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.