Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Criterion B Websites
1. GUITAR LESSONS
In this website there will be of course guitar lessons. Along with it i will include some information on the history of the guitar, how to tune it, how to string etc. The whole content will contain lessons and tips & tricks.
The style of the website willl be groovy and modern which will go with the topic of the website. I want it to look simple but nice looking, i dont want it to be complicated and tangly. For the text, be best bet is to go with 'Arial' and maybe a more funky font for the tabs and other headings. Other standards such as Times New Roman is too boring to read and will be unattractive. The color of the text shall be black and the background mostly white or gray.
2. MENS WEBSITE
This website contains information for men including topics like fashion and grooming, dating etc. I got the idea from the website 'AskMen.com' which has information on everything men need to know. So i thought i could make a website similar to it.
It should also have a very simple style. Every thing the same as the 1st idea; with black text, the font etc.
1. For my final topic I chose number 1; Guitar Lessons. It seemed the best choice because first of all, I know how to play the guitar, and the other 2 topics were really ambitious; for the second one i would have to update the page regularly, which is something i am not planning to do. And for the third one, I need to have a very wide range of information about many artists/bands, which i dont. Therefore number 1 is the only doable and best choice. Along with the guitar lessons, i am thinking of adding in a few piano lessons as well, as a special feature thing.
2. List of things to include in my website
Layout:
For the whole website i think should leave some 'border' or empty space on the 2 sides which makes it look really neat. Plus, it is much easier to view and scroll, instead of scrolling sideways as well. I am planning to have a 'banner' type of thing at the top with the name of the site and logos etc. I will put main tabs which will link to the general pages of the website. Since it is a website designed to teach you how to play it, i will include 'quick links' on the left side which you can access without having to roam through the website to find it. Pictures are crucial so i will include them on my main page to attract people.
Text:
The text will be black in colour and the font would be Arial. Other standard fonts such as Times New Roman is too 'default' and looks really boring and it even makes readers not want to read. For the headings and tabs etc, i want a bit wackier font such as Papyrus, instead of having the text and heading the same font.
Background:
The background should be white. Even thought it might sound boring it is really simple and easy to read. Gray would also work, if white is too bright and hurts eyes. Since the top of the page and the borders will include other colors and picture, the text part's background should be white or gray.
After thinking about the design a little bit, i want the design to be high school-y. The text part would look like a notebook with lines and stuff and the background could include a high school feeling with lockers and such things, but still i need to go with the idea of being simple.
In this website there will be of course guitar lessons. Along with it i will include some information on the history of the guitar, how to tune it, how to string etc. The whole content will contain lessons and tips & tricks.
The style of the website willl be groovy and modern which will go with the topic of the website. I want it to look simple but nice looking, i dont want it to be complicated and tangly. For the text, be best bet is to go with 'Arial' and maybe a more funky font for the tabs and other headings. Other standards such as Times New Roman is too boring to read and will be unattractive. The color of the text shall be black and the background mostly white or gray.
2. MENS WEBSITE
This website contains information for men including topics like fashion and grooming, dating etc. I got the idea from the website 'AskMen.com' which has information on everything men need to know. So i thought i could make a website similar to it.
It should also have a very simple style. Every thing the same as the 1st idea; with black text, the font etc.
1. For my final topic I chose number 1; Guitar Lessons. It seemed the best choice because first of all, I know how to play the guitar, and the other 2 topics were really ambitious; for the second one i would have to update the page regularly, which is something i am not planning to do. And for the third one, I need to have a very wide range of information about many artists/bands, which i dont. Therefore number 1 is the only doable and best choice. Along with the guitar lessons, i am thinking of adding in a few piano lessons as well, as a special feature thing.
2. List of things to include in my website
Layout:
For the whole website i think should leave some 'border' or empty space on the 2 sides which makes it look really neat. Plus, it is much easier to view and scroll, instead of scrolling sideways as well. I am planning to have a 'banner' type of thing at the top with the name of the site and logos etc. I will put main tabs which will link to the general pages of the website. Since it is a website designed to teach you how to play it, i will include 'quick links' on the left side which you can access without having to roam through the website to find it. Pictures are crucial so i will include them on my main page to attract people.
Text:
The text will be black in colour and the font would be Arial. Other standard fonts such as Times New Roman is too 'default' and looks really boring and it even makes readers not want to read. For the headings and tabs etc, i want a bit wackier font such as Papyrus, instead of having the text and heading the same font.
Background:
The background should be white. Even thought it might sound boring it is really simple and easy to read. Gray would also work, if white is too bright and hurts eyes. Since the top of the page and the borders will include other colors and picture, the text part's background should be white or gray.
After thinking about the design a little bit, i want the design to be high school-y. The text part would look like a notebook with lines and stuff and the background could include a high school feeling with lockers and such things, but still i need to go with the idea of being simple.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Criterion A Websites
In this unit our final product is a website that we will create until the end of school, probably. The topic is ours to choose and we will see who made the best website at the end of the unit. This is a really interesting and fun topic as we learn how to actually create a website and gain more information on the topic of our choice.
This unit allows us to use our imaginative and creative side of our brains, which we only use seldom in our every day lives. It will not only trigger our creativeness, but we will also learn a lot of new things such as the basic 'how to create a website' and more information on the choice of topic you are doing.
The Internet has changed our lives in the past decade. At first the Internet may have been just a luxury, but now it is a necessity for almost half the population of the world. We do everything on the Internet nowadays; shopping, learning, entering our bank accounts etc. It has made life a lot easier. Not only the Internet did, the Internet is just a tool for this. The people behind all the work is the secret to our easy lives today. They have put their effort and time to do what they have done, and of course for their own benefit. Like them, we will create a website on the topic of our choice and lay it out on the Internet for people to see and learn things, and our benefit is getting a good grade on IT class :D.
Which websites appeal to you from a design standpoint? why?
I really liked the LEAD leadership website. Somehow it was really 'warm' to my eyes with all the colors; yellow, white, purple etc. It was also really easy to navigate, the tabs were really clear and eye catching. The whole site was just interactive, with a personal profile that you can create, personality quiz etc. And their were instructions of what to do if you get lost.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/o2289
I also thought the Portable Partners website had a pretty good design. It also had clear tabs, pictures and everything was very organized.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01589/home.html
Which website subject are interesting to you?
The Leadership site really appealed to me the most both in design and subject. The site had full of information; about past leaders, leadership theories, why people cant lead etc. It is a subject i have some difficulties in so i liked it a lot.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/02289
The second week we have to look at 3 websites and make comments on them.
What Design Scares You?
http://webdesign.about.com/u/ua/webdesignbasics/what-design-scares-you.htm
All websites have designs, and some of them are terrible. If you have a design that is 'frightening' to the viewer, you will have a low chance of visitors actually staying on your website. Design is a crucial thing in the making of a website, so we should be careful not to make a bad design.
The comments made were all very helpful in a way so that i will not create a 'scary' website. The major downturns of a website are:
-white text on black background
-bad contrast between text and background
-no links (link is just text)
-loud audio advertisement, announcement, music
-entirely flash-driven
-too much frames
-cant leave when 'back' button is pressed
-automatic movie starts
Even though white text on a black background sounds cool, when you actually see it, its terrible and it looks as cheap as a Chinese Rubik's Cube (Kyu said it :D). Instead a simple 'picture' background would be far better, but you must keep in mind the color of the text. Whats more worse if someone cant read what you are trying to tell them? Bad contrast between text and background is a big issue, and common colors are yellow-white, red-pink, blue-purple. However most people prefer the standard black text on white background because of its simplicity.
The stupidest thing that can happen is when there is a link, but its not actually a link, but just text and when you press on it nothing happens. This is usually caused from typing errors in the HTML, so we must be careful about it because it would be embarrassing.
One thing that turns a lot of people off is the loud hardcore music that just pops up. You can put music in if you want to, but it MUST be relevant to the topic. If you're talking about Gandhi, and a Metallica song in the background, priceless. Similar to this, the first thing that comes up is an automated movie/clip, which is also very annoying. Depending on the bandwith of the person, he may not be able to access the other parts of the website. Entirely flash-driven websites are also bandwith enemies. So its a good thing to keep animations and stuff minimum.
Some people have problem with the back button, when you press it, you don't go back but back to the page you were at. This makes people not want to come back. I dont know what exactly causes this, but i will try to not make that happen on my website.
Accessibility
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/accessibility/
It wouldn't be really nice if someone tried to access your website and instead what they planned to see, they see a bunch of HTML text. If you're talking about good accessibility, then it must include:
-a clear and easy website navigation
-must be available to the widest group of people
(user-friendly to deaf, blind people etc)
-can be accessed on any browser
-be able to fix mess ups when something goes wrong
The most important thing is that your website should be coded well, so that the minimum amount of errors will occur. Good coding will eventually lead to good linking; if you cant code the HTML properly then the links and navigation can be a total mess.
What i mean by must be available to the widest group of people is that your website can be seen or used by anyone, it must allow people with incapabilities access the website with ease along with normal people.
Some HTML codes are nmot recognized by some browsers, because of the browser itself, or because of which version of HTML you're using. Its a good idea to use the lates version of HTML which is version 4.01.
When testing the webpage, and something goes wrong, you must able to fix the code. I dont think there will be a problem because most errors are usually because of typos.
After reading some of the points, I got some good tip and had a clear vision of my website, but don't know how to do it at the moment, i still need to learn more about HTML.
Sidebar: A List of Reminders
http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/1-process/5-list-of-reminders.html
These tips were so helpful that if i haven't read it my website would really suck. They were all very important tips but the ones i found very useful were:
-Place yourself in the background; think about other people's interests, if your site does not contain what people want then no one will visit it.
-Prefer the standard to the offbeat; instead of trying new things on your very first website, do the standard and easy ways first then try the new stuff when you're comfortable with HTML.
-Do the visuals last; everyone starts the 'drawing' part before the writing part. It can ruin your whole website if you start the visuals first.
-Do not affect a breezy manner
-Make sure the user knows who is speaking; as it said on the tip itself, 'a good communication is always a person-to-person transaction'. In order to make a good website i need to include my mail address etc, and make it clear where to find it.
Design Specifications
-No flashy and/or cheap images
-Simple background and good contrast between text
-Relevant information to the topic, no other random stuff
-Easy navigation
-Include pictures (and videos if possible)
This unit allows us to use our imaginative and creative side of our brains, which we only use seldom in our every day lives. It will not only trigger our creativeness, but we will also learn a lot of new things such as the basic 'how to create a website' and more information on the choice of topic you are doing.
The Internet has changed our lives in the past decade. At first the Internet may have been just a luxury, but now it is a necessity for almost half the population of the world. We do everything on the Internet nowadays; shopping, learning, entering our bank accounts etc. It has made life a lot easier. Not only the Internet did, the Internet is just a tool for this. The people behind all the work is the secret to our easy lives today. They have put their effort and time to do what they have done, and of course for their own benefit. Like them, we will create a website on the topic of our choice and lay it out on the Internet for people to see and learn things, and our benefit is getting a good grade on IT class :D.
Which websites appeal to you from a design standpoint? why?
I really liked the LEAD leadership website. Somehow it was really 'warm' to my eyes with all the colors; yellow, white, purple etc. It was also really easy to navigate, the tabs were really clear and eye catching. The whole site was just interactive, with a personal profile that you can create, personality quiz etc. And their were instructions of what to do if you get lost.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/o2289
I also thought the Portable Partners website had a pretty good design. It also had clear tabs, pictures and everything was very organized.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/01589/home.html
Which website subject are interesting to you?
The Leadership site really appealed to me the most both in design and subject. The site had full of information; about past leaders, leadership theories, why people cant lead etc. It is a subject i have some difficulties in so i liked it a lot.
http://library.thinkquest.org/08aug/02289
The second week we have to look at 3 websites and make comments on them.
What Design Scares You?
http://webdesign.about.com/u/ua/webdesignbasics/what-design-scares-you.htm
All websites have designs, and some of them are terrible. If you have a design that is 'frightening' to the viewer, you will have a low chance of visitors actually staying on your website. Design is a crucial thing in the making of a website, so we should be careful not to make a bad design.
The comments made were all very helpful in a way so that i will not create a 'scary' website. The major downturns of a website are:
-white text on black background
-bad contrast between text and background
-no links (link is just text)
-loud audio advertisement, announcement, music
-entirely flash-driven
-too much frames
-cant leave when 'back' button is pressed
-automatic movie starts
Even though white text on a black background sounds cool, when you actually see it, its terrible and it looks as cheap as a Chinese Rubik's Cube (Kyu said it :D). Instead a simple 'picture' background would be far better, but you must keep in mind the color of the text. Whats more worse if someone cant read what you are trying to tell them? Bad contrast between text and background is a big issue, and common colors are yellow-white, red-pink, blue-purple. However most people prefer the standard black text on white background because of its simplicity.
The stupidest thing that can happen is when there is a link, but its not actually a link, but just text and when you press on it nothing happens. This is usually caused from typing errors in the HTML, so we must be careful about it because it would be embarrassing.
One thing that turns a lot of people off is the loud hardcore music that just pops up. You can put music in if you want to, but it MUST be relevant to the topic. If you're talking about Gandhi, and a Metallica song in the background, priceless. Similar to this, the first thing that comes up is an automated movie/clip, which is also very annoying. Depending on the bandwith of the person, he may not be able to access the other parts of the website. Entirely flash-driven websites are also bandwith enemies. So its a good thing to keep animations and stuff minimum.
Some people have problem with the back button, when you press it, you don't go back but back to the page you were at. This makes people not want to come back. I dont know what exactly causes this, but i will try to not make that happen on my website.
Accessibility
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/accessibility/
It wouldn't be really nice if someone tried to access your website and instead what they planned to see, they see a bunch of HTML text. If you're talking about good accessibility, then it must include:
-a clear and easy website navigation
-must be available to the widest group of people
(user-friendly to deaf, blind people etc)
-can be accessed on any browser
-be able to fix mess ups when something goes wrong
The most important thing is that your website should be coded well, so that the minimum amount of errors will occur. Good coding will eventually lead to good linking; if you cant code the HTML properly then the links and navigation can be a total mess.
What i mean by must be available to the widest group of people is that your website can be seen or used by anyone, it must allow people with incapabilities access the website with ease along with normal people.
Some HTML codes are nmot recognized by some browsers, because of the browser itself, or because of which version of HTML you're using. Its a good idea to use the lates version of HTML which is version 4.01.
When testing the webpage, and something goes wrong, you must able to fix the code. I dont think there will be a problem because most errors are usually because of typos.
After reading some of the points, I got some good tip and had a clear vision of my website, but don't know how to do it at the moment, i still need to learn more about HTML.
Sidebar: A List of Reminders
http://webstyleguide.com/wsg3/1-process/5-list-of-reminders.html
These tips were so helpful that if i haven't read it my website would really suck. They were all very important tips but the ones i found very useful were:
-Place yourself in the background; think about other people's interests, if your site does not contain what people want then no one will visit it.
-Prefer the standard to the offbeat; instead of trying new things on your very first website, do the standard and easy ways first then try the new stuff when you're comfortable with HTML.
-Do the visuals last; everyone starts the 'drawing' part before the writing part. It can ruin your whole website if you start the visuals first.
-Do not affect a breezy manner
-Make sure the user knows who is speaking; as it said on the tip itself, 'a good communication is always a person-to-person transaction'. In order to make a good website i need to include my mail address etc, and make it clear where to find it.
Design Specifications
-No flashy and/or cheap images
-Simple background and good contrast between text
-Relevant information to the topic, no other random stuff
-Easy navigation
-Include pictures (and videos if possible)
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wikiality Criterion E
Our design specifications were:
-Must contain accurate and valid information
-Must properly cite the resource
-Make sure there are no spelling and grammar mistakes
There is not much to talk about with the design specifications because we only changed a number so the spelling and grammar mistakes are out of the question. However, we do believe that we provided accurate and valid information from a good source and cited it properly. I think we were successful according to our design specification.
Criterion A
As usual, Investigation was the hardest and required the most work. It was alot of fun in the beginning when we started using the PBworks website where we changed and commented on other people's wikis, and we got a good laugh out of it. Then we had to describe our process, how it felt when people changed our wikis and stuff and I believe I explained well on all the questions. The next part of investigation was much harder; where we had do some research about Wikipedia. Some questions we had to answer were tough and required more time and research than the others but Badmaa and I managed to complete it. We did a reasonable job but one thing we shouldve done was to research from a number of sources to broaden our research. After that we created a method to find a fault on Wikipedia. The method we came up with was doable, but the chance of finding an obvious fault was so little it would take a lot of time to actually find one. We found a fault without following our method; Badmaa said she knew a fault somewhere she did research on her French assignment. When we went to the page, luckily the false information was still there. We were so happy because we took almost 2 classes before trying to find inaccurate information.
Criterion B
The first part of Deisgn was really similar to Investigation where we had to find to inaccurate information on Wikipedia, post it on our blogs, highlighting the corrected information. Since we already did that we skipped this part. The only thing we had to do was to come up with a few design specifications. The ones we came up with were simple yet important. The first one was that it must contain accurate and valid information. That was easy because we had found a good source (GMAnews). The second specification was to properly cite the resource. That was also successful; there was a link created [77] that directed to the website we got the information. And lastly was to make sure there are no spelling and grammar mistakes. This one was not possible to be considered because we only changed a number, so no grammar or spelling mistakes can be found. I believe we did a good job on design.
Criterion D
After everything, we signed the Wikipedia Responsibilty Agreement and went straight to Wikipeda to change the false information. At first we spent some time trying to figure out where we were supposed to change our information and where to cite our resource. After a while, we managed to cite it properly and edited the information we were looking for. I dont think there is much to improve because it was a really easy task and we accomplished it.
Overall this project was a success and I am happy with what we have done. This project gave me insight about the 'web world' and how many people dedicate their lives to Wikipedia. I was suprised to know that there are people who constantly monitor Wikipedia pages. The first thing that came to my head was 'get a life'. Anyways, ive learnt alot about how wikis work , what a wiki even is and how people try to provide us with the most accurate information.
-Must contain accurate and valid information
-Must properly cite the resource
-Make sure there are no spelling and grammar mistakes
There is not much to talk about with the design specifications because we only changed a number so the spelling and grammar mistakes are out of the question. However, we do believe that we provided accurate and valid information from a good source and cited it properly. I think we were successful according to our design specification.
Criterion A
As usual, Investigation was the hardest and required the most work. It was alot of fun in the beginning when we started using the PBworks website where we changed and commented on other people's wikis, and we got a good laugh out of it. Then we had to describe our process, how it felt when people changed our wikis and stuff and I believe I explained well on all the questions. The next part of investigation was much harder; where we had do some research about Wikipedia. Some questions we had to answer were tough and required more time and research than the others but Badmaa and I managed to complete it. We did a reasonable job but one thing we shouldve done was to research from a number of sources to broaden our research. After that we created a method to find a fault on Wikipedia. The method we came up with was doable, but the chance of finding an obvious fault was so little it would take a lot of time to actually find one. We found a fault without following our method; Badmaa said she knew a fault somewhere she did research on her French assignment. When we went to the page, luckily the false information was still there. We were so happy because we took almost 2 classes before trying to find inaccurate information.
Criterion B
The first part of Deisgn was really similar to Investigation where we had to find to inaccurate information on Wikipedia, post it on our blogs, highlighting the corrected information. Since we already did that we skipped this part. The only thing we had to do was to come up with a few design specifications. The ones we came up with were simple yet important. The first one was that it must contain accurate and valid information. That was easy because we had found a good source (GMAnews). The second specification was to properly cite the resource. That was also successful; there was a link created [77] that directed to the website we got the information. And lastly was to make sure there are no spelling and grammar mistakes. This one was not possible to be considered because we only changed a number, so no grammar or spelling mistakes can be found. I believe we did a good job on design.
Criterion D
After everything, we signed the Wikipedia Responsibilty Agreement and went straight to Wikipeda to change the false information. At first we spent some time trying to figure out where we were supposed to change our information and where to cite our resource. After a while, we managed to cite it properly and edited the information we were looking for. I dont think there is much to improve because it was a really easy task and we accomplished it.
Overall this project was a success and I am happy with what we have done. This project gave me insight about the 'web world' and how many people dedicate their lives to Wikipedia. I was suprised to know that there are people who constantly monitor Wikipedia pages. The first thing that came to my head was 'get a life'. Anyways, ive learnt alot about how wikis work , what a wiki even is and how people try to provide us with the most accurate information.
Wikiality Criterion D
For this criterion, our task was to officially correct the mistake we had found using our reliable sources. In order to do this, we must use the school login and password that is provided to us under a strict privacy policy.
Once we have signed the agreement sheet, we proceed to altering the information on the Wikipedia page. Our page was under the name 'War in Darfur', and below is the accuracy we have corrected:
"In March 2005, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland estimated that 10,000 were dying each month excluding deaths due to ethnic violence.[76] An estimated 2.7 million people had at that time been displaced from their homes, mostly seeking refuge in camps in Darfur's major towns.[77] Two hundred thousand had fled to neighboring Chad. Reports of violent deaths compiled by the UN indicate between 6,000 and 7,000 fatalities from 2004 to 2007.[78]"
The change has been labelled in bold, and the source that we have got our information from is at [77]:
^ GMA News, 5 UN Peacekeepers Killed in Darfur Attacks
Once we have signed the agreement sheet, we proceed to altering the information on the Wikipedia page. Our page was under the name 'War in Darfur', and below is the accuracy we have corrected:
"In March 2005, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland estimated that 10,000 were dying each month excluding deaths due to ethnic violence.[76] An estimated 2.7 million people had at that time been displaced from their homes, mostly seeking refuge in camps in Darfur's major towns.[77] Two hundred thousand had fled to neighboring Chad. Reports of violent deaths compiled by the UN indicate between 6,000 and 7,000 fatalities from 2004 to 2007.[78]"
The change has been labelled in bold, and the source that we have got our information from is at [77]:
^ GMA News, 5 UN Peacekeepers Killed in Darfur Attacks
Wikiality Criterion B
The task for Design is to post information and evidence of the inaccuracy with the appropriate sources on our blog, however, that was what we had to do in Investigation as well. Therefore, instead of pasting the same thing twice, the evidence is already in the first criterion.
The second part was to create a design specification in order to have a good final product at the end of the project.
Design Specification
-Must contain accurate and valid information
-Must properly cite the resource
-Make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes
The second part was to create a design specification in order to have a good final product at the end of the project.
Design Specification
-Must contain accurate and valid information
-Must properly cite the resource
-Make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes
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