Week 1 Summary

Each of us lives in a world full of objects that we use everyday, taking them for granted, counting on their functioning, without really knowing how they work or why. This was the feeling that accompanied me as I studied this week. Using computers, surfing the web, automatically analyzing web pages without thinking about the background work involved-- I realize how much I know, but also learned how much I don't know this week. I have a deeper appreciation for web pages as I've learned more about how they work. I've also enjoyed the class input, which has been both interesting and informative.

This week was full of practical information about the foundational approaches to professional web design. I appreciated this information as my experience with web design has been for my own entertainment. Consequently, my approach is just to put information on however and whenever it pleases me. When designing a professional site, using the web development cycle is a good planning guide. Having a team of web design professionals, from administrators to graphics designers and copy writers are necessary to designing a professional site, especially if it is to have a large amount of information and functions.

I also learned the steps involved in properly planning a professional site. First, you need to be able to identify your target audience, which leads to creating site specifications and content goals. Content goals can vary from billboard, to customer support, and e-commerce only sites. When you have decided audience, specifications, and content, designing, creating, and publishing your web site becomes the fun part of the web design cycle. The final steps are to keep it properly maintained as you market your site to your target audience.

The most important part of this week was learning how XHTML codes work. Learning the eight parts of a page according to code, as well as the elements and tags that determine how a page displays in a browser, was the most practical and informative part of this week. I've tweaked headers, elements in a body of a web page, but never learned how the code was put together. Learning how the page was determined by tags, and how content was placed in the header and body by elements, was a big aha moment for me. It gave me the framework to put the bits I've learned into a proper perspective, with the ability to see the complete picture instead of the pieces.

Debra Contreras:

"As you meet your brain, you will realize your infinite value, and become an 'artist of life.'

Then you can create new values, a new culture, and a new world." Ilchi Lee 

 αxynΩ

Week 3 Summary

This week focused on two aspects of web site design: graphics and CSS. When designing a site, it is important to design for the medium: the computer monitor, which displays color by mixing the three basic colors of light: red, green, and blue (RGB). Because colors vary widely from one monitor to another, based on both the user’s preferences and the exact brand of equipment, content assessiblity requires several important considerations. For example, to ensure the greatest portability of Web pages restrict the color palette to the colors available in the browser-safe palette. It is also better to specify colors with RGB or the more common hexadecimal values instead of color names, which are variable in nature.

Week Four Summary

Week 4, like previous weeks, was information packed. I learned about CSS positioning properties and how to apply them to Web page design. One important fact to remember is that the CSS positioning properties are also intended for use with programming scripts that can build interaction and animation into Web pages.I learned about the normal flow of elements in the document, which determines the way in which elements normally are displayed in the browser I applied what I learned by building a complete page layout using the positioning properties. Pixels are the most convenient measuring unit for offset values, with each containing box setting its own context for positioning. For example, an absolutely positioned box can contain elements that follow the normal flow. One of the benefits of using fixed positioning is that it “pastes” the element to one position, regardless of how the user scrolls.