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Hello, all!This class has been a worthwhile adventure thus far. I refer you to the quote above. Even as I've made an effort squeeze every bit of learning that I can out of this class, I have been tempted to cut corners. I hope that I won't have to do things over too many times, but this is no less than the fifth iteration of this site, and frankly, I'm still unsatisfied. Here are my assignments so far... |
What I've Learned Through October '08
Weeks 1 through 3
The first few weeks were a review of some basics that I should have known. It's always fun to learn new things, though, and the exercises, lessons and tutorials were enlightening and I particularly enjoyed the interactions on the Discussion Boards. It was also good to begin learning about Dreamweaver, especially site definitions and upload procedures. My experience previous to this class has been with Microsoft's Expression Web, and the experience has been... less than impressive, so learning about Dreamweaver is refreshing.
Week 4
This lesson has been mostly focused on the Dreamweaver interface and on using links. While these were not at all new concepts, the interface is new. As I've gotten more accustomed to the DW interface, I've come to appreciate some of the features. It took a moment to get used to the site control. Expression Web takes care of site management transparently, for the most part, as it relies by default on FrontPage definitions; however, Dreamweaver is much more efficient at site management. For example, I like that DW remembers passwords between sessions.
I especially like the "point to file" feature and the justify text capability. ery cool!
Week 5
I've studied CSS for quite a while, so this lesson wasn't the stumbling block it is for many, but I'm pleased to report that I still learned a lot from the exercises, especially concerning the use of the user interface for updating CSS. I've been hand-coding the styles because of the daunting appearance of the DW user interface. This class is precisely what I wanted - a kickstart. I'm stoked about what I'm learning.
The proliferation of "errant" styles is one of the most annoying aspects of designing a page, but I've learned from this chapter to simply grin and bear it, and stay on top of it!
Week 6
This chapter eradicated a host of confusions I had about the differences between margins and padding; borders; and alignment options plus it introduced a couple of new concepts such as Flash Text and Definition Lists.
I have a habit of thinking that if I understand a concept contextually, having never heard of it before, I don't need to study it. This course is disabusing me of that notion. I'm learning a great many little things that are quite helpful - things that I might not have discovered for a long time, if at all.
And I've been neglectful of the insights I've gained from the Krug book. It's been a huge boon in my perceptions of how to develop a design concept. I'm currently designing a site for a client and the things I'm learning from "Don't Make Me Think" are heavily influencing my design decisions. As I look at the site, I can tell, I need to learn a lot more... :-(
Week 7
Tables are what make web design possible, really. The careful arrangement of table rows and columns, paying attention to when they'll cause your design to go berzerk, is one of the fundamental elements of layout. I learned that you can actually open a URL from within Dreamweaver and take a look at the layout of the page, and I've seen where tables can be completely invisible to the user, but heavily integrated into the design.
Week 8
Divs are the logical CSS replacement for tables in modern web design. They're a lot harder to work with if you're unfamiliar with CSS, but they're probably more powerful in the long run than tables. For one thing, tables are hard to put borders on only one side, but divs can have different sized borders on the respective sides. They're also easier to format with CSS than tables. Only slightly, but decidedly easier.
Week 9
I thoroughly enjoy graphics design. I've got the artistic talent of a drunk monkey, but hey, sometimes a drunk monkey can produce some pretty astounding abstracts. Maybe. If he's lucky.
The biggest breakthrough for me in this lesson (and throughout the course work) was getting more familiar with Fireworks. I didn't know what it was or what could be done with it, and am learning more and more that there's more and more to learn. If a circle represents what you know, and the perimeter represents exposure to what you don't know, then as the circle of knowledge grows, so does the exposure to what you don't know. Those of us with curious minds get excited and motivated by that phenomenon.
I also learned more about making GIF files look decent. Dithering - and the various types of it - is crucial to making them look professional instead of "rainbowed". My wet cat was horrible-looking until I used the dithering to smooth it out. ery enlightening lesson.
Week 10
I say again, I thoroughly enjoy graphics design. It's a challenge for me to concoct a cohesive piece of art, though. I am, as I mentioned in a previous lesson, tragically left brained. I can copy art with a fair degree of accuracy and penache, but the truly creative work is locked away in a very selfish right hemisphere. Alas... Still, I had fun with the lesson and learned more about CSS and how it works with div tags and tables.
Week 11
I say yet again, I thoroughly enjoy graphics design. There have been many times that I have attempted to make smaller graphics and have failed miserably. DW seems to make the transition without a hitch! I'm impressed. And not a little excited about the possibilities. It's liberating to have these tools to work with.
Week 12
Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but my final project is coming along nicely. Not that there's not LOTS more to do to it to make it what I want it to be, but I think I've gotten off to a smashing start, and I've had a blast doing it.
Weeks 13 - 14
The final project is online and seems to have received rave reviews. I'm pleased. My client is happy, too, and has referred another client to me, so my personal portfolio is growing. With the practice it's given me, this class has helped tremendously. The most important things I've learned include graphics optimization, site management, and CSS. I'm stoked! It's been a great ride in this class - and it isn't over yet.
ery cool links
Development links
- Learn ASP.NET - This site has tons of videos teaching the ins and outs of creating ASP.Net-driven web applications.
- Learn JavaScript - One of the more helpful things to know to "fancy up" your site.
- Whoa...Flash-based web templates for the ambitious tweaker
Web Design Instruction
- Entheosweb - Anyone who can manage to get to the top of Google's search engines probably deserves to be there. I found this site by googling "web design tutorials".
That's not a 100% rule, but it's fairly reliable. I especially like this site because it focuses a lot on Adobe software.- Web Design Tutorials - One could peruse this site for hours - days - and never scratch the surface of its offerings.
Everything from web design tips and tricks to isual Basic and C++, Maya, Photoshop, and all points between.- Here's an oxymoron: Web Developer's Journal Probably one of the poorer designs I've seen. Then again, it doesn't say "Web Designer's Journal"...
- Approaching the center of the spectrum, Web Design Library and Web Design Tutorials are both fairly well organized, visually. They look better, and have some really good info.
- Animated gifs are fun. Free is fun. So it would follow that free animated gifs are really fun. http://www.gifs.net/ There is a potential problem - it doesn't open in IE7, but seems happy to work in Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.
- Want to learn about HTML tags, what they do and how they work? Try http://htmlplayground.com/.