Sunday, March 29, 2009

Updates to Homepage

I have made some updates to my homepage to embed my video and make some of the changes recommended by my classmates. I recoded the block-quote format in the CSS to make it appear smaller and in lighter font that the body of the references and I made several changes to the blogs pages. I updated the Progress page and changed to one word links in the top menu.

Since my husband's computer is off for virus repair, I do not have access to a PC with Internet Explorer except at work and movie-type files are blocked at work. Can anyone tell me if my Podcast on my homepage works in IE. It works in both Firefox and Safari on a Mac.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Draft of Podcast (Week of 3/23)

I have created a draft of my podcast using a combination of a photo-morphing program, Garage Band, and iMovie. I just recorded my voice-over today, and I wanted to post the original draft, so that you could check it out and provide feedback.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Week of 3/9 Blog Post

For this week’s post, I am supposed to “offer feedback to each peer's homepage: 1 good thing, 1 needed improvement.” I just wanted to say that overall I am very impressed with my classmates’ hard work and excellent results. I think that all of the pages show the work that went into them, the planning, creation of content and images, and simply the effort required to learn how to create the pages.

For Chris Andrew’s page, I really like the introductory page. It brings me into Chris’s perspective, as though I am leaning back in his chair and looking at his desktop. There is a slight disconnect between the introductory page and the body pages in the header bar. I would like to see the name either remain all lowercase on the subsequent pages or see the first page have standard capitalization. I would like a connection beyond the colors.

For Sharba Chowdhury’s page, I think that the “Oops, Not your size” on the shoes is really cute and I really like your color scheme; I also like the header bar and the different quotes on each page. I feel as though this page needs an explanation of what it is, a title or something like that, so that I am clear as to what I am expecting to see.

For Dominic Evan’s page, I really like the introductory page. I like that I don’t have to find the hot spot to click, and the orange and blue color scheme is well done. It is not garish or overwhelming, for which that color combo has great potential. However, I feel that the large table in the bar image should link to something. It is the largest thing in that image and draws my attention, yet it doesn’t seem to have any links in it.

For Shawna Hayden’s page, I really like the brightly colored menu, and the drop downs that appear under each category are wonderful. I also think that the menu colors being carried over into the subpages are an excellent touch. However, I find it a little strange that one of the categories does not have a drop down. While I know that Resources may not lend itself to an image, perhaps an explanation of what appears under that heading would be nice. In addition, the white on yellow is very hard on my eyes.

For Adrian Jackson’ page, I really like the pulsing yellow flower at the bottom of the page. It catches my attention and brings it to that corner. It also provides a nice balance for your name at the top of the page. However, because the flower is so eye-catching, I feel as though it should do something when I click it. I would also like to see more continuity between the main page and the rest of the pages. The color scheme and styling should be carried over to the other pages.

For Carie Lambert’s page, I really like the header bar and the color scheme. It is a color scheme that should be boring, but it isn’t. It is like a sepia-toned photograph with a quiet elegance. I think that Carie should consider swapping her bio picture for a sepia-toned version to fit it into her color scheme. It also might be nice if an option was provided with the syllabus to view it either in HTML or in PDF. PDFs are nice for printing, but HTML can be quicker and can be enhanced with links to descriptions of assignments, etc.

For Ashley Owen’s page, I can very clearly tell the purpose of the page and the color scheme is very professional and clean. I like the color blocks corresponding to subsections. It might be nice if the entire block linked to the next subpage, especially because the larger, yellow text in each block catches my eye. Again, I feel as though things that are eye-catching should do something.

For Melody Wainscott’s page, I like the intro page and that both clickable people are in sharp focus, while the rest of the people are in soft focus. Because this page is a TTU page, it must conform to TTU’s standards and blend nicely with the other TTU pages; I would love to see what Melody would do without those design restrictions. On the Scholar Team page, I would like to see the underlined, bold names link to something and I would like the be able to go back the previous menu in a more intuitive fashion.

For Rebecca Widder’s page, I really like the color scheme and the image of the jumbled letters in the background. The subpages have continuity with the main page, but I would have the links to outside pages open in new windows so that the user does not have to use the back arrow to navigate back to Rebecca’s page.

For Brett Oppegaard’s page, I like the phone interface and the ring tone intro, although I will admit that I looked at my phone when I first navigated to the page from the syllabus. I feel like it needs more images in the little blocks, even though I think that that many links would be difficult to handle. I also wonder if there is any way to incorporate the phone theme into the other pages for consistency.

For Monica Wesley’s page, I think that the main page is amazing with the image of the brain and the very clean and professional interface. At the same time, the justified spacing leads to odd gaps in the words that interfere with readability of the blocks of text. I also like the artwork theme and consistent color scheme that is carried throughout the pages.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

My website

I created a mouse-over image. The second image is not high quality because it is a scanned image from when I was heavier. I am still trying to find a better quality image of heavy me, but the code works. I feel like dancing. Of course, this is where I intend to embed my podcast when it is ready. Visit happyhealthyjessica.com to see my mouse-over image in action. I'm very happy that the podcast is no longer due at the same time as the homepage.

I also worked on the contact form and the links page to include feedback from my classmates. I hope that you enjoy it.