Week 5

I have not chosen all of the information for my website. I do know that my main topic will probably be animal related. I will have to use Front Page and send extra time in the computer lab at school.
Story boarding will be quite helpful in planning the layout of the my website. I know that this is different, but for many health care projects I have used storyboards for my presentation. It will be key to the organization of the work as well as the flow. It is also a great way to visualize the project before spending all of the time placing it together when you don't know exactly what you want or how you want it to look.

This weeks assignment was a bit challenging for me considering that I missed last week. I am quite pleased that with a some help I was able to not only complete my project, but I actually understand it. The topic this weeks reading kind of reminds me of that picture game that you play at bars. You are looking for all that is wrong with the image, just like we are for the web sites. This class has definitely made me more critical to almost every ad or site that I see. I gives you a different perspective and sometimes I feel almost compelled to let the company know what they are doing wrong. Thank goodness I have refrained from such behavior.

Here are my web sites that I choose to list.
http://www.sirius.com/
Sirius is a site that I use often. I took we a while to be comfortable with navigation, but once I figured out where I wanted to go each time I had not problem. For new subscribers it is very informative and quite easy to find. Some of the ads are a bit overbearing, but state their point. The text is easy to read and understand and one is able to find the information that is needed to join.

http://www.rachaelray.com/
I am a huge Rachel Ray fan but find the web site quite busy. Although the links are in order on the top of the page, I think that I could have been done a bit more stylish. The color scheme is boring and below the links it is hard to follow. Rachel is best known for her recipe's, but is not not easy to find a particular one.

When I create my site I might start out a bit basic only to avoid a cluttered mess.

See ya next week!

Week 2 Blog

It is never a good idea to post or attach any image without making sure it will be suitable for the person receiving or viewing the image. There are various key points to consider before sending images here are just a few:

Make sure that you image is presented in the proper format: Which would be ppi for computer images and dpi for printer images.

Compression ratios play an important role. The ratio is determined on the image itself. The example listed in one of the articles compared an image of the blue sky to an image of a bird. The image of the sky can have increased compression ratios since it is mostly just one color. The bird image would use decreased compression ration to avoid blocking image pattern.

Color on the web consists of much more then I ever thought possible. To list some that were discussed color theory, psychology, models, wheels and management. Using limited color schemes does not mean that the site will be dull. If used properly the site can be quite catch appealing.

Croping an image can be important depending on the size of image one would like to send. Some images appear sharper and nicer with the size reduced.

Choosing the proper format for you image is very import depending who is viewing it and where they are viewing it. Images with gif are limited to the amount of colors and are more effective for scanned images.
Jpeg is a color compression image technique. It reduces files to about 5% of their original file size. The only problem is that more that you compress the more image that is lost.

Also reading about the scanner was quite interesting the various details that are used to obtain a scanned image is quite impressive. I never really thought it was that quite involved.

Week 1 Web Design:

Graphic design holds quite an importance in both web and print design. I never really thought that there was much of a difference other then one was printed on a piece of paper or card and the other just viewed on the web. But the capabilities differ quite substantially. Because of the increased amount of computer use web design plays a important role for corporate development. Most corporations have extensive sites that allow one to gain access or information at the click of their mouse. Print design only lets the viewer see what is on the paper. The viewer must make extra steps to find out additional information. Web design also offers a wide array of images and colors that one can develop themselves. With print design you are limited to your color choices as well as images and content. Both have a place in society but web design is growing considerbly.