®eflect, ®epent and ®eboot.

With death comes rebirth....

2007-01-24T10:50:00.000+11:00

After all this time (of being lazy really), I'm sad, yet equally happy to announce my blog has moved to a new permanent address.

It's had a makeover, and the good old wp procedure- so things are looking up for the old girl, and she's about to see a lot more action.

http://blog.pennyhaslop.com

What livejournal says you want for x-mas...

2006-12-19T10:44:00.000+11:00

On the twelfth day of Christmas, blackangelrose sent to me...

Twelve cats drumming

Eleven anubis piping

Ten bats a-leaping

Nine headbangers dancing

Eight tomatoes a-milking

Seven candles a-sleeping

Six hugs a-biting

Five anxi-i-i-iety whispers

Four magic mushrooms

Three electric blankets

Two incarnated elementals

...and a blat in a psychology.

Tips 'n' Tutorials

2006-11-05T19:37:00.000+11:00

http://www.tipsntutorials.com is a great way to learn about some of the more specific snippets of code and covers HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL and SEO.
If you know the basics, but would like to learn how to use your code more effectively and for actual useful things, it's really worth a look.

Toggl - Online TimeTracker Software

2006-08-24T21:55:00.000+10:00

Toggl is an uber-fantastic way of keeping track of the time you spend on things! It's FREE and easy to sign up, and it's as simple as clicking a little toggl, and the clock starts ticking!

Don't forget to press stop when you get distracted or go for a break! ;-)

How do you PHP?

2006-07-25T10:25:00.000+10:00

PHP Talk has a great list of Interview Questions for PHP Programmers which may be a good list to keep coming back to- it gets pretty hard pretty quickly!
Might also be a great resource for our Intro to Programming stuff or for those of us creating our own games and learning activities!

Did you know there are currently hundreds of available mobile browsers? Anyone tried cross-browser testing yet?

2006-06-20T11:55:00.000+10:00

I think I was speaking with Kevin about designing for mobiles yesterday, and came across a link to an article about Nokia releasing the source code for their S60 OSS Browser posted on Dave Shea's mezzoblue.

This browser enables smartphone users to browse full Web pages on a smartphone screen with features such as:

* Preservation of the original page layout, presented just as the Web site designer intended;
* Easy navigation of Web pages through page miniatures, reducing the amount of scrolling;
* Pop-up blocking, enhanced start page, and simplified menus;
* Visual History, an easy-to-use back function, showing miniature views of previous pages;
* Text Search, which works as you type, taking you directly to the interesting part of the page;
* Dynamic HTML, supporting dynamic menus, rollovers, and scripted behavior such as AJAX applications;
* Extensive support of industry standards including W3C's HTML, XHTML 1.0, DOM, CSS and SVG-Tiny; other Web standards such as SSL and ECMAScript; and Netscape style plug-ins such as Flash Lite and audio.

This could mean a standards compliant base for all browsers made for mobile devices! Good news for all of us!

Levels of Web Knowledge...

2006-06-06T10:18:00.000+10:00

Levels of HTML Knowledge Roger Johansson

5 for this.

Levels of CSS Knowledge Emil Stenström

I'd say I'm a level 5 too.

Levels of Javascript Knowledge Dean Edwards

Somewhere between 2 and 4. Need some improvement here....

Levels of Accessibility Knowledge Joe Clark (whom I think wrote this to justify his own opinion, that accessibility would be NOTHING without him).

I wont merit a response.

Zen Garden Entry- Geocities 1996

2006-05-23T10:58:00.000+10:00

Well done to Bruce Lawson and his excellent CSS Zen Garden spoof Geocities 1996.

ma.gnolia social bookmarking

2006-05-16T13:24:00.000+10:00

ma.gnolia.com is a bookmarking service, which allows you to save, access and share bookmarks anywhere in the world!

Think of it as a bloglines for bookmarks.

I have created a group called bmwebdesign.

I Urge that you guys sign up and try it out! Take a look at some Web Development bookmarks! All bookmarks are available through RSS feed also.

It's Alive!

2006-05-15T12:47:00.000+10:00

Well after much a frustrated weekend- I have finally got my mouseovers to work in Internet Explorer.

The loveliness of cabin and motel mouseovers can be viewed here.

This is how I solved the problem-
After roughly 2 months of putting it aside, I knew I would be able to locate the problem LOGICALLY!

I was using the property innerHTML and I couldn't figure out why my HTML was not being processed.
I thought about what the opposite property could be- outerHTML - which makes no sense... Then it struck me that outerHTML could represent be the tags themselves, so innerHTML must be the text (or whatever) inside an HTML tag.

To cut a long story short, my original copy contained the following code: (sorry blogger doesn't like code!)

paragraph (block)
span (inline)
h4 /h4 (block)
img (inline)
/span
/paragraph

WHAT A SEMANTIC NIGHTMARE! (Of course this isn't immediately obvious when code is being brought in from this variable, added to that one, not effecting this one.......)

The current working version is as follows-
paragraph (block)
strong (inline)
/strong
img (inline)
/paragraph

It Feels Great :)

I have also done a bit of http://blackgoldcabins.com.au/index.php>redesigning the landing page. What do you think?

Nina Ewers

2006-04-02T21:50:00.000+10:00

I couldn't resist a post for my gorgeous now named surrogate niece.
Nina Ewers - 20th March 2006

Javascript is way cool!

2006-03-30T16:18:00.000+11:00

*points at self and goes for a coffee*

Javascript is finally establishing itself in a nice snug spot at the back of my cerebellum.
I have recorded and saved all of the tutorials I have done in my own personal javascript resource! (which anyone and everyone can use) Hopefully it should be easier for myself and others to find the examples we're looking for rather search the masses of info on w3schools.com.

** 10th April- URL is fixed now!

My (postponed) Google Page

2006-03-22T22:23:00.000+11:00

Google has finally enabled my account for Google Pages! I have decided to put up all of my completed exercises with my personal comments for what I have worked on at TAFE.

Update: I have decided to wait until Google Pages co-operates and doesn't insist I increase my screen resolution to 1280 X 1024 to be able to edit HTML.
(The link is located at the bottom of the screen, so it isn't visible if your resolution is lower).

I'll be sticking to http://penny.learningwebdesign.net

Super-Fantastic Flash Site

2006-03-22T20:40:00.000+11:00

This is a definate must see. Wow..... The virtual tour designer is actually a composer/ choreographer by profession. Absolute amazing :)

The Sydney Opera House Virtual Tour

My Flash Buttons

2006-03-21T15:18:00.002+11:00

Good practice for the Scrappy Princess!

Top sights and sites

2006-03-21T10:38:00.000+11:00

Just a few of my recent bookmarks.
A lot of this information I find by subscribing to bookmark feeds in my bloglines account. Use a social bookmarking tool such as del.icio.us or find one in google. If you want to subscribe to my feed add http://del.icio.us/rss/pennyhaslop/bmwebdesign to your bloglines account.

Google Mars
Google Web Authoring Statistics - which id's and classes are most common?
Logo Bee - On creating logos
Australian Computer Society Code of Ethics
Unmatched Style - Gorgeous websites using css and web standards

Javascript Revision

2006-03-20T23:16:00.000+11:00

I have started (re)going through some of the w3schools javascript tutorials. After talking about it at some depth in class, things are finally starting to 'click'.
I have moved smoothly through printing text, using popup windows and calling functions with and without arguments.
I think the most important thing is to get yourself used to writing the code without a glance at any reference before moving on... works for me anyway!

I came across one small hurdle in the process:
When setting a variable to the current hour of the day the following code is used on w3schools.com javascript tutorials:

var d = new Date()
var time = d.getHours()

if (time<10) {
document.write("Good morning!")
} else {
document.write("Good day")
}

I struggle to understand why you need to set the variable d to date. It would make sense to me, but why is the new in there? and I would understand time = getHours() but the added .d in there throws me off.

Everything else is coming along smoothly. AJAX here we come (unless it gets patented!)

Levels of CSS knowledge

2006-03-09T10:08:00.000+11:00

Just read a post on Andy Budd::blogography about levels of css knowledge posted on friendly bit.
Where do YOU fit!?

Javascript & CSS effecting HTML validation

2006-02-27T15:20:00.000+11:00

As I have found when validating some of my pages that contain javascript, the HTML validator picks these up as HTML errors and displays your page as not valid.

After some research on Web Design Group's Common Problems i found an article that explained why.

It was as simple as placing the script in an external file. However, I decided not to do this, because this is a script I got from Dynamic Drive and isn't cross-browser compatible at all.
But what better motivation than to learn javascript so I can ensure a standards-compliant cross-browser experience :)

I'm looking forward to some other students learning javascript too, because I think we may have rushed ahead a bit, and I need to sit down and go through some basics again to get it lodged in there.

Update- 28th Feb
After speaking with our class facilitator, Michael he has shown me a way of making this process even simpler using CDATA.

Do you want to be Rich?

2006-02-22T21:24:00.000+11:00

My boyfriend Josh asked me a question today that I thought was worthy of a blogpost and hopefully a discussion. We were talking about EPIC 2015.

If you were in it to get rich, what would be the one internet based company you would invest in?

I'm still thinking....

Wallerawang Primary School visit

2006-02-22T21:13:00.000+11:00

...didn't go so well unfortunately. They had 'problems with their computer system' was simliar to the babble the I.T. helpdesk provided. When we finally did manage to get logged on an organised the password they had given us to upload the site was wrong! and i couldn't connect with the right password either!
Because it is a school site i'm setting up, it must be done from a det networked computer. Would I be able to do this from TAFE? I guess I can always try!
Otherwise I'll be back out there next tuesday trying again.

Just goes to show all these things my teachers have been telling me are true about things never going right!

Gmail for WRAS

2006-02-16T11:19:00.000+11:00

Gmail for your domain!

I have just signed the Western Region Academy of Sport to do some beta testing for this feature! It would be a fantastic and easy solution that would solve many problems the Academy runs into with their current email setup. From a developer point of view, I'm sure this would cut costs and time.

Target Sued By National Federation of the Blind

2006-02-16T10:38:00.000+11:00

February 7th 2006

"The suit—brought by NFB, the NFB of California, and a blind Californian, Bruce Sexton, on behalf of themselves and all blind people in California—charges that Target’s website is inaccessible to the blind, violating the California Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Disabled Persons Act.
...Target.com fails to meet the minimum standard of web accessibility. It lacks compliant alt-text, contains inaccessible image maps, preventing blind users from jumping to different destinations within the website. And because the website requires the use of a mouse to complete a transaction, blind Target customers are unable to make purchases on Target.com independently."
- Disability Rights Advocates

Also view the Web Standards Article. I can't believe there is not even a DOCTYPE used! And the problem becomes compounded when there are phrases like- 'Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.' and a page labelled 'diversity', which ironically wouldn't load for me.
The only details as to who wrote the page is a 'powered by Amazon.com' in the bottom corner.

Shame Target Shame.

Here's to the Crazy Ones

2006-02-16T10:05:00.000+11:00

Mike Patton - Artwork Erik Rose

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels.
The troublemakers. The round
pegs in the square holes - the
ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules and
they have no respect for
the status quo. You can praise
them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you
can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

-Apple Computer Ad, 1997

Previous Work....

2006-02-16T09:55:00.000+11:00

Hi Michael, Jude and Genie-
I thought this post from last year may cover some of the things we are doing in class I may not have ticked off yet!

WebDesigner's Pre-Flight Checklist

macromedia.com

2006-02-16T09:33:00.000+11:00

How does it handle sumptuous multimedia and rich graphics? From what I can see, most of the site uses quick to download JPG images. This is surprising, because you pressume macromedia would take advantage the popularity of their products. When you start navigating towards a BUYING page, the frequency of flash use increases.

Does it meet standards? Not really. It's appears to be accessible, useable and easy to navigate. The latter it may be, but the macromedia site states it is XHTML 1.0 Transitional, although it is not.

Is it compliant? Not quite

Is the interface intuitive? I think it's great for what they need. A main target audience would be on people who DONT have flash player installed, so they have tried to ensure (but have not succeeded) their site is accesible to as wide an audience as possible.

What metaphors are used in the interface? ?

Some Inspiration...

2006-02-16T09:07:00.000+11:00

"My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared." - P. J. Plauger

"Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything." - Blaise Pascal

Creative Commons Search

2006-02-09T18:29:00.000+11:00

I thought that this might be a good timesaver for those Firefox 1.5 users among us. You can add all types of search engines to the firefox toolbar, such as Flickr and technorati-(a search engine for blogs)!

Keeping things as fantasy....

2006-02-02T00:01:00.000+11:00

You scored as Fred and George Weasley. You'd be dating Fred AND George Weasley.. naughty!

Fred and George Weasley

Ron Weasley
Draco Malfoy
Victor Krum
Percy Weasley
Cedric Diggory
Harry Potter

WHO ARE YOU SCREWING AT HOGWARTS??
created with QuizFarm.com

2006-01-30T22:10:00.000+11:00

Ready to go Again...

2006-01-27T18:58:00.000+11:00

I'm REALLY looking forward to getting back into Gluing my Brain together for 2006. I think it's a great idea! It keeps all of our TAFE stuff in the one place and easy to find. I usually can't remember who posted what.
Do we have a new timetable yet? It would be good to find out what days will be free this year!

I have up a fairly rough demo site for Black Gold Country Cabins, also in Wallerawang. I'm in the finishing stages of completing the last few pages now. I decided to purchase the domain & hosting from Australian company WebCity.
Unfortunately I found out they run PHP4 whereas I have learnt and only dealt with PHP5. I'm a bit confused by all of the
$os = $_GET["os"];
if(!(isset($os))) {
$os = $_POST["os"];
}
$myname = $_POST["myname"];

Does anybody know any good PHP 4 resources BESIDES php.net?

Retail News: I get to open the shop on Sunday. All by myself!

Client Number 3....

2006-01-10T19:30:00.000+11:00

After finally finishing the wras.org.au and getting the final draft template ready for approval for the Wallerawang Primary School site, I have been contacted by another client Black Gold Country Cabins. The plan is to get this done BEFORE tafe goes back so I can do the fine tuning to the WPS site and get on with more PHP and Javascript.

I got some GREAT webdesign books for xmas including:

Webpage Usability - Jakob Nielsen

The Psychology of the Internet

Blue Invasion in Hyde Park was all it was cracked up to be. Friends of me Josh, Myra and James agreed.

All Locked In....

2006-01-06T21:17:00.000+11:00

I feel as though I have been neglecting my blog, but I don't feel guilty at all- I'm meant to be on holidays.
I have discovered some interesting things such as BubbleShare which may very well give flickr a run for their my money.

I have just re-enrolled for TAFE 2006. I was going to just go in to the office and get it done, but i thought, no I should really do things the proper way, being a web-design student and all. Speaking of which, I am currently working on the template for the Wallerawang Primary School site... Hoping to be finished by the time the holidays are over. We have worked out a compromise to use a templating system, so they can create sections using FrontPage (blerk! :P)

I hope everyone had a great xmas and new year! We had a lovely few days staying at the Meriton Apartments in Sydney on the 62nd floor (scary). It was quite a view...

And in other news, I will be moved by the time TAFE starts up again. It's time to go and save some money and see the folks for a bit. But not for too long.... I wont miss the 3 hour train trip to work every day either.

Tomorrow we visit Tony Oursler's Blue Invasion. Looks fantastic!

del.icio.us and sexy

2005-11-24T21:06:00.000+11:00

del.icio.us has been re-designed! No more yucky pink bits. A much needed 200% improvement :)
Me likes....

Integrity- My Favourite Word

2005-11-22T14:12:00.000+11:00

Rather than a Code of Ethics, I much prefer the word Integrity...

INTEGRITY- possession of firm principles: the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards

As this is based on someone else's code, this is My Personal values when it comes to being an Information Technology professional...
= Important Ones...

To uphold and advance the honour, dignity and effectiveness of the profession of Information Technology I must:

Be honest, forthright and impartial

Strive to increase the competence and prestige of the profession

Use special knowledge and skill for the advancement of human welfare

I must work competently and diligently for my clients and employers

I must be honest in my representations of skills, knowledge, services and products

I will strive to enhance the quality of life of those affected by my work

I must enhance the integrity of the IT profession

Standards of Content

I must endeavour to preserve the confidentiality of the information of others

I must advise my client or employer of any potential conflicts of interest between my assignment and other requirements which face me in connection with my work

Competence

I must endeavour to provide products and services which match the operational and financial needs of my clients

I must make myself aware of relevant standards and act accordingly

Honesty

I must not knowingly mislead a client or potential client as to the suitability of a product or service

I must not misrepresent my skills or knowledge

I must give realistic estimates for projects under my control

I must give unbiased and objective opinions

I must give credit for work done by others where credit is due

Social Implications

I must protect and promote the health, safety, privacy of those affected by my work

I will strive to understand and give due regard to the perceptions of those affected by my work

I must attempt to increase the feelings of personal satusfaction, competence and control of those affected by my work

Professional Development

I must continue to upgrade my skills and knowledge

I will increase my awareness of issues affecting the information technology profession and it's relationship with the community and encourage this from my peers

The IT Profession

I must respect and seek when necessary, the professional opinions of colleages in their area of competence

I must not knowingly engage in, or be associated with dishonest of fraudulent practices

I must not attempt to enhance my own reputation at the expense of another's

I must seek advice from the Society when faced with an ethical dilema I am unable to resolve by myself

Protect and Promote Professionalism in Information Technology

New to Programming?

2005-11-21T14:21:00.001+11:00

Intro 2 Programming

View this step-by-step underst-orial.

Who would YOU vote for?

2005-11-21T11:00:00.000+11:00

It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts!
Here are the facts about the three candidates.

Candidate A.
Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologist.
He's had two mistresses.
He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B.
He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

Candidate C.
He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drink an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.

Which of these candidates would be your choice?
Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.

Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone. Never be afraid to try something new!

Amateurs...built the ark.
Professionals...built the Titanic

Topics of Note...

2005-11-20T23:03:00.000+11:00

I have noticed a few things lately whilst browsing my bloglines. For those who loved our CSS Challenges, I came across csstoolshed.com, which is similar to zen garden, but less daunting!

I also found a Colour Blindness on the Web article, which some may be interested in!

And I couldn't help but notice the same thing come up a few times, in that

Those people still delivering nested table layout, spacer gifs or ignoring accessibility can no longer call themselves web professionals.
-molly.com

But apart from that, I have been working and sleeping with no time to get any TAFE work done, so when it comes to our weekly meeting Don't Ask Me!!!

When academics post online, do they risk their jobs?

2005-11-18T22:47:00.000+11:00

What is it with job seekers who also write blogs? Candidates looked good enough on paper to merit a phone interview, after which they were still being seriously considered for a face to face interview.
Then the committee took a look at their online activity.....
-From Bloggers Need not Apply

Also interesting was Attack of the Career-Killing Blogs. I see the point but agree with Using a Blog Effectively more!!

Karma will bite you....

2005-11-17T19:55:00.000+11:00

Not really, she's just scruffy... She's my PUPPY!

A Revolution

2005-11-15T21:38:00.000+11:00

I'm at Home! WooHoo!

Brain Activity

2005-11-10T15:25:00.000+11:00

Illusion... Creepy....

My First Testimonial

2005-11-10T13:18:00.000+11:00

Just a quick note to say what a great job you both do. I was very impressed with the orientation/training weekend. Emma is really looking forward to being in the 2006 squad.
The website looks fantastic and is very easy to navigate. On that note could you please include me on your email distribution list.

Patricia Marino, AO for the Faculty of Education, CSU

Not all that impressive, but it IS a first.

Bits, Bytes and Pixels

2005-11-08T14:02:00.000+11:00

WIDTH x HEIGHT x BIT DEPTH = Number Bit

http://www.bowhaus.com/news/bbp.htm

Might help you get what Jude was talking about... Heaps of examples and easy explanations!

Spread Firefox

2005-11-07T14:10:00.000+11:00

Creative Commons on Google

2005-11-07T12:56:00.000+11:00

As Leigh Blackall has outlined- but suggests we use the Creative Commons Search Page instead.

CSS Table Gallery

2005-10-31T11:01:00.000+11:00

http://icant.co.uk/csstablegallery/index.php?css=20

The REAL Hyde Park

2005-10-31T10:04:00.000+11:00

Perfect Weekends... In Perfect places.... Not so perfect puppies...

43 Things

2005-10-24T15:31:00.000+10:00

My 43(!?) Things... And you'll notice one of them is actually getting the list to 43

Web2.0

2005-10-17T12:43:00.000+10:00

This week drew throngs of geeks paying $2,800 a head to the sold-out Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco...

Web2.0 Conference sponsor Tim O'Reilly, says Web 2.0 is:
An "architecture of participation" -- a constellation made up of links between web applications that rival desktop applications, the blog publishing revolution and self-service advertising.
In our initial brainstorming, we formulated our sense of Web 2.0 by example:

Yahoo! have released a MyWeb2.0 BETA version. What is it? It seems to be a bookmarking tool like del.icio.us - hardly 2.0.

No one may be able to agree on what Web 2.0 means, but the idea of a new, more collaborative internet is creating buzz reminiscent of the go-go days of the late 1990s.

The Internet is sort of the mental equivalent of the snack aisle at a convenience store...

2005-10-17T12:38:00.000+10:00

I worry that my knowledge of the world is actually growing shallower, in fact, because for every idea there are a dozen articles and Wikipedia entries to read that allow me to avoid thinking for myself...."

Paul Ford

Servers

2005-09-23T11:11:00.000+10:00

How Servers handle HTML and PHP files...

WRASmail Up and Running

2005-09-17T22:42:00.000+10:00

Finally!
WRASmail is up and running. I have part of the WRASsite uploaded which I have added the graphics I have been planning to add all along. It really makes all the difference. But most of it says coming soon. And the sooner the better...

Next up will be building all of the boring stuff and lots of html coding for me. Looks like I will be busy during the next few weeks...

I can now be contacted using webmaster at wras.org.au which is a first for me.

Monday Morning...

2005-09-05T10:44:00.000+10:00

Hi Everyone!

Just going through my bloglines account, and have found some very interesting things.
There is a lot of talk about IE7. I managed to pick up one thing-
Executive summary for your mom: CSS support in IE is getting better all the time.

I found a great site with some CSS Layout for TABLES (which are of course only necessary if it is table data), But they look great!

And when trying to explain things to a novice, this phrase really caught my eye and I thought, yes. That could work.

“a new way to develop websites that has become increasingly popular over the past few years. It heavily cuts down on development times, thus reducing costs, and it greatly improves flexibility and forward-compatibility, meaning easier redesigning and enhanceability. Redesigning cheaply means stronger branding and marketing for your company, and all this while reducing development costs!”

All of the other sites I came across, I have saved as bookmarks on del.icio.us and all have the tag bmwebdesign.

Aunty (without a hicky)

2005-08-30T14:19:00.000+10:00

We restored this image using Photoshop. Before it had a big water smudge on her shoulder, a few scratches and a big scratch across the nose.

The tools we used were the PATCH TOOL, the HEALING TOOL and the CLONE TOOL.

The NOISE, DUST AND SCRATCHES and DESPECKLE filter can be of use when restoring photographs also.

A List Apart

2005-08-29T14:49:00.000+10:00

Whilst I've been sitting here reading through my blog feeds, I have become increasingly annoyed at the number of people who are whinging and bitching about A List Apart's new look.

Don't get me wrong... I think it looked better before..

BUT... isn't the most important thing we learn as web designers to cater for our target audience? I'm sure that if you've navigated to A List Apart you already know about browser sizes.... we would hope.

And if you don't, it wont be long before you close the window because you know the content of the page isn't for you anyway.... And if you get to notice the scrollbar before then, does it really matter anyway?

How Web Servers Work

2005-08-29T11:08:00.000+10:00

[ From HowStuffWorks.com ]

Behind the Scenes
If you want to get into a bit more detail on the process of getting a Web page onto your computer screen, here are the basic steps that occurred behind the scenes:
The browser broke the URL into three parts:
The protocol ("http")
The server name ("www.howstuffworks.com")
The file name ("web-server.htm")

The browser communicated with a name server to translate the server name "www.howstuffworks.com" into an IP Address, which it uses to connect to the server machine.

The browser then formed a connection to the server at that IP address on port 80. (We'll discuss ports later in this article.)

Following the HTTP protocol, the browser sent a GET request to the server, asking for the file "http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-server.htm." (Note that cookies may be sent from browser to server with the GET request -- see How Internet Cookies Work for details.)

The server then sent the HTML text for the Web page to the browser. (Cookies may also be sent from server to browser in the header for the page.)

The browser read the HTML tags and formatted the page onto your screen.
To understand this whole process in detail, you need to learn about IP addresses, ports, protocols... go to HOW STUFF WORKS!!

Photoshop Shortcuts

2005-08-23T15:16:00.000+10:00

f1 = help

[ ] = resize brush (+/-)

Toolbox
t = type
v = move
d = resets palette to black and white
x = switches foreground to background

ctrl + a = select all
ctrl + d = deselect
ctrl + z = undo
ctrl + alt + z = step backward
ctrl + c = copy
ctrl + v = paste
ctrl + x= cut
ctrl + s = save

Blue Eyed Liz

2005-08-23T13:36:00.000+10:00

I like my lizard...
We used Adobe Photoshop to put the colour in the eye.
Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation > Colorize

WAI (A AA AAA)

2005-08-15T14:23:00.000+10:00

The WAI
The Web Accessibility Initiative is one of five main areas of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WAI is made up of different stakeholder groups: industry, disability organisations, government and accessibility research centres. The work WAI undertakes includes:
* Ensuring that web technologies (HTML, CSS, PHP) support accessibility
* Developing tools to evaluate and facilitate accessibility.
* Conducting education and outreach.
* Coordinating and promotion of research and development into web accessibility and related issues
* Developing guidelines for accessibility. These include guidelines for user agents (browsers, multimedia players and assistive technologies), for web authoring tools, and for content authors

Priority
1- A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.
2- A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.
3- A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.

Conformance
Web authors can claim:
*Level A if all priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied
*Level AA if all priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are satisfied
*Level AAA if all priority 1, 2 and 3 checkpoints are satisfied

DESIGNLINKS

2005-08-15T13:42:00.000+10:00

designlinks.blogspot.com

Links to design resources on the web

The WebDesigners Pre-Flight Checklist

2005-08-09T13:13:00.000+10:00

how-to-build-websites.com
Lesson Eight

What is the importance of flexibility in design?

Provides the ability to change a site's content, elements and styles with minimal re-coding. It is necessary to make small changes to large ones at anytime.

Usability , accessibility, what’s the difference and what is usability?

Usability- How easy the user can navigate around the site and locate the information they are looking for. They should be able to find what they are looking for in 3 clicks.

Accessibility- The skills and hardware the user has to enable them to access your site. (disabilities, age restrictions, limited hardware)

What is the maximum page weight as a rule of thumb, and how is it calculated?

Your should aim for a page size that will look good, but still download quickly. Users dont want to wait for more than 10 seconds to view a web page. That means, for a 56K modem, each page need to be under 60K IN TOTAL

Give an example of when the previous rule might be broken.

Flash websites usually have large file types. If a visually appealing site is necessary, Flash would be an option. There is no need if you know your intended audience mostly have Windows98 with Dial-up connections. Sometimes, a file a person is looking for will exceed this size, and it can be best to offer a link so it can be downloaded as an option.

There is a plethora of tools out there for building websites, what are the criteria you would use in choosing you tools.

-Intended Audience

-Accessibility and Usability options

-Keeping up with competition

Why is it important to convey the meaning of the website clearly and quickly.

A lot of web designers focus on the content and how it is going to look so much, the meaning and point of it being there in the first place is overlooked.

Can you think of some ways of ensuring the previous?

-Outlining the Purpose of the site on the home page (index.html)

-Ensuring an About Us page covers a simple, precise explanation.

-Having search options

What is a 4th generation website?

-Proper use of Mark-Up Language (structual tags only)

-Use of CSS to create styles

-Respect Accesibility and Useability issues

-Be concious of how people are going to find your page and what the Search Engine will list it containing.

What hardware is required to build websites, explain?

Web Designers can spend as much or as little (or none) as they want on software amd hardware.

When it comes to writing the webpage, it's only simple text and any text editor will do. Graphics are a different story, and the best looking need the most expensive software. Lucky for us, this produces large file types which on the internet we don't want.

Remember, the smaller the better (normally) and elements can always be jazzed up using style sheets, but the content will still be available for users with older hardware.

What are light images?

Pictures that are saved in the smallest possible format to allow fast downloads and loading.

That old question, how big is “light”?

Printers work on 300dpi (dots per inch). For web images 72dpi is sufficient. This decreases file size.

What is Image optimization?

Saving an image especially for a particular output (in this case, the web). Compresses the file to it's smallest possible size.

What criteria might be used to choose whether your image would be a gif or jpg?

GIF- shows transparency/ animations/ slightly larger file type for lesser quality

JPG- no transparency/ no animation/ smaller file size, fairly good quality

The old saying rules are made to be broken, does it apply in web design, explain.

No... thats what the W3C is for. Too many rules have been broken in the past and resulted in cross-browser chaos and finally! the W3C steps in...

CSS Layouts

2005-08-09T12:51:00.000+10:00

Something which may be of interest to you guys....

I found glish.com which a guy has written in his spare time waiting for another client to come along.

It includes

A Catalogue of CSS layout techniques (not templates)

CSS Resources

CSS Tutorials

He displays the source code of every page at the bottom of every page to make it easy to understand and go through.

Enjoy!

wras.org.au

2005-08-09T11:24:00.000+10:00

Still having some trouble with wras.org.au. Hopefully I can get it sorted out by Next Monday.

Still working on finishing adding the content to the WRAS site and working on my documentation for the Wang Primary School Site. My first meeting with them is on thursday and I need everything ready to take out there with me. I have been thinking about Accessibility Issues when it comes to children. I know they want to use the website alot to bring school life into the family home and involve busy parents and families as much as they can. I have some great people to work with, who understand the importance of keeping the website interactive and exciting. A possibility would be having a student of the week. They get a special award, their photo and their artwork on the main page each week. It's something for the kids to strive towards and to keep them interested at home.

Website (in)Accessibility

2005-08-09T11:07:00.000+10:00

After reading Michael's post on designwebsites I tried out the Inaccessible Website Demonstration. I have taken into account the following things when designing my website.

It doesn't matter how long your alt="" descriptions are. The file size becomes slightly larger, but this is a huge advantage for someone using a screen reader.

Don comma t overuse puncuation or use it for formatting full stop it can become very annoying comma hard to understand comma and frustrating dot dot dot

Provide a link on your site to enable colour-blind viewers to be able to see it properly.

Use high contrasting colours to differentiate between Backgrounds and Text/Links

Ensure links stand out, have enough clear space around them and are identifiable as links.

All of these things have also made me think of further needs for different groups such as children, the elderly and people with limited computer use.
Thanks Michael!

Three Column Layouts- What a nightmare

2005-08-08T12:19:00.000+10:00

The NOT-SO-simple-guide-to-3-column-layouts WOW!

Photo Galleries

2005-08-02T13:46:00.000+10:00

I looked at:
1. HubbleSite
2. Alfred Molan's Travel Gallery
3. New Zealand Photo Galleries

Some of the features I liked were:
- Thumbnails of images on the one screen, and being able to decide how many are displayed
- Galleries split up into categories, with one option to display all images.
- Language Options for sites with many international visitors
- Search for Files
- List of recent additions
- The best was 3 because of the slideshow at the top, with thumbnail previews of what was to come next.
- Each had clean simple layouts, with dark backgrounds to accentuate the images.

wras.org.au

2005-07-29T11:03:00.000+10:00

Today the Western Region Academy of Sport signed up to smartyhost for their hosting and domain name. I now have all the information I need to finish compiling the website in it's basic stage (almost). Hopefully this should be done by the end of next week.

Hardware and Software for Designers

2005-07-26T13:27:00.000+10:00

Hardware
Pentium 3+
512mb RAM
Monitor
Graphics Card
Sound Card
80G HDD
Camera
Scanner
Graphics Pad
Flash USB
DVD Burner*
Speakers*
Microphone*

Software
Web Browser (Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Opera)

Web Authoring
Operating System (XP, OSX)
Text Editor
HTML Editor (HTML-Kit, BBEditor)
CSS Editor (topstyle)
Dreamweaver
GoLive

Graphics/ Animation
Flash (big files, compatibility, plugin, accessibility)
Adobe Photoshop CS- Raster
Adobe Illustrator- Vector
Fireworks- Macromedia
Freehand- Macromedia

Sound Editing
Audacity
Premier
Garage Band

Wang School Template

2005-07-26T10:10:00.000+10:00

I have been fiddling at home and came up with a draft template for the Wallerawang Public School Website. I have forwarded it to the Principal to get comments, ideas, see if I am on the right track and await his response....

Wallerawang Public School

2005-07-25T13:30:00.000+10:00

Just had a look at the Wallerawang Public School current home page at http://www.wallerawan-p.schools.nsw.edu.au
I don't think I should have too much of a problem improving it.

Paired Bio Pages

2005-07-25T03:52:00.000+10:00

I interviewed Ivan and came up with THIS to portray my perception of his personality
-in xhtml format!

OVERHAUL

2005-07-21T12:55:00.000+10:00

I have decided I am going to re-design the formatting of my mum's website. I have learnt enough already in the first week of my course, to realise i could make it a lot more effective by doing so. I better stop wasting time posting on my blog though.......

Hello!

2005-07-19T09:56:00.000+10:00

Hello everyone!
My name is Penny and this is my first post. I don't want to waste anymore time, so I'll get started.