Instead of waiting for divine intervention and an interesting and witty start to my journal this week I will just begin. Perhaps, by the end of the cog churning, a suitably clever title may emerge at the end, if not then it’s just not meant to be! This week has passed at a considerable speed and rather then leaving me dazed and confused I finally feel more at one with the World Wide Web.
My work is progressing steadily, I’ve done mountains of research and my head is bleeding a little less profusely. So what have I learnt? Well I have started to tackle my limited, in fact non-existent, knowledge of coding language. HTML, XHTML, CSS, CGI, ETC! I produced my first HTML file on note pad and opened it on the Internet browser, this sounds quite impressive until you actually see the page! However, I did manage to then edit the text and change the background of the page to a rather shocking eye-watering yellow, pure genius. So with this small triumph my confidence grew and somehow my mind decided to deactivate its Firewall (sad I.T pun) to all things technical and things started to make sense.
On a more social and non-isolated IT geek level I feel the group is starting to bond and the banter is beginning. I feel particularly comfortable in my seminar group as I hope do the others, despite the lack of humour. I’m finding the seminars useful and it’s good to benefit from the experience and knowledge of others.
So in general all is going swimmingly, the parts of the project I have completed so far need a little fine tuning, but not a great deal. I’m looking forward to tackling the screen designs but I am aware of the importance of completing the project methodically, so I may be able to hold back for a few more days, just. For the rest of this week I need to focus on annotating my sketch book and also finding some truly inspirational design, unfortunately a 'Lucozade' wrapper and a booklet on ‘Love and Sex’ is hardly the stuff of dreams.
Finally inspiration has faltered, sorry, I'm tired!
5 comments:
It sounds as though you are having similar concerns to what I did at the start of the course, Michelle. I also had no knowledge of HTML or CSS, and was constantly dabbling with stuff to see how it all worked.
In my experience, you don’t really need to start doing this until later on in the course, when you actually start building a website. I’m not saying don’t have a play with things, but it is not something to be too concerned about just yet. One place to try things could be on your blog, as you can edit all the HTML code in the dashboard. Even simple things can be fun to do, such as changing colours or adding in pictures. I also found changing the simple things amazing, and as you say in your post, it makes you feel more comfortable with the web.
I think the biggest challenge for you, having read your first blog post, will be attenuating your vast graphic design and photography skills for the web. The internet is extremely limited as to what it can do design wise, which can be very frustrating at times for people from print/artistic backgrounds. The key is to not see them as limitations, but more as additional challenges to overcome.
If you are looking for a good source of inspiration, I’d recommend buying The Guardian on a Saturday. I think this is the edition with the weekly guide and magazine parts in it, and is packed full of classy adverts and interesting photography. At £1.50 odd its dirt cheap too, and will quickly fill up the pages of your sketchbook.
Im on the Year 2 HND and I like yourself have to travel a fair bit (not as far as you I've heard) but it is a really good course to do and I'm actually glad to get up at 5:45 in the morning to attend it. So from one long 'traveller' to another stick at it it's the best course ever!
I was similar with the lack of knowledge except mine was with Photoshop but like Julian says all you can do is play about until you get things right. This was the only way I boosted my confidence with using the software. When I started last year I hadn't even opened Photoshop properly now I can't seem to get out of it sometimes. Most of which I've learnt or had to learn myself. So find yourself a good tutorial site and go from there.
A good one to start with is www.tutorialized.com this is where I learnt Photoshop and there are some good HTML tutorials too.
Beleive it or not, you are an inspiration to me and probably most of our fellow students. Your commitment to the course is outstanding and definatly something i couldn't see my self doing...
I agree with John, you are an inspiration travelling so far, but the qualification is worth it, I feel like the group is also bonding more and more as the weeks progress.
I also don’t no much about HTML code however the delicious site has good tutorials that you can easily follow, these help you get used to the code, I’m still struggling to understand the concept of all the different computer languages.
Hey, I think the easiest way to start leaning HTML and CSS is to get your hands on a copy of frontpage and in the design plane start playimh with it an then switch to the code side to see how it is coding it. It will give you a basic understanding of how it all works. Although you can do this is dreamweaver, I find that dreamweaver's code is slightly more messy. Plus front page is easier to use for a beginner. I have a book on all this stuff somewhere i'll have to dig it out for you.
Im having a similar problem as you and julian coming from an art and photography background. However the design and creative side of things which we are just moving onto is something I enjoy and find easier.
Hope your well, having missed you on Tuesday. Will you be in tommorrow (Sunday).
Gary
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