Web Programming - Week 2

This week was entirely focused on HTML

   We learned general theory about how to write HTML effectively and technically. The basics of syntax was covered such as ">" symbols and the importance of always closing them off. This is no doubt imperative to anyone who wants to learn html, of programming in general. This was also exemplified by mistakes I made in these early stages, as expected, the whole foundation of my site could be gone by any small error.

  We also covered some resources to aid learning HTML, such as www.w3schools.com which covers a sound list of topics on not only HTML but  XML, JAVA Script, PHP ect.  I was explicitly told W3 schools should not be the main focus of learning HTML as noted by the w3fools.com which tears the site down on its methods of teaching HTML.

  In addition I was introduced to a lot of other excellent sites for tutorials on web design:

• premiumpixels.com - a site containing tones of very high quality photoshop files. Most for free, with some addition premium ones. This site has a feely simplistic look and feel to it, I doubt that I will be using many of the files at this stage, but none the less everything seems to be of high quality. 

• psdtuts.com - offers a comprehensive list of free video tutorials on photoshop. This site has pretty much any answer to a question any beginner in photoshop could have.

• beautifulpixels.com - this is an analyitical site focusing on web design. This site is a great help for idea, and how to manipulated them into something better. The reviews are also of a very high quality and clearly by people who know a lot about this area.

Web Programming - Week 1

This week we were given a general overview of what the course will entail for the year such as HTML CSS Java Script ect.

    Furthermore, we learned about the steps taking in creating a website. I found that there were far building blocks incremental to web design than simply just using one method e.g CSS.

   The inital idea, needs to be sketched and planed, there then needs to me the foundation of the site created with CSS or HTML and further on in the process tools like, JAVA, PHP and FLASH need to be added to enhance the sites look and feel, and to keep on par with the industry standard.

   Finally this week we took a look at some examples of the elements of a good site such as http://www.Nike.com and critiqued them on what made them appear well made. In addition we also took a look at some examples of a badly designed site. This really helped me get a perspective of what is generally accepted as good and bad, even if this can be very subjective.