Web Design Students
Millikin University

Lindsay Binkley

Learning Review

For web design this semester, I gained a lot of user knowledge—basically before I was checking my email and had a myspace and used the internet to research but that was about it. I didn't know anything about web pages and it seemed really intimidating for me to be taking this class. It still was intimidating in the beginning and I considered dropping it a few times but decided to stick with it and now I'm glad I did. I didn't learn all that I thought we would cover though. I was expecting to create and design a little less and to explore and learn definitions, code, CSS, etc...more. Although I can do a lot—especially compared to what I could do before—I am even more aware of my limitations, which is almost equally as frustrating. I don't soak up things quickly that I learn on computers/with technology and need to be shown or told a few times, maybe write it down for future reference, and then actually do it and apply it several times to really have it as something I can refer to in the future. I run into simple what-button-do-I-press-to-get-this problems a lot which probably would be cured with longer time spent working with it (like more than a semester).

My design knowledge is more obvious to me because I have an aesthetic eye. Before I would look at a website and think something about it was off or easily be able to recognize what was a more amateur web site and what was made by a professional company or someone who studied and got a degree in it and does it professionally. But before I wouldn't know how or why it seemed that way. Now I have more of a foundation of the basic rules applied to designing a web site such as navigation, orientation, text, graphics, and a lot of other detailed elements. I was surprised at how the space of a website and the internet as a whole is so different from any other medium when you are working on it and writing on it and designing it. I don't know if I really know how to articulate this but it is several things such as how public and immediate what you write can be viewed and accessed, also conforming to the browser size and other capabilities so that when someone looks at it on whatever internet medium they have, whether it is a laptop with Internet Explorer, or a desktop with Safari, or a hand-held device, they can successfully get an idea, image/general picture, and the proper information without getting confused or immediately clicking back because they think it got messed up or something. One problem I came across on while designing different sites was how to make a professional-looking site but still make it interesting and interactive for the viewer—I suppose this will come with more knowledge of the tools I have but, as of now, don't know know how to use really (photoshop, CSS, other media elements, flash, etc). I was also surprised at how difficult it was for me to think of a color combo that would be appropriate (not too overwhelming, but still visually interesting) for a site. That is just probably at the fault of my appparently slacking fashion sense—or just creative explorative element in a field (internet, computers, technology) where I still feel a bit intimidated and brainless.

Project Management was like an unexpected crash course element of this class. I had no idea that we would do this many projects in such a short period of time. I felt like it was one on top of the other and sometimes at the same time. I was a little overwhelmed by this element and wished I wasn't because I feel like a lot of questions of basic use had to get cut and disregarded because I needed that time to work on a project just to get it done. I was a little disappointed with our client cases (the prairie avenue christian church one that I had) because it didn't seem like the client was very receptive and was expecting something particular but didn't or couldn't articulate this. I hope another time I have an opportunity to work with someone who will give feedback and then I can edit, and meet again, etc... Working in groups would have worked a lot better for me if I was more wisely paired up with people that knew things I didn't (and maybe vise-versa) and if we also had more time to help each other with different elements on our projects, etc (I'll cut it off here with that as it will be covered under tutoring knowledge). The group projects did help though with making it not unmanagably overwhelming with the project/work load to me. I feel like my "Lindsay's Web Site" folder on dreamweaver is really unorganized and over-run with some unneccessary items that I may not realize I'm not needing nor using at the moment but haven't realized what is to keep and what I can discard. I would like to learn how to organize this a little better. It really helps having a student homepage that I can put the main links on and then just go from there to whatever site I need though---this aspect makes me feel efficiently organized.

Like a lot of what I've been talking about, I wish I had more time in the class to get more tutoring knowledge from either you, Dr. Brooks, or other students. I definitely felt a bit knowledgably inferior compared to a lot of the other students in the class—I wasn't expecting it to be such a wide range of prior knowledge coming into the class. One example that I had hoped would happen but because of lack of time didn't was learning more about code/CSS. I had mentioned something to Jim about this while we were working on the PACC case and he was agreeably open to the idea of showing me some stuff but time-wise it just never happened. I would ask other people in the class while working in the lab on non-class time how to find something or how I get something to show up or work and people would be nice and helpful about it. Aaron was in the lab a lot so ended up helping me with a few things. I can't recollect a time that I helped anyone else with anything, though if the situation were to come up I'd be happy to help someone out, I'm not sure what I could help with but...still. I guess I could say that I've tutored myself a little bit having transferred my knowledge in this class and applying it to my Rock Experience class. We were required to do a lot of website projects in that class so instead of just using Microsoft Front Page, I used dreamweaver and gave myself another opportunity for application and using the system/program. It did make me feel smart doing my work for that class on dreamweaver. I also am going to apply this knowledge in the future towards what I featured in my personal project (my actor web site) and continue to develop that even further.

Web Project Proposal

Profesional Actor Web Site

My proposal for my personal project is going to be a personal website that is career focused. A lot of actors and people in the theatre have professional websites that advertise themselves—generally their url is their full name—and this page will include pictures, their resume, sometime audio clips (esp. if they are musical theatre performers), their contact information, and anything else they choose to include. What's interesting about these websites is that some people's are SO professional looking and really neat and others look like they had their cousin do it—or a fan of theirs. Also some make their sites more marketing/business focused and others make it more fan focused. My website will include my resume, headshots (when i get them, pics until then), a what's new section (new/updates), my contact info, and anything I think of until then. I plan on making mine more business/marketing focused and very professional looking—as much as I can so far. I will keep it up to date and continue to add things even after graduation since it is an important marketing tool for actors.

Hands On Training Tutorial Responses

Chapter 13

Chapter 13 seemed to much more smoothly than the CSS chapter. It was more straightforward and I could tell how to duplicate later what I was working on with the tutorial. Unfortunately I don't know when I would use this---what the forms chapter taught unless I had a business website or something someone would have to submit a form or order a catalogue. That's pretty much all about chapter 13, understandable yet so far unusable.

Magazine Case Review

Members of design team are: Megan Kovacks, Michael Terrell Brown, Lindsay Binkley

http://students.millikin.edu/~MKovacs/mayfly/index.html

This is a mixture of all our thoughts:

We wanted to keep some of the staples from the Mayfly magazine for the readers to recognize and to keep a sort of general connection. Some of the aspects we kept were the mayfly frog, the paintings (for our page backgrounds), the worms font (which we made in photoshop then put on the webpage so it would show up on other computers), and the colors black and white. We also added red because it would make the site pop more and add a bold touch to it. Also the red, black, and white seemed suitable for the haiku theme.

Because we wanted the paintings to be such a large part of the site, we put them as the background on the pages with a red side bar to show where the links to the other pages and the homepage are. We faded out the painting a little bit so it wouldn't be too distracting from the text that we wanted to put on that side of the page. We did this in photoshop fairly easily. We also chose a different painting for each page background.

An original theme idea of ours was to make the site very parallel to the magazine by having the two black side columns with the white section in the middle, putting the links on the left column and the words 'mayfly' going vertically down on the right column, and also with the painting fadded out in the center white section. This we discovered was maybe not the easiest, quickest, or best idea considering the time frame we had to work with then (without the week extension) and also considering our computer abilities---which were fairly close to no special skills, exception being MTB with his other computer class where they are working with photoshop. So we had to work within our limited knowledge and abilities. In the end, I think that the website looks pretty good considering the said limitations. We also wanted to keep it fairly simple because that is a theme in the magazine (one haiku on each page, slow and simple and thoughtful). We thought it was important to have an archives page because it might entice first time visitors to the site and people new to the magazine to subscribe or submit. Which also leads us to a subscribe and submit page. We also have a contacts, mission/about page as well.

In our design we felt it was important to feature the art work with the haikus. This was always a part of Mayfly issues so we used the graphics to create the background of our web page. We felt it was important to include the company symbol for our homepage since that is a familiar symbol to Mayfly subscribers.

We also felt it was important to include the Worms font that the Mayfly covers used. When creating our web page we find it important to include author and subscription information, back issues of Mayfly, and the mission of Mayfly. We felt it was more effective to include the mission of Mayfly instead of including more information on the publishers. Our original design was closer to the design of the cover of Mayfly, but after experimenting with images we thought the design looked better when we put a red border around the picture. Through our experimentation and group discussion we created an effective, easy to use Mayfly page.

Chapter CSS

After finally finishing the CSS replacement chapter, I found it to be kind of frustrating. I didn't understand why the tutorial didn't explain what the "new css rule" button really was and why we would use it so much. Will those css rules that we made stay on there forever or just for this site? I don't really understand what that "new css rule" does still after using it a bunch of times in the tutorial. Also, a lot of times I would follow the tutorial instructions when making a new css rule but it wouldn't always apply to the dreamweaver page I was on. It would show that it created a new css rule and the edits that I made but I wouldn't see the changes on the page I was working on, so that was also frustrating. The more and more I use this tutorial, the more I grow to dislike it. It just doesn't explain what I need to know if I were to do this on my own. I feel like it just has me go through the steps but doesn't prepare me to apply what I'm doing elsewhere.

Chapter 10

I thought Chapter 10 would be a great chapter because I would actually be interested in learning how to do rollovers. I think that rollovers are a great interactive element that adds character and professionalism to a website. But for some reason when I was going through the chapter, the computer would not let me click inside the layout table cells. I could not insert an image into the layout table in any of the cells. I went through the different sections in this chapter, trying to insert images and even click in the separate cells on the different html sites but none of them would let me. I couldn't really figure out why this was---maybe a layout table formatting issue? I don't know if anyone else had this problem but it pretty much ruined the chapter for me, I read through the chapter but could not complete it on dreamweaver because I could not click inside the individual cells. I did section six on inserting a navigation bar rollovers because this site was not set up with a layout table already so I could actually do something. I tried to figure out why the layout tables wouldn't let me click inside of it but I have no idea...still; it was really frustrating.

Dr.Brooks, do you know what might be the problem here? Is it me because I really don't know how it could be..!

Lindsay, your Dreamweaver is still set in "layout mode" for working in layers from chatper 8. Switch the mode back to "tables mode" and chapter 10 rollovers will work. I'll show you the icon in workshop.

So after learning from you that I had to get out of layout mode in order to do most of chapter 10, the chapter went smoothly. It was easy to do and pretty cool that I could do that flash button effect now for something. I always wish though that they would explain what it would be like if we weren't working off the bonsai dreamweaver tutorial---like what image and flash options would be available or if we would have to download or make our own or something. And differentiate what would be there no matter what (like the option of the green rectangle box?) and what we would need to find or create (like the general design/image).

Chapter 8

This chapter focused on layout; creating layout cells, editing layout cells, changing layout cells to tables and vise-versa, inserting images, color and text into the layout cells, etc. Although I thought the chapter was fairly straightforward--with the exception of the book and the screen not being updated/in sync with one another as to where buttons and tools can be found--I don't know why I would need to use layout cells and tables. I don't get how these are helpful or needed. Also, I don't get how they are different from tables. I don't understand why someone would prefer to use a layout cell/table over a regular table--what the benefit is. So the chapter was fairly easy and clear except that I don't think it was helpful to me as to the actual application of the chapter topic--not just the execution of the chapter.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 seemed like a really long chapter and more busy work than any other chapter. It was interesting seeing how to make tables but I felt like I already was familiar with that from excel, which has the same type of cell/table making. learning how to make the rounded table was interesting though; I don't know if I would use it in my website but it is good to know. Also knowing how to match the colors by running the mouse over the color that the image was already and getting that color code was also good to review. I never thought that I would really find it useful to use a table, like in my website, but seeing how a table is just another way of making sure everything lines up correctly it might be handy. I don't feel like I have a set idea/theme for my website so I have no idea what I will be putting on it so far, so I'll keep the table chapter in mind!

resume critique

Bad: http://www.stagepage.info/ares96.html

While this site has some good aspects, overall it is messy and unprofessional. From a theatre resume perspective, her "representative roles" is far too long and obvious that she did not put her most recent or best to showcase roles but ALL her roles probably since she was born. This has the visitor scroll down for quite a long time and does not encourage reading of the resume, rather just getting through it. The section below that one, "Other Experience" is a miscellaneous list including unhelpful and undescriptive things. Her resume that holds what roles she has played also is not in a correct format as to where the theatre is. She also does not have an education/training section which is almost vital. She has several resumes it appears where it would be helpful to condense this into one theatre resume. On the left side in a column, she does have flash text so good for her but I dislike her choice of highlighting instead of underlining the links..especially when they are in the middle of another paragraph, it draws away from the reading of the paragraph. She should make this site more organized, condensed, and more professional in order to encourage employers to contact her.

Good: http://terran.earthman.ca/resume.php

This site is very organized and professional-looking. It has a certain look (which is especially good for his career) and it is clear whose page this is and what they look like. My one complaint is that the text is a bit small in the resume but he offers a PDF version as well. His links open into another window which is nice. He also has on the left side a photos and videos links. He has pretty much kept the general theatre resume formatting, which is nice because you know where to look and what to look for. he also has links IN his resume to the show or theatre or company he worked with, this is a great idea I think. His page is simple, professional, organized, clear, and interesting to read and visit.

I reviewed Michael Terrell Brown's (MTB as I refer to him) Bookmarks website. His topic was brownies.

Here's a walk-through of the page including comments on organization, navigation, and content quality mixed in.

Right when you come to the page, I noticed that he didn't title the top of it. It reads as an "Untitled Document" on the Microsoft Internet Explorer header at the top.

His three font choices are good (yellow, black, white); they are easy to read on the brown background and the yellow really pops out on the background color.

Under the title question ("Do You Like Brownies?") there are sort of hidden links reading "To Bake" and "Not To Bake". This is a fun idea and works whether the visitor realizes that they are links or not because they bring you to (effectively and clearly) brownie recipes and brownie-making companies, respectively. The "to bake" and "not to bake" links do not change color after you click on them, which in this case I think is fine, but the links to the separate recipes and brownie companies do, which is good. They change from white to yellow when visited--which matches the head title on the link category. The picture of the brownie platter centered at the top fits very well and is a nice visual. The tone of the site is very helpful-sounding and instructional, it works.

The head titles on the recipes and the brownie companies are links, which is sort of confusing since once you click on them they just move the page down a centimeter to show what is right below it---this can be done with a little scrolling down, it is not something that necessarily should be fixed/a problem/not working but it it superfluous and might confuse the visitor. I would suggest not making them links themselves and not having them underlined (since the first one, when clicked actually moves yout to a specific positioning whereas the other does not move you but is still underlined). The two other centered pictures of brownies are nice visuals that add character to the site. Since it is a site that advertises brownies (through the brownie companies links) you might want to cite the picture sources at the bottom of the page. Or show which recipe/recipe link you can find this brownie at. This would add to the interaction of the site, the helpfulness and the interest.

The two options "To Bake" and "Not to bake" bring you to titles that are different which may make the visitor confused if they got to the right place, as Dr.Brooks talked about with another site; I would suggest putting something like "To Bake: Some Great Recipes Websites"---keeping the title already there but adding the "To Bake" part for those that click on the "to Bake" at the top (same idea with the "Not To Bake" option as well). I like the idea of having these two options (when scrolled down) not all centered or not all on the left side---MTB made the first category on the left side and the next on the right side; this however leaves a void on the right side and a void on the left side; this is fine for simplicity but the site is about something that greatly affects the senses, brownies. So maybe MTB could find something related to this to put there--give something fun to the visitor that is subject-related and would enhance the site.

The Recipe links that MTB picked are varied in a way that some bring you to specific brownie recipes and others bring you to a site that lets you click on recipes from numerous options. This is fine but maybe give a more descriptive link title or a tid-bit of explanation on what the link is (ex: 15 different brownie recipes from a chef at the renowned Orpheus Restaurant in Chicago). Or for the links that bring you to a specific recipe, if they have a picture at the recipe page, put that brownie picture up by the link showing what kind of brownie you can make through the link. Also the "fat-free brownies" link brings you to several different brownie recipes--some are vegan recipes: this is different and would be a good thing to highlight (like in a description below the link) since it is an eating preference/lifestyle for some people that may not normally be able to eat all brownies. Also, under the brownie companie links, I would definitely put a little description--something that shows how they are all different from one another or if one specializes in a certain aspect of delivery, or a certain brownie, or a price range. Other than that all the links connected well and looked legit---and now I am seriously craving chocolate brownies and have to leave my computer so I don't end up ordering myself some brownies to the school; thanks MTB, thanks.

The website I picked was Google. The orientation of this webpage is top-centered. It brings the visitors' eyes right up to its simplistic and bright logo, making it clear what page they navigated to. There is not much else that draws the eye on this page beides the search bar below the logo--which is handy since it is the point of the page. The "Sign in" feature that google offers is logically placed in the upper right corner of the page, which seems to be turning into a staple (as I see) for websites that offer a sign-in. So the placement of this is good because the visitor knows to expect it there. The copyright and the about google/contact info part that is usually waaaay down at the bottom of the page is simply placed in the center of the open page, showing that this is all there is on this page and emphasizing the ease and simplicity of using this search engine.

The navigation through google is fairly easy---and proved by the hundreds and thousands of people that use it daily. You can do a google search for whatever you are looking for by typing it in the search bar and clicking google search. Or you can try their variation by typing in what you need and clicking "I'm feeling lucky", which brings you directly to a website of the subject of your search. There is also other options that google offers besides just plain web searching. You can search for images, videos, news, maps, or click the "more" option that brings you to search books, froogle (google's shopping search), groups, or "even more". When the latter is clicked it brings you to an entirely different page that displays google's abundance of other features and products. These are displayed as links with little images next to them helping to identify or describe what that particular feature is. There is also a short explanation under the link. There are category headers such as "Search" with its respective links, "Explore and innovate", "Communicate, show and share", "Go mobile", and "Make your computer work better". The titles of these are simple and user friendly---which seems to be what google is all about, making a variety of features available to every level of computer user. Their content, described above, seems to only keep expanding. One of my favourites is the Google Earth which is a satelitte view of the world and zooms in to the country, state, city and town right up until you can see individual streets and buildings--even your house! The content quality for google is great, and if each of its numerous features are as cool as google earth then it has to be one of the best search engines out there.
Lindsay Binkley

Chapter 6

For chapter 6 I thought it was really interesting to learn how to choose your own fonts and also how to add fonts that you want. One thing that didn't work for me was finding the 'set color scheme' under the commands option. I could not find this nor figure out how to do it. I think this was something that was updated since the book. I did read it though and understand what they are getting at for that section of the tutorial. I also couldn't find the HTML Styles panel under Window like they said it would be there. I searched around but I couldn't find it. It just wasn't there. Something that I found extremely helpful and interesting was learning how to use flashtext. This is a fun feature that I always wondered how to do and now I can add it to my website!

My question(s) for chapter one were if the web and electronic sources take control of books and other printed media, how long would it take to make the transition, how would copyrights be protected, and what would happen to the printing/publishing industry?

For my website, I didn't want to not choose one that appealed to me just because it was more popular and well-known. Although hundreds (and probably thousands) of people use it everyday, that should not be a write-off; on the contrary, it should say something positive for the site in itself. The site that I chose was google. <http://www.google.com/>

I think that it is wonderfully simple in its home page and very user-friendly. If someone wants to navigate to another feature on the site, all you have to do is click the "more" link---which brings you to a few more options along with "even more" which brings you to another page. The writing is simple and easy for anyone to navigate around. The next page is also laid out in an easy to read fashion with columns of options to click along with an appealing little icon that goes along with what the feature is all about. Besides the fact that I think google is wonderful with the new(er) features it has (besides just its web and images search) it is also laid out easily and does not appear to be intimidating or overwhelming at first glance like a lot of other pages that bombard you with information and advertisements. It is sweet and simple, and effective.

Chapter 5

I felt much more comfortable heading into Chapter 5 than starting out in Chapter 4. The HOT book is easy to follow and remains consistent so it isn't overwhelming and is very user friendly. I feel that Chapter 5 gave me more of an inside view on how components of a website are created. I always wondered how someone creates a link on a page so that it quickly takes you to another page---I always thought there was so much behind it but now I see that it is fairly easy if you learn how to do it and have the right system to work with. It will be interesting to see the whole website and how everything comes together in the end, I think I will be surprised with all that I did (even though I was only following instructions in a book). I am starting to feel, however, that when I really get into making my own site and go off the pre-made disc and instruction book, that it will seem harder that it does now and that I will run into some road blocks. I am scared that the book and disc make it seem almost too easy. I don't have any further questions or concerns with Chapter 5. I have not yet viewed my work as a real site (hitting F12) because I am scared that it will mess up the work that I just did; I think though it might be a good idea to start doing that to make sure that the work I just did is correct and doing what it is supposed to (ex: the links are working, etc). Ready for Chapter 6!

Chapter 4

With chapter four I was surprised at how step by step the book took me through each new section. With the book being so guided I could figure things out for myself and if I was confused, generally just referred back to the book for help. The only spot where I really couldn't figure out where to find something was the end of the chapter where you have you do the META tag. Jeremy and I were in the lab and I asked him and he didn't know either. So he just figured that it was not updated to the most recent one. Other than that, the chapter went smoother than I imagined.