This is it... it's almost the end of the line. This weekend, I'm preparing for the final deliverables including the final reports, and the project which are due on Tuesday, 3rd November. I can't believe it's almost over already.
Last week has been the "bug fixing" week. I didn't get to fix the header problem the way I wanted to work in the end. I ended up using CSS to replace the header and the only problem now that the header is not clickable. =( However, I did fix the the other problem with the drop-down menu. Alastair adviced me to use the PHP command instead of JavaScript. So it solved my problems!
Last week was also the peer presentation day! Thanks to the UTS server that went down, I became one of the few people who was able to show my project because I was using a different host server. As a result I was interrogated and reviewed by a larger group that I would have prepared for. =)... It was fun though! Thank you all for giving me your valuable feedback.
Well, it has been fun and a valuable learning experience through this semester. However, I can't wait for the holidays to start.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
WordPress theme problems...
I seems to have so many problems this week with this project. It's so close to the finishing line, it's so frustrated to find bugs you don't know how to fix.
I have been building my website project using a local server in my machine (by using MAMP). For the final deliverable, I have to of course upload the site to a host server. I have a hosting with godaddy so I decided to use that instead of the UTS server.
Anyway, the problem started when I uploaded my whole WordPress files onto the server. For some reason, my images won't get uploaded. I have tried changing the permissions, etc. However, on the theme I was using, I was able to upload a header image to replace the blog title. I can upload it in WordPress admin system, I can see the file is uploaded on the server. However, my theme doesn't pick it up! =( I don't know what is going on and how to solve it.
The way around it now as temporary measure, I placed the image using CSS. I slowly has to update all the links which previously pointed to my local server to the new location so it loads up properly.
Anyway, there were still a few issues with the project, which I'm not so sure now if I have time to fix them all. If you're interested, you can view it from: Jade Remedies Website
Any feedback and comments are most welcomed!
I have been building my website project using a local server in my machine (by using MAMP). For the final deliverable, I have to of course upload the site to a host server. I have a hosting with godaddy so I decided to use that instead of the UTS server.
Anyway, the problem started when I uploaded my whole WordPress files onto the server. For some reason, my images won't get uploaded. I have tried changing the permissions, etc. However, on the theme I was using, I was able to upload a header image to replace the blog title. I can upload it in WordPress admin system, I can see the file is uploaded on the server. However, my theme doesn't pick it up! =( I don't know what is going on and how to solve it.
The way around it now as temporary measure, I placed the image using CSS. I slowly has to update all the links which previously pointed to my local server to the new location so it loads up properly.
Anyway, there were still a few issues with the project, which I'm not so sure now if I have time to fix them all. If you're interested, you can view it from: Jade Remedies Website
Any feedback and comments are most welcomed!
Problem with my JavaScript Menu...
I've been trying to solve my JavaScript menu problem with no luck =(. I've tried a few different options but the solutions I have experimented so far are not exactly what I'm after.
Here's what I want to do:
A friend suggested that I should give an 'id" for each page and tell JavaScript to behave a certain way when go to the particular page. I'm going to try to do this next.
If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.
Thank you in advanced.
Here's what I want to do:
- I have a menu listed on the side bar like this:
- Menu 1
- Menu 2
- Menu 3
- Menu 2 has a child menu like this:
- Menu 1
- Menu 2
- Sub-menu 2.1
- Sub-menu 2.2
- Sub-menu 2.3
- Menu 3
- I want the menu on the home page to be like no [1], but when the user click on Menu 2, it goes to page 2 and the sub-menu is opened automatically like on no [2]. If the parent doesn't have a child menu then it won't opened.
A friend suggested that I should give an 'id" for each page and tell JavaScript to behave a certain way when go to the particular page. I'm going to try to do this next.
If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.
Thank you in advanced.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
PHP include and JavaScript
2 weeks to go...
Yesterday lecture was on more JavaScript and AJAX. There are alot of these fancy things that JavaScript can do which I still need to get my head around. I'm afraid time is running out for me to complete the final report and the project..=(
I'm planning to package the final report together and create a mini website with links to all the reports we need to hand in. I've learnt a few tricks of using PHP to include my navigation on every page so I can have my navigation in a separate file (e.g. nav.html) and use PHP command to include that file in every page. The advantages of this of course, if you decide you want to change your navigation, you only need to do it once in your navigation file. Alastair helped me with the code which actually pretty simple. All you need to do is to include the function called "include ("your file name here") inside the php tag.
And make sure you then save your file to .php files instead of .html file to make the code works.
The other thing I was trying to experiment with is to have a drop-down navigation menu or more like an accordion menu. Alastair showed similar behaviour I'm trying to recreate during the lecture, but it doesn't work for my menu. I'm going to do more research on the JQuery library and see if I can find something there to make them work.
As for the project, I think I'm happy with the state it was in now. I just need to figure out how to upload it and install it to the server.
So this week would mainly be finalising the project and trying to finish up my report as much as I can.
Yesterday lecture was on more JavaScript and AJAX. There are alot of these fancy things that JavaScript can do which I still need to get my head around. I'm afraid time is running out for me to complete the final report and the project..=(
I'm planning to package the final report together and create a mini website with links to all the reports we need to hand in. I've learnt a few tricks of using PHP to include my navigation on every page so I can have my navigation in a separate file (e.g. nav.html) and use PHP command to include that file in every page. The advantages of this of course, if you decide you want to change your navigation, you only need to do it once in your navigation file. Alastair helped me with the code which actually pretty simple. All you need to do is to include the function called "include ("your file name here") inside the php tag.
And make sure you then save your file to .php files instead of .html file to make the code works.
The other thing I was trying to experiment with is to have a drop-down navigation menu or more like an accordion menu. Alastair showed similar behaviour I'm trying to recreate during the lecture, but it doesn't work for my menu. I'm going to do more research on the JQuery library and see if I can find something there to make them work.
As for the project, I think I'm happy with the state it was in now. I just need to figure out how to upload it and install it to the server.
So this week would mainly be finalising the project and trying to finish up my report as much as I can.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Guest Lecture - Chris Mills from Opera
We had the Guest Lecture: Chris Mills from Opera last Tuesday. I couldn't make it to the 4pm talk because I couldn't get out of work early enough. Anyway Alastair managed to record the video for our 6pm class. It's a little bit hard to see what he looks like. However, the talk was interesting. Particularly when he talked about the development and future of web technologies and how it evolves overtime. It becomes apparent even further when he talked about the needs to support different browsers and devices.
A question I was going to ask him if I was there when he did his talk, I'm interested to know why there's another browser in the market like Opera? How is it different from the other browsers we used to like Firefox, etc? What is the advantages of Opera browsers on desktop compares to other browsers?
I'll keep pondering until I get the answers =)
A question I was going to ask him if I was there when he did his talk, I'm interested to know why there's another browser in the market like Opera? How is it different from the other browsers we used to like Firefox, etc? What is the advantages of Opera browsers on desktop compares to other browsers?
I'll keep pondering until I get the answers =)
Deadline Getting Closer...
Weeks went by so quickly and we only have less then three weeks before the deadline. This week my focus is to finalise the project whether I like them or not and start working on the revising my Macro and Micro Analysis, System Plan and doing the Final Report.
Thank you for those in my team who gave me their feedback on my Macro and Micro Analysis and System Plan. I'll start working on them this week.
Thank you for those in my team who gave me their feedback on my Macro and Micro Analysis and System Plan. I'll start working on them this week.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
From Design Research Workshop by Kelly Goto
Hi Everyone,
I went to the "Design Research: The art of getting it done" workshop by Kelly Goto yesterday, Wednesday, 7th October. This workshop is part of the Web Directions South 2009 Conference. The workshop was held at the Masonic Centre, Sydney. I've gained a lot of information and knowledge in one day. It's a pretty intensive workshop and we went through things very quickly. However, it was a pretty hands-on practical approach. Overall, it was a fun and enjoyable session.
I would like to share with you a few notes that I took, which I might be useful to you. I didn't take many detailed notes (I apologised in advance!). As I said before, it's pretty hands-on and we pretty much went straight into doing the practical exercise.
As mentioned before, the topic is about design research. To put it simply, it felt like I was doing a whole semester subject pack in one day.
We had lectures on Design Research. Kelly used a quote from Liz Sanders of Dubberly.com to describe what Design Research is. According to Sanders, "Design Research is a jumble of approaches that, while competing as well as complimentary, nonetheless share a common goal: to drive, inspire and inform the design development process". This includes research methods such as user needs analysis, usability testing, card sorting, contextual inquiry and so on.
I went to the "Design Research: The art of getting it done" workshop by Kelly Goto yesterday, Wednesday, 7th October. This workshop is part of the Web Directions South 2009 Conference. The workshop was held at the Masonic Centre, Sydney. I've gained a lot of information and knowledge in one day. It's a pretty intensive workshop and we went through things very quickly. However, it was a pretty hands-on practical approach. Overall, it was a fun and enjoyable session.
I would like to share with you a few notes that I took, which I might be useful to you. I didn't take many detailed notes (I apologised in advance!). As I said before, it's pretty hands-on and we pretty much went straight into doing the practical exercise.
As mentioned before, the topic is about design research. To put it simply, it felt like I was doing a whole semester subject pack in one day.
We had lectures on Design Research. Kelly used a quote from Liz Sanders of Dubberly.com to describe what Design Research is. According to Sanders, "Design Research is a jumble of approaches that, while competing as well as complimentary, nonetheless share a common goal: to drive, inspire and inform the design development process". This includes research methods such as user needs analysis, usability testing, card sorting, contextual inquiry and so on.
Monday, October 5, 2009
System Plan Draft
Finally finished my draft version of the System Plan. They can be found here.
There are still a few things I wasn't sure about. Architecture Diagram is one of them. I"m new to WordPress and I don't know enough how the WordPress architecture works. The diagram I've done is based on my current understanding. If anyone who reads my system plan and can help me correct a few mistakes that I might have made, please let me know.
All feedback, comments and critics are most welcome!
Thanks
There are still a few things I wasn't sure about. Architecture Diagram is one of them. I"m new to WordPress and I don't know enough how the WordPress architecture works. The diagram I've done is based on my current understanding. If anyone who reads my system plan and can help me correct a few mistakes that I might have made, please let me know.
All feedback, comments and critics are most welcome!
Thanks
Friday, October 2, 2009
Choosing the right WordPress base theme
I spent a few days this week going through the WordPress documentations in particular how to set up WordPress site as CMS. While it is great that WordPress has extensive amount of documentations available and community supports, it's hard to decide which one I should start to follow. Different resources has slightly different ideas of to approach the problems. Unless you are clear on exactly what you're looking for, I have to keep trying the different solutions until I found the right ones.
I've started choosing the base theme framework which I will use as a base for the website. It's still at the trial and error stage at the moment and I haven't made a final decision if this would be the theme I would be based my design on. I'm using an open source WordPress theme framework called Thematic from ThemeShaper, which seems to have pretty good reviews on the flexibility and extensibiliy of developing your own theme. I tried a few more themes to see how it looks and Thematic seems to offer the better solutions so far.
Thematic theme can be extended by using the WordPress Thematic Child Theme, which gives the flexbility to customise the theme to suit your design. At the moment I'm experimenting with Thematic Child Theme called Early Morning. Although it hasn't got everything that I need, it has certain elements in it that I like to use in my design. I will need to customise it myself to achieve my design. So far, I manage to upload my own branding at the top, change the page background and all just by using CSS.
There are a few challenges that frustrated me at the moment. I need to put my own page navigation, but somehow I haven't found the way to do it to achieve the type of layout I wanted to achieve. It doesn't behave the way I expected it to behave! I need to do more research and read the documentations.
That's all for now. More progress coming up.
I've started choosing the base theme framework which I will use as a base for the website. It's still at the trial and error stage at the moment and I haven't made a final decision if this would be the theme I would be based my design on. I'm using an open source WordPress theme framework called Thematic from ThemeShaper, which seems to have pretty good reviews on the flexibility and extensibiliy of developing your own theme. I tried a few more themes to see how it looks and Thematic seems to offer the better solutions so far.
Thematic theme can be extended by using the WordPress Thematic Child Theme, which gives the flexbility to customise the theme to suit your design. At the moment I'm experimenting with Thematic Child Theme called Early Morning. Although it hasn't got everything that I need, it has certain elements in it that I like to use in my design. I will need to customise it myself to achieve my design. So far, I manage to upload my own branding at the top, change the page background and all just by using CSS.
There are a few challenges that frustrated me at the moment. I need to put my own page navigation, but somehow I haven't found the way to do it to achieve the type of layout I wanted to achieve. It doesn't behave the way I expected it to behave! I need to do more research and read the documentations.
That's all for now. More progress coming up.
Great Personas Resources
I'm also doing Digital Media Development Process subject this semester and Grant, our lecturer, has put up this great personas resources from Fluid Project. I thought, it came a the right time as we're preparing for our Sytem Plan. So, I post this in here so you can benefit from it too. It is really helpful to build personas and think about the users to be included in your System Plan.
Working on the System Plan
Time flies too quickly for my liking and it has been a while since I put entries to this blog. I have to admit I'm not very diligent on writing in this blog. I guess I'm not used to it and I kept forgetting to write! =(...Oh well I should do better from now on.
The vacation break is almost over already!=( During the break, I've started working on my System Plan. I've got my draft personas and user scenarios. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this but I'll find out from the feedback I suppose. I've never built personas before and it's actually quite hard. You really need to put yourself in the user's perspective and try to figure out their goals on coming to your site. Then, think about how would "you" as a user will accomplish that goal. It's sounds simple but it takes quite an imaginative and creative minds to write the narrative stories.
I also started sketching the site map for the website structure. Again, there are a few things I'm not so sure about such as: does site map include the functionality task flow? or would that make the sitemap too complex? If anyone has any advice on this, please let me know.
I have started sketching the visual design layout as mentioned in the previous entry. This will help me to start with the CSS to design the website. The design will no doubt will keep evolving as I'm going through it and learning new things.
I haven't done wireframes yet. Yes, I know! it's weird I should've done the wireframes first before visual design layout! What I meant was I've done the wireframing on my head and sketches on my sketchbook. But only me can see that clearly and know what's going on. So what I need to do it to translate that into a more understandable format so other people can see what I'm planning to do.
There are clearly a lot more things to do before I can finish my System Plan. I'm planning to do them this weekend so I can receive some feedback on Tuesday.
The vacation break is almost over already!=( During the break, I've started working on my System Plan. I've got my draft personas and user scenarios. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this but I'll find out from the feedback I suppose. I've never built personas before and it's actually quite hard. You really need to put yourself in the user's perspective and try to figure out their goals on coming to your site. Then, think about how would "you" as a user will accomplish that goal. It's sounds simple but it takes quite an imaginative and creative minds to write the narrative stories.
I also started sketching the site map for the website structure. Again, there are a few things I'm not so sure about such as: does site map include the functionality task flow? or would that make the sitemap too complex? If anyone has any advice on this, please let me know.
I have started sketching the visual design layout as mentioned in the previous entry. This will help me to start with the CSS to design the website. The design will no doubt will keep evolving as I'm going through it and learning new things.
I haven't done wireframes yet. Yes, I know! it's weird I should've done the wireframes first before visual design layout! What I meant was I've done the wireframing on my head and sketches on my sketchbook. But only me can see that clearly and know what's going on. So what I need to do it to translate that into a more understandable format so other people can see what I'm planning to do.
There are clearly a lot more things to do before I can finish my System Plan. I'm planning to do them this weekend so I can receive some feedback on Tuesday.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Week 9 - MySQL Database
We have our introduction to the My SQL database tonight. It's a shorter lecture this week and straight on the practical exercise. I didn't find it too difficult only when I need to figure out what syntax I need to use for the queries. We haven't go into too much detail on building and creating data modeling ourselves. There are more lectures on this in the coming weeks.
For once, I finished the practical exercise early!!! YAY!! That's a little bit more encouraging after the last few weeks of what I can probably called a coding meltdown. I have a feeling this is going to be harder later. I hope not.
For once, I finished the practical exercise early!!! YAY!! That's a little bit more encouraging after the last few weeks of what I can probably called a coding meltdown. I have a feeling this is going to be harder later. I hope not.
Start the visual design
Last weekend, I've spent my time to do the visual design of the website. The client I am building the website for has their own logo that the would like to use on the website. I spent time to consider the graphical elements and the layout of the pages.
Overall the website would have several static pages and dynamic pages. The static pages would be pages for about the company information, company profile, etc. The dynamic pages would be layout like a blog entry page. I haven't decided if I'm to incorporate any forms in the website yet. However, while I'm doing the visual design, I decided to have a think about the style for the form page. Basically, I'm trying to finalise all the elements I need for the website. I've created my "desired" design on photshop mock-ups. The next step is to actually build them using CSS.
I have fun designing the visual layout. Once I decided the "look" that I want, everything just flows from there. I hope realising this on the website using CSS is not going to be that difficult. I can be a little pedantic about visual design. It is because that's what I do for a living =). However, I have to be careful that I didn't ignore the functionality of the website as well.
Overall the website would have several static pages and dynamic pages. The static pages would be pages for about the company information, company profile, etc. The dynamic pages would be layout like a blog entry page. I haven't decided if I'm to incorporate any forms in the website yet. However, while I'm doing the visual design, I decided to have a think about the style for the form page. Basically, I'm trying to finalise all the elements I need for the website. I've created my "desired" design on photshop mock-ups. The next step is to actually build them using CSS.
I have fun designing the visual layout. Once I decided the "look" that I want, everything just flows from there. I hope realising this on the website using CSS is not going to be that difficult. I can be a little pedantic about visual design. It is because that's what I do for a living =). However, I have to be careful that I didn't ignore the functionality of the website as well.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Week 8 - JavaScript
This week is week 9 already!!! I felt like I kept falling behind =(. Last week's lecture on JavaScript wasn't too bad. I manage to do the exercise by doing a little bit of searching on google. I found out that JavaScript interpret your calculation in milliseconds!!! I found that a little bit weird. Anyway, it looks like there are certain amount interactivity you can achieve by using CSS rather than JavaScript. JavaScript probably more useful in more complex interactivity such as google map, validating forms, etc.
I haven't got a chance to look more into JavaScript after the lecture. I think I might have to just dwell in and learn it as I go with the project.
I haven't got a chance to look more into JavaScript after the lecture. I think I might have to just dwell in and learn it as I go with the project.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
WordPress saga begins...
As mentioned in the previous post, I'm also considering to build my site using WordPress as CMS site. I was a little bit concerned about it at first as I wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to change my original plan half-way through the course. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to do the research. However, I realised this is necessary and I just need to do it.
I've spent my weekend to install WordPress on my Mac. I also installed MAMP (Mac Apache MySQL and PHP), so I can set up a web-server locally on my Mac.
Installing the WordPress was pretty straight forward. I followed the video tutorials of how to install WordPress site from Lynda.com. It's really helpful. I played around with it, downloading themes, set up a blog, creating pages. etc. I couldn't believe how many really beautifully designed WordPress themes out there. It's quite exciting!
I planned to create my website using WordPress. It means I would need to modify the themes to suit my design. There are still a lot things I need to learn about WordPress, which I need to go through at some stage so I'm able to build my website project. Luckily, WordPress has extensive documentations and support. There are a lot of resources in WordPress topic. I'm convinced that I would be able to find something that I need amongst those resources. The problem would be to pick which one is suitable for my needs. I think I just need to get on-board and use it. Hopefully, I will learn more about it as I go.
If anyone can point me to a good WordPress tutorials, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you.
I've spent my weekend to install WordPress on my Mac. I also installed MAMP (Mac Apache MySQL and PHP), so I can set up a web-server locally on my Mac.
Installing the WordPress was pretty straight forward. I followed the video tutorials of how to install WordPress site from Lynda.com. It's really helpful. I played around with it, downloading themes, set up a blog, creating pages. etc. I couldn't believe how many really beautifully designed WordPress themes out there. It's quite exciting!
I planned to create my website using WordPress. It means I would need to modify the themes to suit my design. There are still a lot things I need to learn about WordPress, which I need to go through at some stage so I'm able to build my website project. Luckily, WordPress has extensive documentations and support. There are a lot of resources in WordPress topic. I'm convinced that I would be able to find something that I need amongst those resources. The problem would be to pick which one is suitable for my needs. I think I just need to get on-board and use it. Hopefully, I will learn more about it as I go.
If anyone can point me to a good WordPress tutorials, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you.
Peer Feedback for Macro and Micro Analysis
Last weekend, I've spent my time to review other students draft version of the Macro and Micro Analysis. It was interesting to see what other people are planning to do with their project.
Giving feedback is harder than I thought. It's a good practice. I think because I don't know much about the technology myself to be able to give effective feedback. I felt like I was letting them down by not giving them the kind of feedback I would have been able to do if I've know more about the technology they have chosen. So, apologized to those in the group with me, if my feedback didn't really help you to make your report better.
On that note, I was also put in a group with a student name Shi Chen. However, I couldn't not find his/her Macro and Micro Analysis. Therefore, I wasn't able to give my feedback. If you're Shi Chen, and you are reading this post, please let me know if you still wants me to give you my feedback. I'll try my best.
Finally, thanks to those who gave me their feedback on my Macro and Micro Analysis. It's really helpful. Some of the comments are exactly right and I know I need to refine the areas of how the I would use the technologies together in my project. So thank you again!
Giving feedback is harder than I thought. It's a good practice. I think because I don't know much about the technology myself to be able to give effective feedback. I felt like I was letting them down by not giving them the kind of feedback I would have been able to do if I've know more about the technology they have chosen. So, apologized to those in the group with me, if my feedback didn't really help you to make your report better.
On that note, I was also put in a group with a student name Shi Chen. However, I couldn't not find his/her Macro and Micro Analysis. Therefore, I wasn't able to give my feedback. If you're Shi Chen, and you are reading this post, please let me know if you still wants me to give you my feedback. I'll try my best.
Finally, thanks to those who gave me their feedback on my Macro and Micro Analysis. It's really helpful. Some of the comments are exactly right and I know I need to refine the areas of how the I would use the technologies together in my project. So thank you again!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Considering CMS
After analysing the client's and user requirements, I'm considering adding some content management systems in the website I'm going to build. The client I'm going to build the website for would like to be able to update articles and content periodically. Therefore, I'm now considering to build the website using wordpress as the content management system. I need to do further research on which one is more suitable for my client's needs. It has to be easy to use and user friendly.
I'm starting to get worried that I may not have enough time to do the research and build the website at the same time. I wish I have realised this earlier, I would've been more prepared.
Anyway, I've updated the draft version of my Macro and Micro Analysis to include WordPress as one technology consideration.
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. All your input would be greatly appreciated.
I'm starting to get worried that I may not have enough time to do the research and build the website at the same time. I wish I have realised this earlier, I would've been more prepared.
Anyway, I've updated the draft version of my Macro and Micro Analysis to include WordPress as one technology consideration.
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. All your input would be greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
PHP meltdown
Am I the only one that left the class last night feeling like my brain just about explode? This PHP thing is really challenging. Even after watching the video tutorial before the class, I still left feeling that I'm more confused than before. I really need to catch up and learn more about this.
I think I know why I'm not a developer =)... I'm more a visual kind of person. I need to visualise what the code is actually doing and what results I would expected to see. I might give the practical another go and try to understand what the code is actually trying to do.
I think I know why I'm not a developer =)... I'm more a visual kind of person. I need to visualise what the code is actually doing and what results I would expected to see. I might give the practical another go and try to understand what the code is actually trying to do.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Draft of Technology Macro and Micro Analysis
Here it is... my draft of the Technology Macro and Micro Analysis. I think it still needs a lot more work on the Micro analysis parts. All feedback would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Preparing User Questions
I have decided that I'm going to apply the User Centered Design (UCD) process in designing my website project. One of the steps of the UCD process is to gather user requirements. To do that, I'll be creating a short user survey, which I hope will give me some valuable information about my potential users to the website.
I've started drafting the user survey questions tonight. I'll review them again tomorrow before I distribute them to the potential users. This exercise will teach me valuable knowledge in applying the UCD process in website development.
I've started drafting the user survey questions tonight. I'll review them again tomorrow before I distribute them to the potential users. This exercise will teach me valuable knowledge in applying the UCD process in website development.
Writing My Technology Macro and Micro Analysis
I spent my day today to write my draft version of the Technology Macro and Micro Analysis assignment. I gather some books and online resources to get the definition of all the technologies I'll be using on my project. I found it's not easy to get a simple, easy to understand definition of each of the technologies. I'll try my best of describing each of them in the macro analysis.
As for the Micro analysis. There are a few things I'm still unsure about. I have to work on it further tomorrow so I can get them ready for review on Tuesday.
As for the Micro analysis. There are a few things I'm still unsure about. I have to work on it further tomorrow so I can get them ready for review on Tuesday.
Week 6 - CSS Layout
More CSS lecture was on last Tuesday. This time it was about CSS layout: How to position elements on the page and all the different options available to get the elements laid out the way you want them to. I found it takes a while for the whole concept to sink in. Until I played around with it and experiment with all the different options available, it's hard to imagine what it looks like.
The practical challenge is quite challenging. It took me a while to get them right. I think the key points of this is really experimenting with it and see what you get out of it. Although it was challenging, it was really fun for me. I really enjoy CSS. I think I can go on all night playing with them. I can't wait to start designing my website pages.
The practical challenge is quite challenging. It took me a while to get them right. I think the key points of this is really experimenting with it and see what you get out of it. Although it was challenging, it was really fun for me. I really enjoy CSS. I think I can go on all night playing with them. I can't wait to start designing my website pages.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Big, Bold and Beautiful Website Navigation Menus
As I'm doing my research for my design, I came across this post - "30+ Examples of Big, Bold and Beautiful Website Navigation Menus" by Freelance Folder. The team from Freelance folder complied a list of examples of navigation menu designs.
The navigation menu is an important element in any website design. It can be the one thing that will determine the success and failure of your website. If it's badly designed, your users would not know where to go and eventually leave your website without even thinking about coming back. On the other hand, when it's well designed and creates a nice user experience, your users would most likely keep coming back to your site. Furthermore, they may recommend it to their friends and eventually your site would serve its purpose whatever that may be.
This post is a reminder for me to carefully think about how the navigation menu in my website should be. In my opinion, a good navigation doesn't have to be fancy and flashy. I like it to be simple and easy to use and supported by its aesthetics design.
The navigation menu is an important element in any website design. It can be the one thing that will determine the success and failure of your website. If it's badly designed, your users would not know where to go and eventually leave your website without even thinking about coming back. On the other hand, when it's well designed and creates a nice user experience, your users would most likely keep coming back to your site. Furthermore, they may recommend it to their friends and eventually your site would serve its purpose whatever that may be.
This post is a reminder for me to carefully think about how the navigation menu in my website should be. In my opinion, a good navigation doesn't have to be fancy and flashy. I like it to be simple and easy to use and supported by its aesthetics design.
Inspiration for non-profits website design
A friend forwarded me this blog post about 22 Non-profits Looking Good, Doing Good by Mubashar Igbal from most inspired website. I found this inspiring. It proves that even a non-profit organisation using their website as an important marketing tool. Being non-profit doesn't mean cheap. It's a great service to the organisation and its contributors when the website is well-designed.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Client Site Visit
Yesterday (Sunday, 30th August), I went to visit my friend's new business premises. I'm building a website for her new business as the project in this course. She is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioner. She and her fiance has just started the TCM clinic. We also had a good chat about my proposal and about the website. This process is really important for me to know more about the TCM industry.
As part of my information gathering, I also looking at other competitors websites to get some ideas of what competitors in the industry are doing. There are a lot to learn about the TCM industry. I hope to get some ideas of structure to the content this week so I can start planning the website.
As part of my information gathering, I also looking at other competitors websites to get some ideas of what competitors in the industry are doing. There are a lot to learn about the TCM industry. I hope to get some ideas of structure to the content this week so I can start planning the website.
Week 5 - XHTML and CSS Style
Last week we looked at XHTML and CSS Style in more details. The lecture also talked a little bit about what sort of process we need to do to start designing our website. It reminded me that I need to start planning for the website I'm going to build.
As mentioned in the previous post, I played around with CSS a little bit and apply it to my Learning Proposal. After the practical exercise, I played around a bit more with CSS on my Learning Proposal. It worked pretty well I think. It gave me the starting point of practicing using CSS. I really had fun with it. It's amazing how a little style can do to your boring HTML page.
I need to start thinking about the design of my Website project and plan how I'm going to build it.
This week, I have to refer to my learning proposal and start following my schedules.
As mentioned in the previous post, I played around with CSS a little bit and apply it to my Learning Proposal. After the practical exercise, I played around a bit more with CSS on my Learning Proposal. It worked pretty well I think. It gave me the starting point of practicing using CSS. I really had fun with it. It's amazing how a little style can do to your boring HTML page.
I need to start thinking about the design of my Website project and plan how I'm going to build it.
This week, I have to refer to my learning proposal and start following my schedules.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Practicing CSS
This week, I've looking at video tutorials from Lynda.com on HTML and CSS. The have great tutorials on pretty much anything you would like to learn. I thought to do a little bit of practical exercise, I decided to "style" my Learning Proposal a little... =). It's good practice!
I embedded the CSS style inside my HTML document. It took me a while to decide which colours I want to use, which font I like. etc. I even tried to put some background image on the page. However, I decided to keep it simple for the moment. The background image can be a little bit too much distraction to a page with a lot of text. Anyway, I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to explore more what I can do with CSS!
I embedded the CSS style inside my HTML document. It took me a while to decide which colours I want to use, which font I like. etc. I even tried to put some background image on the page. However, I decided to keep it simple for the moment. The background image can be a little bit too much distraction to a page with a lot of text. Anyway, I had a lot of fun and I can't wait to explore more what I can do with CSS!
Friday, August 21, 2009
16 Cheat Sheets for Web Designers
Who would like to have a cheat sheet for your HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP codes?
I came across this post on Problog Design, "16 Cheat Sheet on 16 Essentials Topics for Web Designers", which has a list of cheat sheets covering from HTML to CSS, Javascript, JQuery, PHP nd MySQL. You can download and print them to keep as your reference. I think this could be handy as resources during our learning process in this subject. I hope you find this useful.
I came across this post on Problog Design, "16 Cheat Sheet on 16 Essentials Topics for Web Designers", which has a list of cheat sheets covering from HTML to CSS, Javascript, JQuery, PHP nd MySQL. You can download and print them to keep as your reference. I think this could be handy as resources during our learning process in this subject. I hope you find this useful.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Week 4 - Server side technologies
This week, we had our brief introduction to the server side technologies. We learnt more about type of web servers, PHP and databases. From my understanding PHP is like in interpreter for programming language which allows you to talk to databases. PHP will be able to output dynamic HTML pages from databases. Databases are managed by Databases Management Systems such as MySQL. Tonight's lecture was very brief and I think I need to watch the video again and read more about PHP and MySQL. I don't think I can fully understand it just yet. It is still an unknown territory to me. I hope I can understand them more once I dive into it.
Tonight, we also received the feedback about our learning plan. There are a lot of things I need to think about for my project. It would be an interesting project, however it might be too ambitious for the time frame I have in this subject. I need to prioritise a few things and refine the plan a little bit more. I might have to break it into phases and work my way through each phases. I also need to do more research on the which available opensource CMS technologies I can use for this project. This week, my task would be to finalise the learning plan and do more research on the strategies and resources to do the project.
Tonight, we also received the feedback about our learning plan. There are a lot of things I need to think about for my project. It would be an interesting project, however it might be too ambitious for the time frame I have in this subject. I need to prioritise a few things and refine the plan a little bit more. I might have to break it into phases and work my way through each phases. I also need to do more research on the which available opensource CMS technologies I can use for this project. This week, my task would be to finalise the learning plan and do more research on the strategies and resources to do the project.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Week 3 - Introduction to client side technology
This week we had our first introduction to HTML, CSS and Javascript. I had fun playing with a little bit of HTML code on my "Learning Proposal" page. I think it's a good HTML practice for me and I want to do more. I haven't had a chance to play with CSS and Javascript much. I managed to do exercises with no major problems. I was also able to upload my "Learning Proposal" successfully to the FTP server using the FTP client which I have set up on my machine at home.
As an interface designer I really want to be good at CSS and Javascript. To me, the power of CSS gives designers the freedom to express their design and creativity into the web platform. My knowledge of website design came from laying out pages using HTML tables, which as we all found out it's the wrong thing to do! I didn't know any better then. Now, I know that I need to learn CSS and be good at it to expand my creativity to the web platform. I have seen some beautiful websites done using CSS. These websites have inspired me of what you can do with CSS to create a powerful design for your site.
Javascript, as I understood it, allows me to create interactive elements in my sites. This is also very important to me. Creating and interactive sites is one of the many challenges that I need to learn. It gives the sites so much better user experience when it is used appropriately. It promotes users engagement to your site which I find exciting and challenging at the same time.
I hope through the course of this semester, I will be able to learn as much as I can about HTML, CSS and Javascript.
As an interface designer I really want to be good at CSS and Javascript. To me, the power of CSS gives designers the freedom to express their design and creativity into the web platform. My knowledge of website design came from laying out pages using HTML tables, which as we all found out it's the wrong thing to do! I didn't know any better then. Now, I know that I need to learn CSS and be good at it to expand my creativity to the web platform. I have seen some beautiful websites done using CSS. These websites have inspired me of what you can do with CSS to create a powerful design for your site.
Javascript, as I understood it, allows me to create interactive elements in my sites. This is also very important to me. Creating and interactive sites is one of the many challenges that I need to learn. It gives the sites so much better user experience when it is used appropriately. It promotes users engagement to your site which I find exciting and challenging at the same time.
I hope through the course of this semester, I will be able to learn as much as I can about HTML, CSS and Javascript.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Adobe BrowserLab
Adobe has created a tool called Adobe BrowserLab to allow web designers to test and preview their designs in multiple browsers and OS. It is good for compatibility testing. It also integrate to work with Dreamweaver CS4. For the browsers, it supports Firefox 2.x and 3.x, Internet Explorer 6.x and 7.x and Safari 3.x. For the OS it supports Windows XP and Mac OS X.
Adobe is now offering a limited free preview to be downloaded. You can download it from the Adobe Lab website.
I thought this might be handy for us when we want to test our website design in different browsers and OS.
Adobe is now offering a limited free preview to be downloaded. You can download it from the Adobe Lab website.
I thought this might be handy for us when we want to test our website design in different browsers and OS.
My Learning Proposal - Update
Hi Everyone,
I've updated my learning proposal with more details on the schedule. It is still a draft of course and I would really appreciate your feedback. I found it difficult to create a schedule without having a clear understanding of what would be involved. So your feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again.
I've updated my learning proposal with more details on the schedule. It is still a draft of course and I would really appreciate your feedback. I found it difficult to create a schedule without having a clear understanding of what would be involved. So your feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
My Learning Proposal
Hi everyone,
You can find my learning proposal by clicking this link: My Learning Proposal. I really want to get some feedback in particularly the project I was proposing. I'm not sure if this project is beyond the capabilities of this subject. I have so many ideas I want to do but finding it hard to define the scope of my project. If you have any suggestions and advice, please let me know.
I also haven't thought much about what resources I'm going to use. I think I'm still a little lost. I know I will definitely will be using HTML/XHTML, CSS and Javascript. However, I don't know what other technologies I need to consider to do the website project. I probably need databases technology? which one? I'm not sure.
I will need to think about this further during the week and at least put finish the schedule.
Thanks
Vera
You can find my learning proposal by clicking this link: My Learning Proposal. I really want to get some feedback in particularly the project I was proposing. I'm not sure if this project is beyond the capabilities of this subject. I have so many ideas I want to do but finding it hard to define the scope of my project. If you have any suggestions and advice, please let me know.
I also haven't thought much about what resources I'm going to use. I think I'm still a little lost. I know I will definitely will be using HTML/XHTML, CSS and Javascript. However, I don't know what other technologies I need to consider to do the website project. I probably need databases technology? which one? I'm not sure.
I will need to think about this further during the week and at least put finish the schedule.
Thanks
Vera
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Redesigners Vs Realigners
I read an article this week written by Cameron Moll from Alistapart articles. The article titled “Good Designers Redesigned and Great Designers Realign”. Cameron talked about how designers are faced with the challenge to split themselves as “Redesigners” or “Realigners”.
In the article, Cameron argues that the “Redesigners” focus on the aesthetic value. Redesigning means that you often first focus on the aesthetic values such as colour-scheme, look and feel to be the solutions of the problems before considering the less-aesthetic aspects, which maybe the root of the problem. “Realigners” gives focus to the “why” there is a need for changes. Realigners would look at the users’ needs and objectives for reasons to consider the purpose of changes.
This semester, I am also enrolled in the Digital Media Development Process subject, in which the project we will be doing is to ‘redesign a website’. This gets me thinking maybe the terms ‘redesign’ is not really appropriate here. By looking at the outline of the development process we would be doing more than just redesigning. We will be realigning the design to fit the changes needed in the customers and clients needs.
As a designer myself, I’m too faced with this questions everyday. Often, I would fall into “Redesigner” thinking hat because the big aspect of designs are very aesthetically focused. However, I don’t think the two roles can be separated. I wouldn’t want to say I’m completely switch to the “Realigners”. Why can’t we be good at both? Ideally, you would put on the “Realigner” thinking hat first when trying to find the root of the problem and when to come up with the strategy. Then, you will switch to “Redesign” hat to support your strategy.
While “Realigning” is in doubt very important, I would not undervalue the important of aesthetics. Users would find their first impression of your company and your brand from the design of your website. It is your first contact with the users. So it is equally important aspects to consider. I will say “Great Designers Realign to Redesign”.
In the article, Cameron argues that the “Redesigners” focus on the aesthetic value. Redesigning means that you often first focus on the aesthetic values such as colour-scheme, look and feel to be the solutions of the problems before considering the less-aesthetic aspects, which maybe the root of the problem. “Realigners” gives focus to the “why” there is a need for changes. Realigners would look at the users’ needs and objectives for reasons to consider the purpose of changes.
This semester, I am also enrolled in the Digital Media Development Process subject, in which the project we will be doing is to ‘redesign a website’. This gets me thinking maybe the terms ‘redesign’ is not really appropriate here. By looking at the outline of the development process we would be doing more than just redesigning. We will be realigning the design to fit the changes needed in the customers and clients needs.
As a designer myself, I’m too faced with this questions everyday. Often, I would fall into “Redesigner” thinking hat because the big aspect of designs are very aesthetically focused. However, I don’t think the two roles can be separated. I wouldn’t want to say I’m completely switch to the “Realigners”. Why can’t we be good at both? Ideally, you would put on the “Realigner” thinking hat first when trying to find the root of the problem and when to come up with the strategy. Then, you will switch to “Redesign” hat to support your strategy.
While “Realigning” is in doubt very important, I would not undervalue the important of aesthetics. Users would find their first impression of your company and your brand from the design of your website. It is your first contact with the users. So it is equally important aspects to consider. I will say “Great Designers Realign to Redesign”.
About Blog
As one of our first assignments for DMT subject is to do a blog and regularly contributed to it, I have decided that I’m going to dedicate one post to find out more about blog.
What is a blog?
A blog is a type of website with regular entries that are shown in reverse-chronological order.
The word “blog” was introduced in early 1999 by Peter Merholz when he decided that he’s going to pronounce the original term of “weblog” (introduced by Jorn Barger in late 1997) to be “we blog”, which then shorten as “blog”. The word “blog” can also means “to maintain a blog”. This was introduced by Evan Williams co-founder of Pyra Labs, who also using the term “Blogger”(for someone who creates a blog) to named one of their product. Blogger is one of the first web applications that offers a free service for creating and managing a blog. Since then, the popularity of blogs and bloggers are growing continuously.
Type of Blogs
There are many type of blogs. There are personal blogs (e.g online journal), which is the most common type of blogs and there are focus-specific blogs which covers specific topics you are interested in (e.g Technology blog, Fashion blog). There are also blogs that are named based on the type of media it presenting (e.g Photoblog) and based on the type of medium the content is created in (e.g. Moblog for a blog created by a mobile device).
Why blogs are popular?
In my opinion, human is a naturally social creature in general. They survive by communicating with each other. People have opinions they would like to share with others. They like their opinions to be heard. A blog is one of the many mediums that support these needs. Blog creates a sense of community, where you can publish your opinion and your readers can publish their comments. It creates a conversation. Free web application such as Blogger and WordPress, makes it even easier and more accessible for people to create and manage a blog. They do not need to be a web programmer to start a blog and publish their opinions on the web.
Issues with blogs
This blog I have created for this course would be my first taste of the web technology. I started bookmarking the blogs that covers the topics that I’m interested in. Applications such as google reader with rss feeds allow me to subscribe to those blogs. However, the nature of the blogs to be updated regularly making it harder to keep up with all the updates.
With many commentaries posted based on the author’s personal opinions, it is hard to predict the reliability of the source without thinking about the author’s biasness.
There’s no doubt that blogs are becoming more popular. Businesses and marketers increasingly incorporate blog on their website as a way to generate connections to their customers. It changes the culture of passive consumer as the reader to active consumer as the creator of content.
To finish of, I would like to share this cartoon from Dave Walker ("We Blog Cartoons")
What is a blog?
A blog is a type of website with regular entries that are shown in reverse-chronological order.
The word “blog” was introduced in early 1999 by Peter Merholz when he decided that he’s going to pronounce the original term of “weblog” (introduced by Jorn Barger in late 1997) to be “we blog”, which then shorten as “blog”. The word “blog” can also means “to maintain a blog”. This was introduced by Evan Williams co-founder of Pyra Labs, who also using the term “Blogger”(for someone who creates a blog) to named one of their product. Blogger is one of the first web applications that offers a free service for creating and managing a blog. Since then, the popularity of blogs and bloggers are growing continuously.
Type of Blogs
There are many type of blogs. There are personal blogs (e.g online journal), which is the most common type of blogs and there are focus-specific blogs which covers specific topics you are interested in (e.g Technology blog, Fashion blog). There are also blogs that are named based on the type of media it presenting (e.g Photoblog) and based on the type of medium the content is created in (e.g. Moblog for a blog created by a mobile device).
Why blogs are popular?
In my opinion, human is a naturally social creature in general. They survive by communicating with each other. People have opinions they would like to share with others. They like their opinions to be heard. A blog is one of the many mediums that support these needs. Blog creates a sense of community, where you can publish your opinion and your readers can publish their comments. It creates a conversation. Free web application such as Blogger and WordPress, makes it even easier and more accessible for people to create and manage a blog. They do not need to be a web programmer to start a blog and publish their opinions on the web.
Issues with blogs
This blog I have created for this course would be my first taste of the web technology. I started bookmarking the blogs that covers the topics that I’m interested in. Applications such as google reader with rss feeds allow me to subscribe to those blogs. However, the nature of the blogs to be updated regularly making it harder to keep up with all the updates.
With many commentaries posted based on the author’s personal opinions, it is hard to predict the reliability of the source without thinking about the author’s biasness.
There’s no doubt that blogs are becoming more popular. Businesses and marketers increasingly incorporate blog on their website as a way to generate connections to their customers. It changes the culture of passive consumer as the reader to active consumer as the creator of content.
To finish of, I would like to share this cartoon from Dave Walker ("We Blog Cartoons")
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Week 2 - Getting to know technology
I was a little overwhelmed by this week's lectures. We learnt all the basic things of how internet works, what a network is, what a protocol is, different type of servers and the different technologies behind it. Having a husband who is a "geek", I have heard of these "jargon" terms before like IP numbers, FTP servers, Javascripts, CSS, XHTML, PHP, MySQL, etc. However, I a didn't know what they are really mean.
Previously, I didn't really care about this. Put it simply, I rather not knowing. I just want things to works and don't really care of "how" the back-end works. Honestly, I'm a little scared of them. They are so foreign to me. I just kept my mouth shut when people around me talking about them, because I don't know enough about them.
However, after the lecturer, I can now say "I know what you're talking about" and maybe even getting involved in the discussion. This lectures has provided me with a simple explanation on the technologies without putting me off the subject. It has provided me with just enough information that actually motivated me to want to learn more. I no longer scared of the technologies.
This week, we are also need to start thinking about what we're going to do for our project. I have some ideas lingering around in my head but haven't really thought about it much. My task for this week is to start focusing on what I want to do as a project and narrowing down some ideas to make a more concrete plan.
This week, we are also starting the blog running. I'm thinking what topic should I write? I'm trying to keep it technology or digital media related. However, there are so many out there. I don't know where to start. I might start with a topic that I'm interested in. I'll keep you posted.
Previously, I didn't really care about this. Put it simply, I rather not knowing. I just want things to works and don't really care of "how" the back-end works. Honestly, I'm a little scared of them. They are so foreign to me. I just kept my mouth shut when people around me talking about them, because I don't know enough about them.
However, after the lecturer, I can now say "I know what you're talking about" and maybe even getting involved in the discussion. This lectures has provided me with a simple explanation on the technologies without putting me off the subject. It has provided me with just enough information that actually motivated me to want to learn more. I no longer scared of the technologies.
This week, we are also need to start thinking about what we're going to do for our project. I have some ideas lingering around in my head but haven't really thought about it much. My task for this week is to start focusing on what I want to do as a project and narrowing down some ideas to make a more concrete plan.
This week, we are also starting the blog running. I'm thinking what topic should I write? I'm trying to keep it technology or digital media related. However, there are so many out there. I don't know where to start. I might start with a topic that I'm interested in. I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
My first post
Hello there,
Let me just introduce myself. My name is Verawaty Chan, and you can call me Vera. I know nothing about creating a blog, so this will be my first! This blog will have the things I have learnt, and will be learning during my latest adventure, going back to Uni!
I'm doing a subject called "Digital Media Technologies". As the name suggest, I guess I will be learning all about digital media technologies. I'll keep you posted.
Let me just introduce myself. My name is Verawaty Chan, and you can call me Vera. I know nothing about creating a blog, so this will be my first! This blog will have the things I have learnt, and will be learning during my latest adventure, going back to Uni!
I'm doing a subject called "Digital Media Technologies". As the name suggest, I guess I will be learning all about digital media technologies. I'll keep you posted.
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