I just uploaded an image. Haven't done this on blogger before. I can't wait to see what it looks like!

Improving the Practicing Librarian Website

I was so glad I went to class on Tuesday.  It was good to know that everyone else experienced similar problems.  There were several really great looking websites and the rest of them looked pretty good, but several people did experience problems with the uploading and had a few things to do to improve their websites.  It was very comforting.  Anyway, despite my basic website, I felt proud that all my links functioned.  

I've now spent all morning trying to improve The Practicing Librarian website.  I looked for more graphics last night and spent about 4 hours practicing inserting graphics onto web pages.  I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing, but I  did do  some editing with Picasa  to reduce the sizes slightly, which was very easy.  How well the graphics do on the web page all seems to do with the size of the graphic, so if I  limit my graphics to a certain size, they seem to work ok.  Not perfect, but adequately.  So, I was looking for some other graphics -- most notably a good brick wall  that was small enough -- and I found a few and added them this morning to a few of the pages.  I also added some other links to the More About Me page. 

 I wrote my Commentary page last night and added the brick wall to that.   The first time I looked at the site, the wall was not there, and some of my new graphics were there but others were not.  I tinkered with it for quite a bit and in the end was able to get the brick wall to show up, but not the other graphic, so I just added the same picture on two pages.   I'll keep trying to figure out why the other one won't work, but other than that, I seem to have everything functioning.  I even added a few hyperlinks to the More About Me page.  I'm beginning to feel like a pro.  But while my web editing and uploading skills have improved, I feel like I'm only beginning.

Having done all that, and devoted the entire morning, as well as most of yesterday evening,  I feel like I'm ready to post the link and turn it in.  This has taken a HUGE chunk of time and I'm about ready to let it go!  It's been a great experience which words cannot possibly describe.  Let's just say I have a great respect for ANYONE who has these skills and I look forward to honing my website building skills on a regular basis, so I don't forget what I've learned.  

I've also enjoyed the blog and found it a good way to document the process.  As soon as I have more time, I might just continue!

Coming down the finish line

Class is tomorrow, and I spent all evening working on buttons. Unsuccessfully. I visited the website recommended in the book, as well as several others, and didn't like any of the free buttons I saw. Then I spent something like 3 hours trying to teach myself to make a button in Nvu, and finally figured it out, but then I couldn't get a link inserted. There's just nothing on the Help pages about this. The buttons looked kind of cute, but small, and I couldn't see any way to make them a different color, but I was excited that I figured something out, even if it didn't work. I also figured out how to stop the hyperlink lines from dragging if I moved them. These seem like small things, but when you're not able to figure them out, they become big deals. So, I really wanted buttons and I don't have them.

I am really curious how elaborate all these other sites will be tomorrow. I hope I don't feel like the techno-idiot in the room. I'm sure I'll get all kinds of suggestions for how to beef it up; the problem is my skills are just not matching my tastes and ideas. I had to make a decision weeks ago to keep this website as simple as possible and it really is. I mean, it's hard to see how anyone could make a more basic website. But I did it, and when I viewed the whole thing tonight, I was really proud. I have experienced so much frustration over so many things, that I was really beginning to doubt I would have a site that worked, so I'm relieved about that.

I'm sure I will have more to do on it later this week before I turn it in. I would really like to have buttons and a few more graphics, especially on the portfolio page, and maybe some more links on the More About Me page -- that could be a bit more substantive. It will be exciting to see how everyone else did on their websites. I just hope I'm not too humiliated.

Back to the website

Finally got the Research Methods paper out of the way and turned that in on Friday.  Worked all day on Saturday, took the night off, and went back to the website on Sunday, all day, although I did take frequent breaks.  No matter what I do, I just can't get my images to sit where I want them to sit.  I've re-read that chapter more times than I can count, plus looked for some tips on the web.  I really feel like the easiest way to figure this out would be to have someone show me.  So, for now, I'm keeping my images to a minimum.  My site looks pretty bare, but it's just too frustrating for me right now.  Maybe when I feel like I've done everything else, I can come back to this, but I've inserted and deleted one image a dozen times and it's still not right.

The site is still pretty basic, and that's just going to have to be adequate, I hope.  It's not what I envisioned, but these skills just do not come easily to me.  However, the elation I feel when I finally figure something out is a very heady feeling.  Before I called it quits tonight, I actually got all the links except on the Portfolio page, which I wasn't finished with, to work.  That was a good feeling!

Long weekend working on my research methods paper

I wanted to devote some time to playing around with my website this weekend, but Reseach Methods is a ton of work, so I focused on that this weekend and didn't do a darn thing on the website. I feel bad, but at least I can blog a little. Once I'm done drafting the paper, I can come back to the website with a clearer head, I hope. But I also think it's helpful to take a little break from the website right now. I so often feel frustrated by not being able to do what I want to do with it, that it's becoming something I find myself avoiding. I really don't want to feel that way about it -- I want to feel enthusiastic and playful when I sit down, instead of wondering how many hours it's going to take me to slog through something that should take minutes and instead takes hours.

Links!

Well, it took me way longer than I planned, and much longer than I thought it should, but I've finally got some test pages linked. I would really like to do buttons, but I can't seem to figure out how and it's getting me really frustrated again, so I've decided to content myself with links for now. Maybe I can figure out the buttons later. I'm really finding this book totally worthless. It just confuses me. I actually find the Nvu tutorials much easier to understand. When I hit a difficult spot or can't seem to make any progress, I go over the chapter in the book several times and find myself getting more and more anxious and frustrated. Then I tell myself to just go with it and experiment and let go of the fear of failure and as soon as I do that, I seem to make some progress.

For some reason, I had this real fear of linking my pages. I was just sure I wouldn't be able to do it. It seemed so complicated and the more I read, the more confused I became. I took a break and when I came back just thought: What 's the worst that can happen if I don't figure this out? I will go to class and I won't have my pages linked and everyone will think I'm stupid and then someone will show me how to do it -- I hope. Maybe I'll get a "C". Maybe I'll take an Incomplete. But then I just tell myself I'll figure it out, sooner or later. I remind myself I have figured out how to do PowerPoint and Publisher completely on my own, so, more than likely, EVENTUALLY I'll figure out how to create a small website with pages that link. Finally I did. I went over the Nvu tutorial at least 5 times and kept trying to follow the directions and finally I got a page uploaded with one link that worked. Then I came back and put another link in to see if maybe it was just a fluke. That worked too. I was quite elated. Then I tried a third one, and that one didn't work. But then I realized I had put in the wrong file name. As soon as I corrected that, it worked also. I have to admit I was stunned that I actually figured out how to do it, even after all the talking I did to try to reassure myself.

So, assuming I can remember how I did this the next time I sit down to work on this, I think I've gotten at least the basic linking skill down. I just wish I had way more time to spend on this, but when I do sit down, it seems to take me hours just to get the basic steps down. I feel like I'm tech-retarded or something. Eventually I figure things out, but it seems to take me way too long. I wish people would participate more on BlackBoard so I would feel like I was not the most technically-challenged person in the class.

A small bit of success, finally!

You wouldn't think uploading my files would be that hard. Especially since I've done it before. But for whatever reason, I had the hardest time doing just that today. I spent hours -- all afternoon, uploading some test pages and couldn't get them to open in a brower. I did this over and over without success. Finally I broke down and did a chat session with Academic Computing to see if I was doing something very simple incorrectly. The guy thought I didn't have my files in the public file, even though it looked to me like they were there and I could see them. I still find that whole interface kind of confusing. Finally, I uploaded them onto what looked like the Private file to me and voila! They showed up in my browser. I could not believe it! It still looks funny to me in the WinScp file, but at least I know where they need to be from now on. It just should not be this difficult. I wonder if anyone else is having problems. If they are, they're not talking about it on BlackBoard.

Back to Lesson 9

Now that I've finally got my wireless working, I thought I would get up early this morning and finish up with  Lesson 9.

I looked at FlashVista.  I really don't like flash and don't think I want to use it in my website, ever.  It makes me feel nervous and jittery whenever I see it.  I love the look of the Flash Tutorials website, however.  Very simple and very calming colors.  I might be inclined to look at the tutorials just because the website is so attractive.

Site Pal:  Very interesting!  I could see where this would be very useful with many sites.  I don't like the idea of having to pay for it, though.  I did watch the tutorial and it looks surprisingly simple.  I will definitely check this one out again after I make a little more progress.

Adobe Flash:  Hard to  ever imagine I will progress to the point where I need to use this, but I'm keeping track of all these sites for when I'm ready.

Swift:  Don't like the look of this site.  Blue and gray does not seem to be a good combo here, at least in these shades.  Like the animation at the bottom, though.

Swish:  Much more attractive site.  The free trial looks very interesting.

Hot Scripts:  I don't really understand exactly what this is, and would have to spend a lot more time on this site.  By looking at the top-rated scripts, it became a little clearer to me -- it looks like an application or program that does something that someone has already created the code for, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.  Great idea!

Soundstage:  I used Audacity to create an mp3 file last semester, so I was really interested in this subject.  Very interesting information.

Streaming Audio:  I'm not really interested in streaming audio at this time, but it doesn't look that complicated.  This website looks kind of bland and boring, and I don't really feel inclined to explore it.

Audacity:  I've used this before, and now that I've learned about good web design, I can really appreciate their site a lot more.  It's blessedly clean and simple looking.  Makes me want to jump in an make another mp3 file.  Oh, if only I had time!

Musicovery:  This looks kind of cool.  I'll definitely have to come back here and explore.

Pandora Internet Radio:  This looks too cool to believe!  I am definitely coming back to this site as soon as the semester is over.  What an adorable website!

Amaya:  This looks like another web editor.  I'm definitely willing to try another one.  Weird choice of colors with all the browns, though.  It does not instill confidence. . . .

Trellian:  Good to know about this one two.  I don't really want to change horses in the middle of the stream.  Messing with DreamWeaver was bad enough.  Next time I will give this one a try.

SeaMonkey:  I've already used this one.  I thought it was okay for what I needed, but I don't think I would go back to it.  Love the name!

Free text editors:  This looks like a wealth of information.  Cool looking site, also.  The purple and yellow seem to work -- kind of calming.  Not a combo I would have chosen, but sometimes different color combos can be very surprising.  

Getting serious

It's time to get serious about this. When I started this class, I had illusions of creating this wonderful website. Now that I've played around with different ideas and created some test pages, I have to accept that it needs to be extremely simple. I have to be realistic about my skills and abilities. I want to do something impressive, but I'm going to have to settle for basic. Maybe once I get it all together, I'll feel ready to jazz it up, but right now I just need to get something drafted and uploaded.

I spent this afternoon mapping out four simple pages with a home page, a resume page, a "more about me page and a portfolio page, where I can post some of my projects from last semester, like the PowerPoint, the Publisher brochure and the mp3 file I did, and also maybe some of my papers. It may be a nice tool to refer to in job interviews. I find it kind of difficult to market myself that way, and am not sure if I deserve a whole website, but that's my plan now, and we'll see how it works out. After spending quite a bit of time with DreamWeaver, I'm just not finding it any easier to work with. I just can't get over feeling intimidated by the interface. It's just too complex. I feel so much more comfortable working with Nvu. What does this say about me? But that's the way it is. I actually did upload a couple of pages to myweb using DreamWeaver and I was very impressed with how easy it was. Unfortunately, I could not get the pages to open no matter what I did. So, I'm sure it's a great piece of software, but it's just not for me. Too many bells and whistles. Maybe later. I feel bad about not being able to make good use of DreamWeaver, but things feel so much easier in Nvu that if I'm going to be able to relax and enjoy this process, I'm going to have to stick with Nvu.

Frustration reigns supreme

I've gotten my website designed on paper, hopefully using good design principles, but I can't seem to translate my ideas onto the page. I've done ALOT of test pages, telling myself to just play with the editor and the pages, but everything seems awkward and looks like it was produced by a child. I've gone over and over the book and it just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I just didn't think it would be this hard. After spending hours, I feel like I'm just not making any progress and I don't know what to do. Based on experience, what I need to do is just take a break -- a long break -- and get away from it. I'm teched out.

When I'm unsuccessful, it creates this intense anxiety in me about whether I can even do this, which makes it even harder to come back with enthusiasm. But time is kind of running out. I need to get started on my Research Methods proposal, which is 40% of my grade. So I'm taking a break. Hopefully, once I've made some progress in that class, I'll be able to feel more enthusiastic about working on the website.

Finally got my wireless working!!!!!!!!!

I'm absolutely elated! I finally got my wireless working! After an unsuccessful and very frustrating effort last month, I finally decided I was not going to go to bed until I got it working. It took me several hours, but I finally did it. I'm still not sure what the problem was, since I've set it up several times before, but I am so relieved, because it has been very difficult keeping up with everything, including my Research Methods class, while having to sit in the chair next to the modem. Now I'm free and I can take my laptop anywhere. It's so nice to sit at the table in my bedroom or take the laptop into bed with me. I'm so proud of myself, although kind of peeved at the same time for not being able to accomplish this earlier, despite several efforts. So I thought this deserved a post all by itself.

Now I feel ready and able to really move ahead in this class and start doing some more serious work on my website in this class.

Lesson 9: Advanced Topics

Quite honestly I don't feel ready to move on to Advanced Topics right now. I feel overwhelmed with all the information I've taken in over the last couple months, and, not having had much success with my web pages, feel like I need to return back to the basics. I'm not sure what to do next. The biggest hurdle I face is psychological, since I've tried creating pages on both Dreamweaver and Nvu, but still don't have any pages I would even want to show anyone. There are features I really like about Dreamweaver, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong when I can't view the pages I've created. Nvu was easier, so I think I should go back to that and figure out some way to make it work, even without CSS. I need to take some time and go back over everything and figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Meanwhile, I do have my web pages mapped out. I know what I want to do, but I just can't seem to translate my thoughts into web pages.

Lesson 8: Imagery

Still feeling stuck with the website and so frustrated I don't even want to try right now.   But I do want to keep up with the lessons.  So, here are my critiques of the websites:

Wikipedia Public Domain:  It's great to know about Wikipedia Commons.  I could spend all day looking at each photo.  The old photographs are particularly interesting to me.  In fact, all the categories are absolutely fascinating.  Definitely a wonderful resource!

Libraryspot.com Image Resources:  This is much better than just going to Google Images, which is my regular practice when I'm looking for something.  The photo of Hillary Clinton as a student alone is worth the visit to this site.

Read Write Web:  I don't really see anything here that is useful.  I mean, it's all very interesting, but I don't see how this is going to help us construct better web sites.  The red is very vibrant, though.

Footnote.com:  Kind of interesting from a historical perspective.  Interesting if you are looking for documents.  

Photoshop:  Useful to know about.  I think I can do everything I need to do on Picassa.

Adobe Fireworks:  If I can get to this level of usefulness, I'll be doing great!

Gimp:  I've been using Picasso, but it's nice to know of another site to try for image editing.  Just at first blush, the site is very off-putting to me because of the dark grey and orange.

Gimpshop:  I would definitely give this site a try if I get frustrated with Picasso.

Chapters 15 & 16:  I'm not quite ready for buttons or audio, but I did read these chapters.  I expect I will come back to them several times in the next few weeks, assuming I can overcome my fear of failure.

Chapter 8 of Beautiful Web Deisgn:  I expect I will return to this chapter also.  Now I'm just trying to figure out what to do next to feel like I'm enjoying some modicum of success with this class.  I've already spent hours on Dreamweaver.  There are some things I really like about it, but I haven't been able to access the basic test web pages I've created and I really don't understand why.  So, I need to figure out a plan for the next couple weeks.  I really want to go back to Nvu.  That felt much more comfortable to me and I want to see if I can create some pages that work and figure out the rest later.

Lesson 7: Typography

Almost caught up and feeling very good about that.  And only that.  I need to figure out a way to get over this wall, but I don't even want to try right now.  So I'll tackle typography instead.  I love typography.  I'm easily overwhelmed by typography.  I could explore fonts all day.  And when I see one I like, I'm really enamoured and tend to keep coming back to it again and again.

I Love Typography:  So interesting.  Clearly this person is one after my own heart.  But it's hard not to look at all the articles and not feel overwhelmed.  I LOVE all of these fonts.  How can you pick just one, or just a few.?  They are all beautiful!  This website is like a candy store!

Typographica:  Interesting.  The annual reviews for each year are very interesting -- most interesting to compare the differences from year to year.  I wish I could spend all day analyzing trends.  Alas, I have a website that I must create at some point.

Microsoft typography:  More than I really want to know about fonts.  I earnestly explored this site, even though it was Microsoft, and left less than impressed.  I guess some of this is just beyond what I feel like I need to know at this point.  Or, maybe it's just the site.  Too businesslike, nothing to really draw you in.  But, then what can you expect from Microsoft?

ABC Typography:  Fascinating!  It's interesting how obsessed some people are with type.  I explored this site and found that not all the links worked.  Not a good sign.  An interesting idea though.  Quite frankly, I find the available fonts more than adequate for whatever I need, so  I can't really see myself downloading any fonts.

A List Apart:  Very zen-like.  I did not find this site particularly useful.  It looks lovely, but perhaps my obsession with getting the basics down first is coloring my critique.

TypoGraphic:  I love the historical context, which I have not seen elsewhere.  The timeline is fascinating.  I wish they would relate it to some things other than type faces, though -- like other historial events?  The headline is quite interesting, but I find it ultimately a little too busy for my taste.

Digital Magazine:  CSS Typography:  Interesting article about the limits of CSS.  Ah, if only I could figure out CSS I might appreciate this more.  A site to return to after scaling that wall.

Noupe.com:  Now is not a good time for me to be reviewing anything having to do with CSS.  Not until I get that under my belt, at least.  Love the Typetester, though.  I'm definitely bookmarking that!

Design snips:  Interesting.  I don't really have a lot of thoughts about this website.  Maybe I need more than a snippet.  I like the concept, but I'm not skilled enough to understand these categories.

Chapter 13 & 14:  Frankly, I'm just trying to keep up here, and I feel like I'm still on first base, so the concept of making money with my site and interactivity is just not resonating with me very well right now.  I have one goal as far as interactivity on my site, and that is to imbed the Meebo tool -- so I can chat with people -- that is, once I actually have a site that works.  Which seems quite far beyond my reach right now.  I guess I will keep reviewing Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 until I figure it out.

Principles of Beautiful Web Design chapter on Typography:  Very useful information, and presented in a manner which is not overwhelming to me right now, as clearly some of the websites were just too much information, too many examples, etc.  I'm very open to playing with type and experimenting, and it's wonderful to know there are so many options available, but again, if I can just stick with the basics, right now, I'll be doing great.

Lesson 6: Texture

I feel like I've hit a wall with creating my web pages, so I'm just going to take a break from that and catch up on my critiques of the websites in the lessons.  Hopefully, a little space from the web creation will be helpful and I'll be able to scale the wall next time I try.

Urbandirty:  I have to say this is the first time I've really thought about the concept of texture in a website.  I mean, I can see where it has its place, but I think you can have a perfectly great website without texture. I looked through this gallery and didn't really see anything appealing that I would want to use, at least on the website I'm planning in my head.  Interesting concepts in reviewing the gallery, but I don't see anything that I want to use.  Interesting color themes, though, but I'm really aiming for something much simpler.

Best textures flickr group:  Again, very interesting to look at.  Perhaps, with the right website, I might be interested in using one of these samples.  But I have to say I find most of them very off-putting.  I'm aiming for something much simpler and more classic.

Note:  I have to say here that I love Blogger all the more because I clicked the wrong button and navigated off the page and it saved all my stuff.  Just a wonderful feature!

Web 2.0 tutorials:  Interesting examples.  Again, I guess this lesson is just lost on me.  I think when you have less than basic skills, you just have to stick with the basics.  Texture is obviously lost on me.

Modern Life:  Interesting article on screen resolutions; otherwise, this website looked just the same as the one I looked at awhile ago -- and I see that it is the same!  At least I'm paying attention.

Perhaps I should come back to this lesson when I'm feeling better about where I am with my website.  Right now, I'm feeling very lousy.

Chapters 11 & 12:  Very interesting, very helpful.  Once I get a website up and running, I will be more interested in following through on these suggestions.  For now, it's just rubbing salt in the wound.  

Torley textures:  Most interesting, but I find most of them very off-putting.  Maybe in a border?

I'm having a very hard time imagining how I would use any of these.

Deviant Art textures:  I like this website the best so far, but again I'm really having to stretch my imagination about how to incorporate any of these.

Texture King:  I am more drawn toward the natural textures, like sand and water.  With the right website, these would be really nice.  I may come back to this one, but, tending towards the simplest website possible, these really seem too much.,

Grunge textures:  I like this website the best so far, and I think it's because of the natural colors.  I like the brown background and the brown buttons.  I also like the type of the website title.

Interesting to compare the differences between Latest, Random and Popular.   I'd love to see how people are actually using these.

Smashingmagazine Grunge Style:  Interesting to see the website examples, but I think you need to have a really specific reason for using these.  I'm just not trying to portray myself in a grunge light.  Interesting text on styles on the web though.  I guess it's like styles in everything else -- advertising, type, etc.  This style just seems a little over the top for me.  I'll have to try one just for the heck of it, assuming I can break through the wall.  Come to think of it, maybe I should look for a brick wall.  That would portray the essence of my struggle at this point.

Photoshop tutorials:  Right now I have to say that I'm not that receptive to any more tutorials.  I'm finding all the examples quite overwhelming as I'm struggling to design just a basic site.  I looked at the 25 incredibly artistic websites and I just felt totally overwhelmed.  Maybe once I have the basic skills down, I can come back here and be inspired, but right now, these are making me feel incredibly stupid.

2007 web design trends:  Interesting, but not useful for me.

I have to say I found  the chapter on texture in Principles of Beautiful Web Design more helpful than any of the websites.  I think that for my purposes, if I can incorporate something with volume and depth, and a little light and shadow, I'll be acoomplishing a whole lot.  I love the idea of it, but I'm feeling really out of my depth as far as using these tools right now.  

Ready or not, I'm moving on to CSS/Ch. 6

Now I'm really frustrated.  I just tried to follow the directions to create the style sheet.  I went back and found my notepad document that I created earlier.  My computer will not maintain the html format.  I just went in to see if there was a setting or a property I could change and couldn't figure out what to do.  Nvu doesn't create CCS, so if I can't figure this out, I'm going to have to use Dreamweaver.  This is SO FRUSTRATING.  I'm trying to follow the simple directions and my laptop is not helping!  I'm ready to throw it out the window.  Well, anyway, I tried.  Now I can't access the orginal html resume doc, so I don't know what to do, since I can't insert the style sheet into it.  I hate to blame it on Vista, but I will.

Just spent about the last 2 hours on Dreamweaver.  What a way to spend Valentine's Day.  I've looked at the first 4 tutorials and then I wanted to practice.  I'm having luck with some things but not others.  I still can't view my practice index page but I'm not sure why.  It just seems so complex.  I can't understand all the functions.  I really like Nvu better, but I don't know what to do about the CSS?  Is it possible to design the web pages I want without doing that, or just doing it manually.  I feel really stupid.  Guess I should stop for now.

Back to Chapters 3 and 4 of Missing Manual

Frustration reigns. I created a web page and then tried to upload it. No success. I've been at this for over 3 hours now. So, back to Chapter 3. I decided to try installing the updated version of WinSCP and then tried again. Still no success. Then I created a very simple web page. Back and forth, back and forth. Finally, I got it to work. I'm still not sure why. I think it has something to do with what I name the file. I feel like I need to get this right and understand what I'm doing before I go any further. I thought I knew what I was doing, but this is very frustrating. I'm nowgoing to create a couple more very simple pages and see if I can figure out what's going on.

Okay!  Now I've created 4 test index pages, and they're all coming up when I put in the right file name.  I'm not really sure what I was doing wrong, but whatever it is, I think I've figured out how to upload the files correctly.  I would not think it would be that difficult, but anyway, now I can upload the files when I've got them the way I want them.  I think I'm ready to review Chapter 4 again.  He makes everything sound so simple, but until you actually do it, you have no idea what little thing you are doing wrong that makes the whole process fail.  

Now I've reviewed Chapter 4 again.  I've already created text and added an image on the last file I uploaded, even though I'm not happy with the placement.  At least I've gone through all the steps.  Now I think I'm ready to try a little refinement.  Before moving forward, I've just reviewed Chapter 5 for the third time.  I'd like to move on to Style Sheets in Chapter 6 and really accomplish something and get caught up this weekend.

Lesson 5: Color

Colors on the Web: What a fantastic resource! I'm enamoured with the drop-down menus here -- they seem different than any I've ever seen. It's nice that they don't try to overwhelm you with color while they're talking about color. I'm somewhat distracted by the advertisements, but they seem to have kept it nicely basic.

Chapter 2 in Beautiful Web Design: Color. I found this chapter very useful, especially the part where he was talking about how he came up with the colors for the tile website. It's interesting to be aware of all the principles concerning color. Still, when faced with the variety of colors on the web design software, I feel all these principles going out the window. It feels like I just got a box of 100 Crayola Crayons and I want to try all of them out. I need to let myself just play a little bit with the colors and hopefully the principles will be in my subconscious.

Lesson 4/Layout

Still trying to catch up on blogging about the readings.

Web Style Guide: Again, I note the predominence of blue on the page, as well as lots of space. What is it with blue? I guess I'll find out when I get to the lesson on color. I would also note the burgundy color on the header. This connotes to me a leather-like feel, even without the texture. I also like the type, which is very easily readable. The menu bar is also on the top. What a great resource this looks to be! I also visited Patrick Lynch's website. Very similar as far as the nice clean look. Plus, any site which includes recipes is a winner with me. Lovely graphics. This site is definitely a model for a personal website. Sarah Horton doesn't seem to have a personal website, but her other websites are equally as pleasing from an aesthetic standpoint.

Universal Usability: Again, the menu bar on the top. Is this a trend with good web design? I'm not especially partial to the use of yellow, but that's really my only quibble with the website from a design perspective. I like the blue. I also like the quote. The resources look very helpful, if a bit overwhelming. It looks like they have included absolutely everything on the topic of universal usability. Perhaps a bit fewer resources listed -- only the best -- would not be so overwhelming.

JJG.net: Love this design. Interesting choice of colors, with the black, bright blue, and the blue type. Very clean and simple. I read the Psychology of Navigation article -- very interesting. I also read the posted chapter from the book. Very easy to read and thoughtful. Clearly, more web designers need to familiarize themselves with these principles.

Smashing Magazines Top 50 blog designs: Some of these are really cool, and some I don't like at all, particularly the ones with dark colors for the background. I can appreciate the work that went into all these designs, and some are extremely creative and artsy. I think blogs should be a reflection of the blogger. I tend toward the practical. I will definitely fool around with colors and designs when I get some extra time, but for now, I'm happy.

Chapter 1 of Beautiful Web Design: Layout and Composition: Beaird accurately states that the most intimidating parat of the design process is getting started. What a great intro, since this is probably the biggest problem for most people; it certainly is for me! Things to remember: Users are pleased by the design but drawn to the content; navigation should be intuitive; I found the web page anatomy diagram very helpful and comforting. The grid theory was an eye-opener for me, as I'm not a graphic designer or artist and have no experience with this. Very helpful. Just reading these two sections made me really want to get started on my website. Cool designs under "Getting Inspired". Definitely places to come back to if I get stuck.

Lesson 3

I just skimmed through Chapters 5 & 6 and they look pretty heavy duty and also look like they require some work, so I'll come back to that later. I actually did look at the websites for Lessons 3 and 4 last week, so I want to catch up on those first.

ICANN: I had no idea coordinating web page addresses was so complex. I am happy to see the process is fairly transparent. At least someone is looking out for the good of the Internet. As far as design, I find the design very pleasing. Interesting choice of colors, with the turquoise blue and then the other blues and grays. I do like the buttons at the top instead of on the left hand side. I also like the use of lots of blank space. There's a lot of information on the site, but it never feels cramped.

Internet Traffic Report: Very interesting! I found the FAQ most helpful. They actually answered my questions, which hardly ever happens. Simple, basic, easily comprehensible. I will have to check this the next time my Internet seems slow and see what's going on. The graphs are very appealing and helpful and it's nice to be able to look at the raw data.

Internet World Stats: Wow! A good site to know about; it may be helpful if I ever need statistics about Internet usage. It seems very basic, simple and clear -- always a good idea when dealing with statistics. I really like the graphs -- very helpful in conveying the statistics.

CAIDA: No strong opinions about this one. The material seems quite boring and it's a little hard to get past that. It's a little difficult to figure out what they really do. Again, I am surprised at how basic the website is for a bunch a people who are obviously very technologically advanced. Again, I note the use of lot of white space. The larger type is a plus also, when dealing with so many complex topics.

PEW: This is one of my favorite websites so far. Maybe because I just love what they do, but it seems to strike such a nice balance between information and aesthetics. Certainly, they have a ton of information to convey, but they don't cramp it all on the front page and they leave room for lots of white space. I love the typeface and am making a note to come back to this one The colors are pleasing and it's relaxing to look at everything. There's just enough color to brighten it up in spots, ut it's not ever overwhelming. There are many things I would like to emulate here, although I'm assuming it's a good design. I guess the readings will bear that out. I hope so, anyway, because otherwise it means I don't have the ability to tell good design from bad, or I'm fooled by bad design. I like how they have their archives divided into sections. Most archive sections are difficult to find and use, but this one is very usable. Lots of interesting things here. Whoever is responsible for putting this together certainly has a good editor's deft touch, both from a content as well as an aesthetic perspective. At least, that's my opinion right now.

Nielson: Right off the bat, I don't like those ads flashing at me. It makes me feel like the site is more commercial in nature. But obviously there's a lot of good information here and this would be a good site to explore when doing competitive analysis or while putting your own site together if attracting visitors is important. I'm struck with how popular the color blue seems to be on a lot of these websites.

USF Style Guidelines: Not bad. I've never been crazy about the dark green, but I like the rest of it. And again I'll note the use of lots of white space. I like the way they break the information up and highlight the paragraphs.

Lesson 2

Four weeks into the semester and I'm already 3 weeks behind with the blog.  Research Methods is kicking my butt; I had no idea the workload was so heavy in that class.  If I had deadlines for this class I would really be in bad shape.  Still, I don't want to fall too behind.  So, this is a weekend to catch up.  I still have no idea about what kind of website I want to design.  I'm torn between doing something personal, which would be a really valuable tool to show to prospective employers, most of whom seem to want some minimal level of website developing skills, and doing something a little more interesting (at least to me).  Maybe a hybrid kind of site where I can showcase my projects, but with several pages of something that is of more interest to me, such as something highlighting social software and how it is being used in libraries.  That should not be too overwhelmingly difficult.  

What's really frustrating me is I can't get my wireless Internet to work.  I've been in my new condo since January 1st and I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, especially since I've set up my wireless twice before.  Working in a chair tethered to the modum is not really the best environment for doing the work for this class.  I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong with the wireless before I can really move ahead comfortably here.  Anyway, I started this weekend by reviewing Chapters 1 and 2 in the Missing Manual book.  This was pretty much a refresher for me anyway, since I took Dianne Austin's class last semester.  Except that I never did get my links to hyperlink properly!  So I feel like I want to go back to the Portfolio Page I did and get that to work right.  Once I get caught up with the reading, I'll do that.

But anyway, as far as the reading is concerned, I found the part about View Source very enlightening.  As far as HTML is concerned, I'm wondering when it will feel natural to me.  I found Table 2-1  with the basic HTML tags VERY helpful.  I feel like I want to copy these pages and post them right next to where I'm sitting.  The Common Mistakes section was very helpful also.  I need to remember to refer back to this section if I have problems.

W3 Consortium:  For a website that states that it's leading the web to its full potential, it looks so "low-tech".  I'm kind of surprised.  I don't want to misjudge it.  Honestly, the content looks a bit over my head.  I'm not sure how I would use this website.

W3 Schools:  Wow.  Overwhelming with all the tutorials, but it looks like it might be helpful.  Once I start to really get into the website (and once I've caught up on the reading) I will come back here.

Since I already uploaded a Portfolio Page and some other files onto my USF website last semsester, Ch. 3 was a good refresher.   I found the commentary about web editors very interesting.  I've downloaded both Dreamweaver and Nvu.  Interestingly, my free trial of Dreamweaver took forever to download.  I had to do it about 3 times before it worked.  Nvu took about 15 seconds.  Is there a reason for this?  I found the process with Dreamweaver very frustrating.  I don't want to start off biased about Dreamweaver, especially since Dr. Simon likes it so much, but that kind of frustration can really bias one's view of something.  As I said before, I plan to experiment with both and then decide, which I will do as soon as I get caught up on blogging about the lessons.

Lesson 1

I just received the Principles of Beautiful Web Design a few days ago through Interlibrary Loan and got caught up on the reading, so now I need to catch up on my comments.  It looks like a beautiful book, almost "artsy".  It's nice to think there are people out there who are actually concerned with what their web pages look like -- there's so much bad design out there.  The website is equally beautiful and almost deceptively simplistic.  I like the colors and the way you get the arrows pointing to the different effects on the website when you roll your pointer over the words "layout", "color", "texture", "typography" and "imagery" in order to demonstrate how these terms translate with respect to a web page.  

As far as the Missing Manuals website, what a great idea!  It looks very basic, but I think that's helpful so that the user doesn't feel intimidated.  The content looks very helpful.  I will definitely have to come back to this as I get more into the actual work of creating the website.  Nvu I already looked at and spent a little time with a few days ago, just playing around.  So far I feel more comfortable with it than Dreamweaver, but I want to give both of them a real try before I decide which to stick with.  Kompozer and gimp did not really appeal to me.  I did not like their colors and there was really nothing to draw me in.  Once I've spent some time with Dreamweaver and Nvu, I will come back and look these websites and the software over again.  Right now, it's like asking me to correct the grammar in a foreign language I'm not familiar with!

The Smashing Magazine website was really overwhelming with so much stuff!  I wish I had all day to explore it.  Maybe I can spend more time with it while I'm on the desk at work.  It just seems like a really dense website -- although it all looks very helpful.  The fact that they have all their post in alphabetical order is very helpful.  It's hard to believe there are so many tutorials!  I feel so unknowledgeable!  I guess that's why I'm taking the class.

My comment about the 2 advanced.com website is:  Omy god!  It's absolutely fascinating, but I had a hard time figuring out what the purpose was.  It almost looked like a game.  It was really cool how the links opened, but it seems the real purpose was to impress clients who want a really technologically advanced website.  It certainly impressed me, although it took me awhile to figure out what the real purpose was.  

The famous website awards looks like it has a lot to look at.  I just spent about 15 minutes and I really could spend hours.  I will have to come back to this one also.  Similarly, I will have to come back to the Web Pages that Suck website.  Once I get a little further into my design -- actually, into thinking about my design at all, which I have not, I will have to come back here for a refresher about what not to do.  All, in all, a lot of websites to look at and so much information it feels quite overwhelming.

As far as the blogs are concerned, I tried out WordPress and thought I would like that one the best because so many of my favorite bloggers use it.  However, once I tried Blogger, I found I liked it much better.  I just found it much easier to use.  So here I am.  I really want to play around with changing designs, colors, etc. -- the look and feel of the blog, but I just haven't had that much time to play around lately.  I have to keep reminding myself that substance is more important right now.  Get the substance down, then I can play.  The substance needs to drive the aesthetics, not the other way around.  At least, this is true for me.  I'm also one of those people who doesn't usually know how they want something to look unless I see it first.  So I'll have to try out most of the options before I get a sense of what I like.  I looked at Zoho Writer also, just to see what it was.  It actually looks like much more of a blog.  I may come back and give the word processing option a try.  The NYT article was intriguing and certainly excellent praise.  But Blogger had me at hello.  It's hard to explain it.  

Experimenting with Nvu

Just for the heck of it, I downloaded Nvu.  It feels a little less complicated, so I'm going to play around with that for awhile and see if I prefer it to Dreamweaver.  Dr. Simon said he really likes Dreamweaver, and it does seem like it does absolutely everything, if I can just figure out how to use it.  Sometimes when you're just learning, it helps if the tool is really basic.  I don't know if I'm ready for the "bigtime" yet.  I'm really curious about the differences, so once I've spent some time with it, I'll have to write about that.  Am I avoiding catching up on blogging about the lesson?  Yes.  I guess that will have to wait until later this week.

Experimenting with web software

I just downloaded and tried out Dreamweaver.  Since the only software I've used before is SeaMonkey, it felt kind of like I was behind the dashboard of an expensive foreign car after being used to a very old Volkswagon.  It was actually kind of intimidating.  I did experiment with type and colors and just played around with it for a little bit.  It's going to take a lot more to get me comfortable with it.  I have no idea what kind of website I want to create, so I just need to keep playing around with it and hope it starts to feel more intuitive.  I did watch the first tutorial, and I thought that was really helpful.  I think I need to watch it again.

That was easy!

I have the feeling I may be doing this -- changing the templates -- alot until I get the right "feel".  But right now, I need to focus on content, otherwise I'll waste a lot of time.  I will note I actually tried Wordpress first.  So many bloggers seem to be using it.  Now that I've tried Blogger, I'm finding I actually like that better.  It seems easier to use.  I may continue to fool around a little big with Wordpress as I have time, just to compare them.  Right now, for me, Blogger seems to be really simple.

Playing around with the options is addictive!

I could be doing this all day until I come up with the most pleasing scheme.  I will definitely come back and do this later.  Now I'm trying the edit function, to see if I can come back and edit a post later in order to reword it, correct it or add to it.

Taking the first step is the hardest

Up until now, I've resisted doing a blog.  I'm not really sure why.  Maybe because everyone seems to be doing it?  I wonder if I really have anything that interesting to say that others would want to read.  But this is supposed to be for my benefit, and it certainly seems easier than keeping a journal as a Word document, which is what I did for my supervised fieldwork and Preparing Instructional Media.  So, I'm welcoming myself to blogging.

Now that I've tried this a few times, I've discovered it's painfully easy.  I think I'll try the saving option now.

Learning how to change settings

Somehow the big dots don't look at good on the actual blog as they did on the template.  This MUST be changed, and I will now figure out how to do it!