Crikey it's been a while.

I've not posted on here for ages it seems. Well since finishing the HND course I am now employed as a web developer at eConnected. Since starting here I have been learning PHP and MySQL, aswell as furthering my CSS skills. I have also done the odd bit of design work such as designing some Google AdWords banners for us.





Also I designed the reworking of the eConnected website and created all of the graphics needed. We had professional photography done in and around Huddersfield too.


I also designed the eConnected email alert which we are currently developing.


I'm sure I'll post here again sometime.

Dave.

That Six Month Learning Plan

Hello again,

So looking back at the six month learning plan, was it a good idea? And how did it go?

Well I think in theory it was a good idea, but the impracticalities of it made it hard to stick to. The problem I found with it was I was using the time I set aside for the learning plan to usually research other skills that I needed at the current time. Due to this I was falling behind with the six month learning plan and it was turning into a month learning plan, then four month learning plan etc.

Due to this I had to revise my six month learning plan to encompass the skills that I used on the course like flash action script, Google map embedding, and YouTube video embedding. My original plan was to go through my Adobe InDesign CS2 book and work my way through each of the chapters. This is something I will still be doing in my own time as I want to learn the program. I couldn't find time to fit in learning it while on the course.

Lots of self learning was undertaken in my own time, it was just not what I had planned to do in the six month learning plan as I had to devote my time to researching and learning new skills for the assignment I was currently doing.

Overall I think a six month learning plan is hard to stick to when there are lots of other things going on at the same time.

Thanks for reading.
Dave

Mission Complete, High Score Pending.

Hello again.

So my second year and final year at college is just about complete and I'm now sat at home having done my final presentation. Speaking of which I think my presentation went well, even if I had to improvise slightly. But I showed my audience everything I wanted to show, and a little bit more.

Also today I handed in the iMe assignment, consisting of sketchbook, portfolio, blog, and the aforementioned presentation. Along with this I handed in the A Day In Your Life (ADIYL) assignment. Due to Tiscali Internet (won't bother with a link to them) I had to come into college in the morning to complete adding the YouTube videos to my website as I needed to get the embed codes off their site.

So what are my plans now I have practically finished the course? I want to gain employment now as I feel I am ready, though if I do not succeed in this then I have the option to do my top-up year at Huddersfield University with Captain Picard. I would much rather get working though so will be putting all my efforts into doing so. I also plan to be doing a little freelance work on the side.

I've learnt a lot over these past two years in the various 'disciplines' of interactive media. When I first started the course I had no idea about design principles, graphic design, or that much about web design. I now know all about Colour, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. I know about designing graphics on paper and then transferring my designs to the computer in various applications. I know about structured HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, API's, and Dreamweaver. I believe the course to have well prepared me for getting employed in the real world.

Having almost finished the course I know it was the right course for me (evidently not for a lot of people who started the course) as I have got on well with the course, and enjoyed doing it in the process.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading my blog (almost) every week. And also to wish my fellow peers good luck in the future, and good luck to the first years for the year ahead.

I'll still continue to make the odd post on here every now and again, so do check back occasionally.

Thank you, and goodbye.
Dave Sellers

Dr Emmett Brown Fabrics

Hi,

The new On The Job assignment is progressing quite well so far, with the back-up site almost completed. I am just waiting on some content and images to make the final touches to it. I spent a bit of time yesterday implementing a Google map for the location page, it looks alot better than what they were currently using which was a link with a popup to another map, which didnt actually look that good. I have made a few other alterations to the original site aswell, I have added a page title to each page, and also improved the alignment on everything.

The rest of my time on Monday and Tuesday morning was spent doing two sites for the competitive analysis, the sites I have been analysing are Ross Fabrics, and JR Fabrics. Turns out I came up with alot more negative points for them both than I did strengths.

The assignment is progressing smoothly, the webplan is just about complete, screen designs are around about the same level. So I am hoping to be able to start making the site in CSS next week. The designs are looking quite nice so far.

I don't feel starting to build a new CSS site is as daunting anymore as it used to be when I had just started using it. Now I am fairly comfortable in my ability to get on with it and get it working, in a variety of web browsers.

I am thinking about rebuilding my portfolio site again after I finish college, to the same design as before but I think I could code it more efficiently now than I could then.

Any feedback on the JBrown back-up site would be more than welcome.

Dave.

Delta Blog 2

Hi,

Since handing in the KISS assignment I have been able to concentrate a lot more on the CiSSy assignment. There is still a fair bit to do on it though, after the three BBC pages have been created. There is an essay on 'The likely effect of CSS Level 3 on the user experience, and its impact on future website design practice'. After doing a bit of research this afternoon into CSS3 it looks like the impact on future website design practise could be rather large as there seems to be a lot of new things involved in it, certainly in improvements over CSS 2.1.

With regards to the three BBC web pages I am currently in the process of putting together, I feel a lot more comfortable using CSS now and create a simple layout fairly fast. And due to my repeated use of CSS as of late it is becoming a lot more natural. I can look at my design now and pretty much know how I will be putting it together with CSS.

One specific thing I need to look at though with CSS is my 'Div-itus', which is excessive use of divs when I should ideally be using a class. I will have to look back at the BBC pages I have already created and see how I can improve upon this.

For the six month learning plan I am struggling to find time to fit it in as the workload for the other assignments seems to be taking up all my time. This is one area of my time planning I need to improve on as the six month learning plan (more of a three month learning plan now) needs to be completed.

I received feedback on my KISS assignment detailing what I need to do to gain the elusive merit grade. They are only minor things so I shouldn't have any problem getting them completed.

Thanks for reading,

The Glorious Burden

Hello again,

Apologies for no blog entry last week, i'll get onto why...

Has been a busy week this week as earlier today there was a deadline for Assignment 12 – KISS, the main part of the assignment was creating a Valentine's Day ecard. I ended up spending a lot more time than I anticipated trying to make my Macromedia Flash animation as I had almost completely forgotten how to use flash. Mainly because I’ve only used it last year when making the Channel 8 Idents and have not touched it since.

Due to these set backs I ended up having a few late nights this week to make sure that I had it completed for today. Plus there was a big chunk of written work I needed to get done. I managed to get virtually all of it completed last night so this morning there was no last minute rush to finish anything.

I would welcome any feedback on my completed ecard.

The big file I bought months ago is proving useful when it comes round to handing in assignments, as during the week before deadline I can print out all the separate parts and start putting my submission together, and keep it organised as well. When the time came to hand the assignment in all I had to do was move it from my file and into the pink folder.

This afternoon I have concentrated on furthering the CiSSy assignment by working on some digital mock up screen designs. I have one more design to choose then I will have all three home pages chosen.

Plans for the rest of the week? To get on with creating the first of my three CiSSy web pages using CSS. I'm hoping this shouldn't be too daunting as I used CSS to create my online digital portfolio.

Thanks for reading,

If It Blogs, We Can Kill It!

Hi again,

So second week back in after Christmas and I’m back into the swing of things now, done a good few various designs so far this week.

Over the past week my productivity was greatly hindered by my computer deciding to break with a baffling error. I lost a lot of time trying to fix it, and even bought and fitted a new motherboard. As it was taking away all my time I’ve left it to my brother to sort now so I can get on with my work using (when I can) a different computer.

iMe

As I am presenting my portfolio to the ILG (Industrial Liaison Group) on Thursday I’ll be spending the next couple of days polishing up my online digital portfolio. There are a few things I want to have done on it by Thursday, these main things are:

• Removing my first two websites from the public section as they don’t represent my current level of skill
• Creating thumbnail images for all my work instead of the current squash images
• Cutting down the statement about me on the ‘Home Page’ and adding a very small selection of work
• Double checking for any spelling mistakes
  

As it stands I feel I have a nice looking portfolio online, and I’m glad I put the effort in before Christmas to get as much done as I could. Due to me doing that it makes my job easier now as I just have a few touches before it is presentable.

To Do:

Over this week after I have done the changes to my iMe website, I am hoping to have (near) final designs chosen for both KISS and CiSSy. I think I am nearer to this with KISS than I am CiSSy so will need to spend my time accordingly.

Thanks for reading,
Until next time,