I wanna, dream lover, so I don't have to dream alone!

The general feeling amongst my fellow peers this week was one of frustration. Getting to grips with an application as vast as Dreamweaver is quite an undertaking in such a short space of time, even with a good knowledge of page layout and design programmes. The how's, which's and where's are easy, it's the why's that get you. Why are my tables collapsing? Why does my cell appear a different size in my browsers? why are there 3 layout modes? Why does this colour not match up? Why won't my table stretch to the bottom?

These are a few of the many questions I was asked on Wednesday from various people in the class, as if I was some kind of Guru or 'dream weaver'. Truth is, (and if you look at one of my first blog entries you will see why) I am on this course because I had a portion of knowledge about various design applications, just enough to get by, and the idea was to learn the rest by having it taught to me in a bit more detail. I knew the how's, which's and where's before September. I, like many others, wanted to know the why's.

I am learning at the same rate as everyone else, the only difference being I have a head start, or so I thought. There are others in the group who are far more experienced in how to put a website together but maybe don't have the creativity to end up with a polished, appeasing product. Then there are the ones who have a great eye for design but not sure how to put it into practice due to their limited knowledge of Deamweaver. I'm sure that most of the class fall into one of these categories, myself included.

I am very interested to see what happens on the user testing day on the 14th February. A recreation of the St Valentines day massacre? or will Cupid be shooting around his arrows of love and adorance?

The only advice I can give at this stage is to check out these 3 books. They are listed in order of preference. These books were invaluable when I started from nothing, to creating websites that were far from dynamic but half decent.

Dreamweaver 8 for dummies, Amazon, £11.21
Dreamweaver 8 Bible, Amazon, £22.39
Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 in 24 Hours £14.51
(note: Sam is a big fat liar)

If you buy all 3 of these books you may also need to check out this link too.

In my own work/spare time, I finished a website this week using the same ideas I used for my assignment screen designs. The concept being that I thought it would help me practice creating a similar website and make my assignment go much quicker. I created this one in Dreamweaver 4 which although it has it's limitations, is easy to get to grips with. I am creating the assignment site in Dreamweaver 8 which is like going from a Reliant Robin to a F1 Grand Prix car overnight.
Very similar but watch those turns.

Comments very much appreciated and YES they asked for an intro screen. However I would like to know why there is a white box around the animation in IE6 but not in Firefox. If you know how I can solve this then please let me know. And please tell me in plain English. (sorry CSS trio)

I also created a small 3 page website for a Roy Orbison tribute act who has finally taken the big step of getting a web presence. Doing this website has also taught me about frames, search engines, keywords and ranking. Thanks to John for explaining this in a very informative email and somethiing I aim to find out more about over the coming weeks.

Maker of Dreams, Creator of Nightmares

Nice to be back after the Christmas period and nice to see that everyone else is back too, all eager to get started on the next assignment.

On Wednesday, those who had not used Dreamweaver before were treated to a small tutorial on the basics of this wonderful little/massive program. I decided to listen in on the lecture as the whole idea of me being on this course is to learn new things. I have never used Dreamweaver 8 so it was nice to see how this new version is different. I have to admit that it was worthwhile as I found lots of new and quicker ways to do things with it.

I feel sorry for some of my peers being thrown in at the deep end to create a full website with a program they hardly know nothing about. It took me 3 months on and off using Dreamweaver for dummies and then moving onto the Dreamweaver bible. It was worth it, this is the application that makes it all worthwhile. Along with Photoshop you will all be designing like professionals in no time. Even though the deadline seems pretty tight with a project of this magnitude.

I am looking forward to the London trip as it will be a chance to relax and get to know some of the people who I don't usually talk to. This trip, although a worthwhile exercise means another day less to have the website ready for user testing on February 14th.

I was over the moon with my assignment grade and felt like my hard work had paid off. It gave me a bit of a boost along with a sense of relief that a fairly large obstacle was over. I am now back in the ‘zone’ and eagerly looking forward to the rest of the semester. A few things have been straightened out at college and at home and I feel like I am starting with a clean slate.

On another subject, this week I decided to give the Kitchen Designer on the B&Q website a go as we need a new kitchen at home and needed to find a rough cost. A company of this size should have the money and the knowledge to pull this off but I found that what looks like a marvelous idea, fell at every hurdle.

It is classed as the ‘only online kitchen designer in the world’ but I don’t think it has ever undergone any serious user testing. These are the problems I found.
It only works in IE but does not tell you the fact.

1. The kitchen layout is far too small for any screen size.
2. When inserting a door it has a no go area surrounding it and doesn’t count for doors opening the other way.
3. When inserting a window it doesn’t ask how high from the floor it is.
4. After 2 hours of trying the final drawing could not be rendered.
5. The ‘email us your problem’ form does not have a submit button.
6. On the main site none of the feedback forms get processed.
7. The only email link that works is the ‘send us a compliment’ link.

I sent them (eventually) a long email stating the problems and asking if they have actually sold a kitchen using this method but so far have had no reply.

Award winning? I need proof.

Where do you keep your ketchup?

Formative Statement 2

As a follow on to my formative statement, this is an update on my progress so far on the HNC course.

When I started the course in September I thought that it would be plain sailing and I would find the whole thing relatively easy. I was wrong.

The detail that goes into an assignment is like nothing I have ever done before. I myself have a need for the detailed things in life but the attention that has to be maintained throughout the two assignments so far has been immense. I wonder if my fellow peers have the same problem or if they are used to it with doing these kinds of courses before.

Learning has always been a great love of my life especially when it is something I enjoy and I do enjoy the course because it is a challenge in more ways than one. In 3 months I have learnt lots of things I didn’t know about before so I imagine the things I will learn after 2 years will certainly help me later on in life. It is crucial that I complete this course and get good grades as it is my last chance to do something for a living that I enjoy. Retraining at my stage of life not only gets harder but the chances of gaining employment also decreases. I feel I have the skills, as I stated in my earlier Formative Statement but they just need to be nurtured and developed.

On top of this I have met a new group of people who I can call friends that will drop everything to help out each other which you rarely find in this competitive industry. I have got to know them well, not just in the class environment but also their inner thoughts from reading their blogs. It is like being given permission to read someone’s mind and even be able to comment on it. The blog allows you to gain insight into someone’s persona without having to talk to them that much.

I enjoy working with Drew who is on the same section of the course as me as we have very similar ideas but from different eras. What he thinks is retro was modern when I was his age. Funny how things are viewed 20 years on. I am also looking forward to working with Chris who is joining our small feedback group.

I am happy with my progression but I have to admit that I was taken aback a little when I got a referral for my first assignment, however this was quickly sorted and gave me a good starting point to make my next assignment that much better. I thought initially when the course began that I would just need to work to get through each day but what has changed is now I am doing my best, not trying to do my best but DOING my best.

I have to admit that I find the note taking quite laborious at times but you never know when you are going to need parts of it so writing everything down sort of covers your back. The references in the assignment are another thing that can make or break a time plan if they are not thought about correctly. Sequential numbering per page would be far better than sequential throughout as this would enable you to add and change sections without the need to renumber the whole lot. This alone did stop me a few times altering parts that I thought could be improved upon but to add one paragraph would have meant nearly 20 minutes of renumbering.

Niggles aside I am looking forward to starting again and getting down to some serious design and creation. I hope that things will be explained in full all the way through this time. A couple of times I have felt like a high diver who has jumped off the diving board only to be told at the last minute that I am diving into the shallow end.
Everyone was told that on Thursday.

Another Year Over, A New One Just Begun

It seems that wherever you go the world is full of design, some good, some bad.

It wasn't until I started this course that I realised just how much design plays a part of our lives. Advertising is the main use of it as it is intended to make you buy a product just because it looks nice and is well designed, even if you don't really need it. I have been taken in by this lots of times but lately I am beginning to see under the surface of the design and actually look at the product.

I imagine the meetings when the client comes into the advertisers office. There must be so many tips and tricks to make the packaging, the advert and the appeal to the target audience. Yes, just like designing a website.

I am going to be more wary of this when buying products but at the same time use it shrewdly in my own work in the forthcoming months. Christmas has taught me this when buying toys for the kids. The 2 main presents for each of my children were a nightmare. We were taken in by the advertising and the packaging, ultimately buying inferior products. While they did not tell untruths, they skipped over what you shouldn't know by showing just the good points.

I started building up Mega Motors Anti-Grav Barrel Challenge on Christmas day. It says on the pack 'suitable for 8 years and over'. Now that might be the right age to play it but to build it you had to have a degree in highway maintenance, physics, engineering and have the remarkable ability to kneel down for great lengths of time.

I finally finished building the track on 3rd January working on and off, constantly spurred on by a 6 year old whose excitement was getting the better of him.

The children have great smiles on their faces, the cars whizz round at great speeds with lights on, the controllers are enabling you to control the speed.I am talking about the picture on the box. In reality what we have for our £50.00 is a track that was built spanning 2 years, the loops fall down when a car goes over them, so far the most one car has done is half a lap without falling off and now we are left with the fear of putting it away and having to do this all again when they play with it next time.

Don't get me started on the other present.

Always learning.