week 11

I have fallen behind on my updates for the post.  I should have some time later this week to catch up.

Stay tuned..!!

P

week 10

Hello again…

Tough week.   Catching up with more to come.

Family time took priority!!

Look for some updates later on as I catch up on my posts.  Right now I am working on modifications to the final website and that is really taking a lot of time.

Stay tuned…!

P

Week 9

Week 9 was definitely “hump” week..!!!!

We had a lot to do, and it was important work that really required putting some thought into it.  Not to say the previous weeks have not been challenging, but week 9 was really IT!

I learned a lot about the steps for web page design that need to happen before ever touching the computer.  I thought I had my plan pretty well worked out until I started laying out the storyboard and flow chart..Now I have a lot of questions I need to make decisions on.  My plan was pretty generic, but after the past 8 weeks, I have definitely scaled up my plan. 
Laying out the comps just reinforced how many questions I still have to resolve.  Oh well…I like making decisons anyway. 

In the end, it will all come down to what is the most functional and user friendly. 

I don’t like my color pallete anymore and there are some design elements I would like to incorporate in the web page to make it different from the competition.   Hopefully I can get these worked out this week and revise at least the comps.  Critique tonight should help solve some of my issues.

Enough for now, I’ll be updating later on tonight an tomorrow.

P

week 8

What an interesting week!!!

Several interesting steps towards the website design. 

I am becoming very comfortable with the layout capabilities of Fireworks.  Working on the banners has really helped that progress, but I really liked the in class exercise that works with the layout capabilities available.  I already envision using these tools to help me with my final project layout once I finalize my story boards.  I probably will begin some basic formatting this upcoming week to get an idea of what I am facing in terms of  information needed.   I want to keep the final website as clean and user friendly as possible so there probably won’t be too many bells and whistles on the functional side.

Using Photoshop for the Global Giving Banner has really helped reaquaint me with the tools and capabilities of the program.  I found that it took a little while for me to remember how to create the animation.  I guess the old saying “use it or lose it” really applies.  It is nice to have tangible exercises that are meaningful as a means for continuing my education with the capabilities of the Photoshop.  I found that I kept removing details that made the banner hard to follow in my first version.  One element I did find I wanted to include more was the use of simple text in different font sizes to get the message across.  Good text, not too much of, and creative formatting of the text seem to be the most effective way to get the message out on the banner.

Project profiler/Phase one was really a lot tougher than I thought.  I had a lot of ideas on what I did and did not want to do, but they were just in my head on some scribbled notes.  Putting it into a formatted document really helps, but of course, I have already started to edit it for the next/final phase.  At some point I will  have to stop the editing and move on or I never will meet the deadline!  One thing I did discover is just how important it is to keep the layout simple but bright.   I really want the home page to “pop”.  During my discovery work I found that too many websites use a lot of text (paragraphs) on the opening page and I find this both dull and cumbersome as a user.  Who wants to read a long text when just searching anyway?  I know that I don’t.

Last project of the week started out as a big “ouch” when I opened it.  Of course, I was late getting to this one since I spent so much time organizing and drafting (several times!) my project profiler.  When I actually got into it, I did find the Case Study was not too bad and really helps me with my ideas for does and don’ts for my own web page.  Working with the group in the upcoming week will be great.  I am looking forward to the outcome  of our work for the presentation next week.   Probably out of our independent review to the website http://naw.lib.ms.us is that we all came to one overiding conclusion:  It lacks clarity!  Reorganizing the page using each of our ideas should help us with our own work.

Our reading assigments this week were really interesting, although I admit I have not completely digested the messages. ( that’s why I ended up printing them all!!).  I foresee returning to the articles many times as I get into the actual design/layout of my own site.  I am including the links below so that I can get to them quickly instead of shuffling paper when I get deeper into my own process.

A Dao of Web Design: John Allsopp…I like this one!

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/dao

Joshua Porter/bakardo Blog:  I like his message on simplicity!!!

http://bakardo.com/archives/five-principles-to-design-by

Still digesting the CSS post by Chris Coyier on the difference between ID and class.

http://css-tricks.com/the-difference-between-id-and-class

Finally, the article on folds by Melissa Tarquini shot my whole original page design ideas a big dose of reality!!!  I saved this one for last because it really changed my perspective. I was operating (see some of my previous notes) under the premise that if a reader had to scroll the page was dead in the water.  After reading this article, I came away with a very new perspective on scrolling and content placement.  I still see the need for the importance of key content above the “fold” or screen view limit, but I am no longer worried about elemination and any content below that requires the reader to scroll down.  The bottom of the page has suddenly become important to me as an option, as long as I give some sort of “visual cue” that there is more below!

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/blasting-the-myth-of

That’s enough for this week…

P

week 7

This week was tough…!
Learned a lot about trial and error as I worked on Banner for Global Market banner. Switching between Fireworks and Photoshop to accomplish the animation was especially challenging. Photoshop makes animation easy, but I was not able to get all of thw quality I wanted from my Fireworks design. In the end I had to compromise and I am definitely not happy with the results. I will be spending more time learning how to make the animation work in Fireworks!!!
AACC fall banner came out better than I expected, at least I finally got the tiling on the large banner to work seamlessly, even if it is a little repetitive. It really helped with the small banner not to have to produce a tiling background.
More work this week looking for ideas for the final project. I really like a couple of attributes from several websites, just trying to decide which ones I can practically incorporate in my design.
Navigation buttons turned out to be a multiple trial project. I kept losing my over slices, but I think that is because I was not saving them correctly. After 3 tries, all of sudden I was ablet to get it to work, so in the end the goal was accomplished. Learned a lot about what not to do along the way!!

The articles on domain and web design were really helpful, I have read them twice. Time to start making some decisions on a domain name and to finalize my ideas for the layout and content on the final project website.

Some links to our reading:

http://searchenginewatch.com/2168021

I’ll be adding some more thoughts later on tonight.

P

week6

Starting this entry by saying that I have found some elements of this weeks classwork to be very challenging! Creating a banner design that works in both sizes might rank as the tougest.
Rollover buttons took me awhile to figure out, and I still do not have it entirely figured out, but two out of three did finally work. A lot of my struggles were with the interfacing of Photoshop and Dreamweaver, not unlike the problems I had with the Fireworks to DW intreface for the banner project.

Week 5 updates

Banner posting continues to be a challenge. I find the creative work fun, and I am getting pretty comfortable with using Fireworks. What is difficult is figuring out how to assemble the page and tiling background so that it tranfers correctly from Dreamweaver to the web. I know that there is one step I am missing and I am detemined to get this right. I have spent the majority of my time on the FTP side when I would have much rather spent more time working on the creative side….I intend to solve this problem tonight!!! I do like the ability to manage the background that Fireworks has. I believe that this will be useful when I begin my final site work. I have made some tiling backgrounds in previous html design work, Fireworks/Dreamweaver just make the process quicker (as soon as I figure out what I am doing wrong with my extened backgrounds!)
One thing I have noticed is how quickly multiple files can build up as I have worked on variations of the banner designs. File management is probably my weakest point and I believe that I will find my problem in this area. I should have set up a separate working file and then transfered my final comps to the banner file to clean up. I will work on that this week to weed out some of the dead files.
On to the Image work…Dreamweaver makes this extremely easy to handle. I have done this before with code and it is tedious to get the hotspots working correctly…Dreamweaver makes the process simple.
The link to Getty and having an account there could prove useful down the road when I cannot find any of my own photo work to use in a website.
Link to Getty:
http://www.gettyimages.com

 

I have really developed an appreciation for the ease with which Dreamweaver sets up CSS style sheets. I have tried multiple times to teach myself how to do this and understand the code, but I find that I keep reverting to basic html code and tags when I should be using CSS characters.

Links to some of the reading and review sites:
This is an example of a really bad site that Vincent Flanders has tagged. He is right!
http://www.vincentflanders.com/videos/gnn.html
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/videos.html
Looking at the different sites really does make one think about what not to do. I will probably use this link a lot when I get deeper into the design and construction of my own work. Just to make sure I don’t end up on his list!!!!

I’ll end here since I want to take another stab at getting the banners working correctly.

Back again.  Time to talk about my final project.

The reason I am taking this course is to be able to create a web presence for our family business.  Primarily a real estate sales endeavor, there are several other options I can offer from my own professional background in large construction project development.  I plan to emphasize my partners real estate sales expertise as the primary website development project.  My secondary goal (this may be in the future) is to develop my own expetise in capitol project development.  Right now that is secondary to the real estate sales site, this is the one that will have the most immediate impact on our business earning potential.  More to follow as I work through the process of developing the full plan for the site.

Time to sign off for today.
P

week 4:

Our class content is definitely accelerating!!!!
We covered a lot of ground this week and I learned a whole lot about the importance of using a lot of thought before even beginning to design a web page.
There is so much more behind the web site that one does not consider when viewing one.
My concern before this class was what did I really need to know and use to make an acceptable web site. Now, it all makes sense and really is a great confidence builder to have this knowledge and the associated resources.
While it is new and overwhelming in content, I can see how useful it is to learn a process that is really very organized before diving into the design of any web site.
There are a lot of resources out there, volumes is a better way to describe it!!!
On Color and the theory behind what colors to chose:
Color Study Sites: great information and theory of color explained.

http://www.colormatters.com/symbolism.html

http://www.colorstrology.com/colorstrology_sniffer.html

http://www.mariaclaudiacortes.com/

 

Kuler Website for customizing color palletes. Use Adobe account to log in.

http://kuler.adobe.com

Images are an important part of any website we visit, yet the thought process and design is something usually taken for granted. Never again!…..
Working on the banner design taught a lot about how much is involved in actually creating a custom image (GIF or JPEG) for a logo or as complementary art.
The web site with the information on best practices and accepted standards is the IAB site.
http://www.iab.net

The articles by Jakob Nielsen on good and bad web design are especially interesting and easy to understand.  Links to his work:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html

Finally, for images there are a multitude of resources whether photographic or graphic.  Most are for a fee, but some do offer other options.

http://www.gettyimages.com/

http://www.jupiterimages.com/

http://www.fotosearch.com/

http://pro.corbis.com/

http://www.shutterstock.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php

I am looking forward to learning more about how to use Fireworks for page design and layout.  It is a great tool, I am saying this as an acknowledged beginner that wants to hurry up and progress at least to the novice stage!!!  Here are some links to the Adobe tutorial videos that were helpful.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/getting-started-01-understanding-fireworks/

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/getting-started-02-the-fireworks-interface/

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/getting-started-04-smart-guides-and-tooltip/

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/using-kuler-color-themes/

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/understanding-styles-and-symbols/

More later, after I have gotten a better handle on all of the tools out there and how to use them.

P

Week 3

Week 3 Notes:
Keys to developing a good website:
Before attempting any design of website, taking good notes and accumulating as much information as possible is very important.

Listen, Listen, Listen!!!!   Make sure that content fits what the page is expected to do.
Layout is key to Web Layout.
Using pencil and paper to plan the layout.  This concept really works well for me. I find it best to put my thoughts/ideas on paper before attempting any layout on the computer.

There should always be balance between layout and content to achieve a good website.
Using the “rule of thirds” is a very helpful hint, it opens up the options and really stimulates the thought process.
Keeping a history file of ideas is a good reference for any new project.
Make the design readable by liberal use of “whitespace”.
Empasize key components/information for maximum impact.
Do not fall in love with the design, make sure the client and user are always the primary consideration.

We are using a great reference, one that is clearly written and easy to understand!
Here is a link to chapter one of Jason Beaird’s excellent book titled:
“The Principles of Beautiful Web Design”.  Author: Jason Beaird  Copyright  2007.   Publisher: SitePoint Pty. Ltd.  It is a great resouce, especially for non graphic design people like myself that want to learn.
http://www.sitepoint.com/print/principles-beautiful-web-design  
Some other really good links for Dreamweaver Tutorials are:
Fireworks:
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/managing-design-suite-workspaces
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/getting-started-01-understanding-fireworks
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/getting-started-02-the-fireworks-interface
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-fireworks-cs4/importing-files-into-fireworks
Finally, Here are some other really helpful links about using Dreamweaver and the tools available.
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-dreamweaver-cs4/getting-started-05-styling-text
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-dreamweaver-cs4/getting-started-04-adding-text-and-images
I am really looking forward to pulling all the tools together and working on some prototype web sites using Dreamweaver. It is very apparent to me how powerful and flexible this program really is.

Week 2

This week was spent some great new tools Dreamweaver has in it’s arsenal.
FTP: using the file transfer protocol feature can be challenging but DW does make it easy once I figured it out. Key to this is making sure that the link syntax is correct or there is not a link!

I am amazed at the intuitive features of Dreamweaver! 

Last semester I took a course in HTML and learned how to write the code.  One feature I constantly struggled with was creating stylesheets using CSS.  DW makes it so easy and translates my thoughts into properly formatted stylesheets.  What a relief to find some help with this side of the coding!  I can see how much more productive I can be on the creative side knowing that DW will help translate ideas into a working site. 
I honestly look forward to continuing and learning more.

The video sites that related to this weeks work are great.  Adobe really has done a nice job of providing accessible learning tools online!
Getting Started in Dreamweaver: http://tv.adobe.com/?promoid=DRHWV#vi+f1592v1759

Using Views and Workspaces: http://tv.adobe.com/?promoid=DRHWV#vi+f1592v1768

Defining a Site: http://tv.adobe.com/?promoid=DRHWV#vi+f1592v1758

Adding Text and Images: http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1592v1756

Managing and Uploading sites: http://tv.adobe.com/?promoid=DRHWV#vi+f1592v1754

Styling Text using CSS (Cascading Stylesheets): http://tv.adobe.com/?promoid=DRHWV#vi+f1592v1770

I look forward to tonight’s class to see what is next!!!!

P