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Web page designing can be very difficult at times, yet
on the other hand it can be very rewarding once a person gets a handle
of what is happening. Starting a web page takes much time and effort in
order to allow for a organized and eye catching.
I first started with no prior knowlegde about how to
put together a web page. This made me feel a little uncomfortable and unsure
about how well I would do. Taking Professor James' 409 class though allowed
me the oppurtunity to work towards creating my own web page. Giving me
the basic knowledge to create a web page for others to view. So now I am
confident that I can produce a simple web page, with that I am becoming
more and more interested in creating a web page that is better than the
first. This leads me to think that it is becoming more part of my life,
which will continue for a long time after I finish this class.
Throughout the semester I have come across problem after problem in trying to put together a informative yet eye catching page. This being a problem this site will allow the reader to see what I have done and yet be able to use the resources available. Creating a web design is a part of a person being put up for everyone to see. I will always think about what people are thinking of my design and the information I have on my web page.
Prior generations reports on this topic were quite extensive in the type of information available. Such as the report #2 by Mr. Sakoda who entitles his report Hints to Becoming a Web Architect, in his report he states that "Now I am confident enough to say that I can legitimately be called a web designer. I can do many new things, and I'd like to share these things with you through means of my report, and the links contained within." This is helpful to new people designing web pages. In Mr.Sako's situation he states that it was hard to get started and that he kept procrastinating. Once he started and actually got to do one it got easier to do.Another student Erin Tanaka wrote "Lost, nervous, and clueless. These are a few words that describe my starting point in web design. During my lifetime, I've had only two major experiences with computers. The first would be at my working place where I would do some light data entry. My second experience would be typing out my papers on Microsoft Word. As a new web designer, I started at zero: absolutely zero knowledge about web pages." For Erin Tanka like Jay Sakoda she felt a little more confidence nearing the end of the term. The thing though is that her report itself was quite good in the information provided. I would change though the coloring of the background and the fonts these were quite hard to read. Erin Tanaka also has some good advice "if you need help go out and get it."
jeffGlover.com is a web page with imformation about himself Jeffrey Glover and Web Architecture information. Mr. Glover provides tips and information to people to create web pages. These tips and information is collected from different web sites and gathered feedback from internet users. This data is sectioned into two parts, one section is called the Top ten ways to tell if you have a Sucky Home Page, the second is called Sucky to Savvy.Sucky Home Page?
The first section to grab my attention was his Top Ten Ways To Tell If You Have A Sucky Home Page. This caught my attention with a listing of ways which is easy to follow. The first thing to hit me was the Warning sign which was another attention getter. Even though he wrote this top ten list, he also states how "good design is a matter of Your personal taste." I totally agree with this statement that a persons taste differs from person to person. The internet is a vast amount of information and in order to keep a person coming back to your page you must make it presentable. Like a book in the library if it is boring you would put it down and find another, this is similar to the internet. Top Ten Comments Jeffrey Glover's Top Ten Ways to Tell If You Have a Sucky Home Page is as follows:
10- Your header picture is over 50k
9-You put up a 400k picture of yourself, and you appear in the lower-left 20k
8-We can only stomach so many pictures of your pets
7-Obnoxious background music
6-You use bad, bad, bad, bad scans
5-Ticker tape status bars
4-You use Construction pics on your page
3-Your home page consists of a desperate plea for a job
2-Blink
1-You're on your own Hot List
I disagree with number 2, because using blinking text allows one to emphasize that particular word of statement. The only way I would agree with Mr. Glover on this one would be a situation where there is too much blinking and my eyes were getting sore. I say this because, a person staring at a computer screen for too long has tired eyes and by making text blink the persons eyes would have to strain even more to read the text. This is why I say there should be only a small amount of blinking text.
Sucky to Savvy
In this section, Mr. Glover explains what style he thinks is sucky and what style he thinks is savvy. This section is the most informative. In Sucky to Savvy, Mr. Glover has three parts to each page. The first part explains the element or style that he is commenting on. The second part explains why a certain style is sucky or savvy. Finally the third and most important part explains how you can improve your home page. I will go over a couple of things that was interesting in the Sucky and Savvy List and comment on it.
The Sucky List
The Sucky List is just like his top ten list. The only difference is that he explains how to turn the sucky element or style into a savvy one. For example, the first element on his sucky list was blink. He goes on to explain that reading blinking text is very irritating. I would have to disagree with him about that but on Mr.Glover's page he gives advice to use instead of the blinking text. This is located in the third section of that page, His advice is to try using bold or a larger size text to emphasize your point. I feel this advice is good for some people.
The Savvy List
The Savvy List has the three sections like the Sucky List. The first page that I thought was very interesting was the thumbnail graphics page. Mostly everyone likes graphics. Pictures and graphics are important in making a home page look beautiful. If the graphics are extremely nice, people will come. But, many people on the internet today are very impatient. If a home page isn't loaded fast enough, people click off before seeing it. The reason many of these home pages take long is the graphics. Thumbnail graphics reduces loading time and gives the
user the power to see what he wants to see. Mr. Glover explains how to make thumbnail graphics.The second page that I liked was the "Be Unique." This title says it all. On the internet, you see the same things over and over. Many people have the same styles and elements. Everyone on this planet has different personalities. I totally agree with Jeffrey Glover when he says, "The key is to infuse your page with what makes you." What makes the internet so exciting is that people learn from each other everyday. One way to have people learn about you is to make a home page that is "you and only you."
Reaction of jeffglover.com
Jeffrey Glover's page was very informative and useful. I would recommend it to anyone that is new to web architecture to visit his home page. The information on this page would have helped me to create a better page if I were to have found this page earlier in the semester.The Sucky to Savvy section has a lot of information. If you have time, you should stop by. It will be worth your time.
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"Later, when I got over my disappointment, I realized that there are two views possible regarding the Internet, one external and the other internal. My friend, along with many influential people in government, education and industry, are going to have only an external view. And this view is uninviting, unattractive, and unexciting. How fast it spreads, how much it costs, how it can be used for increasing sales, for delivering distance education, and making electronic libraries and information databases more accessible to all people. These external considerations regarding Internet are necessary and worthwhile. The new teletechnology is a boon to society worldwide. We need to protect and foster its development through appropriate and wise legislation and international agreements. I support and applaud this. But it is not where my love is. My love is in My Home Page architecture -- and this requires an inside view, a perspective obtainable only through doing the work of a cyberspace architect."
A link is a communicative act by which a member of the community transmits new information or new meaning by connecting two independent ideas which have not been related before. Links in a virtual learning community are thus motivated actions or behaviors responding to members' wishes to exchange and communicate their mental life to each other.
The affective feature of links refers to their motivation. It answers the question, Why the link was created, or, What was the person's purpose for putting a link there.
The cognitive feature of links refers to their argument or implication. It answers the question, What new information or knowledge is being created through the link, or, What is the new idea that is communicated by the link.
The sensorimotor feature of links refers to their location and appearance. It answers the question, How the link was created, or, What is its physical appearance.
The study and analysis of linkage structure is the study and analysis of communicative acts in cyberspace by members of a virtual learning community. It is the natural history of culture (ethnography), language (ethnolinguistics, sociolingusitcs, and psycholinguistics), and behavior (social psychology).
It is interesting to think about all the links and the reports as a super document. The three parts are affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor which answers the questions of why it was created. Also it looks at what is created, and how the link was created. The generalization of affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor is an interesting topic to look at because it looks at what the person was thinking and not just what kind of information in writen.
I started this class with some computer background with basic word processing, databasing, and knowledge of what the internet is. The hard part was the fact that I did not have any knowledge of HTML or hypertext markup language. HTML is a programming language which allows all computers to download information. So I had to learn how to actually create the web page.With the knowledge that I did not know how to create a web page I had to start early and figure out what I was doing. I did not really want to ask questions which was a bad move. It was a bad move because I took even longer to figure things out. The way which I figured things out was to look at the help section of netscape which provides some information. The other things I just tried to do by clicking and finding that it was similar to using a word processor.
Right now, I am pretty confident in creating a simple web page. I know that there are many more things which I need to learn in order to consider myself a good web designer. The information about web designing which I have is sufficient to complete the tasks of this class and to post simple reports on the web.
With that I think that I would want to continue to learn about making better web pages and new ways of developing ideas. This comes from accomplishing the simple tasks here and wanting the challenge. The challenge to become a web page which is known for its uniqueness, and quality.
The advice I have the online generational community classroom would be to give a little more comprehensive instructions so that the reports are growing in quality. I think that for myself I felt a little frustrated not knowing what to actually do to find the correct information. Also I think that the topics should be going into a little more specific areas which stem from to topics now. Other than that I would say that the generational classroom is an excellent idea and should be kept in the style it is in.
When searching for additional information on web design I found this site World Wide Web Page Designers which gave me some information which helped me to figure what the uses of a web page has and also what it is. Another is Teach Yourself Web Publishing which is a site dedicated to reviewing a book "Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 4." This is a good book for beginners.