Journals
Journal Entry 1
Web Development Perceptions
Although I have had some training with HTML and CSS, it has been a long time since then. I was trained to use Adobe Dreamweaver to make basic webpages, but I have forgotten many of the details involved in writing HTML. My current perception of web design is because XHTML as well as CSS seem to be rapidly evolving, web designers must also constantly evolve to stay current. Someday XHTML will have evolved so much that it will be hardly recognizable. Also, with the widespread growth of mobile devices being able to access the web, developers must learn how to make their pages compatible with these devices in order to satisfy their viewers. Many people may even quit using desktops and laptops all together and rely solely on a mobile device to access the web. With the knowledge that I am gaining from this course, I plan to showcase my work at CSI on the internet in order to help me obtain a better job in the future. This knowledge also might be required for the next job that I obtain, or at least be a benefit to my future employer. I am excited from what I have already learned so far, and am looking forward to learning much more as I continue this course.
Journal Entry 2
HTML History
In this chapter, I learned how to utilize links in many different ways. Linking within a page using id names, linking to other pages within a web site, and linking to different web sites entirely were all covered in this chapter. My least favorite part of this chapter was definitely the image maps because plotting coordinates and remembering all the details of how to code an image map are boring, but still a good thing to know. Thank heavens for programs like Dreamweaver! J Early web development encountered many problems, resulting in revision after revision until we finally arrived at XHTML 1.1 where we are now. One of the major problems with early web development was the inconsistency between web browsers. This inconsistency was one cause that led to the foundation of the World Wide Web Consortium in 1994. The push for consistency in the web makes me believe that newer versions of XHTML will become more and more strict as time goes on. Another problem with early web development was the explosion of so many different plug-ins. Although there are still many different plug-ins, Flash has become one of the most popular plug-ins to view videos or listen to music on the web. Although Adobe Flash does have many problems, it has made the web more consistent when streaming videos or music.
Journal Entry 3
CSS History
Using Cascading Style Sheets has become common practice in webpage design today. This is because CSS allows web developers several advantages over just using HTML. The first advantage is that CSS allows many formatting options that are not available in HTML alone. Another advantage in using CSS is the convenience of external style sheets to format multiple page websites quickly and easily. Finally, using CSS can help create greater consistency within a website. Web browsers currently support CSS 2.1, however, CSS 3 has been under development since the release of CSS 2. This causes me to believe that CSS 3 is not too far away from becoming the standard formatting code. Some things that are expected of CSS 3 is the use of things called modules. Instead of using a master external style sheet, there will be many different files which control different formatting elements. This little bit of information that I gathered, makes me think that I would prefer CSS 2 over 3 because of the convenience of having all of the code in one file.
Journal Entry 4
Web Design
The article by Jason Beaird was a great article that offered alot of insight on web design and surprisingly kept my attention throughout the whole thing. He approached the subject in a way that was very easy to understand and was not meant for just proffesional web developers. The article was jam packed full of great information from start to finish. The main thing that I took away from the article was the importance of designing the site before you even start building the site, and having a very clear idea of what you want it to look like. He offered many great examples of webpage designs that illustrated his points extremely well. Reading the article was very much worth the while, even if it was a little long. I had heard some of the information he talked about in the article beforehand, and although it was good a good reminder, it did make the reading a little slower for me. I also liked the idea of creating a morgue file for inspiration when I need it.
Journal Entry 5
Out of the Box
The article, Breaking Out of the Box, by Jina Bolton was a great article arguing that CSS layouts don't just have to be blocky looking boring websites. She started by approaching the subject of using a wireframe grid to outline the placement of objects on a website. Some of the benefits of doing this were: a grid povides organization, a grid can outline more information, and grid can unify a series. She then went on explain how "fracturing a grid" can create some very cool effects. I particularly liked the part where she added the image to the header and footer to give them the impression that they were not just straight lines. It was also very cool where she showed how a background image can really spice up a page even if it does follow a very basic grid line. Also, having things appear to be sticking out from behind the main column was a cool idea as well. She illustrated that concept with the headphones on the ipod page. I really enjoyed reading this article because it gave me many ideas for my own website.
Journal Entry 6
Tables vs. CSS
Tables Vs. CSS - A Fight to the Death! This was a very entertaining article written by Sergio Villarreal that comparred the older style of web design (using tables and spacer gifs) to the new style of web standards compliant design (using CSS). Some of the things that Sergio wrote were absolutely hillarious, for example, "I’d been designing like that for years when CSS and standards came my way. It was different, it was efficient, and it was sexy." Something else that was also funny was, "Tables aren’t half bad after all. I feel like I’ve found a long-lost friend. I have half a mind to take up smoking again if it feels this good." His funny quotes made reading this article more of a treat than an assignment. I also learned a lot about how different table design is to CSS design. While reading this article I was almost under the impression that the writter was finding that table design is faster, however, I realised that table design was probably like an old habit to him and came back to him naturally. After reading this article I came to the conclusion that I should just stick with learning CSS design standards and it will too become like an old habit to me.
Journal Entry 7
Specificity
Get Specific with Your CSS Styles was another great article from SitePoint. Although I had a hard time understanding this article, I did take one very important concept away from it... Keep it Simple! Another thing that I will definately try to avoid doing is setting multiple different values for the same thing. With a little effort, I should be able to to avoid conflicting styles most of the time, and if I ever do have conflicting syles, if I keep my styles simple and clear and specific, I should be able to correct them easily enough.