Dbeliz's Blog

Final Project

Chico — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:48:11 +0000

Designing my portfolio web page was a little more challenging than I expected. I wanted to a lot more with it, but with all of the other projects I’ve had this semester it was hard to put in quality time on it. I started out by making the banner and navigation in Fireworks. I imported it into Dreamweaver and finished everything there. I have a lot of designs that I wanted to put on there but one of my flash drives is messed up so I was unable to. Other than that I kept it pretty simple. The navigation bar is well displayed and easy to find. I came up with the logo because I feel it’s simple but yet unique. Overall the process was more challenging than expected due to some flash drive problems, and I wish I had more time to dedicate to this project but wasn’t able to. I am happy with what I had to work with.

Ch 18, 19, 20

Chico — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:20:24 +0000

With the recent release of the Ipad a lot of people were excited about the new technology. Yes it does look cool, but to me that’s about all it does. It does not support Flash which basically means that 70 % of web sites will not be able to be viewed, and 75 % of games will not be able to be played. I do not know of any opportunites that this will create except for new software for people to learn. Like I mentioned earlier there will be a lot of disadvantages like not being able to access a lot of sites.

I think what is so special about HTML5 is that Ipad/Iphone support it. Maybe in the future it will be what everyone is using but the article says that it is in development. Maybe it will play videos better than Flash, but I feel all it’s doing right now is causing problems and making people made. I could see it opening up job opportunities for people, but how long is it going to take to get out on the market, and then for many web designers and developers to learn the software. I think apple should just suck it up and take off the restrictions for Flash until they get HTML5 out and people learn how to use it.

Ch 16

Chico — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:11:53 +0000

Web standards are a basic outline of what is exceptable on the internet. They include things such as the W3C standards, CSS, and HTML markup code. There are many advantages of using these standards. Complying with web standards can give your web pages greater visibility in web searches. The structural information present in compliant documents makes it easy for search engines to access and evaluate the information in those documents, and they get indexed more accurately. You want your web pages to get indexed more accurately so that when people search for you site it comes up on the first or second pages. You also want to keep these web standards in mind when developing your site that way more people will come to the site. More traffic that comes in, the more business you will get.

Like I mentioned earlier, for a business aspect, if you follow the web standards I believe it will help create more business. People enjoy a professional site and they feel like they can trust that site. In turn this will generate the business more traffic, which leads to more money. A business can never make enough money.

Zeldman’s article A list apart describes what should be done with web browers. Some of the old browsers are not up to date and do not support the new technology. Web designer care about this because the browsers are always changing. Keep up to date on your browsers and software and you should be fine.

Ch 15

Chico — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:45:11 +0000

Information architecture is how a site is designed before it is actually made. This helps keep the designer stay on track. I think it is very helpful to do this before starting a web site.

Card sorting is a technique that many information architects (and related professionals.) use as an input to the structure of a site or product. Card sorting is a quick, inexpensive, and reliable method, which serves as input into your information design process. Card sorting generates an overall structure for your information, as well as suggestions for navigation, menus, and possible taxonomies.

There are a few common information architecture techinque mistakes that designers make when designing a web site. They consist of no structure, search and structure not integrated, missing landing pages, extreme polyhieracrchy, subsites/microsites poorly integrated with main site, invisible navigation options, uncontrollable navigation elements, inconsistent navigation, too many navigation techniques, made Up menu options. These are the top ten most common information architecture mistakes made.

I can see a few things on how we see people use web sites and how they actually use them. I could see that people abuse them and steal information from the web site, and that is not what the designer wants. Or they could even use the sites for educational purposes, and sometimes a designer does not expect that at all.

Chapter 14

Chico — Tue, 04 May 2010 15:17:50 +0000

There were a few common elements of design. Know what you’re doing, know what the site needs to do, and know what the site’s visitors want. I believe these are some of the essentials that you will need when working with design. You can’t let personal feelings stray you away from what other people are looking for. So lay out exactly what you want before you start. Have a set theme in mind. Next will be know what the site needs to do. You don’t want to place something that is irrelevant to the site. For example putting baseball stuff on a football site. Lastly, you are going to want to know what the visitors want. You want to keep the visitors attention because when it comes down to it, they are the ones that keep you in business. So stay focused and follow a few simple guidelines.

My design process right now is keeping it simple. I like things simple like most people. The visitor shouldn’t have to go all over the site to find just one thing they are looking for. I have viewed a few other designers stuff and I like it, so I might try to use some of there ideas. But I still will keep it simple.

Case Study Project

Chico — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:59:00 +0000

The case study project was a little difficult because there was not a lot of information to work with. I started out making the banner in Fireworks, but the artwork I did in Illustrator. I exported the artwork into Fireworks and finished the banner there. I then exported the banner to Dreamweaver and built the site off of that. I decided to keep the web page pretty simple and easy on the eyes. I started with the home page with a simple art picture. I then added more information about receiving coupons and checking the class schedule. Moving on, I decided to come up with a crafts and accessories page because I felt this site should look like an online store. I just found free clip art and that’s how I designed those two pages. The links page is just something I made up because I have seen a lot of web sites with partner links on their page. Overall this site took me a few weeks to complete by working a few hours a day on it.

Visual Design

Chico — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:44:39 +0000

There are many design issues that can occur when creating web pages. Some people get carried away with graphics and other useless stuff that it takes away from the page. The designer needs to keep the users attention by using relevant information for the site. The designer needs to have a style that is logical and comfortable and doesn’t intrude on the users experience.

The best way to describe the difference between style and design would be what the designer likes. Style is like a personality, everyone has one some are just better than others. Design is simple. Placing the information in an organized fashion without creating confusion.

Lastly, there are a few important design features to keep in mind when developing a site. The designer needs to keep it simple. This will benefit both the designer and user. Simple sites allow all users to become comfortable with the site, and thus leading to them returning. Another thing to keep in mind is the use of white space. More than likely there will be more than one window open when the user is browsing the web. Keep the edges from becoming crowded. Try to have the page centered. This will make it easier for the user and more relief on the eyes.

Creating a fake HDR photo

Chico — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:04:07 +0000

I found using this technique very interesting. It’s amazing that you have the ability to take a regular photo and amp it up using photoshop. I have been trying on several images to make it look as good as the tutorial but I feel as if I have a long way to go. I never realized the different techniques that are used to bring out the quality in a photo. What I liked about the video was it showed you how to do it. I was amazed with the boy image, because he was able to alter it so that you could see the little facial hair the boy was growing. Now that is skill!!! I’ve tried doing this with some of my vacation pictures, but they aren’t turning out as good as I would like. Looks like I will havfe to keep practicing.

Ch 10 Reading and Reflections

Chico — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:58:44 +0000

Before we had photoshop people did editing in a variety of ways. From copying and pasting to airbushing. As I read over the different articles, it seemed like if someone in the picture upset someone else, they were simply cut out of the picture. I also found it disturbing that people altered photos back in the day by using a famous persons face with a different persons body. That is just weird.
Moving on, after watching the dove evolution video it makes you think how much of the images you seen on billboards and magazines are real. I could see them doing slight touch up, but changing facial features is just too much. It definitely gives people false hope. Maybe darken or lighten up a few areas to get that facial expression to pop, but don’t take it that far. This is a reason why a lot of people are very self-conscious, because they want to look like the person in the magazine even though it is pretty much a fake image.
Lastly, after reviewing the altered photos I realized some people just didn’t take enough time editing them. I know it is one thing to try to make someone look good, but come on that is just ridiculous. These editors probably make a lot of money doing what they do, they should at least make sure that the models don’t look like they are amputees.

Ch 8 reading a reflections

Chico — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:59:35 +0000

Learning the different techniques in Photoshop has been fun, and challenging. I have a lot of experience with Photoshop and enjoy learning new things about it that I did not already know. When messing with the levels and curve tools, I could notice a diffence on the image. The major problem that I have with this is that I am color blind so I never really know if I’m getting the best color for the picture. It just looks good to me.

A histogram is a simple bar graph that shows the range of brightness levels that make up an image and the prevalence of each of the shades. You can use it to lighten or darken up your photos to improve the quality.

Hue/Saturation can help improve your image by improving the intesity of the image. Depending on your preference you are able to do a lot of different stuff with this tool. It all depends on your preference and liking.

An HDR photo is taking multiple photos and then adjusting them into one photo making it look like an outstanding high definition photo. You can use different modes in Photoshop to make your image look like an HDR photo. I have been trying to mess around with it here and there and it takes a lot of practice to get it right.