Blah

OK, clearly haven't done anything in the last couple of months on this (which I feel quite bad about). Have been sucked into the animated world of Flash. Its lots of fun actually, but really time consuming. Basic actionscript ok. Drawing everything in Flash - challenging.

Will ge back to this soon, I swear...

Reset

OK!

Survived (and kicked ass!) last semester, had a great month break where I rediscovered my talent for vegetating in front of the TV and drinking. Now onto the next semester.

I'm not actually doing any coding subjects this term - lots of flash and a bit of techno-philospophy, but I am going to finish off and launch the Personal Trainer website. Plus I'd like to build my nephew a website so he can stay in touch with the family in Sydney.

I enjoyed logging my coding thoughts in this blog so much during DMT, I've decided to keep going with it. Plus its a handy receptacle of all of the info I find I need along the way - I find my own information receptacle (my brain) is less reliable these days. I'm blaming my conflicting talent for drinking for that one...

So...a couple of quick notes, then I'll leave production until Sunday (for old times sake...)

In the last month:

• the free web hosts have been great. I'm really happy with the service and have had no troubles once i got it up and running. I would go with them again, for sure...
• I received actual content from the client. I freaked out because it looked like she wanted to turn my lovely site into a shouty ad. Had to remind her of her target market. Have agreed on a compromise. Will spend approx 10 hours uploading content, tweaking the pages and creating a new testimonial page (this is all gratis, so I had to actually draw up a scope!) Plan to do that before the end of August as after that, with uni demands, my time will be at a premium
• The client has registered the domain name www.launchintofitness.com. Through an american site. Not sure why. Local help desk support may be useful one day...oh well, lets deal with that if/when we need to...

So, onwards and upwards!

That's enough for now - have to start thinking about animation ideas for class tonight. Oh the pressure of choosing your own term project! Sometimes I get bogged down by too may options...

I think I might cry

My lovely wonderful website that has been working magically is currently under review by the web hosts to check for malicious content. the error page that appears says it will only take 2 - 4 hrs, but its been like that all day. PLEASE let that be sorted by tomorrow...freaking free web hosting...

Just can't stop...

Ok - i've solved the IE issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yayayayayayayayayay!

The separate css file did the trick. Plus I went and stuck a black border around all of my divs to work out exactly what the hell was going on. ie was adding the padding twice or something and completely throwing all divs out of place. Apparently this works differently on ie versions earlier than 7. I am testing my site on version 7 and all looks good there. I applied the Tanteck hack in the hope that it will also solve earlier ie version issues. won't know for sure until i find a machine with an earlier version. Will do for now though...
http://www.positioniseverything.net/articles/ie7-dehacker.html

In fact, it looks better re alignment on the ie version now, so I'm going to go back and stick black borders on everything in the normal css file and see what it looks like. Should probably wait until I get home though so I can test on Safari at the same time.

This all being said, the site actually looks fine as it is right now in all the browsers I wanted it to work in. Perhaps I should just leave it and work on my actual assignment instead...that woudl make sense! I wonder if you ever feel like something like a site is ever 'finished'...

just taking notes...

Sites that have helped today:
http://bonrouge.com/br.php?page=faq#haslayout
which sent me to

http://www.satzansatz.de/cssd/onhavinglayout.html

In theory, my problem lies with the hasLayout issue. I tried a couple of their hacks, but it wasn't working for me. They did prompt me to thinking maybe I should just add in a separate style sheet for IE. Much cleaner solution...

The other good thing about this site was it helped me track down the Holly hack http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?page=1&cid=C37E0
which had disappeared from a couple of the other places i tried to track it down. I think the creators have written a book and want you to buy that instead...

It also helped me track down http://www.positioniseverything.net/articles/ie7-dehacker.html
which I'm sure is the page that Rustum had put forward with some solutions.

Better read that before just diving in and mucking around with new css files...

Ironing out the last few bits and bobs

OK, I've sorted the form re wording of pop up messages, formatted the text for the warning messages and sorted out the container sizes for the two side bars so everything now fits in without mucking up the rest of the page format.

I've checked the XHTML and CSS validity of all of the pages (and stuck my little sticker thing at the bottom of the pages). All good there.

Last thing off the bits and bobs list (and the biggest scariest one) is sorting out the IE issues. One of the things IE was doing (creative little beast) was sticking an outline around all of my image links. Got rid of that with some simple CSS (thanks to this handy site http://bonrouge.com/~faq)

Now I just have to work out how to sort out the way it stuffs around the text positioning on the page. I know its got something to do with the way its popping out the div sizes or margins or something. I noticed Rustum had posted a link on someone else's blog with what i think was the solution to this problem. Unfortunately I can't get into the dmt blog list site, the link's down or something. Time to trawl the brains trust i.e. google

The problem with free webhosting and clients

OK. PHP form magically started working again. This is both good and extremely mysterious...

I swear I haven't touch the code since yesterday (when it was working except wasn't sending emails). Yesterday I even tried it with the safe and tested code I was using the other day and it wasn't sending emails. Today - emails.

The reason it is mysterious: I sent off a message to the free site help desk ('My php form suddenly stopped working. I haven't changed the code. Is there a problem with your server?') and I actually got a reply this time! This is what they sent:
Hello,

No, we did not changed any server settings so the problem must be on your side.

Thank you,
www.000webhost.com

And - lo! By magic, the world is fine again. Perhaps my planets weren't in correct alignment. Mercury is in retrograde, and that's known to cause random electronic hiccups...

Anyway, client wants to meet to discuss the content in her site. ie what she should have on there. I should have just said 'no, I'm freaking busy at the moment, no time to sleep, little capacity to care re your site content' but I'm nice. Plus I am making her meet me at a coffee shop with my favourite coffee (Campos coffee. Its a lovely drop, even the most novice of barista usually manages to make a lovely cup of coffee out of it. Unless the coffee's been a bit over roasted. It did happen once. Toby's Estate is a close second. Can be touch and go - the better the barista, the better the coffee with that one. And it can get lovely. They have their 'warehouse' outlet cafe on City Rd, just off Broadway. You can get an awesome coffee there. Its not cheap, though.) But I digress....

PHP - yee haa!

Thanks to Daniel and Amber for all of their feedback over term. Thanks also to Amber for trying to sort out my PHP in class last night. But biggest thank you of all goes to Alastair for being so patient while we nutted out the php code for my form. It now works! Well, it refreshes the page, validates the email address and leaves a warning message if the email doesn't process properly, which is what I had been trying to make it do. Unfortunately all I ever see now is that error message. Even when i use the old code in the old form (the basic version). So all good re my project (except for tweaking the form layout to fit the warning messages and sorting out the IE/CSS issue). Except for solving the mystery as to why the PHP stopped working...might have to find another free web host....

Nobody loves me

In fact, I think Nobody is stalking me!!!
haha!!!

I obviously have the whole php email thing working fine from my site now. I've sent myself a heap of test emails, and they all say they are from 'nobody'. Small things amuse small minds...

So I got the whole css thing sorted out - thanks to Sarah (the aptly named) Champion and Linda from my Monday night class, who pointed out that php doesn't read css like html does... I'm torn between feeling like an idiot and feeling annoyed that this wasn't made clearer somewhere...like where were all he other ignoramuses on the web query sites asking the same questions? Actually, re the css problem, there were a couple of posts. This is the cure I used that sorted it all out:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/php/3243313.htm

Nifty trick...

And somehow the javascript is now working on my navigation buttons again. Its a bit slow (slower than the uni server) but it works!

Now, there are still a couple of things to do before this thing is actually properly ready for business. Firstly, i have to get the real content. I have to have a 'meeting' with my 'client' on Friday as she wants to chat about what she should write. Frankly, I don't care! I am like, put whatever the hell you want on this thing, once its done i never want to see it again! I'm obviously joking. Really. This being said I don't have the time to stop for freaking coffee meetings about things that won't actually affect my assignment marks at the moment. I am part thinking the whole real client thing was a bad idea. This being said, its good to have something to motivate me with its creation etc. Whatever.

Anyway, there are 2 things I need to sort out technically

1. the IE issue. But not before tomorrow

2. the form works, but it takes you to a confirmation page that is just a line of text saying 'email sent successful' or something. you need to back button to get back to the page you were on and then the email field is still filled in. I tried using javascript to verify the email address is a valid email address, and to clear the form but neither worked. i was going to play around with that tonight, but while i was looking for the css cure I stumbled upon this:

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2004/04/22/php_css_forms.html?page=2

its a way to use php to verify the email and clear the field! Seeing as I'm using php anyway, I may as well give it a go...

.........

So i changed the file extension to php and the file appeared, but the css and javascript won't work. At least now i know for sure my site looks fine if both of those are disabled.

I've been to the php and about sites re the php form, I thought, maybe with all of my fancy javascript attempts I've manged the basic html form. As far as I can tell, this is not the case, but its still freaking out about something. I've put the php in a separate file. I'll look at it again later. This is the link that works to the public site:
http://personaltrainer.web44.net/index.php

I've gone public...sort of...

Checked out the free web hosting at www.000webhost.com and it looked fine, even the domain name wasn't horrendous, so i signed up so I can start playing with the php part of the form that i wanted to do. Would be nice if the bloody site worked. Maybe they need time to scan the site to make sure its not dodgy. Anyway, I might check it again tomorrow, see if anything magically happens to it overnight...Than god it still works from the uni server or I would be freaking out right now...

So I've decided to leave the IE issue alone for now (planning to show it on Firefox to my team mates anyway on Tuesday), and I'm leaving the JS email validation alone now as well - I figure if I end up just sticking with the email sending the request from the user's computer for now, I shouldn't really be as worried re security/validation. I thought I may as well start on the php email generating thing instead. I think I may be starting to loose English. And no, I haven't been drinking (although I was supposed to be - in fact I was supposed to be out dancing tonight, and I LOVE dancing even more than drinking, but I have to work tomorrow, and I'm not talking homework. Bastards. Which means I also loose out on my Sunday coding session. I'm starting to enjoy those...)

This is where the site is supposed to be:
http://www.personaltrainer.web44.net/suesitehome.html

You wish you had red fingerless gloves, like mine...

Ok, the JS animated buttons seem to work (even though there's sometimes a short micro second delay while they load. I am using dial up. Shut up. Yes, dial up does still exist, and some of my client's clients might have it, so I like to think of it as a chance to do some real life in the field testing all by myself.)

As you can probably tell, I need to sleep. Before I go, the reason i am posting this was to make notes to myself. Just tried adding some JS validation script to my form. I got the whole thing in, and it validates, but doesn't actually work. Slight technical hitch...

Got the code from http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/formval.html

Was also using this as a guide: http://www.elated.com/articles/form-validation-with-javascript/
as it seemed to have better step by step instructions than http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_form_validation.asp
which just gave you a bunch of script.

I chose to use the first link script as it gave a cool warning if your email address only had one letter after the @. I tried playing around with it, but i suspect I'm going to have to go back to the lecture notes or W3c schools tutorial on JS in order to do this successfully (yes, I admit I just started randomly changing the code, hoping I would instinctively be able to feel my way around a completely new language, now that I am in tune with my coding-self. This clearly completely failed. It appears you will still be able to call me Grasshopper for a while yet. Why, oh why wasn't i nicer to that JS coder in the bar the other week???)

*yawn*

Sometimes, its the simplest of solutions...

I'm unfortunately not talking about my IE issues solved, I'm talking about my JavaScript issues sorted - for now.

I checked out Alastair's suggestion re the CDATA 'hiding'/identifying code solution, but it wasn't the fix I was after. You see, I was trying to implement JS animation to trigger a mouseover jpg change for each of my navigation buttons. The problem with that was, the formula required me to use the name attribute to identify my images, and link them to the JS i needed to make this happen. The name attribute is fine - so long as you're using HTML 4.01 or XHTML transitional. Because I like a challenge, I planned to write my site in strict XHTML. I worked x-hard to make this so, and everything was wonderful and fine and valid, right up until now. I was weighing up the pros/cons re caving in on my principles and having the JS I wanted or sticking to my guns. As it turns out, I could do both!

I found one fix that sugested substituting 'id' for 'name'. It seemed to work (although who knows re IE). I then realised i had only found the code to make it work for one button on a page, no a whole navigation row. I tried to play with the code to make it work (and had a range of results from none working, to all changing when the mouse was anywhere near any button, to only one button changing no matter which button you hovered over). I decided to pass the question on to my brains trust (aka Google) and discovered some interesting information (http://www.programmingtalk.com/showthread.php?p=147625). I didn't even have to set the JS i the code - in fact I could ditch the start section altogether, as well as the id and name attributes! Just some simple inline script for each button. Voila! All functioning beautifully, fully compliant with W3c's strict XHTML and CSS rules! Yay!

Re the IE problem, Tim and I but borders around all of my divs at the end of class, and the page is looking a little less roomy.... I suspect IE is adding some padding somewhere (cheeky mongrels, as my mum likes to say), which is what is pushing the middle div down the page. As to why it's not reading my 'text decoration: none' request, it's anyones guess. But that's going to have to be one for another day. I don't have IE here at home and tomorrow I have a lot of Interaction Design work to catch up on!

Internet explorer is evil

According to Alesh Houdek (http://criticalmiami.com/2006/12/11/Fuckmicrosoft), if you type that statement into Google you will get over 1 million responses...and I have to say, I am now joining the bandwagon.

I know this is boring for everyone to hear, as coders have been complaining for years about the stupid state of affairs that exists where your code just doesn't look the same between browsers, even when you adhere to the strict web standards that were established for, what I assumed, was a good reason...but now, as a newbie to the world of code, I have to have my whinge...

After spending all of Sunday sorting out my code so it worked perfectly on Firefox and Safari, and I thought now would be the time to venture into the world of JavaScript...but Nooooooooo...just tested it in IE and it's all gone to hell. Back to the drawing board...

There's a pink monkey on the end of my pen...

No, I haven't been partaking in recreational drugs or eating moldy bread, there really is a pink monkey on the end of my pen. It's one of those novelty pens with pink fluff and a creature stuck to the end of it. I bought it in London at a Paperchase store one lunchtime...but I digress...

So I've spent the afternoon faffing about with my CSS. Both of the links i posted previously were actually very useful. I found out that in all of my excitement re divs in divs, I had forgotten to put everything in a div - which went someway to clearing up the aligning problems I suddenly found myself with. Then text kept popping out everywhere so between Firebug and me putting a black border around my main text div, I finally worked out what was taking up too much space, and where I should actually be putting margins and borders (not where they were!). That was all great until Firebug bugged out on me. V annoying.

Anyway, that took most of the afternoon - going back and forward, making changes, things going wrong, me not remembering what I had changed, making more mistakes etc etc. Finally I got it all sorted out. Then I opened it in Safari and my world went the way of the pink monkey. So I spent another while faffing about, tweaking things until it looked OK in both browsers, I got rid of the table I'd used for the bottom navigation links (it turned out i really was going about things the hard way. I ended up learning a fair bit about tables in the end, although never managed to work out how to stay strict XHTML compliant and set the cell widths...) and now I think I'm done with the CSS! I'm actually reasonably happy with the way it looks. We'll see how things go when the real content turns up!

So I started to check out the JavaScript options. I want to have a 'mouse over' colour change for my navigation bar buttons. The plan was to use the home page again as th practice template and then roll it out. Had instant success borrowing some animation code from W3c schools, but it wasn't strict XHTML compliant! And it wasn't just becasue they'd used a couple of capital letters. I have to work out how to get around not being able to name the images I want to animate. I suspect I'm not going to just be able to borrow some code from somewhere, I'm actually going to have to learn how to use it as well...

My schedule in the system plan had me finished with JavaScript for the site this week. I suspect I'm going to have to find time to revise that deadline...not to mention go over all of my assignment deliverables so far. I need to incorporate all of the peer/tutor feedback.

Enough chatting - time to get back to JS...

IE sux

OK, so on Friday I went to show off my site to someone at work. I loaded it in my browser and what showed up looked like crap! I was sure I'd tested the site in IE before, but it was like half of the CSS worked. No idea why some did and others didn't. Now I have to consider how the hell I'm going to fix that all...

The link i posted the other day was sent to me by my brother. I posted it here as i knew i'd forget to check it out if i just left it in my inbox. After quickly scanning the sites, they look like they might be interesting, but not quite what I need right now.

What I need right now is to work out why on a couple of my pages, the divs are over lapping. My div within a div theory doesn't seem to be working on pages where the main text isn't long enough. To tell you the truth, I haven't compared my version of the three divs across the page set up to the suggested one. Might go and check out an expert's opinion now, to see what it is I'm doing wrong!

http://intensivstation.ch/en/templates/
http://www.brainjar.com/css/positioning/default1.asp

A site to check out...

http://sixrevisions.com/tools/20_web_development_tools/

Another password...

Learned about the wonders of the RSS feed last night. Very cool concept, should be much easier to keep track of everyone's blog updates now. If only I could remember the bloody password for the account i created last night...

Started rolling out the CSS to all of my pages last night. On the pages i just had picture placeholders for, things kept popping out of place until I put the div within a div! Layer upon layer upon layer etc. Also, I don't feel so ashamed of my site now. I worked out how to centre the whole thing on a screen and suddenly it actually looks like a web page, not just a document I could have created in word or ppt etc. Still basic, but that's not a bad thing!

Also loved the little pixie colour identifier thing Sarah showed me. Handy little tool, I put a link on the side here for easy access.

Leaps and bounds, man, leaps and bounds...

If only things were working as smoothly in my Still Image presentation. I have these great ideas in my head, but its just not happening for me on screen. I managed to get the photoshop animation thing happening, but its just not smooth enough for my liking. Wish i knew flash :-(

Blogging about the wrong subject, sorry!

Time flies when you're having fun...

OK, I've been coding for almost 9 hours now (except I did stop to have lunch with mum, and my bit of blog earlier today...). I keep having a-ha moments with CSS. Lots of faffing about today but my home page actually sort of all fits together now. Still needs tweaking (and the proper text/pictures) but I think my template is done!

I couldn't get things aligned and stuff was jumping about all over the place until I put it all in a big container. Suddenly things stayed in place. I'm going to have to go back and clean up some of my code though, I experimented all day and there were quite a few non-functioning attempts i think I've left scraps of behind...

I managed to resist looking to see how the experts have done the three columns of text without tables. I suspect I've done it the hard way, and there were moments today where I was questioning why i was bothering to reinvent the wheel again, but now I'm done, I feel I actually get it. I know my page isn't the most exciting and creative thing I've ever seen, but I'm bloody proud of it, actually. Not bad for a first go. Besides, its only an intro page for a small business. Must try to keep things in perspective :-)

I might check out the proper way to do it tomorrow...now I need to get back to the ordeal that is photoshop...who would have thought I would ever have said that!

How to impress boys (nerds) in bars...

All these years I've been working on my pool playing skills and refining my ability to throw back shots of alcohol like they're water, and all you need to impress boys in bars are a few well placed phrases in conversation...

A few weeks back, while out on a Friday night with the girls, i met a group of men in a bar in darlinghurst. It turned out they were software developers or something. Had some interesting conversation and many cocktails....

I bumped into them again on Friday night, and one of them, who I'd barely spoken to last time, remembered me purely because I had previously mentioned my fondness for Macgyver during my younger years. He queried what I was doing this weekend and I told him of my plans to code CSS, I've never seen someone get so quietly excited about stumbling upon a kindred spirit before. It was charming! He told me about a group of coders meet around darlinghurst every month. Apparently anyone can just rock up, and everyone just sits around drinking coffee and coding. I told him I really was a novice and would feel way too intimidated to turn up in a group like that, but he said they'd be cool. I get the impression they'd just love it if someone wanted to talk about coding with them... Anyway, he muttered something about feeling overwhelmed by all the people contact in the bar, and that he needed a computer or something and disappeared before I got a chance to give him my number...shame. He was cute and smart, just the way I like 'em...

So I've been having a crack at this CSS stuff and really liking it! I'm not creating grand art works or anything - yet! I've still been working on my site's home page (as a template), with most of the css in an external style sheet. I've been working my way through the W3schools tutorials and just applying bits I want to try. I'm going to try to do it all myself rather than visit one of those sites that give you all the layout code. Unless I get stuck.

Anyway, can't chat, coding...

Lotto winner!

I was having such a crap day yesterday I thought - maybe all of my luck has gone elsewhere, so I did something I never do - bought a ticket in the Oz lotto. And I won! I got 3 numbers and a supplementary, which means I probably won enough to buy myself a sandwich at lunchtime tomorrow....I can feel the tide turning...

Tonight's class was about JavaScript. I enjoyed it as I am supposed to be including JavaScript in my final project and despite the fact that I researched it when I wrote the micro/macro thing, it all looked Greek to me. When we looked at it during the overview earlier in the semester, I hadn't got my head around XHTML and CSS yet, so it just looked like extra, confusing letters and symbols. The good news is after tonight, I sort of get it. I honestly felt my brain stretching when Alastair was going through it, but that whole thing re the full stop being the point that separates the action from the thing being acted on makes it easier of me to interpret the code. I'm not saying I'm ready to go out and start scripting like crazy, but I think I could at least read what I might end up borrowing for my project...

I also found it really useful having a chat with Alastair re my options for forms on my site. I think I should have swallowed my pride and started asking questions a long time ago...also helpful was his review of my micro/macro analysis with some useful feedback. Not to mention Wang Wei's feedback! That was a lovely surprise, with some constructive feedback as well as some kind words. Now I just have to find time to go back and amend the analysis...

I finished the XHTML pages for my final project on Sunday. Except for the navigation bar. Both top and bottom. I am thinking about having the navigation bar stay in place at the top of the page, by anchoring the div, but not sure if I should then not bother to put the old style link navigation along the bottom of the page. And what's the story with copyrights or disclaimer things at the bottom of the page? I clearly don't have copyright on the page. But maybe the client does with her logo? NFI...

Anyway, I thought the navigation bar was going to be a series of pictures (buttons) with links. Then I noticed the 'buttons' in the JavaScript examples tonight, set up as an ordered list and wondered if that's how I should have it set up. I whacked them in there like that for the mean time, plus divided up the XHTML into what seemed like logical divisions (incl naming them). Well, on the home page, anyway. It's going to be my test case - once I've worked out what I'm doing on that, I'm going to roll it out to the other pages.

I have to say, I think there's a latent nerd in me. I'm starting to enjoy the coding - even more than photoshop at the moment, as I feel more confident about fumbling my way through the code, or at least confident enough to know where to look to find out what I'm doing wrong. Photoshop on the other hand is just a vast, mysterious set of tools - they seem like they could probably do some interesting things, if I just had some time to faff about with them for a few days to work out what that is exactly...

I've also discovered I quite enjoy blogging. I might just have to start one of these up once this semester is over...sure beats a paper diary...

And the XHTML begins...

re the last class - I quite enjoyed it, actually. I've set up and looked after databases before (when Tim asked he class if there was anyone that had been a database administrator, I hadn't even thought that might apply to myself, but I guess it does...). This being said, my databases weren't quite as complex as the video store example we worked through on Tues night.

It was a great way to get your head around how everything linked up, and how many tables to make etc. I found the exercise reading the table out strangely useful (not to mention challenging, I keep trying to go back to the 'pretend its a blind person on the phone you are describing it to' thing, yet still struggling not to miss things out). The whole arrow over the box thing also confused me slightly - which one to use when etc, but Tim had a go explaining it again, so I think I get it now...I suspect some trial and error using it in practice is what will gel it in my head!

I was absolutely horrified in class to find out we were allowed to submit out work in valid XHTML - of any kind!!! I was sure there was something, somewhere that said it had to be strict...why else would i have picked that? If Eric hadn't also been under the same impression, I would feel way worse. I think of that first assignment I banged my head against the wall over - it probably would have gone through fine with transitional XHTML! Oh well, at least now i get the strict one, which should mean I can write any of them...like learning to drive a manual car...

The older I get the more I'm realising the worth in planning things out before launching into the build, as far as saving time, long term. Especially when you aren't 100% sure of what you are doing. It certainly seems to be true of all of the subjects I'm doing this semester. Lots of planning going into things. This being said, I started building the XHTML for my final project today. Need work out the whole form issue ie how I'm going to do it all. I'm also thinking about adding a comments page on the last page. But is this something that should be moderated somehow? ie how I am going to set it up so Sue can take off any comments that might be wrong for the business? Will they just send the comments to her and she can decide what to post? How will she pot them if I do that? Decisions, decisions...but first, system plan peer review time...

By George! I think she's got it!

Well sort of. I've just finished adding some valid CSS to my valid XHTML!!!!

How very exciting. I just spent the last couple of hours fiddling with the CSS just trying to get borders to appear on the table I have in my System Plan. I really was pulling my hair out, but I took it right back to basics and visited a couple of tutorial sites, and finally stated to figure some of it out. Annoyingly, the sites I'd found and flagged as useful resources in my learning proposal weren't a great help (except for W3schools) but between a few of them and this site, and a LOT of trial and error, I'm starting to figure out which bits are supposed to go where (highly technical terminology there...)

I would hardly call the table 'stylish' but it DOES have style applied to it! And OMG - I just changed the font type on this page - by adding the code!!! I am truly turning into a sad person...

And now, I need some sleep. I'm going to save the rest of the CSS fun for my website.

Oh yeah - I actually finished my System plan as well. Well, it's ready for peer review, I reckon!
System plan!

I love creating personas!

Can you get a job just making that stuff up all day? Although, obviously, it not really made up when you are basing it on reams of user research etc etc... Hang on - isn't that just called 'creative writing'?? Maybe I'm pursuing the wrong career...

The good news is the system plan isn't posing too great a stress content wise - I'd already inadvertently done a lot of the bits an pieces over the last few weeks, so its more a case of pulling it all together. And I'm loving the subject cross over - its really working for me at the moment, being able to pull in stuff I'm learning in all three of the other core subjects I'm doing. Its a small consolation for the on-going minor nervous breakdown I seem to be suffering...hang on, it's Friday isn't it? And I'm home sober? Maybe it's just alcohol withdrawal... ;-)

I've decided I'm going to need to use CSS for this system plan, in order to present it in any attractive way. Should be a good test run for the site build... If I end up submitting the document in one single XHTML page, you know it all went horribly wrong :-D

CSS insomnia

I can't bloody sleep. I'm lying here thinking about the CSS on my site. Actually, I'm thinking about the HTML as well, or more how it all goes together. I've been stalling the start of construction both because I'm uncertain re where to start and because I keep having all of these assignments due! I just want to get cracking with this, and I'm rapidly falling behind schedule, but there's always something else due first worth 20-30% I need to get out of the way...so very annoying. Especially as I'm actually quite excited re starting this project. I might have to dicth plans to play two-up for the first time in my life on Friday and spend the day coding instead....

I decided to revisit CSS Zen garden. I love that site. Its such a great way to get your head around how CSS works with HTML, but seeing so many different examples of it. Except there are too many flowery ones. I know it's CSS Zen garden, but still...be imaginative people! My back up plan if it all goes pear shaped with this subject is to get one of my designs shown on that site. That might be a good way to regain some credibility. Might go with a space theme.

OK enough rambling...

Mid semester hibernation

I completely forgot to post an entry last week after class - I had a manic end to the week getting in more assignments etc.

Anyway, I found the PHP stuff a bit mentally taxing. I mean actually working out what the hell I was supposed to be doing for the practical exercise, not to mention actually doing it. I think at that point my brain had just reached overload. I'll look at it all again when I might need to actually use it in my site...I have other priorities before that (the PHP was going to be a bonus point exercise in my final project)

So, had contact with the client and the designer of her logo. Will build the site with fake pictures and latin text while she sources all the real stuff.

I was keen to start construction this week, but need to do the system plan assignment, get that one out of the way...as well as a couple of other assignments. I swear I feel like i am constantly doing assignments and not actually getting anywhere with the end project. I actually felt bad for sitting down yesterday evening and watching TV! I haven't done that in months. Someone asked me what i thought about the 2020 summit on the weekend and I had no idea what they were talking about...it's a good thing I'm enjoying my course as much as I am...

Peer reviews - sorted

OK, just got in both of the peer reviews I was supposed to supply - it was actually quite challenging to give constructive feedback. I felt it a big responsibility, as some one's final mark may be affected by the quality of advice I give them!

I was glad that both Daniel and Amber covered the same languages/technologies in their assignment that I was - it meant I wasn't reading about something that was completely over my head, and reading someone else's take on the languages gave me food for thought. It also made me realise, thinking back to my own assignment, where I had weak points - I didn't reference any journals or books and didn't think to discuss alternative programming languages for my bonus section (although just picking the most basic ones in order to satisfy my basic knowledge is probably all the logic I needed! :-). It might have also been worth while discussing in more detail how I was actually going to use each one in practical terms. And I could probably learn from Amber's ability to express himself thoroughly but succinctly. Anyway! Enough with the self-analysis, I'll wait until the guys send me some feedback...

Now on to more practical matters. I know I should start thinking about the system plan, but I also need to get cracking on with actually building something, even the basics, if the time it took me to validate the Learning contract is any indication of the speed at which I code! I should contact the 'client' about getting the appropriate text and pictures I need, although I plan to construct it with Latin text and dummy pictures if she doesn't come through with something in time.

But for now, some well earned sleep at the end of a productive day!

Micro Macro analysis, away!

Here's the link to my Micro Macro analysis.

It's not only valid XHTML (funny how much easier that was to do without lists :-), but I even used my first ever CSS to change the font from horrible Times New Roman (I don't know why I don't like it, I just don't...). Once I realised I had the power, I started to get carried away with plans for formatting, but then reminded myself of the list of other tasks I have to get through. I consoled myself with thoughts of the website I was going to build for my final task and how much fun I could have with CSS then...

Time to make like a hermit...

OK, now that the 3000 odd word essay is in for 95566, I can finally look at where I've dropped the ball in my other subjects!

First plan of attack is to get the micro/macro report out of the way (have been immersing myself in research since lunchtime). 1000 words isn't actually that many so I'm going to have to think carefully about how to approach this one.

The good news re the last class is that the SQL stuff was a no brainer! I still remember the language from my Access days (way back now). Its also written in a really easy to digest way. Now as far as how it fits into the whole coding/website thing - hopefully i should have a better idea by Tuesday...

Check this out - did anyone notice this going on? Interesting idea, but clearly very badly publicised...
http://xhtml.com/en/web-standards/css-naked-day/

YAY!

Is it really sad to add one of those 'valid' icons to your page? I just don't care, I will anyway!!!

Thanks guys!

Big thanks to Rustum & Chen for the XHTML advice. I'm sure I'll look at the code now and have one of those 'a-ha!' moments :-)

The good news for me right now is I have all of my big social engagements for the semester out of the way - no more weddings/holidays/friends from overseas etc etc to drain my time, so I can focus on assignments and just expanding my mind.

The bad news for me right now is I have a bit to catch up on - and a few things due in the next fortnight. And I don't know if it was the flu shot I had last week or the fact I have had little sleep in the past month, but my body is sending me warning signals to start taking it easy...god, i hate being human...

I have spent a lot of time over the past week or so conceptualising what i am going to build, but not enough time actually putting any of it into action as yet. The first step is to complete the Micro/Macro assignment (which I plan to submit by next Monday - logic being I had site feedback come in a week late which has pushed a couple of deadlines out) and then actually start coding stuff.

Now, back to that other 3000 word essay...

OK. Not having fun right now...

I'm feeling particularly frustrated at the moment. My final learning proposal was ready a couple of days ago, except for the fact the XHTML won't pass validation on the W3C site...and I can't for the life of me work out what it is I'm doing wrong!

I've been trying to sort it out in between other assignments for other subjects but I'm not getting anywhere and I'm starting to be aware of time slipping away and other tasks piling up between this one...I think I need someone to actually explain to me what it is I'm missing...

In any case, here is the link to my final proposal http://students.mim.iml.uts.edu.au/users/10669683/finallearningproposal.html

Progress!!

OK, great news.

I got back the questionnaire from the client and most things were answered! (link to document in the list on the right hand side of this page) .

Very exciting. I now feel I have some direction to put a wireframe together for the planned site and some direction re what kinds of technologies/codes I should be investigating... A good thing I have an extra week to get in my final version of the learning proposal.

One step forward...

I've had a challenging week.

I'm consciously incompetent.

I'm not having a go at myself, I think that's just the stage I'm at this semester, based on this learning model
http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/consciousness_competence.htm

"As a conscious incompetent, you realize that you are not as expert as perhaps you thought you were or thought you could be. The transition to this state from being unconsciously incompetent can be a shocking and sudden realization, for example when you meet others who are clearly more competent than you, or when a friend holds up a metaphorical mirror to your real ability. You can also exist in this state for a long time, depending on factors such as your determination to learn and the real extent to which you accept your incompetence. "

I am counting on practice and sheer determination to get me to the next step...

So, in an attempt not to allow my underwhelming skill overwhelm me, I'm just taking things one step at a time (and for the sake of those around me, trying not to swear so much :-)

Now that I have established what (broadly) I will build for my final project, it's time to nut out some details. With this in mind, I've put together a questionnaire for my client to fill out, in order to give me some guidance re building her a site she will actually find useful (it might also give me an idea re exactly what I should look into learning re coding etc). I used this one on Web Redesign 2.0: workflow that works as a base and adapted it with my client and her business in mind
http://www.web-redesign.com/downloads/03_client-survey.pdf

I emailed that off today and gave her a week to fill it in (I figure the long weekend might work in my favour ie she might actually have some time to look at answering everything) (fingers crossed!). I'll upload it to the MIM server (when I get to a non-super firewalled PC) for your perusal.

In the mean time, back to CSS on W3 schools...

I don't like Mondays...

In brief...

Started researching Personal Trainer websites. Not many sole personal trainers on the web, most are companies/groups. Not sure if I'll be able to make my project idea complicated enough...we'll see.

Got the tick from W3 Schools for XHTML, now on to CSS...

Suffering from serious lack of sleep...very much looking forward to the long weekend!

Time's just flying...

How did a whole week just disappear??

Our last class was really useful, a good quick overview of XHTML, CSS and Javascript. I like the class pracs - it's great to be able to play with these new 'toys'/codes with other people around to answer all of my silly questions...

I had a quick chat with my 'client' for the end of term project - she's fine to go ahead with me building her a site! She seems pretty web-illiterate, and isn't even sure what sorts of things she might want on there, so the next plan for me is to check out what other personal trainers are putting on their sites, etc. Then I'll write up a quick brief for her, see if she has any feedback and start really deciding what I'll populate it with. I'm hoping I'll think of enough things to put my learnings into practice...I'd prefer to do one large project than two smaller ones...

Sorted...

Cyberduck saved the day...

Got the draft learning proposal up loaded. Follow the link in the right if you want to check it out...

I'm having a challenging moment...

OK, I've got my draft learning proposal in the XHTML template. It's presentable, but not at all glamorous - a work in progress!

I thought I'd got the hard stuff out of the way, but I've hit a stumbling block. It seems that my work pc has strict parents (an annoying firewall) and isn't allowed to swap files with strange servers at uni...will have to see if there's a way around this (without having to stop by campus on the way home tonight to upload it)

Anyway, I just noticed when I went back over the class materials from last week that I was supposed to reflection on what we'd covered. Better late than never...

I thought it it was a good starter lecture, covering the basics re how the internet worked. I thought the little movie was corny, but was useful as I finally got the whole firewall thing (and could actually visualise my problems this morning...). I've pinged and been pinged before but had no idea why or what i was actually doing. Nor did I understand what the four sections of an IP address represented. I now feel enlightened...

Indecision...

OK, at this point I'm toying with two ideas for a project.

1. A pilates teacher at my gym has just taken time out of her nursing career to launch her own personal training business. She has spent money on developing a great logo and business cards etc, but I noticed she hasn't set up a website. Next time I see her, I'll have a chat with her and see if she minds me turning her into a uni project...
2. Set up my own hub website. I'd like a central website that can showcase my online/electronic portfolio to use when I start applying for MM jobs, as well as a place I might be able to sell my jewellery from. Not sure how complicated the whole e-com thing will be to set up, might need to chat to someone about this in class next week.

I don't know which one I will go for at this stage. The first one might not be complicated enough (depending on what exactly my 'customer' will want her website to do, it could just end up being a basic web-ad). The second one could either be too complicated and large scale, or could suffer from not actually having enough content at this point (read: there's nothing in my portfolio yet!). Might see where discussions lead before developing either idea (or both!)

Going back over ancient ground...

Once upon a time, I used to have a couple of blogs that I'd built from scratch using HMTL. They weren't anything to look at, but I was still very proud of my (brief, amateur) webmistress status.

The other day I decided to start learning more about at least one of the new languages we will be looking at in DMT at www.w3schools.com. I figured XHTML would be a good place to start, being under the impression that I knew HTML. Just for a laugh, I thought I might quickly do the HTML test that they had a link to...and got back a mark of 60%!! And a recommendation to 'Study harder'!! Excellent...not! As it turns out, the version of HTML that I used to play with was not the current version (4.01) and on top of that, it had been a while since I'd used it... *sigh* back to square 1, HTML all over again (at least refreshing is easier than learning from scratch).

This being said, I was pleasantly suprised to find myself OK about having to submit our first project in XHTML - especially as we were given the template! Once I saw it up on the screen, and could basically follow it, I breathed a deep sigh of relief. If we'd been asked to write it from scratch at this point, it would have been a different story altogether...

Got to start somewhere...

I tried to start this a number of times in the past week, but kept stalling. I wanted to start off with a really cool looking site, with a really profound first post. But I know at this point in my MM career, I simply can't do what it is I want to do - yet! So I decided it's all about the journey blah blah blah, and I have to start somewhere, and why not start off with what I am capable now (i.e. something less than ideal) so I can be really proud of myself at the end of this subject when I can compare the finished product with what I started out with? So welcome to Planet J@net...version 1.0