Last blog before finals!

Well here it is, my last blog before finals. I have finals next week, all of them which are one Thursday. I can not wait for this semester to be over, not because I did not like my classes but because next semester is my last semester. Four classes and I am done! Having this semester come to a conclusion is a great sign towards graduating, this semester I feel like I have learned a lot about web design, bits and pieces of flash, and how to make a movie in Phil Hoffman's class. Next semester will be just as interesting, so far I have signed up for Flash, AfterEffects, and Arabic Culture through film. I want to take another webpage design class but I have not viewed any open classes online lately, I am going to e-mail Kate Harmon and ask if I can do an independent study in web-design so I can learn more about CSS, javascript, and more about Dreamweaver. Other then that this was a great semester but bring on Christmas, I am ready for Christmas Ale from the Great Lakes Brewery, good food, and hanging out with friends and family. So have a good vacation and I hope you enjoyed reading all of my blogs, I know I had fun writing them. Poulos OUT!

Last post before final

This is my last post before the final, I have been working hard on my Iphone application. The application will be a functioning application that people can use to read about art history. Being in art school and having to take art history classes, an application that could serve the purpose of being able to check different art periods and actually being able to see the artwork. If fellow artists were engaged in conversation and they were fighting over a certain time period, the person could get their Iphone out, click the application and be able to settle the dispute. The application will also be great if they do not have their art history book near by they can easily check without having to get the book. This application is convenient and I wish I had an Iphone with this application to use. I really do not have anything else to write so I am going to waste up space by typing about nothing. I can not wait for school to be over, I have one more semester after this and then I graduate. Now I have to answer the question of what to do after graduation, should I go to graduate school or should I go get I a job. These are the questions I have to answer because I am graduating sooner then later. Also John Junior Gotti got out of going to jail, it was a mistrial so they let him off of racketeering charges. His family said he wanted to go to "Disney-Land" but he is not allowed to leave the New York area at the moment. His father was tried with racketeering and died in jail. Interesting shit!

My post before Thanksgiving.

This week is going to fly by because we have Thursday and Friday off for the upcoming holiday. I am still working on my iphone application and I am still going with the idea of making a art history dictionary. I have shown Anthony some preliminary sketches of my ideas and he seems to like them except I use black text and a white background, he said that they contrast too much and I should pick another color. I plan on keeping the text the same color but switching the background color to more of a gray color that is not hard to look at with the eyes. I am also coming up with designs of how the layout of the art will look and how the person using the app will be able to scroll through the different pieces. I enjoy this project and I can't wait to see what the rest of the class came up with, I am sure everyones will be great. Well I have nothing more to write at the moment so I am going to go back to work on my app and fix what I was writing about. Until my next blog!

Blog about my Iphone App

For todays blog I will be writing about the Iphone app I am designing in Photoshop. I am making multiple still images of an application for the Iphone that will allow the person to download an Art History Dictionary. The viewer will be able to select different time periods in art and then will be able to select if they want to read about the time period or if they want to see pictures of art related to that time period. There will be multiple pictures that the person can scroll through and click that will show a bigger picture, with text of who the artist was, time period, and origin of the work of art. The layout of the App will be different categories they could choose from or to use the "search artist" search tool at the bottom of the screen that will allow them to search for an artist or a specific time period. Some of my inspiration has come from an application for the Louvre in Paris, they have an application that lets the person read about the works of art or look at bigger pictures of the works. Mine will be different because I want to use more art then what they have in their museum, I want my App to be like a mobile Janson's art history book. This app will be very convenient for art students who would rather have an application on their phone then having the text, book. Maybe the person would want both and this would be a reference tool that they could check anywhere and not have to lug around a book.

NEW BLOG!

This week at school has been very busy, finals are coming before I know it and we still have to present are shopping web pages for class. I tried to put my shopping page on the school's server but my file was to large. Anthony told me that my fireworks files that I use for rollovers in my webpage is taking up too much space so we still have to figure out what I did wrong. The webpage still fully functional except I do not have it on the server, so at-least I can show the rest of the student my webpage and receive feedback. We still have not received are final project for web page design 2 which makes me a little nervous that we will not have enough time to finish the project. I am sure everything will work out and everyones shopping webpage this week will be great. I just feel like at the end of the semester we never have enough time to learn everything we want to learn. Well this is my blog for this week and I am sure I will have more to say next week.

Blog before Web Shopping Site is due

Today I am overlooking my webpage and trying to clean up any loose end I find in the design of my site. I am trying to make a convenient shopping website, as I have stated in previous blogs I am trying to combine the great features from other sites and make one great website that everyone will love because of how convenient it is to find any product imaginable. Designing a shopping site based on my own personal preferences is hard because everyone who uses this site will have their own preferences

of what they love about using these individual sites. That is why I researched the most popular sites

and worked on drawing parallels of why these sites work and why customers keep coming back

to use them. Questions I would ask myself is do they love the site for the layout? The many products

that the website offers to its customers? Do they like how safe it is to use with pay-pal and their secure

server? I asked myself these multiple questions and address them in my paper because there are so

many factors of why these sites work and why so many people are members to these sites.

I have not seen what the other kids in class of been working on but I can not wait to see how they addresss

the problems that I was faced with and what type of web shopping site they created for this project.

When we view everyones site on Monday November 9th it will be great to see everyones different layouts of what

they find to be convenient in a site, and what they included in their site that already established sites

are using. Well that is all I have to write about at the moment and my next blog will include which projects I like

the best and what makes them great.

blog about shopping web page

For my web shopping site I have designed a fake site that allows the viewer to shop like Ebay or Amazon. So far I have created three separate webpages. The first page shows top products, has a categories menu on the left hand side like most shopping sites. The second page shows a product, GTA 4 and has information about the product including about the game, screen shots, who made the game, price, and what type of game it is. The third page is an example of a sign on page that lets the person sign into their account or lets them create an account. Each page after they view an item will have similar products at the bottom of the screen that will give them options of other related products they might be interested in buying. I am designing a site that allows people to find what ever they are looking for directly at their fingertips.

To change the subject I also had a graphic design interview for an internship at Hitchcock and Fleming. Besides working on my shopping site I have been trying to land this internship, they said that if they can work around my next semester that I have a good chance of actually getting to work for them. This semester has been pretty busy and getting sick this week has really put a damper of trying to accomplish the things I want to do, like not missing class.

Web Design shopping site

As of now I have been working on my shopping webpage. I have been adding images of popular products on the homepage that the person can click to go to them. They can also use the navigation give at the top and left of the webpage. I also have edited my design for the logo at the top, i have added a shopping cart, and little icons that will allow the viewer to follow my website on myspace, facebook, twitter, etc. I thought using free sites for my advantage could not hurt. I have also designed a concept page that shows the layout of products on the website. The product I chose to show is grand theft auto 4. The person would click on the product and then be redirected to that page where they can read about the product, look at pictures with rollovers on the page, and check out related products. So far it has been a lot of work but I like the direction my webpage is heading in. I am also working on a sign in page that will allow the person to type in their e-mail address and password and view their shopping cart, products they might enjoy, and other ideas along these lines.

Designing a shopping site

For my fourth project I am designing a shopping site like Ebay or Amazon. I named my fake site Shopping.com because shopping is why they are using my site so i decided the easiest and most comprehensive site name would be what it is. The name is an easy name to remember and it is what it reads. I also have to keep the site layout similar to other shopping sites because so many people are use to the layout of Ebay or Amazon and other similar sites that they want the layout to be similar for function. I also kept the toolbars similar to the other sites, categories would be on the left and the search bar would be at the top for the person to write what they are looking for. The colors I used for the site are gray, black, and orange. Appealing colors that do not make you want to search another page. I enjoy using Ebay but the yellow they use on their site is functional and I know they use it because Ebay is suppose to be fun and exciting but I find the color to be off-putting and would rather see other colors used. So far I have decided a main page with categories on the left, a search bar at the top, and like other sites I have images I borrowed from Ebay to show popular products that mass consumers bought. I am still in the developing pages of this site and I am looking at other shopping sites to get ideas of how I can make mine better and more functional.

Project 4 Shopping Website

For my fourth project we are suppose to come up with concepts this friday about how we can design a site to sell a particular product. I do not have a particular product in mind but I would like to make a site that sells numerous products like Amazon or Ebay. Both sites serve a great function because they sell not just one product but numerous products. I am also torn about the style of layout I want to use for designing my interactive website that sells products. I was looking at Etsy.com and enjoyed the layout of their page. It was very clean and categorized well, I would like to design a site like that. I also am not sure how many pages we are suppose to make for an interactive website. Should we just make a homepage or should we go in depth and make numerous pages to show how the navigation will be used in the sites design and how a person will shop using the site. I will need to think deeply about this website because it involved a lot of elements with site design and using the concepts of web 2.o, more interactive websites. I will have to use images from other websites for all of the product categories that will be involved with a shopping site like Ebay or Amazon. Other then that I will have to come up with concept designs and a layout that will serve my purpose of a functioning website.

Blog about the due Hudson project

For my newest blog I will be discussing what I have been doing to turn in my project for the Hudson Library and Historical Society. At this moment I have made a power point presentation including images and key points about how I went about redesigning the Hudson website. I included pictures of the original website and my redesign of the website to show how I can make the website function better then the one they are currently using. I also took a picture of the Stow Munroe Falls Library website to compare indirect competitors of the Hudson Library and how they are easy accessible and user friendly. I have also been working in Microsoft word to write my proposal to the Hudson Library on how I can design a site that is easier to use and more functional. Another key point I write about is how congested the Hudson Website is and how negative space can serve a purpose to make it more visually appealing and easier to use. At the moment I am revising some of my pages to make them work and look as good as possible. I am going through each page and adding and subtracting things that could or could not be beneficial for my website. This project is very time consuming and I have ran into a lot of questions about how to make the best and easy to use functioning website.

Hudson Library Visit

For my new blog I will talk about how we went to the Hudson Library to get a feel for what goes on at the library and we got to see the interior of the library. The library is a great library with different areas that are for different age brackets. Such as there is a children’s room with computers, multiple books, a reading room, etc. The website in no way gives me any indication that there was a room for small children or teens. We learned that teens could go to the library and study; they have multiple books, and a television where they can watch pg-13 movies. There is a coffee shop, an upstairs with more books and study areas that are for any age bracket. I was surprised that the Hudson Library was as nice as it is did not have a website showing what kind of facilities are offered to the public. So what I want to do is come up with an idea to interpret how great of a museum it is with all of their great amenities. The librarian who gave us a tour around the library said that they bought multiple copies of Dream Weaver to help create a better website but as for now their website is still the same, boring and not beneficial to the user, and using navigation that is not similar to searching for a needle in a haystack.

Web Design Class Hudson Library part 2

Today's Blog is going to be about what I have been working on in Web Design 2 for the Hudson Library project. So far I have designed a couple of pages for the Library with navigation that is easy for any age bracket. I changed the navigation by adding a toolbar at the top and a drop down menu so the viewer can select what they want. I also put a search button on the site of the main page so any time a person needs to search they can, I also changed the color scheme to a blue because that green on their pages was not a great color to look at. I also have been checking out other libraries pages, like the Solon Library, the Stow library, and the Akron Library. All three of these sites have pretty good navigation, better color schemes then the Hudson page, and you can look at the pages without starting to get frustrated because you have no idea where a tab or icon is for what you are searching for. I know Wednesday we are suppose to go to Hudson and go to the library and I wanted to know if we are going to meet the person who designs this webpage because maybe they could hire some interns to help them get their site looking more on par, nothing against the library or the person designing it but it would be better for the viewers viewing it. I have not really found any good webpage design books to be inspired by so if anyone knows of one to read to give me some more ideas about this project I am game. I also am still working on getting my webpage uploaded to the Gozips. server but it is taking forever because of the internet speed letting me drag and drops files into our server. This is a little frustrating but sooner then later it will be on the web. This is all I have to write about so until next week with my next blog.

Web Class Second Post about Hudson Website

For my second post I will be writing about the third project we will have to do in Web Page Design. The project is to redesign the Hudson Historical society and library web page and to make it more accessible for the person viewing the webpage and for navigating throughout the webpage. The Hudson Library Webpage is pretty simple, they use a green color for their background and the website does not have a search bar located at the top or sides of the page for navigating which makes it difficult to find what you are looking for throughout. The page as icons on the side of the page for navigation but it gets frustrating because there are so many icons on the side and it is confusing to know what all of them are. Another thing I noticed is that other libraries like the Stow Munroe Falls Library is part of facebook and myspace which is very appealing to younger generations and the Hudson library could benefit from this if they belonged to these social networking sites to let the young and old know what is going on at the library with their updates on these sites. They could also clean up their site by getting rid of all of the excess space they do not use at the bottom of the page because the viewer can scroll for a while looking at nothing on the page which is irritating for any person looking at the web page. What I wanted to do is clean up the webpage, I want to get rid of any unused space on the page, I also want to add a toolbar at the top of the page with drop down menus that gives the person more options of what they are looking at. The other thing I wanted to do is at a search tool on the side of the page that can search the site, google, or their catalog. If the person knows what they are looking for all they have to do is use the search tool.

Web 2 class, first blog.

For my blog concerning webpage two I wanted to write about everything we have been doing so far in class. So far we have looked over previous websites that needed considerable work and discussed ways on how to make the web site more aesthetically pleasing. We also discussed navigation use in a webpage. My site and others in the class also had to deal with making their website navigation more accessible to who might be viewing the page.

Another problem that a lot of the sites faced other then navigation is that there was so much information on some sites that scrolled on the side of the page would keep going on and on forever and the average person would get annoyed and sick of having to look for information. That is one thing that seems like a key to designing a page is making it easy to navigate and finding a way to capture the viewers’ attention.

Today August 31, 2009 we discussed the basic use of Dreamweaver and we were given a project that consists of designing a project about ourselves and actually putting it online so it can be used throughout the school year. I already am a little confused on what site I want to display my website because I have never done that before and I do not want to pay a site like Godaddy.com.

Does Amazon and Ebay use form elements

After looking at ebay and amazon both websites use forms.  Amazon uses forms by using the list/menu when selecting an item.  Ebay also uses this feature to make it easier for the customer to purchase a product.  Both websites also use forms by having a text field for the customer to write what product they want to buy and writing in the name so it will take them to that page.

Remaking a webpage

The webpage I will be working on is the Northeastern Illinois University, language learning labatory webpage.  The webpage has a hard to read links on the left hand side of the webpage so I will rewrite those in Fireworks.  There is also unused space at the bottom of the webpage so I will get rid of that.  The text also runs into the edge of the box they used so I will leave a space so the text is not so close to the wall.  The site is 

http://www.neiu.edu/~fldept/flanglab/

Animation used for Ebay and Amazon

The animation for Ebay and Amazon was hard to find.  For Amazon I went to view, view source using the school's Mac computers and I could not find a animated gir or flash animation to save my life.  Amazon uses a flash animation which is an AD for bank for America.  Ebay did not have any form of animation because there was already enough happening on their page and there was zero animated advertisements like Amazon.  The Ad on Amazon does not continue continuously.  The viewer roles the window down for the dog and he sticks his head out the window.  The Ad is located near the bottom of the screen and i could barely notice it with all of the great products i could buy right in front of me.  

Using CSS with Amazon and Ebay

Amazon and Ebay both use CSS.  When I went to View, View source using Safari their code was extremely long and they had an internal source.    They use a style sheet and also use java script, their page is pretty advanced and I was easy to get lost.  They definitely have advanced tags with all of the information on their website.  Ebay also has an internal source, they use css because they had div tags.  Both Ebay and Amazon use  advanced tags such as bold or underline and to arrange their products they sell on their website.  

Navigation

The navigation for Amazon is great. When you scroll over text the letters become distinguished so you know which one you are picking. There are also smaller pictures so when you click them it takes you to another window to give the details of that product. E-bay is practically the same set up. The navigation is very convenient for both sites and rollovers are great to know it is a link.

Background Images and Textures

The background images chosen for ebay and amazon and white backgrounds with images placed on top of them.  Each website is designed this way to make shopping easier and to see what you are buying, not the pretty background.  Amazon has a blue header with text on the side.  The site is very background friendly because it does not take away from what you are looking at.  Ebay is also very friendly, they use yellow headers to grab your attention but they do not use too much zing to distract the viewer.  For my webpage i made a grey background, hopefully it will not distract the viewers from what they see.

Type

For the website I chose Amazon, a lot of their heading fonts are made in either Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop because you can not highlight the text.  Amazon also left the text very basic and stuck with an Arial font.  I do not know much about fonts but I believe this is what Amazon chose as their fonts.

Comparing Ebay and Amazon

 

Comparing bother Amazon and Ebay will not be a fair comparison because as I said I am not a ebay user, but I will have to go with Amazon because I am an avid user and love to buy movies off of the site.  I know their will be some disgruntle ebay users out in the world but I do not really care because it is all personal preference. 

Ebay

 www.Ebay.com

Ebay is a mystery to me.  I have never partake in using the site so I can really not right an accurate review of the site another then I do not like the idea of bidding on items.  I am aware that people love the site because they have everything but I would rather just click a button and know I am getting the product rather then having the wait to get it.

Amazon is great for shopping

www.Amazon.com

Amazon is a great site for shopping.  Anyone can type in what they are looking for and Amazon will display the many results.  If the customer does not want to pay for a brand new product they can look and see if someone is selling the product used.  If they decided to buy the product used they can see the ratings of how good and trustworthy the seller is.  These are some of the reasons of why I like to use Amazon.