Constandina Tutten's Weblog

Chapter 14 in Creating a Web Site taught us about JavaScript.  Seriously, I think I could read this chapter a dozen times and still feel like my head is swimming.  This is definitely a learning process for me.  And there is nothing in particular that I have questions about, I just feel like this entire chapter was very technical and hard for me to follow.  That being said, I really like the idea of using collapsible text in my site.  This is a feature I’ve seen on lots of other sites that I think gives a really streamlined look and appealed to my natural tendency to have order in my surroundings.  In my head it’s the same premise as building huge shelves to store my kids’ toys in, then not being satisfied with them until I had custom doors installed too.  I like the idea of only looking at what you need to be looking at right at that moment.  I’m thinking since I’m still wanting to do a web site for my family’s bakery, maybe I could use collapsible text on the product list for folks who need to see the ingredients or something like that?  Since allergies are such an issue these days.  I can think of lots of ways to make it work for my purposes.

Chapter 13 in Creating a Web Site is all about making money using the internet.  Again, this is a subject I had some prior knowledge of, because I had been really interested in giving affiliate marketing a try several years back.  I am definitely not creative enough to come up with a real, tangible product to sell online, so my idea was to do a web site that discussed and reviewed movies (specifically “chick flicks”) and the thought was that I’d include links to Amazon, perhaps, where a person could go to buy a particular film.  I believe netflix may also let you sign up to be an affiliate and that would have been a natural link to add as well.  So anyway, of the two programs that were discussed at length in this chapter, which were Google Adsense and Amazon Associates, the one I think I would prefer to use would be Amazon’s program.  I like that a customer could use a link to Amazon on my site and end up buying an entirely different product that I recommended and that I would still get credit so to speak.

We reviewed the following websites this week:

urbandirty.com:  REALLY edgy stuff.  Most of the photos have a really dark feel to them.  Again, not exactly the look I’m going for with my own website, but very artistic.  The website has a cool, gothic look to it with the black background.

flickr.com, best textures group: This site was really well laid out with the textures at the top of the page and a discussion board running across the bottom.  There was a really cool image that showed a bunch of ropes knotted that I really liked.

deviantart.com: Not quite as dark as the stuff on urbandirty.com, but still had a decidedly dark feel.  In a good way.  The gray background works nicely with the brooding sort of feel to the site.

textureking.com: This site had a LOT of textures to choose from and definitely a more upbeat vibe.  I like the use of tables and the orange accents on this site.

grungetextures.com: I think the best thing about this site is the name.  Anything that contains the term “grunge” is going to make me take a second look because it reminds me of what was popular in my own youth.  So i think that was good marketing in terms of connecting with the gen-X demographic.  Oh yeah, and the textures available weren’t half bad either.  I was surprised to see the use of brown/earth tones in this site.  It just was not what I envisioned when I heard the word “grunge.”

smashingmagazine.com, grunge style: This site was a definitive work of grunge style with separate sections for fonts, icons, textures, etc.  Each section had examples and links (many of which were part of this week’s websites).  A really easy to use site.

vandelaydesign.com: Lots and lots of tutorials for creating textures.  Really easy to use site.

modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk: This site profiled top web cliches and the current top trends for web design.  In the current trends list I can say two that I truly hate are the cartoon character graphics and the oversize RSS icons.  I guess depending on what kind of web site you’re putting together that might be a look that represents what you are is trying to convey, but I just think they look unprofessional.  I’m reminded somehow of clowns that wear ridiculously large shoes.

smashingmagazine.com, web tutorials: LOTS of tutorials for creating web 2.0 effects.  I particularly like the ones on gradients.  I really like the look of these on web sites.

modernlifeisrubbish.co.uk, screen resolutions: I get that this is a relevant article because the novice web designer may not realize that you have to take into account that viewers will be using monitors of different sizes when viewing a site.  I just wish we had a more current article (I think this one is circa 2007) that also takes into account the widespread use of handheld devices today.  I have a friend who cannot seem to stand it that I have a cell phone that I in fact only use to make phone calls (and text), and not surf the web.  So I’m guessing I’m in the minority.  Are big PC’s going to become a thing of the past for most computer users?

This week we studied chapter 4 in The Principles of Beautiful Web Design, which dealt with typography.  The chapter contained a warning towards the beginning that the study of typography could get addictive, and with good reason.  The terms that define the “anatomy of letterform” were particularly interesting.  It reminded me a lot of a grammar theory class I took as an undergrad where we broke down the individual components of words.  I have not yet decided if I’m going to go with one of the web safe fonts ar go another route, but I have always been a fan of Comic Sans MS.  It has always struck me as being “happy”.  I also looked at some of the web sites suggested in the chapter in the “finding fonts” section.  Misprintedtype.com, which displays the art of Eduardo Recife, has an absolutely GORGEOUS font called “Nars.”  It is unfortunately not the look I need for my web site, but it almost makes me want to reconsider my whole idea!

Chapter 12 in Creating a Web Site is entitled, “Letting visitors talk to you (and each other).”  This chapter has really made me think about how I would incorporate these concepts into my website.  My plan is to build one for my family’s bakery.  It was open for 40 years but was still a very small business (albeit with a very loyal following in St. Augustine).  So of course I can see having a contact page where visitors could e-mail me.  But beyond that, how would I make the site interactive where visitors could talk to each other?  I’ve been trying to come up with ideas for that, but all I can think of is a place to post comments, where maybe one visitor could ask others for recommendations, or post feedback about their experience with the bakery, etc.  Definitely something to ponder further.

Finally, in chapter 11 (“Attracting visitors”) in Creating a Web Site, I have come to a chapter that makes sense and which I digested with relative ease.  I know I have mentioned in past posts that I had played around with the idea of creating a web site back in probably 2004.  At the time I was using 1and1.com for my hosting and using one of their templates to design the site.  That part was pretty simplistic.  The part of the process I devoted the most time to was educating myself about search engine optimization.  I was hoping to get into affiliate marketing so rankings were a big deal.  Back at that time, the accepted logic was the heavy use of keywords and the use of relevant links.  I seem to recall the links being given more weight.  And it seems like that is still the case today.  With the site I intend to build, I’ve already started considering what other types of sites it would be good to set up reciprocal links with.

We only had one site to view for this lesson, colorsontheweb.com.  At first glance I really liked this site.  It is just beautiful and as someone who has zero intrinsic artistic ability, I am really excited to learn about colors and how they work together.  However, I found at least one glaring grammar error on this site (that’s my English degree talking) and, when I went to the menu option”color basics,” the first three colors I tried to click on gave me a message that the file could not be found.  I didn’t bother trying any more colors after that.  This site looks like it has a lot of neat tools and useful information, but I am surprised to see mess-ups like these on a site that is available to professional web designers.  It really detracts from my overall opinion of the site.

OK, so I have sort of changed my opinion of The Principles of Beautiful Web Design.  I originally thought it was way to technical for the novice web designer and clearly geared more toward a pro who had a lot more experience with the type of thing.  But as we move into Chapter 3, I find myself so engrossed with the beautiful illustrations and examples that it’s a lot easier to stay focused and follow along.  This chapter dealt with adding texture to a site.  And I know we had already gone over this, and concepts like tiling, in the other text, but this chapter made it much more clear to me.  I particularly liked the section on “aged, weathered, worn, and nostalgic style.”  This is really the kind of look and feel I think would work for the site I have in mind.

In Chapter 10 of Creating a Web Site we learned about multipart pages.  Lots of information on types of workarounds to use when you want the same element to appear on each page of your site.  My biggest gripe with the chapter is that the majority of it dealt with working with frames, yet the authors seemed to never miss an opportunity to point out why frames are not desirable in modern web design.  So why, why spend so much time confusing me with this information?

I learned more about tables than probably I ever wanted to know in Chapter 9 of Creating a Web Site.  All about table based layouts vs. style based layouts.  It’s the former psych major in me talking but the part of this chapter that sticks out most in my head is the “id selector.”  I keep thinking to myself it’s very Freudian.  The part of the chapter I enjoyed the most was the information about layering tables.  I think that gives a really neat look and I’d like to try and find a way to incorporate it into my site.