Learning Journal 1:Web Development Perceptions
This tutorial taught me more about how the Internet works. I also learned the basics of putting together a website and what each page entails. I also learned that XHTML and HTML are not the same and should not be used interchangeably. The formatting of a webpage was something that I also learned from this tutorial. I have always known that certain codes and formats were used for HTML but I never knew what they meant. I now know what a large number of the special characters mean.
I think that web design is a rapidly growing thing. I believe that it will continue to keep growing and so it would be very valuable to learn about it. I think more and more positions for web developers are going to be coming up because almost every company is using the web now. If someone wants to research a certain company the first thing they usually do is check out the website for that company. Therefore it would be wise for all companies to have some sort of website set up and I believe that they are realizing that. From this class I would like to gain a deeper knowledge of web design. I believe that I would be a more valuable employee if I was able to help my company out with web design if necessary.
Learning Journal 2:HTML History
This tutorial taught me more advanced elements of HTML, the main one being how to use links. It showed how to link an id either to a location on a different page or even to a place on the current page, for example the Back to Top button. Also it showed how to make a link to an entire other page. Using thumbnails was also another new thing taught in the chapter. I was able to set it up so that when I click on the picture it takes us to another webpage. The contact me link that allows you to send an email just by clicking the link was something I found to be very useful. Image maps were another new thing that is introduced in this tutorial.
HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee. In late 1990 he composed the first server. Then a year later he made the Web available on the internet, by giving the specifications for HTML and Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and URLS. He made it easier for information to be shared and collected if a person had access to Internet.
There were many problems with web development when it first came about, however that is typical of anything new. It is always changing and developing more and more. I think that HTML is heading to a more user friendly system.
Learning Journal 3-4:CSS History
CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, has been a major player in web design because it greatly expanded the ability to format web pages and make them unique. It makes developing websites simpler. It is very helpful because it helps to be able to design a page without jeopardizing the structure of the page.
Style sheets help to simplify the process of editing a Web page. Instead of having to open the file and revise the embedded codes it allows to just simply edit the external style sheet file. It must have the correct .css filename extension for it to work correctly. A link tag is then used to link that HTML file to a CSS file.
HTML contains relationships among the items on a Web page while CSS uses those relationships to apply different styles to the page.
CSS 3 is the most current version supported by most modern web browsers and the versions are constantly being updated to improve them. Each new version that comes out has revisions of the previous ones to make it more beneficial. I think that CSS is a very exciting way to edit pages and it is turning out to be simpler than it looks. I enjoy being able to change the colors of each page, along with the fonts, font style and position of the items.
Learning Journal 5:Web Design
I believe this article was worth my while. I had to read it in sections to comprehend all the information but it turned out rather interesting. It pointed out several concepts I had previously not considered.
I found the rule of thirds section to be particularly interesting. The idea of dividing it into thirds to make it proportional was something I had not previously thought about. When looking at the examples that are shown in the article it really helped me to realize the importance of making things look correct visually. If items on a Web Page were a jumbled mess, a person would be far less likely to read through it.
I also found the idea of contrast to be very important. The item that is most significant must stand out from the rest so a person’s eye is drawn to it. I think that color is one of the best ways to show the differences of importance. The more bold colors are more likely to get the first glance.
There wasn’t anything I found not to be interesting. It would have been nice if the article was put in a little simpler term, it was difficult to understand what was being said at times. Other than that I thought it was very informative.
Learning Journal 6-7:Out of the Box
From this Article I learned that the boxy nature of CSS is very advantageous because all the information and styling can be neatly organized to make a website very user friendly. With this Boxy-ness you can still use colors and other elements of design to break up the box, making it appear as though it has advanced styling. I also learned about the faux-column technique and how it takes a background image and repeats it vertically to create the first two column colors and avoid uneven heights. I also learned that an asterisk is used to reset the margins and padding on all elements. I learned that wireframes are basically a visual guide that is used to suggest the layout and the placement of fundamental design elements within the interface. They are a great way to design the site’s layout without actually worrying about the artistic details. I found that the idea of using creative imagery was very interesting. I thought that Antoni Gaudi’s idea that the straight line belonged to man, and the curved line belonged to god was also very interesting. The more I thought about it though, straight lines get old and it is very attractive to see curved lines. Your eyes are typically drawn to curved lines before they are straight lines.
Learning Journal 8:Table vs. CSS
I thought it was interesting that the author called the experience of working with tables grunt work. Every time7 something needs to be changed in a table there is a lot of code that needs to be waded through to find exactly what is needed to be changed. Content management systems were said to not be very user-friendly. A benefit with tables is instead of breaking up designs and having to trace back to hunt down bugs, new tables just have to be made with this method. I thought it was interesting how much the author preferred CSS based design. It was mainly preferred because of the immediacy of the changes and clarity of the code. The author also noted that CSS offers a significant saving in bandwidth. There were also many benefits of keeping the layout information apart from the content. I found this article to be worth my while because I learned things that I had not previously known. I think it was very interesting to read and I liked the sarcastic and light-hearted tone of the author. I didn’t think it was necessary to show exactly what the author got done in the time spent on the page. I think just stating the time would have been sufficient.
Learning Journal 9:Specificity
that apply to the same element, and set the same property, and the same importance and origin, the declaration with the most specific selector will take precedence. Specificity is a tool within the CSS cascade that aids conflict resolution. The CSS cascade is named as it is, because style declarations cascade down to elements from many origins. The cascade combines many factors to determine exactly which declaration should be applied to a given element. The factors that influence it are; whether a style rule takes effect are the importance, origin, source order and specificity. I learned the way to calculate the specificity by comparing two or more different declarations. I personally found this article to be the least interesting. It was difficult for me to understand and I do not feel as though the author put it in simple enough terms. I had to read it a couple times just to get the idea of the article. Maybe through practice of using specificity, I would gain a greater understanding of its purpose and when to use it. As of now I am not sure when or how it would be used.