Week 8 Assignment: Creating RSS Files

In class, we’ve had to join an aggregator and get RSS feeds each week.  I didn’t know about any of this before taking this class.  It seems silly since I am a IMD major, but there it is.  I think that RSS feeds are a great way to get just the information you want in life, and then be able to know when any changes or updates have occured to that info.

For creating RSS files, I found these sites:  Creating RSS files for your Web Site, Create RSS and Creating RSS and CDF files.  Each help describe ways to add RSS to your website.

For applicaitons on the website I am creating for my final, I like the idea that there is a RSS  feed for any time anyone adds a recipe to the Recipe Book.  Looking into the future of what my site could do, it would be cool to have a comments on recipes.  One could have RSS feeds, so that they would know when new comments to their recipes or recipes that they were interested in were made.

RSS feeds are a great way to stay connected with the internet and the information you want, and i think this a cool tool.

Week 7 Assignment: Microformats

So, I had a very basic idea of what a microformat was.  I got that it was a way to markup information in your site that could easily be pulled from the site by other people.  This sounded good, but I didn’t see an major applications for this.

In the first article that I found, “Giftag.  An Emerging Social Shopping Platform.“, it mostly reiterated what I already knew, but did offer the application of having a global gift registry instead of one that was specific to single retailers.  This isn’t hugely exciting to me, since I am not having a child or getting married anytime soon.  For clients, however, I could see some practicle uses.

Then I found the site, “Why Microformats?“  This site helped much more.  It jumps ahead to what microformats will eventually do for us.  The idea of opening up the web and making it more of a social networking system, than just sites we browse is a great idea.  I definitely agree with this direction of movement for the web.  This is one part of the web that is such a huge benefit to the world, in that it is able to connect people of different cultures, but like interests.  I still think it’s cool that anyone can talk to someone half way around the world at anytime.

My last site is a blog called, “What Are Microformats?“  This one says much of what the other two said, though, it focuses a lot on how there isn’t an addition of new markup.  It’s using the tags that are already there to organize specific data that you put in your website.  Sounds good to me.  I know that I am still learning HTML so the addition at this point of new markup wouldn’t be that difficult to incorporate, but it is cool that I don’t have to worry about that.

Assignment 4: Final Project Research

O.K., so I am going to be completely honest here: I still don’t know what my problem is. It’s stressed me out this week. It’s sad to say, but I don’t see many problems with most websites. I think that is partially because I’m still new to most of this design and coding. I see problems within websites, or ones that aren’t well designed, but great sites are out there and I just don’t feel I know enough to reinvent the wheel.

As I looked at websites to link to this blog, I ended up finding a site that had all the information that I wanted to put in my website. Yes, it even had recipes–they were on the navigation to the left. Here’s the link. I got a little depressed. It seems to me that anything you want to know about is out there, which is acutally one of the things I love about the internet. Anytime my nephew starts asking me a bunch of questions I always tell him to look it up online.

On the plus side, however, this site was horribly designed. The layout is good. It’s just very boring. I think you will all agree.

I found another site that didn’t offer much, though I thought they did have a good idea putting all of the information in a table. I don’t know that this layout will work for me specifically, as I wanted more on my site. But I think something like it could work. I should say that a more scientific/organized look could work to make a good layout. The site is CNN: In-Depth Food.

The other sites I found were really good visually and along the lines of how I thought I could do one or two of my concepts. They are The Spice House, The San Francisco Herb Company and A1spiceworld.

While still not sure about my problem, I do know that I have a good idea for a site and am excited to show my comps on Monday.

Final Project 2

Well, I kept thinking that a comic book website is pretty ambitious.  In fact, the more research I did, the more I realized that there are a lot of comics out there.  Trying to narrow it down wasn’t working for me either.

So, I have changed gears and want to do an informational site that deals with certain herbs and spices.  It would cover history, health benefits and uses.  Also there’s a section that has some recipes that you can make with them.

And that’s it.  My final project idea.

Final Project

So lately I have been getting back into the art that first really inspired me. No, not Michelangelo, Dali, or even Escher, though those are among my favorite artists. The art I am referring to is that of comic books.

My idea for a site would be that of an online comic bookstore, where you would be able to read, shop and buy comics online. You would be able to search through all the major production companies as well as lesser-known titles. I would also have a place that you could buy/sell/trade with other members set up as an online message board and/or chatroom.  You could get overviews of story lines, find back issues, etc.

Assignment 3: CSS Positioning

This week I am writing about positioning in CSS. The first site I found was on brainjar.com. It started off a little as review, but then got into really helping me understand some of the terms that we have been talking about when it comes to CSS. It’s five pages, but I promise it’s a quick read and there are a lot of diagram layouts. I found that some of the layouts were exactly things that I wanted to do, but didn’t know exactly how to do them. Also the homework assignment turned out to be a big help with that.

The next site was on BarelyFitz.com. This site promises that you can learn CSS Positioning in Ten Steps. I think it is very helpful and gives a good, simple breakdown of postioning in CSS. Both sites offer good definitions and box model layouts to help better understand CSS positioning.

I still think that the best way to learn is to do what we are doing in class and to practice. I think that building dummy sites with the intention of using columns in your layouts is what is really going to get us really good at it.

Assignment 2: Semantic Markup

I will be completely honest here. Semantic Markup confuses me. Initially, I went to Yahoo Answers which led me to Wikipedia.com which only led to further confusion. One blog I read took a simple three-letter tag and made it semantic by adding 60 more characters to the tag. It’s like watching “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” when they say a whole sentence, but the subtitles only read, “Hello.” You know something is lost in translation. Also, the thought of having to relearn what I know of HTML to something longer and more complicated is a terrifying and depressing thought.

One of the blogs that I found was Rick Murphy’s The Phaneron. The blog was entitled, State of the Semantic Web: Representation and Realism. It’s cool, he lost me too. This is the part of the semantic web that I am not excited about at all.

Then I came across a blog that simplified it all for me. In Robert’s Talk, the author shows how semantic markup makes the coding easier to read, and it leaves out all styling in the HTML. This is how I was taught, so it is nice to know that I am, at least, heading in the right direction. I also found one more by Hollis Bartlett. He helps explain some of the monetary values of a semantic design.

For me the biggest thing that I am interested in while designing a site is that it is accessible to a large audience. I would go into a different media if I wanted to limit that. Also, I get a little excited when I think of the different ways people are now able to access the net and the different ways they will be able to access it in the future. I think that it is good for us to start designing for that now.

Assignment 1: The Design Process

For the first assignment in this class we were asked to read two articles and comment on them. The articles needed to deal with the design process or issues with web design that I was interested in learning more about. I think that my biggest concern with web design is creating impressive looking websites. I feel that the sites I have designed for other classes have been boring or predictable. While those sites are easy to read, navigate, etc., I want to be able to create something to wow the masses.

The first site that I found was pingmag.jp/2005/12/09/the-website-development-process/. I really liked this page as the author had taken pictures to help illustrate the different steps of designing a website. True this site is more fun than informational, but what content is included is correct from what I have learned in other classes. You start by getting client input on layout. You follow that up with wireframes and site maps. Then you decide on content and start building the site. Last is debug and launching all the while getting feedback with the client to ensure that what they want is what you are providing. This site, however, didn’t help me to unlock the mystery of designing great websites.

I changed my search criteria and found my second site. This article, Web Design Layout Principles, mostly discussed reasons why so many websites have similar layouts. One column was for navigation, one for content and the third for links/articles that supported the content. It explained that part of the reason why most sites have columns is because that’s how newspapers and magazines break up the information so it’s easier to read. Also it helps the reader to find the information they want without having to read everything.  It also talked about how the content column was usually set to a certain width to prevent users from horizontally scrolling.

I agree with the information in this site, too.  While it is still pretty basic, it helps me to realize that a usable site is a great site.  One that is easy to read and navigate is going to be better that one that has a great background with links that don’t work.

Having said that, I am always open to visiting really great websites that wow the masses.  Let me know which ones wow you.

First Blog

First attempt at blogging.

It worked. Google.