Course Reflection

Even though this class wasn't what I originally signed up for, I'm happy I took it. I was initially supposed to take DreamWeaver through Kodiak distance education, but it got cancelled. This class touched on a lot of the program features of DreamWeaver, so that was nice. The books were great and easy to follow along.
What I liked least about the class is the blogs. I am not a blogger. I do not like updating a blog regularly and sharing my ideas, feeling, or experiences with others. Sorry :)

Exporting, Hotspots, Slices

Exporting files is not a new concept to me. But from this lesson I finally realized, and will now remember, what the difference is in saving a file as .gif or .jpg. GIF is for vector based images and JPEG is used for photographic images.

Image Maps & Slices

http://www.kawerak.org/tribalHomePages/index.html
I'm guessing this site is using hotspots.

http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/
For the 4 featured events, I believe the images are set as slices for its navigation.

http://www.anchorage.net/
On this site, the large image on the top has hotspots to link to featured activities.

Bitmap vs. Vector Tools

1) Have you worked with other graphics tools? If so, what were they? Were you working with bitmap or vector tools (or both?).

No, I have never really worked with any other graphic tools. I am most familiar with bitmap tools. I never really considered the rectangle and polygon tools as real graphic tools, only because I didn't know much about them or how to manipulate them to make it into a usable graphic.

2) Point us to three images on the web that have caught your attention or that you feel are noteworthy. Since they are being displayed on the web, you are seeing a bitmap version, but what kind of tools do you think were used to create each image (bitmap or vector or both?) and why?

To find my graphics, I did a random search though Google.

http://www.vecteezy.com/vf/815-Montero-2002
This image of the car is awesome. It almost looks like a real photo, but its a vector graphic. It was created using Corel Draw.

http://www.onfrozenblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/hockey_polar_bears.jpg
Obviously the polar bear picture is a bitmap. Then I believe the hockey sticks are also bitmap images and worked into the image using cloning or having used the a lasso tool to select the hockey stick and isolate it from its original picture.

http://www.popartuk.com/g/l/lgpp31184+the-love-gun-butterflies-and-love-poster.jpg
I like butterflies. I like the idea of shooting love and butterflies. It reminds me of star-power from the Care Bears. Using the gun to shoot love and happiness towards someone. Obviously, this was made using vector tools. The butterflies were easily copied and pasted with different color tones of red and pink. The red and white are great contrast to the black background.

Firework Thoughts

Thus far, working with Fireworks has been easy and fun. The tools used for this assignment are the same in Photoshop, and with having taken a Photoshop class before this class, the tasks were simple. I'm really looking forward to learning to make vector graphics.

Once I learn to make vector graphics, I think I'll use the skills to remake my company's logo. All the logo images we have are .jpg or .gif and when we send a project that includes the logo to be printed large, its never in the preferred resolution. Having a vector image of my company logo will make it more versatile in project designs.

Table-based Design

To help me on this assignment, instead of figuring out 3 websites I like, I asked my mom, step-dad and boyfriend for their favorite or most frequented website.

My mom chose RecipeZaar as her favorite website. I checked the source for this site and all I see is CSS styles, no tables.

My step-dad chose Gun Broker has his favorite website. Before checking the source for this site, I could tell its design is based on tables. You can clearly see it by its layout. Checking the source just confirmed my prediction.

My boyfriend chose MySpace as his most frequented website. MySpace is a relatively new site on the web. By looking at its design and layout, I guessed its based on a CSS style sheet, and by checking the source I confirmed it.

My blog, Blogger, uses an internal style sheet, no tables are visible.

I think many sites still uses tables for layout because CSS still seems relatively new. It is going to take some time for people to learn CSS and to convert their web site design from tables to CSS. For me, at first I was very intimidated by CSS. It was only after I took some time to read books and follow instructions on how they work that I accepted them, and now I think its the best way to design sites. It makes the code less messy and improves the readability of the code. Also, with CSS you can set design elements once and apply it to as many pages as needed to build a website - you type less code! Another reason I think tables are still being used to build sites today is because for people who have been building sites since the Web started are just comfortable with tables. Like a lot of other things in life, it take some time to try something new and steer away from what you are comfortable with.

Advanced CSS

http://www.adn.com
The Anchorage Daily News online newspaper uses an external CSS style sheets for its navigation and layout. For the size of the site, a CSS style sheet seems right. Its the best way to make sure everything added to the web site is uniform with what already exists.

http://www.ktuu.com
Channel 2 KTUU's website uses an internal CSS style sheet. To make the code less messy, the designer should export the internal CSS to an external CSS style sheet and incorporate more of the design element into the sheet.

Typography

First off, this wasn't the funnest assignment. I don't spend time "cruising" the web, so I had to take time to do random searches to find criteria that fits this assignment's requirements. I tried a few searches, but sorry to say, I don't have the patience to find web sites with examples of good and/or bad text. I hope at least expressing my frustration with this assignment can give me partial credit for the blog.

Linking

Honestly, thinking of my favorite web site would take some great thought. I do not do much exploring on the Internet. I get online and do what I need to do - check my UAA email and Blackboard, check my work email, check MySpace, occassionaly read the ADN or Nome Nugget online articles, and pay bills. For this assignment, I suppose I can say MySpace is my "favorite" web site because its a site I visit almost a dozen times a day.

Feel free to read my Introductory blog again.

Oh, and yesterday was my golden birthday :)

Blog Editor

I couldn't think of one topic to base this blog editor post on, so I'm going to use random information about myself, my family and the region of Alaska I grew up in.

Lana Carolyn & I

This photo is of my and my newest little cousin. She was born on December 21, 2008.

Living in Anchorage, I don't go home as often as I like and miss doing things with my family. Activities I miss out on are:

• Spending time at fish camp
• Cutting salmon for dry fish
• Picking berries
• Boating
• Visiting the Fish River hot springs
• Eating Eskimo food

I don't have a favorite web site, but I check this newspaper on a weekly basis http://www.nomenugget.com/. The Nome Nugget covers the news in the Norton Sound region.

Reflection #1

Thus far, this class and the assignments have covered the basics in starting a web site. I like the materials and following along with the book has been helpful and understanding.

This class isn't my first introduction to building web sites, but its a much simpler approach (than building it with HTML code). But the advantage of knowing a bit of HTML has helped when I wasn't able to fix something in the WHSISYG in Dreamweaver.

As I posted in my last blog, the only difficulty I've run into so far is working with frames in the website instructed to build in the last assignment. It took me a few trials and errors to learn what exactly should be done in saving the frames and having the links open a page in the correct frame. Eventually, I figured it out.

I look forward to leaning more of the available tools in Dreamweaver and apply them to a web site. I want to be able to continue working on sites and updating them after this class. Continuing to do the work helps retain the information and keeps your skills sharp. In the month between the end of last semester and this semester, I lost some of the skills of building web sites in HTML. I had to pull my textbook out and refer to it for certain tags. Its slowly coming back :)

Dreamweaver Thoughts

At first I wasn't sure what type of page to build. I decided on pictures of my travels because I have a lot of great pictures I can share.

The most difficult I had for this assignment was after I added a top and nested left frame. It look me a few trial and errors to figure out how to save each frame properly and to save the main index page. I'm hoping after all the time it took me to try to figure this out that I got it correct. Even after submitting the assignment, I'm still not very confident that I saved the frames properly. I tried looking in the book's index to find the topic on frames and saving, but it was an unsuccessful search.

I also had trouble trying to add the Title to my page. After a few checks in the browser, it still said Untitled Document. I had to open the file in Notebook to add the title I wanted in code. I'm glad I'm a little familiar with code, as that was an easy fix.

Reflection#1 - Publishing in Dreamweaver

Building web sites isn't a new thing to me. I worked with websites in High School (that was a few years ago) and I took an HTML class last semester, so this class is refreshing my mind on the things I learned in the past. I was signed up to take Dreamweaver this semester, but it was cancelled :(

1) In general, working with Dreamweaver is easy. After writing the code for websites, this WYSIWYG is nice. The most difficult thing I encountered was when I was setting up my site information in Dreamweaver. I was putting in the incorrect password. It took me a few tries to realize the 0 in my password wasn't a capital "O".

2) I like that we can add a file by simply clicking in the Files tab and create a new file in the site folder. Other than that, nothing has really surprised me (yet) in Dreamweaver.

3) As for the class, I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I joined it later in the semester. (Chris -Thanks for letting me join) I'm happy I chose this course. Its giving my an introduction to Dreamweaver and building sites. This will make the Dreamweaver class I need as part of my certificate go smoothly and easy next semester.

My Introduction

My name is Yvonne Ashenfelter. I was born and raised in White Mountain (located on the Seward Peninsula). I graduated from Mt. Edgecumbe High School in 2003; and since then I've lived in Anchorage and have been attending UAA. I currently work for Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation (NSEDC). The company is one of six Community Development Quota groups in western Alaska. We provide economic development to our member communities fro with the money earned from Bering Sea fishing royalties.

I have an AA in General Studies (I am one of those students that couldn't decide what to pursue in college and changed my major a few times). I am currently working on a certificate in Office Digital Media. And that's why I'm taking this class - I think this class will familiarize myself more with design and web site development. Eventually, I'd like to use the things I learn in this class and the certificate to design my company's web site, newsletters, annual report, etc.

I enjoy traveling (just returned from a Hawaii vacation), taking pictures, the outdoors, spending time with family at our summer fish camp, picking berries, sewing, baking, my TV shows (Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Private Practice, Brothers and Sisters, and the list can go on), and anything that I have to use my creative mind to create.