There were two things that I found the most enjoyable in the past couple of lessons. First of all, I liked being able to see how to control the opacity and learning about how this was controlling how much light was being let through. The next things that I found interstesting was the rounded corners. I think it gives a website a new looking flare. A regular square or rectangle just looks so basic and not as pleasing to the eye (unless it is used correctly in a design process). The rounded corners add a nice effect to the page and makes it look nicer.
To be honest, this class was not the easiest for me. However, it was very beneficial and I asked my brother a bunch of questions as well. (He is a web programmer.) Between the class and my brother I figured out how to get through the basics and how to start making things work in the right places and do the correct things where I would like them to.
It was a good experience for me to have this class because it allowed me to broaden my mind on CSS and XHTML, which I use a little bit at work so it makes things at work more simple.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Blog 3 - My learning experience...
During this class I have learned some simple things that have really made a huge difference in my websites. It is amazing to me how much the basics of web design are the core foundation of it. For example, I had learned about using div and at first I didn’t really know what capabilities it had. It was amazing to me how easy it was to connect the dots from using a div to putting things in CSS and voila, your web page was ready.
Another thing that has helped in this class is how organizing your XHTML can make life a lot easier. I have seen some websites that were being created and had no structure. It was impossible to find things and took forever to fix any problems. I have also seen some that were done very well. Any changes that needed to be done were easy to make and painless. There was no frustration and just a few clicks away was a change that was simple. Organizing things is huge!
It is also important to know how to learn from other people. The more I have looked at the coding for websites the more I notice that not much really changed between websites. Yes the information is different but the over all structure of the web page is the same for each one. It is important to know how to learn and how to take ideas and mend them into being your own. This is where the creative part comes in. You need to be able to figure out a way to make your web page stronger and finding different ways to do it is the best solution.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Article Summary
Digital Web Magazine - Web Design by Designers
Article URL: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/web_design_by_designers/
Article Summary
This article took two web design websites and broke them down to show the best parts of each one. They explain the importance of hierarchy and structure. They explain some of the same things that we have been learning in class. (it's nice to see the comparison to real world things.) They explain how a grid system is a great way of getting information organized and placed in the spots you want it to be in.
The first web site that they look into is called MetaDesign. The site was simple. That's about all you need to say to describe it. It is simple! The text is big, black, and it sits on a white background. The information is straight to the point and keeps the user wanting more.
The second web site is called Duffy and Partners. It is quite the opposite but still keeps the same features of good design. It gets straight to the point as well by giving the user plenty of amazing images up front.
My thoughts:
The article was very well written and easy to understand. It gave the facts and showed images to help portray the information. The images were clear, precise, and helped the article instead of being a distraction. The information that is presented is very usefeul. I saw a lot of parallels with the information that we have been learning in class such as the hierarchy and using a grid system. It is very helpful for web designers to review the basics and learn from the best. Here, two webpages have been shown that have a lot of good design. It is good to learn from others and use everyone's ideas.
It really opened up my eyes to see the first website. It is amazing that something so well-known and highly seen is so simple. It's white background with black text. Big woop right? Yet the proportions of everything is perfect! It's amazing to me how you can take something with a lot of information...and nail it down to a simple thing and that is where we need to stick to in web design...is that simple thing!
Article URL: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/web_design_by_designers/
Article Summary
This article took two web design websites and broke them down to show the best parts of each one. They explain the importance of hierarchy and structure. They explain some of the same things that we have been learning in class. (it's nice to see the comparison to real world things.) They explain how a grid system is a great way of getting information organized and placed in the spots you want it to be in.
The first web site that they look into is called MetaDesign. The site was simple. That's about all you need to say to describe it. It is simple! The text is big, black, and it sits on a white background. The information is straight to the point and keeps the user wanting more.
The second web site is called Duffy and Partners. It is quite the opposite but still keeps the same features of good design. It gets straight to the point as well by giving the user plenty of amazing images up front.
My thoughts:
The article was very well written and easy to understand. It gave the facts and showed images to help portray the information. The images were clear, precise, and helped the article instead of being a distraction. The information that is presented is very usefeul. I saw a lot of parallels with the information that we have been learning in class such as the hierarchy and using a grid system. It is very helpful for web designers to review the basics and learn from the best. Here, two webpages have been shown that have a lot of good design. It is good to learn from others and use everyone's ideas.
It really opened up my eyes to see the first website. It is amazing that something so well-known and highly seen is so simple. It's white background with black text. Big woop right? Yet the proportions of everything is perfect! It's amazing to me how you can take something with a lot of information...and nail it down to a simple thing and that is where we need to stick to in web design...is that simple thing!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
10 Best Designed Websites - Ben Hunt
If there is one thing that was said about the majority of his top ten website, it was simplicity. It is amazing how designers can get so involved and try to put so much stuff into one page and add so many little gadgets that the page loses its power and it becomes a jumbled page. I like how he wrote that the Mozilla.com was "Clear, open, fresh, simple." I think these four words sum up about any good site. Even very complex sites that are done well still are clear and fresh. One of my favorite sites, sounds cheesy, but it is Google. Everything is so simple. White, and a few words to get you to where you need to go. I use gmail and it is mapped out very well. It is clear, open, and everything else the other websites have.
Another aspect that he brought up that I liked was balance. Websites need balance. If everything is on one side of the page, you almost want to tilt your head so things will be balanced. As a formation dancer I have learned, when an audience sees the entire floor, they want to see a balance of movement and couples dancing across the floor. If the dancers clump together the entire time on side of the stage, there is no emotion or mood created through the dancing. Just like a formation dance team, a website needs to have the same affect on the user. It cannot have chaos all over...it needs to have structure and balance to keep it looking good.
I agree with his decisions of the top 10 sites. He did a good job explaining why each deserved to be in the top ten and my favorite thing was the simplicity. Each website was clean, clear, and quite simple. We should not try to so hard to put everything into one things just because we know how to do it. We must take a page a time and design it to the best it can be but keeping it simple, clear, and balanced.
Another aspect that he brought up that I liked was balance. Websites need balance. If everything is on one side of the page, you almost want to tilt your head so things will be balanced. As a formation dancer I have learned, when an audience sees the entire floor, they want to see a balance of movement and couples dancing across the floor. If the dancers clump together the entire time on side of the stage, there is no emotion or mood created through the dancing. Just like a formation dance team, a website needs to have the same affect on the user. It cannot have chaos all over...it needs to have structure and balance to keep it looking good.
I agree with his decisions of the top 10 sites. He did a good job explaining why each deserved to be in the top ten and my favorite thing was the simplicity. Each website was clean, clear, and quite simple. We should not try to so hard to put everything into one things just because we know how to do it. We must take a page a time and design it to the best it can be but keeping it simple, clear, and balanced.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)