Hi, hope everyone had a good New Year. Mine was okay, had a record 23 pairs of socks for Christmas. Still you can never have enough socks. Had plans to start teaching myself Flash CS3 over the holidays, with the book I bought. But with all the working, eating, drinking and being merry I didn't really get the chance.
First Tutorial Of The Term
I'm afraid I missed this one, but on discussing it with my course buddy Matt "From Cardiff But Wants To Be From Caerphilly" Neil, we have started Photoshop. Ive had previous experience with Photoshop, and did a little project. By the sounds of it the first lecture was covering some of the basics such as extracting. The project I undertook made use of features such as layers, masking, effects, opacity and many more. After this project I bought a great magazine called Advanced Photoshop, which came with loads of tutorials and examples of some pretty amazing artwork. After viewing some of the projects in this magazine I realised how powerful this software is and the potential it has, and also why it has become such a standard in the design and media industry. Another book I purchased to further develop my skills was Adobes official book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom In A Book.
First Lecture Of The Term
Our lecture was based around the topic of design, and as designers we would have many options laid out in front of us. There are many things to take into consideration when designing something such as a website. There's the clients requirement and the target audience to consider. Also things such as timescale, budget, and the skills and equipment that are available to the design team. These are all very important factors that have to be addressed when designing a website for a client. When it comes down to actual content, we looked at different types of graphics that are available to a designer. There are now a large amount of graphic sources such as digital camera pictures and scanned images, to the electronic and software created images.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Friday, November 23, 2007
Another week, another blog!
Hello,
The Lecture
Fridays lecture led on from last weeks subject of usability and concentrated on evaluation. It was said that evaluation is about gathering information about the usability of a design from a group of users within a certain environment carrying out a particular task. Certain questions were brought up like why evaluate, and when? Evaluating a design can bring a certain understanding to the designer, and also help them engineer towards a target. Some designs have to be created in accordance with certain standards, and evaluating can check that these standards have been included or met. Evaluating can be included as part of the design process, and can come in many forms. Looking back on the last few tutorials I have had hands on experience with some evaluation methods and have seen how it can bring to light certain usability issues when testing a website.
The Tutorial
Thursday’s tutorial saw us returning to the program Adobe Flash CS3. The last time we used this program we were introduced to a method called tweening. This time we were shown some simple links used in Flash designs. The basis of the exercise was to have three frames (or pages), and label up each frame page one, two and three. Then we had to use buttons on each of the frames which would skip us through the frames, forward and backward, when clicked. This was done by the use of Action Script. Action Script is a language used alongside Flash to give instruction to dynamic parts of frames within the program.
Reflection
The lecture gave me a new understanding of the term evaluation. I now understand that it is a vital part of the design process, as it raises certain issues and questions to a designer. These issues can then be tackled which in turn will lead to a better product. I now understand that the main questions when it comes to designing something such as a website as, who’s it for? And what’s it going to do? The answers to these questions determine the user base of the website, and that by evaluating a website a designer can make sure they are sticking to these important factors. Researching usability and evaluation on the web I came across a company that summed up its importance, and is an example of some methodology behind usability evaluation. http://www.theusabilitycompany.com/services/service/usab_eval/
Looking back on the tutorial, I can now see the potential of Flash when it comes to designing webpage’s. The way we were shown of linking frames can be seen as similar to a hyperlink in a webpage. I also used the language Action Script for the first time, and found it to be relatively simple language to use. But then again I think I have only just scratched the surface. I purchased a very good book on Flash last week called Flash CS3: The Missing Manual. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510442/?CMP=ILC-MMh0me#top
The Lecture
Fridays lecture led on from last weeks subject of usability and concentrated on evaluation. It was said that evaluation is about gathering information about the usability of a design from a group of users within a certain environment carrying out a particular task. Certain questions were brought up like why evaluate, and when? Evaluating a design can bring a certain understanding to the designer, and also help them engineer towards a target. Some designs have to be created in accordance with certain standards, and evaluating can check that these standards have been included or met. Evaluating can be included as part of the design process, and can come in many forms. Looking back on the last few tutorials I have had hands on experience with some evaluation methods and have seen how it can bring to light certain usability issues when testing a website.
The Tutorial
Thursday’s tutorial saw us returning to the program Adobe Flash CS3. The last time we used this program we were introduced to a method called tweening. This time we were shown some simple links used in Flash designs. The basis of the exercise was to have three frames (or pages), and label up each frame page one, two and three. Then we had to use buttons on each of the frames which would skip us through the frames, forward and backward, when clicked. This was done by the use of Action Script. Action Script is a language used alongside Flash to give instruction to dynamic parts of frames within the program.
Reflection
The lecture gave me a new understanding of the term evaluation. I now understand that it is a vital part of the design process, as it raises certain issues and questions to a designer. These issues can then be tackled which in turn will lead to a better product. I now understand that the main questions when it comes to designing something such as a website as, who’s it for? And what’s it going to do? The answers to these questions determine the user base of the website, and that by evaluating a website a designer can make sure they are sticking to these important factors. Researching usability and evaluation on the web I came across a company that summed up its importance, and is an example of some methodology behind usability evaluation. http://www.theusabilitycompany.com/services/service/usab_eval/
Looking back on the tutorial, I can now see the potential of Flash when it comes to designing webpage’s. The way we were shown of linking frames can be seen as similar to a hyperlink in a webpage. I also used the language Action Script for the first time, and found it to be relatively simple language to use. But then again I think I have only just scratched the surface. I purchased a very good book on Flash last week called Flash CS3: The Missing Manual. http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510442/?CMP=ILC-MMh0me#top
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Hello.
Fridays lecture was interesting as usual, although when Daniel walked in with a bag this week, I was expecting him to pull out another relic of technology like last week. But it turned out to be an everyday ring binder. Bit of a disappointment. The lecture focused on `Usability`, and what the term usability means. When a website is created, it is created with the intention of being people facing, so this means that the site must be deemed as usable to a wide scope of people. This usability can be measured by three factors. Effectivness, Efficiency and Satisfaction. These make up the usability triangle. We were also made aware of the experience levels, and these should be taken into consideration when designing to certain criteria.
The tutorial on Thursday was with Daniel and carried on with the theme of usability. This week we had to carry out a heuristic evaluation on the University of Glamorgan website. Unlike previous evaluations, this involved us taking an empathic view of a user. First of all we had to think o a typical user of the website and an individual task they might perform. I choose a prospective student looking to enrol at the University and is looking for a course that suits a particular field and their A level results. From this point I had to put myself in this persons shoes and browse through the website trying to complete my task, noting any difficulty’s or general usability point on the way. I found that out of all the evaluation processes, this was the better. It gave you a better perspective, and could be utilised to assess many situations.
Fridays lecture was interesting as usual, although when Daniel walked in with a bag this week, I was expecting him to pull out another relic of technology like last week. But it turned out to be an everyday ring binder. Bit of a disappointment. The lecture focused on `Usability`, and what the term usability means. When a website is created, it is created with the intention of being people facing, so this means that the site must be deemed as usable to a wide scope of people. This usability can be measured by three factors. Effectivness, Efficiency and Satisfaction. These make up the usability triangle. We were also made aware of the experience levels, and these should be taken into consideration when designing to certain criteria.
The tutorial on Thursday was with Daniel and carried on with the theme of usability. This week we had to carry out a heuristic evaluation on the University of Glamorgan website. Unlike previous evaluations, this involved us taking an empathic view of a user. First of all we had to think o a typical user of the website and an individual task they might perform. I choose a prospective student looking to enrol at the University and is looking for a course that suits a particular field and their A level results. From this point I had to put myself in this persons shoes and browse through the website trying to complete my task, noting any difficulty’s or general usability point on the way. I found that out of all the evaluation processes, this was the better. It gave you a better perspective, and could be utilised to assess many situations.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Hello reader!
Managed to make it to last weeks lecture, and enjoyed it aswell. We analysed several websites, some were very good with lots of interactivity, nicely contrasting colours and in general very well built. Other sites that were viewed were shocking. One religeous site that was viewed was not only the brightest thing ive ever seen, including the sun, but was also a bit scary. Makes me wonder if Charles Manson has access to web building facilities in his current residings. Also another site viewed was full of information, but was setout in such a way that it was all very hard to take in; dull contrast, bad navigation system, and very small writing densely packed together. Overall it made for a very boring web experience.
Thursdays tutorial was enjoyable aswell. This weeks lesson involved shape tweening in Flash. The tutorial on Blackboard was fairly straight forward, and afterwards started to develop little experimental animations. Managed to aquire a copy of Flash, so as to develop my skills even further. A good tutorial site that was refered to me was a Flash tutorial module at http://http://www.w3schools.com/flash/default.asp. The w3 schools site has come in very useful in the past, and is a very reliable source of information.
Looking back at the lecture, i have learnt that a website can be full of information. But if the information is represented in a dull or unattractive way, it actually deters the user from the site, and interest is lost quite quickly. Colour schemes play a major part in this. A website with nicely contrasting colours will make web content more visible and defined, and overall a much better experience for the viewer, which i think is what its all about.
Managed to make it to last weeks lecture, and enjoyed it aswell. We analysed several websites, some were very good with lots of interactivity, nicely contrasting colours and in general very well built. Other sites that were viewed were shocking. One religeous site that was viewed was not only the brightest thing ive ever seen, including the sun, but was also a bit scary. Makes me wonder if Charles Manson has access to web building facilities in his current residings. Also another site viewed was full of information, but was setout in such a way that it was all very hard to take in; dull contrast, bad navigation system, and very small writing densely packed together. Overall it made for a very boring web experience.
Thursdays tutorial was enjoyable aswell. This weeks lesson involved shape tweening in Flash. The tutorial on Blackboard was fairly straight forward, and afterwards started to develop little experimental animations. Managed to aquire a copy of Flash, so as to develop my skills even further. A good tutorial site that was refered to me was a Flash tutorial module at http://http://www.w3schools.com/flash/default.asp. The w3 schools site has come in very useful in the past, and is a very reliable source of information.
Looking back at the lecture, i have learnt that a website can be full of information. But if the information is represented in a dull or unattractive way, it actually deters the user from the site, and interest is lost quite quickly. Colour schemes play a major part in this. A website with nicely contrasting colours will make web content more visible and defined, and overall a much better experience for the viewer, which i think is what its all about.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Week 2 - Not much to say
Hello again!
Missed last weeks IAD lecture so i havent got anything to say about it. But im sure it was very educational and exciting.
In regards to my other lectures im starting to learn alot about how computers operate, in Computer Systems & Network Tech. I already had a basic knowledge of how things in a computer worked, so im building on what i know already, and am finding the lectures interesting.
Problem Solving for Computing is a bit of a joke though. Not with the lecture contents but the fact that they have crammed so many students into the one class. Steve is trying his best to sort something out, so he cant really be blamed. The sooner something is sorted the better, because i didnt see myself spending the first year of Uni sat on someones lap.
Missed last weeks IAD lecture so i havent got anything to say about it. But im sure it was very educational and exciting.
In regards to my other lectures im starting to learn alot about how computers operate, in Computer Systems & Network Tech. I already had a basic knowledge of how things in a computer worked, so im building on what i know already, and am finding the lectures interesting.
Problem Solving for Computing is a bit of a joke though. Not with the lecture contents but the fact that they have crammed so many students into the one class. Steve is trying his best to sort something out, so he cant really be blamed. The sooner something is sorted the better, because i didnt see myself spending the first year of Uni sat on someones lap.
Thank you for your time!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Week 1 - The Beginning
Hello, before this post I was a blog virgin. So excuse me if I end up babbling about random stuff!
Ive been in bed since Monday feeling very ill, fragile, and having a supposed burst eardrum (diagnosed by my mate) which I received from having a "heated debate", with a random person in Cardiff. Never mind though its nothing a large Tandoori Hot Domino's pizza, a bottle of Fanta, a box of potato wedges, a box of 7 chicken strippers and every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Futurama couldn't sort out.
My mate, Scott Stafford, has also setup a blog with the amusing title of Blog On The Bog. I'm sure if the content lives up to its title it`ll be full of.................useful information. Check it out at http://roidheaduk.blogspot.com/
My mate, Scott Stafford, has also setup a blog with the amusing title of Blog On The Bog. I'm sure if the content lives up to its title it`ll be full of.................useful information. Check it out at http://roidheaduk.blogspot.com/
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