Week 4 - Uploaded to ACS

http://sdcc13.ucsd.edu/~zhorn/

I'll put assignments there from now on. Or perhaps make an index page that directs visitors to all the different assignments? That sounds like a good idea.

Week 3

Alright. So the CSS assignment was enjoyable while time consuming. I'd never done much CSS but I'd always read that it should be done without tables (save data representation). Moving away from tables wasn't something I expected to be easy, but I figured if I wanted to really learn something I'd better try. So, instead of simply layering a couple style sheets over my preexisting page from A1, I went with all new--although most of the content is the same with some minor updates and adjustments. At this point, I didn't really know where to start. I had to think about how I needed the HTML to be laid out so that it could work best with CSS. I decided to try to find some inspiration, and what better place to go besides CSS Zen Garden? At that point I wasn't interested in the styling, but the basic HTML structure a site should have so that it can be easily styled multiple times just as they do at Zen Garden. After perusing the sample code, I figured I basically needed a main container, header, body, and footer. Easy sailing from there.

The hard(er) part was next. As I'd never done CSS to lay out a page, I didn't know where to start. Again, I looked to Zen Garden for inspiration. Most of the styles there have heavy use of graphics--I didn't have the time to create fancy background, logos, containers and what-not so I looked for the most basic. I got a sense of how I wanted my page(s) to look and began one step at a time.

Because I'm so fond of rounded corners I knew my site needed them. I saw that there were two ways to do it: with corner images or a purely CSS code. I decided to use the code (-moz-border-radius) for time's sake. I guess that was really the only fancy thing I put in my site.

One issue I did come across was the inability to extend a column all the way down to the bottom or footer of a page. The columns tend to only go as far as the content goes and there's no real individual property that one can use to extend it. Confronted with this problem I consulted the power of Google. I came across a few answers. One of them used the height property in the parent and child divisions and this would've been easiest had I known about it before I wrote my HTML. I instead settled on the "faux column" method which uses a vertically repeating image of the column(s). So, I tried this method and it worked--my column appeared to extend to the footer. Accomplishing this little feat alone made me more proud than all the rest I'd already done.

I could have gone on tweaking my styles for ages, but the assignment was already a bit late and I had to submit it. I hope to try more things on my own and in the next assignment. I'm looking forward to implementing some JavaScript in someway and possibly create a nice photo gallery or little doohickey.

So, the required part of this entry: the difference between class and id. From what I understand, a single class is used repeatedly on a page. For example, if you have a styled portion of text, and want that same style applied to another portion on the page, you'd use a class and apply it to both. An id only occurs once on a page. I think it's safe to assume layout divisions like header and footer will only occur once on a page so then id is most appropriate for them.

Week 3 - CSS

How many hours did I spend on my stylesheets? One will never know.

Well, for my first time going at CSS I think I did alright. Too tired to write the entire blog entry now but I'll go ahead and post some captures.

Week 2 - HTML

I finished assignment one. I kept it simple, clean and to the point. I should have put in more content (text, photos) and fleshed it out more but it would have never stopped. I was tempted to add and mess around with CSS but figured that wasn't the point of the assignment. There was a moment of frustration when I made the photography page. I placed three cells for three pictures but forgot that I have to also have a new table so that the three cell columns would not interfere with the main table. That took me a while to figure out and it was affecting the navigation links but making the last link fall down a line.

I want to get started on the next assignment a little earlier so that I can experiment more and really get a handle on both HTML and CSS. I want to try frames but feel like that's pointless with CSS. I kind of want to try to make a site without tables but I'm afraid that might be out of my league at this point.

My brother said that he could host any sites I make for me. That'd be nice because I do want to eventually make a personal website. I even looked into domain names and might get one if I'm feeling good enough.

Week 1

It's hard to believe how things have progressed since Vannever Bush's vision way back in 1945. His vision was great, but with the technology he discussed, it seemed improbable. His idea of using a CRT as a printing device had himself admitting of its unlikelihood. But I know that the technology used in his device was not the point. He knew that information was a valuable asset to be manipulated and accessed and his machine would allow it. Little did he know that such a vision would be realized but not with microfilm!

It seems that both Vannever Bush and Tim Berners-Lee had problems of communication in their fields or workplaces. Bush writes that transmitting and reviewing the results of research was taking too much time to be worthwhile. I suspect his device was to solve this. Similarly, Lee's proposal seems to aim to eliminate the loss of information due to the leaving of workers. Was the web envisioned only with the purpose of making work a little bit easier? Probably.

The "How It All Started" timeline lists the first dial-up ISPs to surface around 1994 and Prodigy was one of them. I don't quite remember when my family got Prodigy but I certainly remember the chatrooms. I also remember early iterations of AOL and how my friend's account had parental locks and blocked nearly all websites. That was annoying.

Now there is something called Web 2.0. Version 2.0 of the World Wide Web. When I think of Web 2.0 I think of a social explosion. I feel like it's the age of blogging, facebook or myspace, sharing and the such. Content seems to be about the user creating it. Through blogging and social sites people are thrusting themselves out onto the internet for all to witness and enjoy. Web 2.0 also makes me think of cute logos and silly website names. Web 2.0 represents the point in which the internet is finally a mainstream media device that rivals TV, only the programming content is not dictated by a few media companies and their conglomerates.