For the first time all semester, I see blogging as taking a break from something I really really don't want to do. Right now Dreamweaver and I aren't friends. We've reached the impasse and I've declared us in 'Friends Off Mode' until tomorrow morning. I just refuse to put up with his nit picky ways and he refuses to cooperate. What else can I do?
I decided for the purpose of the Rough Draft being due tomorrow to get all of my technical elements into place. You know, making sure all the links are connected and pictures are up instead of the actual content of the website. Now I know what you're thinking, "if content is king, why aren't you putting any on your site?" Well dear people who read my bog (if such people out there even exist) I shall tell you why!
To me, gathering research and writing is the easy part. Heck, I didn't get an 'A' in Propaganda Analysis for nothing! While I may not be the best persuasive writer or formulate the best argument, I am much more confident if the writing portion of this assignment than I am with the technical design part. Thus, I want to get everything set down in stone now so that if I have a problem with anything (like I currently am, ahem don't you dare say anything Dreamweaver!) I can fix it tomorrow and have that part of the assignment safely tucked away and have two more days to do a little more research and complete the important part, the WRITING.
As of right now, I'm going to bed. I hope when I wake up tomorrow that Dreamweaver and I can be friends again. I really want this relationship to work. I'd say it's me and not him, but I think we all know I'd be lying...
Until tomorrow!
Monday, October 31, 2011
That's Too Much!
The other day in class, someone asked a good question about our web pages: How much text is too much? The websites that we're designing are dealing with some complex issues. Okay, so maybe the whole plus/minus debate isn't really complex, but in order to make my site a compelling argument, I'm going to have to prove that I've done the research and am a credible source to talk about this issue. And if I have any hope of making enough noise to get the attention of the administration, I'm going to need a lot of proof.
And here's where we encounter our catch 22! To make a reasonable case, you need to have a lot of proof to backup your claim, but more proof means more words, which means you're going to lose your readers. If you think about it, how much of the text do you actually read on a particular web page? Probably not very much. In today's modern day computer driven society, people prefer to skim. Thus, to win over the most people for your argument, you have to really think about the best way to effectively get the most out of a small amount of text while still sounding credible. Woo! That should be easy. But no pressure or anything guys, it's not like we're out to change TCU...
Happy Halloween!
And here's where we encounter our catch 22! To make a reasonable case, you need to have a lot of proof to backup your claim, but more proof means more words, which means you're going to lose your readers. If you think about it, how much of the text do you actually read on a particular web page? Probably not very much. In today's modern day computer driven society, people prefer to skim. Thus, to win over the most people for your argument, you have to really think about the best way to effectively get the most out of a small amount of text while still sounding credible. Woo! That should be easy. But no pressure or anything guys, it's not like we're out to change TCU...
Happy Halloween!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Spice Up Your Page
Something about Dreamweaver that bothers me (probably because I'm not very good at understanding how exactly the program works) is that because we're all designing pages through the same program, they all have a certain "look" to them that I'm not exactly fond of. Sure I can change the color of my background, add pictures, and change the font, but what's going to set my page apart stylistically from someone else in the class?
Don't worry guys, I have a solution! Ta-da, stylized background patterns! Through a simple google search, I found this great blog that linked me to many different websites where you can download different patterns (most of which for free, but some require payment of crediting the creator) to add some pizazz to your site. Just make sure that when you download the background you put it in your 'local' folder with the rest of your site's files, otherwise Dreamweaver will freak out when it can't find it which will cause you to freak out and we want to avoid that at all costs. Moral of the post, add some splash and try not to freak out.
Take that Dreamweaver templates!
Don't worry guys, I have a solution! Ta-da, stylized background patterns! Through a simple google search, I found this great blog that linked me to many different websites where you can download different patterns (most of which for free, but some require payment of crediting the creator) to add some pizazz to your site. Just make sure that when you download the background you put it in your 'local' folder with the rest of your site's files, otherwise Dreamweaver will freak out when it can't find it which will cause you to freak out and we want to avoid that at all costs. Moral of the post, add some splash and try not to freak out.Take that Dreamweaver templates!
Research! Research! Research!
Hello gang!
As our Unit II project comes to a close, I'm sure most of y'all already have most, if not all, of your research on your reform, so I'm not sure how helpful this post will be. But if, you're more like me and still searching for way to get just a little bit more information, than I might have a way to help. Depending on how much research you're doing through TCU's resources will depend on what exactly your reform entails, but a great way to get information about events or occurrences on TCU's campus is the using the TCU 360 site.
I know for my specific reform, how the student population feels about the heated +/- debate is not exactly anything new and I'm positive I've read articles about this topic in the Skiff. Well through 360's website, I can type in "plus minus system" into the search and pull up EVERY Skiff article written about the +/- system within the past six years. That means I can pull up documents about the system before it was implemented as well as after, and that's incredibly helpful!
Happy research!
As our Unit II project comes to a close, I'm sure most of y'all already have most, if not all, of your research on your reform, so I'm not sure how helpful this post will be. But if, you're more like me and still searching for way to get just a little bit more information, than I might have a way to help. Depending on how much research you're doing through TCU's resources will depend on what exactly your reform entails, but a great way to get information about events or occurrences on TCU's campus is the using the TCU 360 site.
I know for my specific reform, how the student population feels about the heated +/- debate is not exactly anything new and I'm positive I've read articles about this topic in the Skiff. Well through 360's website, I can type in "plus minus system" into the search and pull up EVERY Skiff article written about the +/- system within the past six years. That means I can pull up documents about the system before it was implemented as well as after, and that's incredibly helpful!
Happy research!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Baby, You're a Dreamweaver
I'd like to take this time to dedicate a very big thank you to Prof. Murray for taking the time in class this last Thursday to walk us through setting up our site definitions (also known as the .ste file), showing us how to create pages, and explaining a few basic Dreamweaver properties.
That being said, the biggest headache about this project thus far is the fact that it all revolves around being able to use Dreamweaver properly. And unfortunately, if one doesn't really understand the logistics of Dreamweaver, this project feels like an incredible weighty and insurmountable task. Sometimes I just want to scream at the computer that I am not computer science literate and that making a webpage shouldn't be this hard! In fact, I believe it there should be a program that's a sort of web-scrapbook that allows you to create your page via a sort of drag and drop system we all come to expect since Apple's design team conditioned us to think that way. And if you're saying that a program out there DOES exist and it's called Dreamweaver then I disagree! While Dreamweaver is somewhat user friendly, you really do have to an understanding of how the internet reads webpages and how the coding of said program works to fully comprehend how to design a page.
Oi, guess it looks like it's back to the user's manual for me...
That being said, the biggest headache about this project thus far is the fact that it all revolves around being able to use Dreamweaver properly. And unfortunately, if one doesn't really understand the logistics of Dreamweaver, this project feels like an incredible weighty and insurmountable task. Sometimes I just want to scream at the computer that I am not computer science literate and that making a webpage shouldn't be this hard! In fact, I believe it there should be a program that's a sort of web-scrapbook that allows you to create your page via a sort of drag and drop system we all come to expect since Apple's design team conditioned us to think that way. And if you're saying that a program out there DOES exist and it's called Dreamweaver then I disagree! While Dreamweaver is somewhat user friendly, you really do have to an understanding of how the internet reads webpages and how the coding of said program works to fully comprehend how to design a page.
Oi, guess it looks like it's back to the user's manual for me...
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The Good, the Bad and the Unit II Project
If there's one thing I've learned more than anything else in college, it's that taste is subjective. It's hard to define what is 'good' and what is 'bad' when everyone defines those two things just a little bit differently. Good and bad food, music, movies, clothing, the list goes on and on for ways that people can disagree. Web page design is no different, but I hope y'all can appreciate if not agree with the choices that I've made.
Climate Wisconsin is one of the coolest and most innovative websites I've seen with a .org ending. It's basically a website designed to show how the change in climate is effecting the Wisconsin area, but the way in which the information is presented is anything but boring! It's based heavily on image and video interface which draws in today's culture for constant stimulation. Every square that you click on is linked to a video about that topic as well as a plentiful amount of research that has been done about this topic through local Universities. I found the site to be very user friendly, engaging and interesting. Overall, an ace in one!
Now for those of you who prefer your websites to be a little more flashy and complicated, BokicaBo, a website by Serbian fashion designer Bojana Borak is for you. The website is laid out in a image next to image style which allows you to scroll back and forth and side to side to shift between all the different styles and images. Be careful of where your mouse takes you though, as this site has a tendency to steer you off course if you're not prepared!
Alright, I'm going to pull a fast one and say that I absolutely hate TCU's webpage. It may look nice and flashy, but I can't tell you how many minutes of my life I have wasted trying to find information from that directory! The search on the site will get you absolutely nowhere and as far as the actual information on the page goes (if you ever find the page you're looking for) prepare to be disappointed! Chances are, any of the information you were looking for is not going to be there. And beware of the talking guy in the polo that pops up unexpectedly!
And last but not least, you have the absolute worst website I've ever come across, I'm not even sure what it's called or what the main purpose is! I think it was designed to sell products, but it's not in English so I have no idea what it's trying to persuade me to do. For all I know, it could be links of funny videos. All the images are on top of one another, clicking on one image just takes you to another cluster mess of images which helps very little if at all. There's even a search bar, if you knew what you were looking for, but by the looks of it, anyone who visited this website would have no idea. Everything about this website get's lost in translation and not in a good way.
Climate Wisconsin is one of the coolest and most innovative websites I've seen with a .org ending. It's basically a website designed to show how the change in climate is effecting the Wisconsin area, but the way in which the information is presented is anything but boring! It's based heavily on image and video interface which draws in today's culture for constant stimulation. Every square that you click on is linked to a video about that topic as well as a plentiful amount of research that has been done about this topic through local Universities. I found the site to be very user friendly, engaging and interesting. Overall, an ace in one!
Now for those of you who prefer your websites to be a little more flashy and complicated, BokicaBo, a website by Serbian fashion designer Bojana Borak is for you. The website is laid out in a image next to image style which allows you to scroll back and forth and side to side to shift between all the different styles and images. Be careful of where your mouse takes you though, as this site has a tendency to steer you off course if you're not prepared!
Alright, I'm going to pull a fast one and say that I absolutely hate TCU's webpage. It may look nice and flashy, but I can't tell you how many minutes of my life I have wasted trying to find information from that directory! The search on the site will get you absolutely nowhere and as far as the actual information on the page goes (if you ever find the page you're looking for) prepare to be disappointed! Chances are, any of the information you were looking for is not going to be there. And beware of the talking guy in the polo that pops up unexpectedly!
And last but not least, you have the absolute worst website I've ever come across, I'm not even sure what it's called or what the main purpose is! I think it was designed to sell products, but it's not in English so I have no idea what it's trying to persuade me to do. For all I know, it could be links of funny videos. All the images are on top of one another, clicking on one image just takes you to another cluster mess of images which helps very little if at all. There's even a search bar, if you knew what you were looking for, but by the looks of it, anyone who visited this website would have no idea. Everything about this website get's lost in translation and not in a good way.
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