Web Design Student
Millikin University

Justin Miller

Learning Review

user knowledge:
Coming into this class, i had only done a web site using adobe flash. i had no organizational skills in terms of formatting and linking. i learned everything in this class that i need to make more web sites look professional. i now can master tables and backgrounds, and just recently made my first rollover link. i still have some work left to do, including bringing flash documents into dreamweaver, javascript, and css.

Design knowledge:
from the start i had good design skills in my head, but getting it to look the same way on dreamweaver was a challenge. once i learned more about tables and saving for web in photoshop, i could bring my own designs into a web site. i still need more work in css if i want my designs to look consistent.

Project development knowledge
i didnt realize how long making web sites could actually take... pleasing a client, a teacher, a classmate, and myslef was a challenge for me while making certain projects. i learned that getting our ideas together on paper before we actually start dreamweaver helps avoid miscommunication problems. trusting your classmates is also a must... because my group trusted me with the design for beloved, i was confident and comfortable doing what i believe was best for the group.

Tutoring knowledge
working with classmates wasnt always easy. because my skills and knowledge were limited, helping others with their problems was hard. i enjoyed learning much from others, however. dr brooks did wonders for me in terms of making basic pages, which helped start my progressive learning. also, sarah and rachel gave me great insight into how to make an organized page that may have a lot of text in it.

Hands On Training Tutorial Responses

Client Case Review

missing

Chapter 10

for chapter 10, attaching a printer-friendly style sheet was not hard-- just adding a style sheet into css styles and its done. however, im not sure how to access the print preview option on dreamweaver... i could only print the code of the document... styling for print is a very tedious option in order for people to make a page printer-friendly... using style rendering and creating css rules was fine for this exercise, but i dont belive ill master this tool when making my own website... i'm not even sure how important printer friendly stylization is...

Chapter 9

for chapter 9, i like the idea of a tracing image to use as a tool for formatting a page, but i doubt that i would use something like this to make my own website... making the image opaque definitely makes it easier for tracing though... in the second exercise, inserting an object layer makes it easy to fit actual images in place over the tracing object... the add property option for each layer does not seem like the fastest way to edit an image... i hope i dont have to use this css property very often... the layout mode and inserting table cells seem like an easy way to insert and format images and navigation links to perfection.

Chapter 8

I think tables might be the most important tool to use when making a web site... to me, it is the center of formatting and constructing a well organized page. chapter 8 is helpful in showing all the ways to benefit from tables... I'm still a little uncertain on whether i like using borders or not... it probably depends on the content and page style... that also goes along with the sorting table aspect. i like changing different colors of differnent columns and rows... it really can make a page or even an online resume look presentable... the toughest thing for me right now is dealing with the css rules... sometimes i do catch myself formatting tables individually without using css rules to format them faster and easier... ill just have to get used to using them until i become fluent with it.

Web Design
Links Page Critique

Farad's bookmark's project is still in the works, but i think it has potential to be very interesting. His topic, first of all, is about an intense case concerning 6 black students who are being tried for attempted murder of a white student. He has no background or images yet, but i suggested to him that he has a picture of either the students or the victim, or a picture of the area in which the crime was commited. His links are also still in progress, but they seem effective. his page will allow people to find many different articles about what's going on in this case... Also, he has a category of links allowing others to get involved. i suggested to him that he make it clear for the viewer to find the link that will allow them to do so... this will involve named anchors as well as a title for the involvement category. im sure he will have them clearly visible once they are done. besides that, his bookmarks page looks to be very useful and efficient once he finishes.

resume critique

for my good resume, i chose James Stevens... I think you know him...
http://www.clearknightstudios.com/james/resume.php
great use of bold and regular fonts, fast loading time, and its easy to access

for my bad resume, i chose,
http://www.resumesandcoverletters.com/Creative_Chrono_Resume.pdf
i just think the fact that shes a graphic designer, yet has no logo or even any color in her resume makes it really boring to look at... it also takes too long to load

Chapter 7

after reading chapter 7, i dont know how much css rules will be helpful to me. i just believe for my own pace, that i would rather change the font individually... i know the css rule can save time and be useful for numerous web pages, but i am very used to manually changing my fonts, styles, and sizes. however, exercise 1 definitely made me comfortable for when i do want to use css rules for font styles and such.

for web pages that have a lot of paragraphs and text, exercise two is very helpful. the line height as well as the margining can really help make the content more easy to read.

font lists are a good tool, but i wont be too worried because i like to stick to times new roman and really basic texts when i make my pages.

unordering lists is a useful tool, especially for web resumes... ill definitely use this, especially becasue its so simple...

im not sure the flash text is a good tool to use... people might think its a link because the rollover color changes... i just dont think it matters much

Chapter 6

cascading style sheets seems to me like a very important tool to use to make consistently well-formatted web sites.

the different settings i was able to use to rebuild the tea web page in chapter 6 made me comfortable to use them for my own sites... this includes text color, background color, spacing, and everything else that will help the image of my site... not to mention the fact that it will reduce the amount of time i would have to spend without it.

i also like the fact that i can change a setting and it will automatically change the setting on every page... i just might have a little problem learning to perfect the css styles panel... with all the things i would be able to use.

A Favorite Website:

Web Address: http://www.millerimages.net
i chose this site because not only is i mine, but i thought i made the navigation pretty clear... however, i could not make a program that allows a viewer to go to the previous page when they push the back button... i really like the intro page i made because it is a good attention getter for the viewer who might be interested in what my site is about.

"Site Analysis"
The web site i chose to critique is www.millerdesigninc.com. This is definitely one of my favorite sites to look through from a graphic designer's perspective as well as a potential buyer's.

I am definitely a big fan of an intro page as the first page that pops up. This site's intro page is very simple but can really intrigue the viewer. The picture of the horse, probably made in Adobe Illustrator, is a very nice touch. The only problem I had with it is that when I click on the "enter now" button, a seperate window pops up with the home page.

The entire navigation of this site is masterfully clear cut. There are no links that are out of place and I can find my way anywhere I want to go from every page in the site.

The very basis of this site inspires me. The background design of the home page as well as the navigaton link designs are incredible. The portfolio of this site is very organized as well as prestigious. there are a variety of different works that consistently amazes a viewer of any level of artistic ability.

millerdesign inc not only displays amazng artwork in an easily navigational format, but it provides information to the viewer about who these people are and why they make these projects. everything one needs to know about this company is clearly depicted in the "about us" page. i never have been so amazed at the level of design work as well as the creativity and organization of content and imaging as i have been by viewing this web site.

Chapter 5

in exercise 1 of chapter 5, i had no problem with the links... i believe this tool will make web creation much easier to do.

for exercise 2, i love the idea of place holders... it should definitely come in handy, because i sometimes have to work backwards to finish the site...

Email links were also a snap... no problems there...

Named anchors were a good tools to navigate a site... i just did not understand the hyperlink tool as well as i should have

Chapter 4

for chapter 4, i gained much more confidence because i was able to do the exercises without looking at the book non-stop. i feel good knowing that we'll be using xhtml transitional 1.0 instead of anything else that may confuse me...

after looking at the code views when i added images or text, i think i will stick with design view for now... at least till i understand all the wording involved in code view

dragging images into the site as well as linking them was a very easy task... i also am pretty clear on the use of text in the site....

i like the meta tags and i want to use the keywords and descriptions for any website i make... i just dont know how to get it on googles actual search engine.

chapter 3

for the first exercise, im guessing that we will just use the same format and options as the book says... if not, then i have no idea how service technology and remote servers will affect my site.

for the second exercise, i understand the relative and external links... i believe i wont have any problems linking texts and pictures to their respective site.

for exercise 3, i dont understand how updating makes things easier, but it sounds very helpful so ill use it any chance i get

im not sure why in exercise 4 it changes the source name when you drag a picture from a different folder level... I like the alternate text option, however

Ill definitely use the map and files view in exercise 5.

im starting to see how files are connected to folders in exercise 6... i just need to try these things on my own to see if i really can grasp the basic concepts of managing new sites.

Chapter 1 & 2