Manon’s Blog

So this past week we have really been working on our advisors site. There is not much else that I have focused on besides making the site as user friendly as possible.

One important aspect to creating a popular site, however, is increasing the internet community on the website. I may sound strange, but interactions between a internet users is very important. By allowing communication lines to open, a reader may feel more “at home” per say on the website. The users will then have a say in what they are seeing or reading, making the site much more user friendly, a key aspect of a successful website.

This week we learned about one more way to making our site more user friendly. We went to the www.polldaddy.com website to create polls and surveys for any viewers to fill out. We could make the poll or survey about any topic. The type of response method (multiple choice, ranking . . .), choices themselves, and skin of the poll or survey was completely determined by us, the creators of the website.

Personally I found this website to be very amusing, by creating a poll I could find out if people online had similar interests as myself and perhaps learn some new activities or hobbies.

In other words, the creation of a poll or survey directly linked me to my viewers. Now I could see what might interest my audience and how I could improve my website.

These past few months I’ve learned a lot about the internet, it’s usability, user preferences and most of all, myself.

Before entering this class I had no idea how web sites were created. I wondered how people uploaded videos, made tables, added quizzes and such to there web sites. Sure I had once been a Myspace fan, it happens to the best of us, but I had no mastery of the web at all. I know today, that my knowledge of the world wide web and its workings have greatly increased.

It all began with a program called Windows Movie Maker. In class we were assigned to make a documentary movie depicting the role that technology played in our lives. I had already used the program for a series of Spanish movies, but all of a sudden I had found a new use for the program. I learned how to insert pictures from the web and add a sort of voice over onto the pictures. I also learned how to transfer music from online sources into movie maker. Having started the year off with so many firsts, I knew that the year would only be a learning experience.

The technology skills of learning how to use new programs may seem simple, but at first it is challenging. Finding how to insert images correctly, add sounds and add any unique touches to a video takes a lot of analyzing and exploring through programs. In the class we had a minimum of guidance, but a lot of the project did rest on us, the students in the class. As a result, we gained more technological independence, able to rely on ourselves to solve certain problems or setbacks.

Perhaps one of the most important skills I will take from this class, however, is definitely the ability to create and maintain my own website. I had always heard about HTML and its importance on the internet, but never actually spent time working with it. The codes and structure of HTML, though complicated, can easily be found on the web. Small details such as how to make a paragraph or a link in HTML code, I will always remember. Though seemingly unimportant, by learning small details such as paragraph code at a time, eventually I may be able to write in HTML code. Until then, however, I know how to find HTML codes through widgets. Having never heard of widgets before this class, I now know how to embed them into a website and how important they are to create a unique website. Personally, I enjoy the Weather Bug widget on my advisor’s site.

I know that in the future all the skills I have learned in this class will be put to use. I may need to create a website for a future job, or search for ways to make a college presentation. All I know is that I now feel more comfortable on the computer.

I am now a part of the Blog Life.

So, I’ve barely had any time to work on my website this week. . . I know, what a disappointment. However, the one day I did do something, it was with Google Calendar. I’ve got to admit I’m not to much of a calendar girl, I prefer to forget what day it is. However, by embedding Google calendar onto my website I can keep track of any activities I need to do in my daily life, or what to do to make my website better.

The google calendar can be categorized/color coded to make all appointments or reminders easier to view and read. By having these reminders, you are sure not to forget an assignment for class or an important date for school or work. The best part is that the google calendar was easy to use.

In the future, I will know an effective way to keep track of everything I do. Perhaps the calendar will take away some of the stress I often experience. With college nearing, any way  I can become more organized will only be beneficial.

This was the final week of working on the websites!!! Unfortunately I must say it was one of my busiest weeks as well.

My main concern was learning how to put paper documents onto my website so it would be accessible to the user. After all, it is one thing to mention required forms but another to actually provide them. Yet the question I had to resolve was, how do I get a paper document onto a computer screen?

The answer was simple, scanning the document. However, after uploading the papers onto my website I ran into a new obstacle. The HTML screen that appeared was not very user friendly. Seeing the document as a whole required repeatedly scrolling down the page. With the help of Mr. Stengel, I concluded that the document should be made into a pdf so not only would it be easy to read, but print out as well.

I then rescanned the documents and changed the document code to .pdf. Then I added the pictures as a link on the page.

However, I did not stop there. Not being able to upload pdf’s myself, I had to find a solution on how to make the pdf’s viewable to everyone. I, therefore, visited the adobe acrobat website and found a free adobe reader that could be added. I added the link to my page.

Altogether, this week’s work was very  effective. Mr. Vitelli even complimented the website. Now, any athlete could get the forms they needed online (which means less hassle for Mr. V!)

Lately I have met a lot with my advisor to discuss other things that should be added to my website. Since I am working strictly on athletics for Foran High School I must rely solely on my advisor for information. At times this is difficult because he is not only the athletic director but a teacher as well. Both take up a lot of his time so I understand that passing on information can be difficult.

However, despite these hurdles, Mr. Vitelli was able to give me a few peices of information concerning coaches and sports teams. I used the information to create a”Coaches” page. Using my knowledge from creating my own personal blog, I was able to create a table that organized the coaches into their sport, name and added their contact information. The table made the information easy to interpret and well organized. Furthermore, by creating links for the contact information, any viewer trying to contact one of the coaches would find that clicking on the e-mail address would open up an e-mail directly.

My advisor also gave me all of the try out dates for each individual sport. Though creating a table was an option, I did not want to have each page look the same. Therefore, I typed the information in Microsoft Word first. In Word I could choose a different fonts to use, making the information more appealing.

Overall, this week I was able to add a lot of valuable information to the website. Now any interested athlete could know how to contact their coach and know the tryout dates for their sport. 

This week I continued to look for widgets for my web page. Knowing that I was required to have at least one widget, I decided that a weather bug widget would be best. After all, sporting events can only take place in certain weather conditions, since most sports are outdoors. I felt that the weather bug could allow visiting athletes or spectators to determine whether or not a scheduled sporting event will take place. After all, there is no need to drive all the way to somewhere like Sheehan to see the tennis team play, and end up coming home because of the rain.

Furthermore, I began adding a lot of content to the web page as well. Realizing that there is a five page minimum for the web site, I began adding new pages. I added an About page to help describe the reason behind the site itself and to inform the viewers a bit about the athletic director. I then created an Athletics Calendar, Required Forms and Student Records Page.

I was only able to really advance on the Athletic Calendar. By visiting the CIAC website, I could find the official Foran Sports Calendar. I added a link and the calendar itself to the page so the viewer could either open the calendar in a new window or look right away at the calendar.

That was the most I could accomplish this week since I often have not been in class or have been working on my own blog.

***Date is not accurate

This week was all about learning how to make our profiles more attractive to the public. Though looks may not be everything, understanding the importance of aesthetically pleasing appearances is esssential.

However, creating a unique, yet attractive page is not simple. Sometimes it is necessary to add a personal touch to show a little bit about who you are as an individual. There are many ways to express this. In class this week, we learned about how to create a picture in paint and then add it in the sidebar of our blog.

I chose to draw a rose, as can now be seen in the side of my profile. Though there is no specific reasoning behind the rose, I always find myself drawing them. Therefore, I attempted to draw one for my blog. Personally, I am impressed that I could draw anything in paint, so that’s why I kept the rose.

O and just to keep up, I have also begun working on my project for Mr. Vitelli. He has been very excited about the idea and has often confronted me to discuss its advancement.

***THIS POST WAS SAVED AND NOT PUBLISHED THEREFORE THE DATE IS INACCURATE.

What is your favorite sport?
( polls)

This week was mostly about collecting data to be entered onto the athletics website. I met with the athletic director, Mr. Vitelli, to discuss what should be entered into the website. Luckily, he already had some ideas in mind and was able to hand me a few papers that he felt should be added to the website.

After visiting Mr. V, I added the necessary content onto the webpage. This included creating a new page and making the information as user-friendly as possible. After all, there will be a variety of people or users visiting the site and it must be acccessible and understandable for everyone.

Perhaps the most important advancement of this week was simply understanding how to make the website easy to understand. The naming of the pages alone had to be short yet indicate exactly what content could be found in the page.

Furthermore, in continuation of last week, I have not yet found the widgets that would be most beneficial to the website. Though none have yet to pop out of the norm and Mr. V has not thought of anything in particular he’d like to add, hopefully as the webpage progresses the addition of more widgets will become apparent.

With the approach of the end of the year and graduation, everything, including my blogwork, has become rushed and hectic. It has been hard to work on my blog and my Foran Athletics website. However, in class, I have been able to use my time to further expand my website.

This week began with a review of the “skin,” or website set up, that would best suit my website. In other words, I had to decide what my website must look like to be the most accessible for any viewers. Personally, I felt that the website should be simple, yet aesthetically pleasing. I also know, having spoken with Mr. Vitelli, that the less complicated the website was, the more easily he could continue to manage it in the upcoming years. Therefore, I stuck with the theme “Ocean Mist” which I felt had an elegant look, yet plain and easy to understand.

My progress did not end there. Though I missed class on Wednesday, upon returning Thursday I began learning about widgets. There were a few widgets that I felt could be helpful, like the weather widget. This upcoming week I will be sure to ask Mr. Vitelli what widgets he thinks may be most helpful towards our website. Hopefully he will have a few in mind, if not, I will just send him the widgets website shown below.

Widgets