DHTML

Farewell

2008-12-12T00:34:00.001-07:00

As I walk along the path of Web Design, I have encountered both joys and hardships. The excitement of getting a page to function correctly and the disappointment when the page opens and it is blank or worse.

With this semester coming to a close, I ponder what trial and tribulations I have encountered along the way.

The Zen Garden was so exciting. This assignment showed me not only how important CSS is, but by using CSS correctly you can change how a website looked and how a person can interpret the subject of a website.

Midterm completed and the clock on the computer says it is time to continue down the path of Web Design.

Before I started the second half of this semester, I was in hopes that JavaScript would be an asset to help me design a better website. At this point I am still not sure.

JavaScript, what does that mean? Ok, let’s break this down. When you hear Java, most people think Hot Coffee. Script, this word can go in a couple of different directions like writing, prescriptions, etc.

Ok so now I have hot coffee in my website. Not. JavaScript might be a hot item when I finally get a better grasp of it, but at this point the word script is meaning a prescription to help calm my nerves.

Oh well, no drugs, just a deep breath, get up and walk away for a few and let the brain waves relax and the creative juices start to flow again. Then back at it some more.

I may not completely (maybe not much) understand JavaScript, but I have enjoyed the course completely. A good challenge is always great and this has been a challenge.

I am an online student and one of the downfalls of that is not getting to know your fellow classmates. I would like to say thank you to the students in the class for sharing through your sites, projects and the blogs (which are all great). Thank you Ryan for all of your assistance and courage, and patients. It takes both to teach courses like yours. I would like to thank someone from last semester that told me when I was getting very frustrated that I would do fine. This person wrote and told me, after all, your name on your site is chill, so do just that and chill. This student popped in to say hi at the first of this semester and has been there to assist me through the frustrations of JavaScript. Thank you all.

Now to say farewell and I hope that we cross paths again as we all continue to walk down the path of Web Design (not programming). To the students that are going to graduate this spring I wish you good luck.

Happy Web Designing to everyone and farewell.

Events

2008-12-01T10:25:00.002-07:00

Events can sure change the look of a page if done correctly. JavaScript is a challenge, but I think that I am finally starting to understand some of what it is suppose to do.

A problem that I had with the accordion was getting it to work in all browsers. I could get it to work in Internet Explorer, but Firefox didn’t like it for some reason. Still trying to figure out what I am doing incorrectly or maybe it’s just my computer (the operator). My homework page was getting very full and so I decided to try and implement my accordion on that page. This makes the page a little more compact.

Events are important to web sites not only to make a page look nicer, it makes the pages so that more information can be posted on one page without a lot of confusion and clutter.

History of JavaScript

2008-11-04T09:38:00.001-07:00

I am going to start off this post with a site that I came across. The videos are very interesting and to me they are worth the time it takes to watch them. The site is http://www.catonmat.net/blog/learning-javascript-programming-language-through-video-lectures/ . He has an interesting way of explain JavaScript.

JavaScript was developed in 1992 by Jim Gosling. He gave it the name of C++++ as it was to be the successor to the language C++. His friends told him that he needed to rename the program so he named it Oak because of a tree outside his window. It was used in interacting television but the company failed. Gosling and his associates decided that the program needed a new name so they named it Java. Then in 1995 it was renamed to HOT JAVA to be used in browsers.

Eich at Netscape was developing program called LiveScript which used JavaScript language in it. Microsoft wanted in on the language, so Gosling teamed up with Microsoft in 1996 and the program received the name JScript.

The program had security problems that needed to be addressed and worked on. The problems with JavaScript finally needed a debugging setup so that it would work correctly in different browsers.

I think that JavaScript will continue to grow and evolve right along with the browsers growing and changing.

I am afraid at this point I don’t care where JavaScript is going, but that is just because I am having a hard time understanding and making it work correctly.

JavaScript or Java

2008-11-04T08:09:00.001-07:00

Java and JavaScript always get confused for obvious reasons. To start off the names will throw a person right off the bat. They could have come up with really different names for these programs when they started arguing over them.

The main difference is that Java can stand on its own while JavaScript must be placed inside an HTML document to function. Java is a much larger and more complicated language that creates "standalone" applications. A Java "applet" (so-called because it is a little application) is a fully contained program. JavaScript is text that is fed into a browser that can read it and then is enacted by the browser.

Another major difference is how the language is presented to the user when surfing the web. Java must be compiled into what is known as a "machine language" before it can be run on the Web. Basically what happens is after the programmer writes the Java program and checks it for errors, he or she hands the text over to another computer program that changes the text code into a smaller language. That smaller language is formatted so that it is seen by the computer as a set program with definite beginning and ending points. Nothing can be added to it and nothing can be subtracted without destroying the program.

JavaScript is text-based. It is written into an HTML document and it is run through a browser. You can alter it after it runs and run it again and again. Once the Java is compiled, it is set. Sure, you can go back to the original text and alter it, but then you need to compile again.

It is said that JavaScript’s main benefit is that it can be understood by the common human. I guess that depends on the common human. It is much easier and more robust than Java. It allows for fast creation of Web page events. JavaScript is a little more forgiving than Java. It allows more freedom in the creation of objects. Java is very rigid and requires all items to be denoted and spelled out. JavaScript allows you to call on an item that already exists, like the status bar or the browser itself, and play with just that part. JavaScript is geared to Web pages. Java is geared toward where it is needed most at the time.

A scripting language, script language or extension language is a programming language that controls a software application. "Scripts" are often treated as distinct from "programs", which execute independently from any other application. At the same time they are distinct from the core code of the application, which is usually written in a different language, and by being accessible to the end user they enable the behavior of the application to be adapted to the user's needs. Scripts are often, but not always, interpreted from the source code or "semi-compiled" to byte code which is interpreted, unlike the applications they are associated with, which are traditionally compiled to native machine code for the system on which they run. Scripting languages are nearly always embedded in the application with which they are associated.

The name "script" is derived from the written script of the performing arts, in which dialogue is set down to be spoken by human actors. Early script languages were often called batch languages or job control languages. Such early scripting languages were created to shorten the traditional edit-compile-link-run process.

My Impression Of JavaScript

2008-11-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

Well I just can’t use that kind of language online in a blog to explain what I think of JavaScript. What I say in the privacy of my own home is ok, but it wouldn’t be polite to repeat it in a blog.

As you can tell JavaScript is not impressing me, or maybe it’s I’m not impressing JavaScript. My calculator is broken and it doesn’t want to work and I won’t go to the next one until I can figure out the first. Way to much information for me to consume without a lot more time or an example of what I am suppose to be doing. I am just thankful that I decided to try Math this semester or I wouldn’t have even known what this chapter was talking about with integers, equations and exponents. I still fill very lost.

Have I thought of any ways to implement JavaScript yet? Well at this point the garbage can sounds like a really good place to put it. I haven’t given up completely yet but I am going to try and find some help. This might be hard because I don’t think I know anyone in this area that knows anything about JavaScript.

Hopefully my next post will be more positive, but good luck on this assignment to all of my fellow classmates.

Mobile Devices

2008-10-08T01:37:00.003-06:00

Well here we are at the mobile devices. How are we going to deal with them? Crazy that’s how. I just can’t imagine accessing the Internet from a cell phone. The screen is so very small that I can’t understand how anyone will be able to read anything on them. I am still trying to get sites to just work on the Internet Browsers and now I have to think about how my sites are going to be viewed on mobile devices. How and what will have to be done to sites so that a person can view them on a mobile device.

Well the technology is starting and will continue to grow. Adobe has a site where you can post comments and questions in place and it has been a very busy site. It is called Mobile and Devices Cookbook http://www.w3.org/2006/07/Mobile_Web_Design.pdf . Their new Master Collection includes technology to design for the mobile devices. Another interesting item I found is from W3 http://www.w3.org/2006/07/Mobile_Web_Design.pdf .

How are mobile devices going to affect the designing profession? It is going to change the way that we design web sites. There is a CSS style sheet,
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=HandheldStylesheets , for handheld devices. The designers are working on a style sheet for Zen Garden, http://www.gotomobile.com/archives/handheld-style-sheets-and-getting-to-zen , so that it will be accessible for mobile devices.

This is another fast pace part of web site design. I am interested in designing sites that will work on mobile devices, but I won’t be using them until the screens get a lot bigger.

Accessiblility

2008-10-05T14:40:00.002-06:00

Accessibility on the Internet is about making sure that access to the information provided online is not restricted, and can be accessed by everyone. However, accessibility entails more than considering the needs of those with physical, hearing or visual impairments. A more accessible website can make the experience better for everyone.

Web accessibility involves using both the new and old technology. Doing this will make your site available to a more devices used to access the internet.

When doing web content it is important to consider the fact that there are people that can’t see and/or hear. So when designing a web site it is important to try and do the content so that everyone has an option on how they will see or hear the content of the pages. This can be difficult to complete.

With the help of synthesized speech and braille display technology, like Jaws and Windows-Eyes, even completely blind people can use the internet. But for these technologies to work properly, web pages must be written in correct HTML. The needs of people with poor site can vary. Some people can only read large text and others can only read small text.
So when designing a website it is important to design a flexible site.

People with a hearing impairment tend not to use assistive software to improve their web browsing; instead, they rely on the website being accessible by providing any audio content in alternative formats, such as captioning or transcripts.
When it comes to standards that should be used when designing an accessible website, those can be found on a number of sites. Information on the standards that should be followed can be accessed at WC3 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 , Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) - home page , Wikipedia:Accessibility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Another site that I found interesting is Index of Government Guidelines for Web Sites- Standards Schmandards .
It is important to try and conform to these standards so that the sites that are designed are able to be viewed by everyone.

There are a number of tools that can be used to help design an accessible website. For the hearing impaired a list of tools can be found at 100 Web Tools for Learning with a Disability - College Degree.com .

I believe that it is important to make sure that you do the best you can to design a website that is accessible to everyone. At my age I am already starting to have problems reading some of the sites that I go to online. I can’t imagine what it would be like not to be able to use the internet.

Analyze Web Sites

2008-09-21T11:59:00.001-06:00

Since I started doing classes last semester I have found that I analyze most sites that I visit. I find things that I like and things that I dislike. It can become very time consuming when I am just browsing through sites, but I enjoy doing it. Now that it is an assignment I try to find the worse sites that I can and check them out.

When it comes to bad web sites I do a search to try and find the worse sites out there and of course everybody has their opinions about what are bad designed web sites. I look at a lot of different sites when I do this search. When I first checked this site out it was just a strip down the middle of the page. Now it has information down the left side. The site I picked is http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/. No it is not pleasing to look at. This page has to much movement in different directions for me and then add the sparkles and wow. The color scheme is pretty vivid and it doesn’t work for colorblindness. Not to sure if you would call the items on the left navigation and if that is navigation, it needs some work. I can’t say that I really liked anything about this site and what I liked least is the color scheme, navigation and lack of content. This site is done with tables and not CSS and it didn’t validate. It has 40 errors and 5 warnings.

I decided to take a chance on a site that we all use. I enjoy using this site. It is a very nicely designed site and the navigation is great and easy to use. It downloads quickly. The color scheme is very appealing and it works for people with color blindness. This site is designed using both tables and CSS which works great within this site. Does it validate? No. It didn’t do to bad. It has 23 errors and 9 warnings. The site is http://www.csi.edu/ . I just checked the front page of this site for validation. I think we will all agree that this is a great site and easy to navigate.

The next site that I decided to check out is another one that I use and I am sure that a lot of us do. I didn’t sign in I just worked off of the main page just to see how it checked out. It is pleasing to look at and the navigation is easy to maneuver. This site works for color blindness. I checked to see if they used tables or CSS and I couldn’t find any tables and it looks like all the JavaScript and CSS is done within the HTML. I don’t know how they can keep it updated. This site doesn’t validate either. The front page has 129 errors and 25 warnings. I have to say that I enjoy this site, but sometimes people put so much on their personal layouts that it is time consuming when it comes to downloads. This site is http://www.myspace.com/.

I am sure that there is a lot of sites that don’t validate and the navigation don’t work and the download time is terrible, but we continue to use them. Hopefully when one of use get to the point that we can design sites for clients, we will remember the things that we have learned from our instructors and courses.

Web Development Perceptions

2008-08-31T12:47:00.000-06:00

I feel, as a student, that I’m just touching the surface of web developing. There are so many different things going on in web developing that it seems like it is never ending. As fast as you learn something, it changes.

Web developing is not just one thing or one person. It takes a large amount of work and information to create a web site. The planning, research, design, testing and launching of a site and don’t forget the client. It is very important to get to know the client and try your hardest to please them.

The web designer creates the web site by using HTML, XHTML, OR XML tags. Then adding a CSS (cascading style sheet) so that the designer can arrange items easily and to be able to do updates as necessary. Images using JPEG, GIFS and PNGS are placed into the HTML coding along with tables and forms. Animations, videos and sound can be added by using plug-ins such as Flash, QuickTime, and Java Script.

Web developers, gather and organize the information for the site. They can add script language programming, database programming, graphic design and copywriting.

Web developing has and is a growing field. The advancements in the field is changing and growing every day. A good web developer must try and stay up to date on the changes in software and design. The future of web developing seems to be a never ending. The web is going to continue to grow. Not only on computers, but other networking services like cell phones.

More people are able to afford computers and internet service, which means the web, is influencing them on a daily basis. It is important to supply the public with the information they are searching for, the products they wish to purchase, and the education to use the internet correctly. I think it is also important, as a parent, to make sure that our children learn to use it correctly and not allow their lives to revolve around the internet and games.

Carla

Hi I am Carla

2008-08-26T00:33:00.000-06:00

Hi. I am Carla and this is my second semester at CSI.

I am a native Idahoan. I was born in Rupert and have lived in Declo most of my life. I moved to the Seattle area where I lived for 15 years. I found a great guy and we got married and had 2 wonderful girls. I have 3 children. My son Lee is 37, daughter Andrea is 30 and the youngest daughter, Shauntel is 23. I have 8 grand children from the age of 3 to 18.

After my husband passed away 3 years ago, my life was in a state of limbo and I found myself spending more time using my computer. My family and friends told me that seeing how I enjoyed using the computer and being online that I needed to learn more about it. I thought they were nuts. Me, go back to school after all those years (36 to be exact).

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of learning the correct way to do things on the computer and maybe not having to do so much trial and error. I have always enjoyed looking things up and learning how to do different things on line. Every time I went into a site I wondered how and who did all these sites. How did they do it? I wanted to be able to design a site and learn all I could. So here I am.

After all these years I am finally getting an education and I love it. I will admit that there are times when I wonder what I am doing here and then I just take a deep breath and try again.

In the evening I bartend at Shakers in Declo and during the day my three year old grandson (Trexton) entertains me while I am doing my homework. He is really a big help. He has lots of great ideas about what I should put in my homework and on the web sites that I am working on.

I am taking this course to learn as much as I can about JavaScript, web development and design. I figure that if I can learn something each day in my courses then it is a great day. The more I can learn the better. I also love a challenge and going back to school has been a big one, but I am going to give it my all.

Carla