhelmed. I guess I like to look at all of the different designs, but when it comes to choosing one, what do I do? With so many choices, you really have to know what is appropriate for what you’re doing. I can just picture a designer looking at what I did and saying, “That’s awful.”

Oh, no! Now I’m reading about the importance of good handwriting! I’m so self-conscious about my handwriting, especially when I have to write something in large letters on a sign for the library. My writing has no energy or style. Weird.

I totally understand what Highsmith is saying about how writing on paper makes ideas flow better and different parts of his brain light up. I often feel like I’m wasting time by taking notes the old-fashioned way, but I feel more connected to what I’m trying to absorb. Maybe if I had been born 20 years later, that wouldn’t be the case.

Wow. I really like the different FF BeoSans OT by Rossum and Blokland that has a “shaken, distraught” appearance. It costs $54.

Notes on Baeird: Typography

My Internet is down again so I’ll do this in word and then cut and paste into my blog later.

Chapter 4 of Beaird’s text: Typography

Beaird says that “the majority of the decisions that need to be made in our work with type involve the space around the letter forms and text blocks rather than the actual type itself.” That is a new way of thinking of it for me.

The SAFE LIST consists of nine font families.

CSS allows you to choose multiple fonts in order of preference.

If you really want your font to appear in a certain way, use images to display.

If you want to replace text that changes periodically, the solution is “siffer” sIFR, scalable Inman Flash Replacement. It uses Flash and JavaScript

You can control spacing horizontally and vertically.

Kerning refers to adjusting the space between letters

You can use the CSS property to adjust a fonts tracking. Add pixels to make text more open, e.g.

Vertical spacing: known as leading. You can use CSS line-height property. The unit that measures the size of a font in CSS is an em.

Fonts:

Serif: provide horizontal line reference.

Sans serif: They stand out at headlines, esp. when the main text is serif. On the web, though, the opposite it true. Probably not a good idea to use as headlines these days on the web.

Handwritten: Convert to images or use sIFR to make sure everyone can see.

Fixed-width or monospaced font: not proportionally spaced.

Novelty fonts: Can be good for logo design.

Dingbat fonts: Many available on the web. Try ScrapiCons.

Choosing the right fonts: Define feelings trying to evoke in target audience. Rule of thumb: don’t use more than four different fonts in a web design. Don’t combine two different serif with two different sans serif in same project.

Section on setting font size and em’s is going over my head ??? p. 122

The homepage should have a singular message that’s conveyed in large type. Not too much reading. It’s a hub.

Style Sheets: AGAIN

I will do my utmost to maintain external style sheets because there is a pretty strong warning in the book. Given my propensity to get tangled up with this new stuff, that's probably what I should do.
To review:
A selector id's what you want to format.
A property id's the type of format
The value sets the property.
It looks like this: selector { property: value}
You must include a link in the HEAD. There are three partas (see p. 143), the first and last of which never change.
Cascading: This term refers to the sequence of rules that are followed. They follow this order in terms of power: Inline, Internal, External, Browser.
Inheritance: Tags in HTML contain other tags. You can apply a rule to a tag that contains others. On the other hand, when they overlap, the rule closest to the tag wins.
Things to remember about color: There is COLOR and BACKGROUND COLOR.
In order to get around the plain old 16 color names, use the RGB values.

Colors on the Web:

Spinning the Color Wheel is like playing Roulette. My wrist hurts. What's interesting is that as I do this, and I happen on a color I happen to find pleasing, I then look at it again, think of how the teens would react to it, and have a crisis of confidence. Because colors go in and out of style just like clothing fashions, I worry that I'm picking a color that is "out." I'm sick of imagining being uncool.

Hmm. . . I just looked at other people's choices for colors, though, and I didn't really like theirs either.

Chapters 11 and 12: Notes

I am still back on Chapter 6 and style sheets. It's hard to believe. But, I've gone ahead and read Chapters 11 and 12 so that I can at least be timely in my note taking this week.

Chapter 11: Notes on Attracting Visitors:
Advice to heed: Entice visitors to come back with fresh content and add-on features.
Perfect you meta tags, both description and keyword. These go in the HEAD section. Put them in every page you create. Description should be a couple of sentences; keyword 25 words or less.
Submit site to web directories and search engines
Use hit counters and server logs to monitor traffic.
Find other websites like yours and establish reciprocal links. These will help your ranking.
Taking part in a web ring is another possibility, though you could end up in a ring with hideous sites. Be careful who you associate with.
Building a community, through forums, promo events, and newsletters help to keep your site viable.
Add a favicon (easily recognizable in a Favorites list)
Submit and application to ODP, the Open Directory Project. See page 299 for tips on how to do it the right way. Hint: don't be obnoxious. Other directories are Yahoo and Looksmart.
PageRank: the value of your site is determined by how many others link to it.
Another way to boost self: Google AdWords. Typical cost of a click is 35 cents.

Chapter 12 is about letting visitors talk to you and each other. In other words, give your site life by transforming it into a community.

Good tips: Be dynamic in the meta description part. Address what the site hopes to accomplish.
Add discussion forums and chat boards.
Advertise new content before adding it. Links to new content should be on first page.
Promote regular events.
The rest of the chapter explains the HTML necessary to create forms and check boxes, and how to manage a group.

I am far off from this last part. In fact, I can't imagine having the time to keep up with it. MacDonald suggests creating things like forums with threads that perpetuate themselves.

That's all for now. Back to remedial training.

Websites: Week 6

Urban Dirty:

Urban Dirty: http://urbandirty.com/

A free stock photography website for “slimy” and “gritty” and other textures.

The slimy black mold is not one I would want to use for my library website. We already have a mold problem. Eww.

What looks like a pizza that was dropped on the floor six months ago. . . no.

I liked the black “splat” on the cement wall, even though there was some organic matter visible there, too. I do like this one, though. I like the color and it’s not too upsetting.

I like this one, too.

I’m interested in the color schemes that are shown beneath each image. Apparently, you can use Adobe Swatch Exchange (ase) files in your illustrator program. I am attracted to many of these, but my website is geared toward rural youth. A few images would fit the bill.

Best Textures Flickr Group: These images make me want to grab my camera and go out in search of textures. I would love to have free time and the luxury to let myself and my mind wander. Some lovely stuff on there.

Torley Textures: The colors are fun. I liked few quite a bit. The realistic wood paneling made me laugh. I want to use that for my Teen Lounge page for my library site. It was funny, though: After spending some time there, I wanted to go back to the Urban Dirty site. The computer graphics became less appealing to me, while the realistic textures were more compelling. Of course, which you choose would depend on the theme of your web site.

Deviant Art Textures: I wasn’t as thrilled by this one; I’m not sure why. I thought I would be really excited by the paper textures, but they didn’t do that much for me. On the other hand, the abstract images really appealed to me, especially the ones that incorporated plants and natural colors. Again, I felt inspired to take my camera around the library.

Conflict: Looking at these images makes me want to do something a little less like a Hallmark card. If I were doing a website all about me, that would be a little easier, but I’m doing one for the young adults of the library. That means staying close to the image/brand of the library, which is definitely not edgy. I guess I have to think of the library as my client. Their image is clean and the logo is beachy. Our website is cartoonish. I wonder how I can design my site so that it reflects the feeling of Hastings and the community of its youth (definitely not “beachy”). Something to ponder. Hastings is definitely a more “down to earth,” by choice or otherwise, place. Our building, though charming in some ways, is old and crumbling. I like all the texture ideas I get from thinking of our old building, but I doubt our administration would be thrilled with the “peeled paint, rotted out window sash” look. Hmmm . . .

Texture King:

This site has a lot, including plastic, glass, and grunge. The more I look at these sites, the more I think that I would like to to the "peeled paint, rotted out window sash" look. What would be fun would be to take pictures of all these textures around the library and have the kids find them. I'm having very basic technical problems, certainly caused by user error. For example, I can't get my font consistent in this post. The thing that is really bugging me now is that Pamie told me how to get photos on here: Don't cut and paste. Instead, put picture on desktop and upload. I can't figure out how to upload!

Grunge Textures:
Even before I read anything on this site, but I was immediately struck by how much I liked the look of it. I like the warm oranges and yellows and the old paper look. I like the navigation bar: easy to locate and read. The whole layout and look is pleasing.

I find myself getting inspired again to go around our old library where there are surely plenty of interesting textures. My favorite so far: brick. Who knew that I could get inspired staring at brick walls? I was surprised that there were only five files on paper. Maybe paper is out of style right now. I also liked the "tombstone" and "other distressed surfaces."

Grunge Style (smashing magazine): Interesting background on The Letter website: A paper towel.

I like the darklight home page with its rolled ink and hand drawn elements. I really do like the Web 2.0 and grunge mixture. Web 2.o is too shiny and clean. Getting sick of it. I just wish I knew how to create these effects. I'm still trying to figure out the most basic style sheet. I need to go to special education for web design.

Photoshop Tutorials on creating web textures: I need to take a class on how to use Photoshop. That could be a whole semester!
The tutorials that appealed to me were how to make old paper and how to make a leaf background.

2007 Web Design Trends: I looked at this site yesterday and wrote about it, too, but I guess I didn't save because nothing I wrote is here today. This web trends page makes me feel like almost as soon as I learn how to do something, something new will come along to replace it. I guess the feeling is one of futility, but I should try to look at it as skill building.

Web 2.0 tutorials: All kinds of tutorials on how to do button, badges, and special (shiny) effects. I like the "dark" ones best. I guess I would describe them as dark backgrounds with some of the shiny stuff on top.

Screen Resolutions Worldwide: They say that a good rule of thumb is to go as low as possible (800 x 600 or even 640 x 480) for accessibility. However, sizes are becoming less uniform as technology progresses.
Highest screen resolutions worldwide are found and Scandinavia and Central Europe.
Average screen ratio (indicating wide screen): Wider ratios are found in Denmark, U.S., Belgium, and Italy.
Technically, this is interesting. For my purposes, creating a website for the youth of a small, rural, poor area, low is a good idea.

Progress: Figuring out my major malfunction

I think I'm figuring out what my major malfunction is with this class. Not only is all this stuff new to me, which causes anxiety in itself; the big problem is that I'm having difficulty with subject matter around which I am trying to build this page. I wanted to have this web design class apply to my work as a Young Adult Librarian so that I could get the most out it. The problem is, I am floundering in my work. I am trying to figure out how to get the teens to actually be part of the library and want to come to our programs.

Here is the difficulty I face. I work in a very poor, rural community. On the one hand, I have circumstances working in my favor, because the library is one of the few places kids can go. We are just about the only game in town. In fact, one of the problems we face is that the teens use the library as a club house. Currently, we hold what is called Teen Lounge every afternoon and on Saturdays. The kids play games on our Play Station 2 and an occasional board game. My problem is getting them to come in for anything else. I did have a successful photography project in July. Since then it has been pretty dry. (Interestingly, most of the participants in the program were not the library regulars.)

This is what I would like to have on my page if things could work as I envision:

One page devoted to Teen Lounge: There we could have pictures of people playing Madden '09, doing Dance Dance Revolution, and Guitar Hero. We could also show people playing Monopoly and snacking. We could show me putting in new furnishings to make it appeal to teens.

One page devoted to upcoming events. For the month of October, for example, I would highlight our bullying program and our program on sexual harassment. I would get some images from Allison Rose of her doing a presentation. I could solicit anonymous quotes from teen about what those two topics mean to them. Same with Safe Night Out program: get quotes from people who participated in past years. Pictures of the blank leaves that people will be putting their definitions on. Halloween: pictures from past years.

One page devoted to poetry: The kids from the Rec. Center are now using the library in the afternoons while their roof is being repaired. Once a week, a writer comes and work with them on poetry. They are planning to publish a book of their work using a grant. I believe it comes out in November. They already have a website. I would like the library to host an Open Mic event so that the kids could present their work. I would also like to put some of their work on our website and have a link to theirs.

One page devoted to kids' art. We already have plenty of photos from our Picture Hastings event. They came up with some great stuff. I would also like to solicit works that they've done on their own.

One page devoted to Teen Readers Advisory. Right now, we have no such thing. One girl expressed interest in participating in a book club. I need to contact her and see if she still wants to. My fear is that now that school has started, she is wrapped up in that. That brings me to my next point. One big hurdle I'm facing is making contact with the schools. I want to start with the English teachers first. So far, this has been a HUGE challenge. I don't hear back from media specialists I try to contact . . . Teachers are just so busy and harried. How do I make meaningful contact? Should I write personal letters? I want to make it a positive for them. How can I make their jobs easier? Do a database class on the Literature Resource Center or the Biography Resource Center? Ask the teachers to tell me what projects their students will be working on during the year and provide them with the resources the library has on those topics? Back on topic: We could use this page to talk about the book club and to post teen book reviews.

One page devoted to goings-on-around-town. Because this is such a tight-knit community, that might work well. For example, I am going to help out at the teen night that the Rec Center is putting on. I could take pictures of that. I could even start a teen corpse of reporters to cover such events.

Okay, I now have six pages. My big challenge is getting teens to participate enough to put material on those pages. That, I'll repeat, is what has been making this class cause so much anxiety for me. I haven't figured out how to do that.

BTY: links I want on my site: one to juice up the truth, and one to continuing ed. resources.

Action plan:

Talk to Terry about contacting one teacher at the high school. That may be the best way to get my foot in the door. Terry has done a lot of substituting, and she know someone who would be willing.

Put out the word that I'm starting a book club for teens. Call Madison first. Ask if she's still interested and what day is good for her. Maybe Saturdays? I'll provide snacks. Then call everyone (all 5) who participated in the summer reading program. Read that book on running YA book clubs.

Put out a "looking for art" sign. Tell Madison, too, as she has used the library to photograph her art. Make the art page relevant to the library by soliciting suggestions for art programs by teens.

Talk to Miss Kim on Tuesday about having the library host a poetry reading event.
Visit her kids' website on Monday.

In the meantime, I will put up dummy information and images until I get real ones.


Finally, I have a direction!

Chapter 9

I have been working on Chapter 9 for two hours this morning. I have gotten through 11 pages. On top of that, not all of my exercises are turning out correctly.

This is a new learning experience for me; I am usually not this uncomfortable, slow, or out of my element. I get more behind each week, which causes dread to creep up. I feel compelled to write about this so that I can try to assimilate this new experience into something I regard as positive. I'm the kind of person who still has dreams about not making it through a crucial class in high school, so this steady falling behind is a struggle. But what else can I do? I have to spend enough time to try to make sense of this. I was picking up little pieces of the puzzle as I went along, but now I'm wishing I could go back to the beginning of the book and start over. Then I would build a more complete picture. But how can I when it takes two hours to get through new material?

I have revisited chapter 6 in bits and pieces, but I think it would help me to read that whole thing again now. I think that is the compromise I will make. I will go back to Chapter 6, and then continue plodding along through Chapter 8.

Meanwhile, though I very much enjoy the Principles book, I am still in the middle of Chapter 1. I feel like my struggle with learning the rudiments of Creating Web Sites takes precedence right now. There will be more of a point to understanding the elements of design when I can actually apply them.

Starting Over . . . Again

Because my knowledge is so rudimentary and I don't have the big picture yet, I inadvertently cause big problems by making little mistakes. And because I don't want to get tangled up again, I would still prefer to scrap everything and start from scratch. As I gain confidence and knowledge, I will be better able to fix mistakes as I go on.

I messed up my home page that I had been working on in the KompoZer by replacing it with something I was practicing. Oops. Rather than try to redo that one page and reconnect it to my links, I threw everything out and started from scratch. I am also going back in the book to chapters that we were working on weeks ago and doing those again. It's helping to build the puzzle, but I really need the world to stand still for one week while I work on this.

Practicing with Chapter 8

There is still a jumble in my head. I'm going by the Creating Web Sites text now rather than the Kompzer tutorial. I created a table and a corresponding style sheet. At first I named the html part tablepractice.html and the css part tablepractice.css. I put them both in the public folder in SSH. By the way, I think I pointed to the style sheet by puting a link tag in the html part.

I deleted everything in the public folder so that I could see if this would look right on the website.
Well, it didn't. The style sheet properties weren't there. So, I thought, "Well, maybe you just have to name it index.html and index.css." I did that. It still didn't take. But in doing that, I accidentally got rid of the main page I had been working on, so I guess I have to start over.

I guess I want to know how I can do these little practice exercises with style sheets and see the results without messing with the website I'm working on. I'm under the impression that I can only test them by putting both the style sheet and the html sheet that points to it in the public folder in SSH.

There may be a very easy answer to this. I am exposing my struggle and lack of understanding, but, oh well.

Week 5

I am working through the KompoZer tutorial that I got off the web. I am going point by point with a fine tooth comb so that I don't end up in a confused mess like I did before. The tutorial is simplistic, made for the real "dummy" beginner. But that's what I am, so that's fine. I am going to tunnel through that while I continue to read the text.

Oh. The text. I think this text is wonderfully written. It is very understandable, with reminders of where to go to review. I think the book is perfect. However, I haven't been able to keep up. In order to really understand, I find that I am only able to do a chapter a week. Each week I fall a chapter behind and plow ahead, turning back when necessary.

While the KompoZer tutorial is for people who just want the site up, the text explains the mechanics and the best way to set things up on the code side. Probably many of the things I am doing blindly with the tutorial would be strongly advised against in the book. For example, the book teaches that external style sheets are the way to go, keeping your style rules separate and therefore easier to tinker with later if you want. In the tutorial everything is mashed together.

I think I will go through the tutorial, see what I come up with, and then start over building from the other side. Though I am not where I should be in the class, I am learning a lot. It's just very uncomfortable to be behind. I just have to keep putting in the hours, accept where I am, and be thankful that I am learning this. On to chapter 8 . . .

Week 4 sites

Could it really be week 4? I fall further and further behind every week. I am just going to try to get the most out of this class as I can (at my level). What else can I do?

Web Style Guide, 2nd Ed. - http://webstyleguide.com/index.html
I very clean, organized way of approaching web site construction. It addresses the functions of a whole team in building a site for a client. Things that I can take away:

Know your goals and mission - How will the site help that mission? ID two or three most important goals
Have a blueprint
Build an inventory for your content
What will your audience feel upon leaving your site?
How will you maintain it?

I am now on the site development process, but I have to go to work. More later. . .

I have decided that rather than make lists and copy everything I read, I am going to record here the things that stick out to me most. Here goes:

Construction of pages is one of the LAST parts of making a page.
Consider network bandwidth of your visitors. (I work in a poor, rural area.)
Statistics on user traffic?
Site editor must know the rules of protected material.

* up to information architecture

Universal Usability: http://universalusability.com/access_by_design/index.html
I am all over this bandwagon: making websites not only accessible for all, but usable by all (including those with cognitive and other challenges). One thing to do is to strike a balance between engaging and overwhelming the user. An example using a Netflix site points out the importance of simplicity. Of interest was the point that the site focused on services and content rather than branding and design. At this stage, I can't help but keep it simple, but this is still a good advice to keep in mind.

Use HTML. If you want more interactive stuff, make sure you use all accessibility features.
Make functions keyboard accessible. Actionable elements must follow a logical sequence in the code.
Adapt to the users environment, e.g. use pages that adapt to fill a user's window.
Use fallbacks
Use high contrast colors that will still be readable in variable conditions.
Use layouts that adapt to different window widths. (I don't know what this means yet).

Learning to Crawl (Again)

I've been trying to think of an appropriate analogy for my difficulties and this learning experience. I have used rat in a maze, but I'm starting to feel like Silly String, or something that keeps going back and forth, this way and that, does not know the beginning and is just running back and forth blind until everything is a big cluster f*** (pardon my French). If I were a baby learning to walk, I would have crawled just fine, gotten up on my feet, been wobbly (as is espected). . . But then I would have wandered out into the road and been run over and completely mangled. Forget learning to walk; my legs are mangled and in pieces.

What does that translate to? I have to scrap everything, and I mean everything, and start all over. I can't get my page up, when I can, I just get a white screen that says Idex of/ on the top, I can't get pictures to show up. The more I try to fix things, the more they go awry. I have spent countless hours, like a rat in a maze, and I have been on the verge of tears at least three times. I even fantasize about dropping this class.

Right now the server is down. I have an appointment to talk to Dr. S. today at twelve. I have wiped the slate clean and I am rebuilding. Here are some notes on my remedial progress:

1. Your public-html folder is your main directory folder. You must upload all of your files into this directory. (Duh.)

2. Index.html is the main file, not folder, file. That is the first file opened by your browser when you type in your web page address.

3. To stay organized: Create folders for different file types, e.g. folders for documents and images.

4. After creating website, connect to myweb.usf.edu using SSH.

5. Do not upload the folder containing your files. Instead, double click to view the files inside the folder. Do the same for the public_html folders on the right. Ignore any index.html in the public_html folder. It will be replaced with your new stuff.

6. Now visit your website.


I started over making the Shakespeare page that is part of the online tutorial for Kompozer. I did the simple exercise, but when I went to look at the web page, it wasn't there. Neither was my SSH allowing me to connect. I called Academic computing, and they said the server is down. Hence I am here venting and reveiwing.
3.

Lesson 4 Website Critiques

Web Style Guide, 2nd Ed. - http://webstyleguide.com/index.html
Keep this one for future reference. Easy to navigate with straightforward explanantions of the process of building and maintaining a page. It is informative to learn what building a site is like with a site team rather than by yourself. There are many practical considerations and things to do to keep everything on track. Such things include building an inventory of content, defining your content and scope, and meeting your user's needs through your site's organization. I wish I had all day everyday to work on this class because I really would like all the pieces flying around to come together and make sense as a whole. It's that darn full-time job that gets in the way.

Trying to Regroup

I've hit a major bump in the road. I am stuck and am needing to call for road-side assistance (that would be academic computing).

I cannot get my page to publish from composer. I had been able to get stuff on my page by using the drag-and-drop method in SSH. The graphic wasn't showing up, though, and still isn't. On top of that, the web page is now all white with a giant Index of / on the top.

I am trying to remain positive. It is very difficult. I have been over the USF tutorials multiple times, read the text, been over web tutorials on Kompozer. . .
I've tried starting from scratch.

I am trying to remain positive. It is difficult, for I feel like something must be wrong with me. My brain must be deficient in some way. I feel like a rat in a maze. I feel about a smart as a rat, too. Those poor rats. . .

I now am weeks behind in terms of what my webpage should look like. I will keep reading the text and going to the websites. I will do what I can do.

Notes: Chapter 5 and 6

Things that the novice needs to learn:

1. How do you adjust the size of your browser window? MacDonald says that your page should be usable in a window that's 640 X 480 pixels. It should look its best at 800 x 600. It should still look respectable at sizes above 800 x 600 as higher resolutions (1024 x 768, e.g.) are increasingly common.

2. The difference between structuring a document (arranging it into sections like headings, paragraphs, lists) and formatting a document (making the sections look different.)
Logical tags (structuring) describe kind of content: headings, paragraphs, ect. WHAT it is.
Physical tags (formatting): italics, underlining, etc. HOW it is.
Style sheets are used for formatting.

I'm doing the exercises in Chapter 5. Even though I do exactly what the book says, the things don't look right. I noticed that after I worked in the tag window, looked at the preveiw and went back, the tag window looked different. I don't know what's up with that, but I'm trying not to get too upset with it; maybe it's just something that Kompozer does.

I've hit some snags and they are very hard to overcome. Today is Monday, the start of a new week, and I am still on last week's reading of Chapter 6. I spent all day yesterday trying to fix what are probably minor things, like making my picture show up on my web page. I sent out an S.O.S. letter to Prof. S and Pamie because I did not understand what their instructions were. Chapter six is LONG and it seems to be taking me an inordinate amout of time to do these exercises. I need to become fluent in this stuff, though, so I'm going on with chapter 6 and hoping that I'll be able to catch up somehow. There are only so many hours in a day, and I have to work.

Chapter 6
CSS rules: selector {property: value}

Cascading refers to the way the browser decides which rules take precedence when you have multiple sets.
The steps at the bottom of this list overwrite those above:
1. Browser default
2. External style sheet
3. Internal style sheet (inside the head tag)
4. Inline style sheet ( inside HTML element)

External style sheets are best.

USF Web Guidelines

It looks like there are some things that you must include on your website if it is hosted by USF. Some things are common sense, others are not. These are:

1. A USF Logo, preferably on the upper left side of your banner, must be on every web page.

2. The logo must link back to the USF home page.

3. Every page must include a link to the USF home page.

4. Every web page must include contact information of the person who manages the site, including a phone number (really??) and email, preferably in the footer of all pages.

5. Users must be able to link from any sub page back to the home page.

6. They recommend that certain things be in the top right of your banner, e.g. a campus directory, but I think I'll skip that. It will start to look like the whole subject of my page is USF.

7. All pages must have meta information for keyword and description.

8. Every page must have author's name and email address in the head, whether meta or not.

9. Pictures must be the correct height and width specifications to allow for quick downloading. (I don't understand that yet.)

10. Make sure you use ALT tags.

11. I just love this part: Features and technologies that are browser specific can be used in a "sanitary fashion." Ha.

12. Frames are strongly discouraged. I don't know what a frame is yet.

Now I'm reading about how to use HTML meta tags. All USF web pages must have them for keywords and descriptions. See http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931#Example%201



Meta tags give you some degree of control as to how your webpage is described by search engines. Inserted into the head area of your page, they communicate information not on the page itself, such as what character set the browser should use.



New phrase: Reverse bar: At the very top of the screen it's the blue bar. This one has in it Blogger: Instructional Graphics - Create Post - Windows Internet Explorer. Whatever info you place in between the title tags will show up there. (Title tags are not meta tags.) The text you use in your title tag will be what shows up when crawlers show your listing. The text will also show up in bookmarks.



Back to meta tags:

http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

Above is my practice using the meta description tag. (Oh, never mind. It won't let me show you.) Some crawlers will support this. Google will make up its own. Some people just make this tag the first few sentences of their body copy.

Most crawler ignore the meta keyword tag. However, if you use the word, e.g. see above, "teen lounge" in the meta keyword and in the body, your page might be boosted. Unfortunately, with a word like "storytime," the only way to boost the page for "story time" is to put both in the meta keyword and use both representations in the body as well. Sloppy looking. Anyway, don't obsess over the meta keyword tag. There is a BIG MAYBE as to whether using it will actually help your ranking.

A meta robots tag will ensure that your page is NOT indexed.

Lesson 3 Website Critique

ICANN - http://www.icann.org/
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
A non-profit established to maintain stability and interoperability on the
Internet, it cooridinates unique Internet addresses around the world. It coordinates the DNS, the Domain Name System.
(I am learning a lot from this site. The language and presentation are easy for a novice like me to pick up.)

Things I am learning: Registrars are companies that compete with one and other for your domain name.

I like the Glossary of Internet Terminology. I can reference it when reading. For example, I quickly found that gTLD stands for generic top level domain. What does that mean? Examples are .com, .net, and .org. These can be registered without restriction. They were created, along with four others (.edu,.gov.,.int.,and .mil) in the 1980's. Seven more were added in 2001 and 2002. Some are sponsored, meaning they are regulated by the community of which they are a part, while the unsponsored
TLD's fall under the jurisdiction of ICANN. (I think I got that right.)

Anyway, just going through the glossary from a to z is good for learning new Internet vocab. It's also good for reinforcing the terms that you hear on a daily basis.

Internet Traffic Report - http://www.internettrafficreport.com/main.htm
Shows numerically the global flow of data and reliability of connections. If you are having trouble reaching sites, you can check the traffic report to see if it is a global or a local problem. The Global Index measures the response time of servers,
Internet traffic, in paticular round-trip travel time, is measured with a test called "ping." The router is like a traffic cop. Packet loss measures the reliability of a connection. Packets are sent along the router. If they don't all make it back, that is "packet loss."

You can look up various routers around the world and see their index. The closest one geographically is in Georgia. Is that where I'd look to see if I am having slow response time?

Yesterday the ISP that our library uses (Windstream) had a nationwide outage. Our internet was down all day. I'm thinking that this would not be something reflected at the ITR since this seems to be measuring routers.

Pew (non-profit research center) - http://pewresearch.org/
A "fact tank" that analyses trends in society through polling, news analysis, and other measurements. A couple of the projects that look interesting to me are the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Nielson Net Ratings (private research center) - http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/ I still need to go to this website. I am getting into a little trouble with falling behind because I'm hitting snags with trying to create my pages. More on that elsewhere in this blog. Let me find out where. . .

Shakespeare's Webpage

What a difference a day makes! I just re-did the first parts of the Kompozer tutorial and now that I have less time pressure, the result is ever so much better. I put the text, a quote from MacBeth, and did all of the exercises that I could before I started to get saturated. I found a color picture of Shakespeare and put that in and created links. If I do say so myself, the colors that I chose looked pretty good in the end. Another rudimentary attempt, but so much better than yesterday.

First Draft: I have a lot to learn

Hastings Library Youth




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This is what it looks like when you cut and paste the first draft of my web page to this blog. Unfortunately, it doesn't look that different at the site, either. Let me try to put a link in:

Oh, wait. That won't work, because my website will be constantly changing. Never mind. I will continue on with the on-line Kompozer tutorial.

AARRRGGGHHH!

Wc3 Website: In terms of design, I like this. While there is a lot of information, it is divided in a very organized way, not overwhelming at all. This is an example of with the title in the center and then the page is divided into 3 equidistant columns. The colors are mellow and go together nicely. I very much like the glossary of terms in the left column. It’s a nice place to start without feeling an avalanche of information.

W3 schools http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp: I am learning something as I Iook at these sites. One thing is that I don’t particularly like red on white. This site especially makes that clear, although my feeling may reflect more on my insecurity and mental state than anything else. Here’s why: Although the site looks easy to navigate, I feel sort of overwhelmed as I look, for example, down the left-hand column. There are several lists of tutorials, the titles of which are in red. Underneath each title it says, “Learn a, Learn b, Learn c, Learn d,” and so on. It makes me feel that I have so much to learn, and I do! In the very right had column, everything is red. Maybe red reminds me too much of the red pen in school. I find it unsettling. I will keep this site in mind, but I am getting along great with the texts right now, and I don’t want to get bogged down with the tackling the same, very-new-to-me information in a different format.

The Heather Dodge Webpage: This is a nice convergence of tutorials for those attending USF School of Information Science and for those using Blackboard. I learned everything a while back through trial and error.

Reading: I am getting along very well with Creating Web Sites. This is the kind of information that could through me into a panic because it is so alien to me; however, the presentation is perfect for me. I am understanding everything thoroughly and am actually enjoying it! I read chapters 3 and 4 on the way down to Tampa in the car, so I haven’t had any play time yet on the computer with the exercises. I am also very much enjoying the text that focuses on design. It just goes to show that the presentation is everything. It can alienate you or invite you in and make you feel glad to be there.

I just made the most God-awful first draft web page and it took me all day!!!!! It has a few badly placed items on it and I can’t figure out how to manipulate them. I have read the book thoroughly and have been spending hours at an on-line tutorial. What is wrong with me??? Am I going to have to drop this class?

Leaving USF blog

I started using the USF blog, but found it very user unfriendly. I've used Blogger before, very briefly, when I was studying Libarary 2.0. After seeing chapter 17 in the MacDonald text, I decided to come back here. I'm going to cut and paste the blogs I already done at USF below. Here they are:

I lost all my input with the slip of a finger last time, so now I am cutting and pasting using Word.

The first website of exploration this week is the one devoted to one of our three texts: The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird. While I am writing this in New Times Roman, black-on-white, Beaird exemplifies the five basic elements of design graphically. (That makes sense!) The words “layer,” “color,” “texture,” “typography,” and “imagery” are handwritten across the section heading the regular, old text. You can place the curser on any one of these words and see an example in the page you are looking at. For example, scroll each word, and you will see the following concepts pointed out in red:

Layer
Isolation
White space
Fixed width

Color
Desaturation
Intensity
Complementary colors

Texture
Point
Line
Shape
Shadow
Proportion
Pattern

Typography
Image replacement
“Swiss”
“One Punch Jim”
“Handwritten”
Pixels, points, and ems

Imagery
Choosing formats
.gif, .png
Finding the right images
Edge treatments

Contrasting my awful looking list with a visual counterpart does emphasize the importance of design, both aesthetically, and in terms of integrating concepts and information. Excellent!
Week 1: Websites

Creating Websites: The Missing Manual - Missing CD-ROM - helpful weblinks related to the text http://missingmanuals.com/cds/creatingwstmm/

This site, which accompanies the MacDonald text, provides example files that we can play around with while practicing the exercises. Otherwise, there are a number of sites listed under each chapter with additional information not found in the book. The following documents what I found of interest under each chapter heading:

Chapter 1
History of the Internet
www.isoc.org/internet/history A number of links are available. I chose to look first at William F. Slater, III’s Internet History and Growth. I have read about this several times, but have never committed it to memory. I have many things I need to commit to memory now, so I will just read this again and try to absorb it. I still don’t get TCP/IP protocols and packet switching.

Critique: The slide show goes very quickly and cannot be paused, which is increasingly getting on my nerves.

Walt Howe’s Internet Learning Center is going into my favorites, especially for this class. The glossary of definitions will be particularly helpful. I spoke of packets above. The glossary tells me that a packet is a self-contained bundle of data, typically less than 1500 bytes in size, with a header and too and from addresses. TCP/IP refers to Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Project Agency

I am almost through reading about the history of the Internet. I am trying to be sparing in what I write; there is so much that I need to absorb and not interrupt with painstakingly copying everything. HOWEVER, of interest to me is the next area a growth with the Internet: Making municipal areas “hot spots,” enabling wi-fi access. That would be great, but would have a huge impact on library traffic in the system in which I work. Everyone would just bring their laptops with them and sit down where ever, rather than stopping by the library. That would occur in the wealthier areas, but in a place like Hastings, where I work now ( a very poor place), I don’t think traffic would change much.

Chapter 2 exercises: Because I am like a baby just learning to walk with this stuff, I was very proud of my achievements in reproducing the Lee Park resume. I had a problem with the placement of the picture at first, but problem-solved and worked it out.

Browsers

I have Windows here at home and Vista at work. I don’t know how to use Vista yet, and it makes me very angry.

Interestingly, the site for Firefox made me want to use it, only because of the introductory video. That video got me in there and made me want to stay. The windows site was not satisfying for me. I clicked on many things, but what I really wanted was a video. Maybe I’m just lazy. I am quickly saturated with the different browsers touting their features.

Other sites:
The angelfire website made me really irritated. I could only look at it for a few seconds. I will check back regularly as I try to make my own web page to make sure I don’t do any of that stuff.

I just tried some flash games, but I am so irritated right now!