Multiple Scripts

If you take a look at my home page, you will find links to several of my other work throughout the quarter in web class.

My multiple scripts on the page include:

1. Picture pop-up
If you click on my picture (which is located in the upper right corner of the page), a bigger image pops up onto a different screen.

2. Pull-down menu
Located in the center of the home page, the pull-down menu directs the viewer to links of various other websites accomplished in web class throughout the quarter.

3. Server Side Include (SSI)
If you go to the Poem Exercise link, you will notice on the bottom of the page that there is a timestamp from today, which is when I included this script on the page. This lets the viewer know when the page was last updated.

4. PHP
Under Week 7 PHP Form and Group Project application form, I have included two different PHP forms for two different occasions. One uses radial buttons, whereas the other uses checkboxes to accomplish the site's goals.

5. Mail Form
This allows the viewer to send messages to my RIT email.

6. Search Engine
This script allows the viewer to search something on my websites.

7. Randomizer
When you click on this page, notice that every time you refresh it, a new line pops up. That's because this code takes the designated file and generates a single line from it to post at random. Sometimes you will get a blank page due to organization of the html file.

Through this exercise, I have learned a few things that I could use in other websites (as you can see, the PHP form could be used on a real client's site, such as Leroy Nursery School).

Secret Society PHP

With this assignment I had a lot of trouble, considering I have never used PHP before, so I had no idea how it worked. I had no problem setting up the HTML form to work. I did have difficulty figuring out how to get it to link to the php, but a friend told me that I needed to include the line < form action="society.php" method="post" > in the body, which I placed between the header and the content. When trying to work on the php, I tried looking at the handouts and at your source code from http://people.rit.edu/~jrhicsa/mymail.php, but I got totally lost trying to figure it out because everything seemed so foreign to me. I jotted down a few things mentioned in class, which helped me out, such as the lines $age = ($_POST['age']);
$name = ($_POST['name']);
Hello
and the if statements.

The hardest part was determining where things went in php (if it goes in the head or body). I am not sure as to why my php is not working correctly, since I followed most of the code that was discussed in class, but the sites can be viewed at: http://people.rit.edu/~say1534/409/society.php and http://people.rit.edu/~say1534/409/society.html.

Midterm

For the midterm, it was difficult for me to pick just one town, seeing as though I live in between three different towns, so I just chose central Pennsylvania in general (with a focus on Turbotville, since my high school is in that town). I used greens as my color palette, because the area is rich with countryside, and I felt that the colors reflected that well (meant for any season). I also wanted to choose very simple fonts and keep it one consistent font throughout. Also, since I live in such a small area, it was hard for me to find very many pictures that suited my needs, so I just chose one picture per page, and let the greens take over for visual interest. Overall, I made it a very simple page, with simple navigation (I felt it was organized the best if I placed it vertically on the left-hand side under the title and subtitle.

When I was thinking about information, I tried thinking of what sprung to my mind when I first thought of the area in which I live. I felt that location was important, because not too many people know exactly where it is placed on the map. I wanted the home page to be an introductory page, as if a visitor to the area was reading it. Also, since my high school gives the best reference of my hometown (it's a blending of multiple townships, towns, and counties that make up the district), and the Heritage Days goes on there during the summer, I felt that it was important to include in the site. In the mindset of gearing the page toward visitors, there are many events that take place at the school (sporting events, school musical, etc.), and most people would also like to know where they could send their children to school if they were looking to move into the area. As for general information, I thought about the things that most people think about when they hear central PA (I also asked others if they felt these three factors were important, and they agreed): Historical preservation, countryside landscape and Little League World Series. These three things are the backbone of what draws visitors to the area. Lastly, I included contact information. If a visitor was to really look at this website, he/she would probably like to know where they can find more information about the area. I also just included the validation stickers on the home page, because I felt it would be redundant to put it on them all (because they were all validated).

The site can be found at: http://people.rit.edu/~say1534/409/midterm.

Poem Exercise

After choosing a poem on bartelby.com, I decided to play around with different features of a table to put the poem in order. I made the actual poem separate from writer and title information with the use of rows and cells. I also added a background image, which I tried to match the color of for the poem's information text. Then I picked a color that would compliment it well for a background. I wanted to choose another color for the actual poem, and decided to center the table to make things look nice. I made all of the font Georgia, and added some spacing/border around the poem's cell to add to the overall appearance. I didn't have too much trouble with it, other than adding an image. I tried playing around with two different techniques on how to add a background image, and chose one that I liked the best to use. (The other way was to add it in the body tag as background). I didn't have a hard time trying to validate things either this time.

Something that I had picked up from the Textile site provided by the assignment was a superscript, which I hadn't known was available through HTML. I also wanted to use the blockquote, but afterwards decided that things looked better centered (while still keeping the blockquote). Overall, these new HTML techniques were simple to figure out and use.

My site can be viewed at Week 4: Poem or there is a link to it from my homepage.

I also created a new one, including more CSS, which can be viewed at New Poem. With this one, I added the image as the back of the actual poem, and took out the tables from the previous example. I also tried to play around with some different techniques of padding and such. Both sites are almost the same, except for one has a table and the other uses more CSS. If you go to both, you can see what kind of a difference there is.

Zen Garden exercise

Group members (including myself):

Krystin Watts
Candice Latham



Our least favorite design was #99 Least Favorite Image


We disliked this one because things were visually competing with one another, through color, image and type. The comic book setup was a good idea, but there was no real organization, and the overall flow of reading through it is not too good. We had a hard time realizing where to feast our eyes on the page. Some text blobs are yellow, and others are white, and although there are different sizes of font, they still lead us all over the page. The bright colors clash on the page, and also compete with the type. Also, the main text paragraph is on the bottom, and so is the navigation. No one really feels like scrolling for instructions on how to navigate. Additionally, there are several different styles on the page, which clash with one another. For instance, the yellow LOOK! LIVE PONY! section is completely different from the rest of the page, and has several graphics and fonts and attention grabbers that it leads the viewer to almost skip over it completely due to the fact that we have no real lead to where our eyes need to go. Lastly, there are several different comic book pages within the webpages, and they are vertical instead of horizontal. If scrolling is necessary, the page should at least be seamless and without breaks.


Our favorite design was #135. Our Favorite Image


As a viewer, we enjoyed this page because the hierarchy is very clear on the page, and things are overall aesthetically pleasing. The orange leads the eye directly to the navigation, which is where most viewers look to begin on a website. Also, the page adds depth by adding in a subtle patterned background that goes well with the overall theme. This pattern is also repeated in the navigation bar, and between the main font and the title (and also within the title itself). The color choice was also a nice touch, because they are subtle colors (except the orange) that go together very well. The page allows the viewer to scroll without any interruption, and the separation between thoughts and paragraphs are very distinct and clear. Also, the shape created between the title and main part adds interest to the overall design.


Krystin's Blog (We didn't feel like repeating.)
Candice's Blog
Candice already posted hers before we had realized that we needed to be a group, and Krystin needed a partner, so we kept Candice's the way hers was and I corrected mine to go with Krystin's since we were confused.

409 Home Page Addition

I tried to use the keith.css as an external css file and name my new html home file homeNew.html, since I have never worked with using css outside of my html file before. However, I failed miserably at this. So, I went back to my roots, where I put the css inside of my html file. I also tried adding the classes such as .leftcolumn or function leftColumn( ) inside of my html file and neither of these were not being recognized correctly by the file.

However, I did add some things we learned in class today. I created a pop-up button for my picture, which is a brand new concept for me. This was not very difficult to do, though. The functions are set up similarly to AS3, so I knew how to read them properly and understand them.

Lastly, I tried to validate my code. Although it is the second week of school, I am still quite rusty on html. I keep confusing html and xhtml rules with one another with certain aspects. The only problem that still remains is that the validator claims that it is unable to determine the parse code, which I am unsure how to fix.

I would like to work more with the external css files, because it is alien to me, but at the same time would rather stick to old conventions that work. I would really like to blend the two, and am hoping that in the next assignment I can figure out how to do so.

My page can be viewed at: http://people.rit.edu/~say1534/409/home.html.
(The pull-down menu will include more items to come, such as the midterm, etc.).

Home.html assignment

While working on the home page for our 409 website, I wanted to accept a challenge of designing it myself instead of using the templates. I went with a green theme for St. Patty's day, and added the timecode and menu bar. The menu bar was not hard to do, but the toughest task was the timecode. I couldn't access the code that was seen in class, so I had to type in the date myself. Nevertheless, it still came up correctly, and I hadn't had any more problems other than that.