Chapter 7 and 8

I'd just like to say that the BCC computer lab needs DreamWeaver... especially since it's usually considered the MAIN lab that actually stays open all week.... just sayin'....

I had worked on Chapter 7 last Thursday but had to stop midway through it. I finished it today and decided that I'm not a fan of frames. I can see how they're useful and know of great ways to use them... but, learning about them isn't fun. It's long, tedious, and complex. Often times, I had to go back and reread steps because there was simply so much to it. Chapter 8 wasn't so bad however, since I've worked with tables a lot before in Excel, I was more familiar with the commands. Though there was yet another difference between this version of Dreamweaver and the one our book was guiding us through. I couldn't find the Format Table in Lesson 5, so I had to skip steps 1-5, as well as the 5th step in the 2nd section (turning table black). In Chapter 8, there isn't a Layout button in the Insert Bar and while I found the Layout Table button under insert, it was gray, which meant that I couldn't select it. Accordingly, I also had to skip Lesson 7 entirely.

So, after completing the lessons of Chapters 7 and 8, completing the study guides, and emailing the results to Prof. Howard, I updated the assignments on my personal site. I also changed the background by adding an image, deleting the table which contained the header with the boat image, and played around with the fonts. I think I'm happy with it for now, but I'll let it stew for a couple of days and see what else I can do with it.

grr

As amazing as that lab employee who helped our group get our website working on the internet was... he kind of screwed up my files. I was a little disgruntled when I discovered that my "wip" folder was empty of the folders and files I had in there and was instead filled with a bunch of corrupt stuff. So, I had to go back and re-download them.... and then to discover that my individual site had been replaced with what he had been trying to get to work...

So, I'm not screwed over or anything by this... just a little inconvenienced... and disgruntled. -_-'

Chapter 6

I also just completed Chapter 6 and sent the study guide results to the Professor. A very useful chapter. I'm definitely going to apply it to my individual site.

Chapter 5

From my 3.5 years at Western, I should have been prepared for the crowds that inhabited the campus computer labs the week before Finals. For that reason coupled with the rather cold, wet weather, it's no wonder that the wait times for each of the computer labs I visited today were about 15 minutes. I'm definitely not complaining, I just thought it was interesting how many people procrastinate, just like me. :)

I worked on Chapter 5 before class today and was delighted to see that the Lessons really weren't as time demanding as I had thought. I actually enjoyed this chapter quite a bit since I like working with images and the like. I had to finish the chapter at a different computer lab and was able to also work on my individual site, by adding the lesson text to the Assignments page of the site. I also created 5 links for the Links page. I inserted an image and wrote a small introduction to the home page. Last night, my boyfriend, who is pretty proficient in HTML teach me a little about repeating images and creating them for the header for my more personalized site. I haven't exactly been happy with what I've been working on, in terms of new images to use, but it won't take that long, methinks.

Chapter 4

I have a cold. Having a cold in a computer lab, when physically cold, and with a load of work to do doesn't make for good times.

I completed Chapter 4 this evening, taking a good two hours to care for my persistent sneezing and wiping of my nose while performing the exercises. I uploaded the updates to my personal website as well, figuring out how to link the lessons to the files in my jump drive. I wasn't sure if that was what we were supposed to do as opposed to simply providing the directions to where the file is at, but I linked them. I'll probably ask Professor Howard about it Monday if I can remember. My group and I still have a lot to do for our group project. Actually, we really don't, but considering my personality and perfectionist urges, I have a feeling we're going to be working on it a lot more than initially thought.

Anyway, I digress. As I was saying, I finished Chapter 4 and emailed the professor the Chapter 4 study guide. I've also begun thinking of working on a new graphic for my individual site. I think I'll simply provide a new header image and perhaps change the background color... and maybe the font. I really wish that I had all these programs on my computer so I could work on them at home... so I can keep my germs to myself. -_-

I considered starting Chapter 5 but after flipping through that section, I noticed that it was going to deal with images and I figured that that was going to take me some time... time that I really didn't want to spend just then. I'll work on it tomorrow. I think they're all due... the 5th... 8th...?

Chapter 3

During class and even for an hour after class on Wednesday for the past three weeks, my group and I have been meeting to work on our group project. For the first meeting, we discussed what we wanted to do for our website. We decided on some type of catering company and with Bradley's connections with the Radisson, it was decided that we would create a website for Radisson's catering. The next couple of meetings, we determined the color schemes, layouts, and content, including text and graphics. As of now, we have created the templates for about 5 pages on the site with images and tables. This Wednesday, we plan on finishing the addition of images and adding texts as well as linking the pages.

Today, I worked on the lessons in our textbook's Chapter 3 for about two hours. I found it a little annoying working through the differences between following the directions for Dreamweaver 8 and using Dreamweaver 9. I know it's not something that could have been avoided, but it was a slight annoyance.

I regret not finishing the Lessons consistently. I had to skim through the last chapter to remember what I was doing because it had already been about a month since the last chapter I worked on. My schedule isn't exactly a desirable thing, much like any college student, so I often found myself pushing the Lessons back, thinking that I could simply work on them at a later date. While not a pressing exercise, it often took the backseat to other more pressing assignments from other classes like papers and other group projects.

So far...

I've been pretty bad about keeping track of my work, but I thought I'd jot down a few things before the rest of my team members came.

On Monday, the 20th, our team met in the classroom and decided on choosing the Radisson Catering and Event Planning services to do for our team project of making a website for a business. Bradley, who works at a gym in the Radisson, was able to procure a booklet that contains a lot of the information that we're going to use, but sadly, I mistook that booklet for another one that was sitting on my desk and didn't bring it with me again today. We're looking online for more information, that way we can at least map out how we want our website to work with the different pages and such. We're also going to discuss the memo that we're going to send to Professor Howard.

Chapter 2

I haven't really had time to get to a computer lab that's equipped with Dreamweaver, so I appreciate the time we have in class to catch up on the Lessons we're to complete. The first 15 minutes today, I completed Lessons 2 and 3 of Chapter 2, then went to the computer lab next to the library to finish out the chapter, completing Lessons 4-8. After that, I skimmed through the chapter, and completed the Chapter Study Guide from the course webpage and emailed to Professor Howard. I can't go on to Chapter 3 today, but I'll try to over the weekend.

Wednesday's Lesson

In class on Wednesday we familiarized ourselves more with Dreamweaver 8. We began to set up our websites by learning how to access our files and how Dreamweaver prefers to keep files organized, such as keeping all images in a completely different file. I had always wondered how that worked when it came to a web site designer using images or some sort of graphic. I didn't know if that image was hosted elsewhere on sites like Photobucket.com and the designer would have to link it to their site or if they simply could upload their own file to the site.

In essence, I learned how and where to start. Instead of being thrust straight into designing, we learned how to begin by knowing what steps to take, which is something that I appreciate considering I usually do the opposite: jumping right in and exploring from there. After lecture, we began to work on the Lessons from the book. I only managed to finish Lesson 2 though, in the amount of time we had. I like how it gives complete, clear instructions with enough graphics to make sure the reader doesn't get lost, which can easily happen considering the sheer amount of things one can do in a single window.

A Usable Website

When it comes to web sites, I generally appreciate simplicity and personally, I don't think that it gets much better than Google.com. As a search engine, it was revolutionary and while it has continued to grow as a business, the original Google website has remained true to its original design and hasn't changed... at least, unless the user wishes it to. With an account, a person can customize their Google webpage and create an "iGoogle" account which can show different applications which a person can pick and choose from such as a time clock, horoscopes, or news feeds to only new a few. This website was created and thrives on serving people, so why not be customizable? I like that.

As a website, it is incredibly easy to use. The "classic" Google website design consists of a logo, (which is wont to change design to correspond with holidays or events) a white background, search buttons (one serious and one not so serious), and a tool bar at the top. It's simple, yet capable of many things that involve searching, it's fun and frivolous, and incredibly useful.

Often, I've found with website that grow increasingly popular, the designers tend to over do the layouts. They had more tools, more buttons, more pretty sparkly things and colors, that, for all intentions, are supposed to attract people, but to me, it turns me off. Perhaps it's because I used to have dial-up only a short time ago which meant that complex websites took a while to load and my disdain for intricate layouts never left. However, I enjoy the clean look of Google.com. It's utterly usable and the best homepage I've ever had.