Journal 50: November 30

It's ridiculous how the Internet seems to be a place for people to live vicariously. There are so many people who are thoughtful and polite in the "real world" and obnoxious and snobby online. It can be entertaining to see this sometimes, but more often than not it's just annoying. I guess it is just the way people are, though. When they don't have actual contact with the people they're communicating with, they feel free to say what they want. It's the same way with telemarketers. This is an annoyance of mine, so I'm hoping I haven't written a post about it before...

Journal 49: November 30

I tried out a new MacBook Pro this weekend. I really love it. It's got an even sturdier aluminum frame than my PowerBook, but it's much lighter weight. It's eight times faster than my current Mac, and has 11 times more memory(40 times the current amount of memory left on it)! It's got six times the amount of RAM, too. Not to mention the latest version of OS X, so I can actually run programs made in the last three years. Between my tax rebate and increased hours at work this semester (maybe a little too increased, but we'll see), I should be all ready to go by the time Snow Leopard comes out. That means my Little PowerBook That Could will have to hang in there a bit longer. That shouldn't be a big deal, considering I have no technology-related courses this coming semester. But I really look forward to using Photoshop and Dreamweaver at home. It'll also be nice to have all my music on my laptop, instead of freeing up memory on my external hard drive. That kinda got old.

Journal 48: November 30

One thing I'll be trying to figure out after this class is Javascript. I know it can't be too hard, and it's something that seems very useful in a lot of instances. Of course, I'm not planning any elaborate Javascript intros or anything like that, but it's something I know I could put to good use on a site. I look forward to using it in the future, and I think Javascript knowledge can really help me in Advanced Web Authoring.

Journal 47: November 30

Although I've progressed a lot in the last 15 or so weeks, there are still some confounding aspects to Web Design. Try as I might, I simply can't figure out how to make my site work equally on every browser. Heck, I can't even get it to work properly on one browser. I mean: the text color and site structure work great on Safari, but the text size and music player are skewed; the music player works great on Firefox, but the structure and text color don't; nothing at all works on Internet Explorer. What in the world? I've done everything that I possibly can here, and it's not working out! It would on a Safari/Firefox hybrid, though...

Journal 46: November 30

As the semester winds down, I've been thinking about just how much of a difference this Web Authoring class has made in my general everyday life. I don't look at the Internet in nearly the same way as I used to; I look for design practices and anomalies, unique structures, color schemes... and then I look at the content. I didn't know what any of that stuff was a semester ago. Of course, my whole day isn't spent online (though it's getting closer). But even when I'm away from my computer, I am noticing things that I could incorporate in design: colors, users to keep in mind and ideas for content. It's as if I've found a new aspect to the world I've never been exposed to.

Journal 45: November 9

It amazes me how much thought is out there on the Internet. Until I took this class, I took Web design for granted and only focused on content. Yes, I was amazed at the amount of content, and the quality of a lot of it. But I never noticed the huge world lurking beyond that little aspect of it. The form of presentation is just as important as the work it displays. In fact, the ideas out there for such presentation are just as good, if not better, than the featured content. I mean, sites like imeem, iTunes, Lala, eMusic, and Rhapsody feature so much music. But the ways they deliver that music are groundbreaking. They are so streamlined and user-friendly. To think of those kind of ideas takes so much intelligence and attention to detail, not to mention hard work. Sites like Facebook seem like everyday things now, and are largely taken for granted. But ideas like that are profound, and the ways the are implemented and presented are amazing. The Internet is truly a form of art that isn't nearly as appreciated as it should be.

Journal 44: November 9

Photoshop is one program that had a reputation I could never understand until now. It was used in my Journalism classes back when that was my major, so I have tried to use it before. But the thing is, because of the classes I was in, and the program's name, I only assumed it was for photos. And, yes, it worked well for retouching pictures, but I've used other programs for that, too. I guess I thought Photoshop was just an expensive way for obsessive photographers to tweak their work. But that all changed this week. I realized that it can also be used for designing. And lots of designing it can do. In fact, it seems like Photoshop is an essential program to have if I want to work with Web sites in the future. I can make my own logos and pictures. That means I don't have to rely on clip art. Yes, there is a lot of clip art out there, but it's not guaranteed to look good with my Web site. I can use Photoshop to insure that any of my images do work. Cool!