Microformats

I still feel very green about microformats after the research that I have done. From what I understand is that is will turn the web into a gigantic social networking system. Basically it pulls information from other websites and re-organises them into bookmarks around a topic. It then enables the information to be shared into other websites and tools. Now if I understand this correctly (but if I am wrong please correct me), if I went to a browser to search for a certain website or store the browser will pull information from the web and locate a site that will better fit me. Apparently this will help the user by saving time and energy by automatically weeding out the sites that do not fit you. That is only an example of microformats. Wikipedia states that Microformats are

1. a way of thinking about data;
2. design principles for formats;
3. adapted to current behaviors and usage patterns;
4. highly correlated with semantic xhtml;
5. a set of simple data formats that many are actively developing and implementing.

Well, please leave me a response to set me straight. Thanks

RSS

First of all, what is RSS? RSS is a group of web formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a standardized format. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. Basically all the updates from your favoritte website will be posted on a simple page, which will obviously speed up the process tremedously. I use blogs pretty regularly. I subscribe to several church related websites along with all of my web design sites and blogs.

If you are going to provide feed for your site, you have to update them continually. A basic RSS feed consists of a number of items with a title, a short extract or description of the full source and the link to the full content source. The information will continue to change as and when updated. People who subscribe to feeds are those that are looking for new, quick updates on subjects they are interested in. So if you are going to provide feed options, you have to update them continually.

Below is a the list of blogs that I found

RSS Articles

RSS in Plain English

RSS Weblog

Final Project Site References

As y’all know I am doing a site over self defense, defending your property and family. I did not have a problem finding sites that contained excellent information to help me out with my project, but all of the sites were about as basic as you can get. They were all set up almost like a blog or article. So.. I have the information I need to place into the site, but I am starting from scratch as far as the design. Here are the sites that I located:

21 Ways to Protect Yourself from Theft

This site is awesome when it come to information, but it is set up like a blog or article. Like ALL of the sites that I have viewed they tried to pile all the information of the site onto just a few pages. Very good info.

Self Defense

This site look s like your typical macho martial arts website, and it gives a ton of information. Although their demographic may be geared toward men it still gave me some ideas toward the layout of information.

Self Protection Tips

This site gives excellent information on self defense during everyday life and in normal situations. The layout to me is horrible though.

Close Combat

This is another site that has very good information. One things that I like that they incorporated into the site was video of the self defense moves. This layout is still pretty rough.

No Nonsense Self Defense

Another site with excellent information. The site has a ton of links on it within the information just incase you need clarification on certain terms about self defense. Although they tried a little harder on the design and layout than the other sites it is still very basic.

So I have all of the resources I need to help me with the information in the site. I am anxious to hear the critiques on my color comps. I am also anxious to get started.

My Final Project Idea

I think I am going to do the final project over a business that sells self-defense equipment (guns, pepper spray, knives, ect…). I did a page similar to what I am thinking about in week 2’s homework. The site I will build will be different, and I think it will be fun to do.

Let me know what you think.

CSS Layouts

I found two really good articles in my search. They are:

“Breaking out of the Box with CSS Layouts”

“CSS Float Theory: Things You Should Know”

Lets start with the first article.  The author, Jina Bolton, explains to the readers just how important a good layout is, and she tackles some of the issues that some designers have toward standardized layouts using CSS. One of the issues is that some web designers feel that designing a lyaout around a grid is too boring and boxy. Well, Bolton has a great response to it. She compares a standardized layout to the wood frame of a house. That wood frame can go several direction depending on the architect (in our case the designer). One architect can build the home into some boxy and boring, but you put the designing into another architect’s hands and he can turn that wood frame into a work of art. That to me is a great comparison. How often do you design a site and when you are finished you realized that you just settled for the design, and not took the extra time to make it look nice? I think that what she said is a slap in the face to the designers that are complaining. Bolton also give some information of designing around a grid and using wireframes. This site would be a great site to put into your aggrigator because they are posting articles daily just on CSS.

The second article is also very good. It is geared on floated layouts, and he tackles some of the gripes and complaints that some people may have about it. He gives a TON of information, and to make it even better he has a ton of links to other really good articles. This is how he describes floats:

“A floated box is positioned within the normal flow, then taken out of the flow and shifted to the left or right as far as possible. Content may flow along the side of a float. […] When a box is taken out of normal flow, all content that is still within normal flow will ignore it completely and not make space for it.”

I learned a lot about floats with in this article, so I highly recommend it. One reason is for the article and the other will be for the links that it provides for more information.

Semantic or Meaningful Markup

Here are the three article/blogs that I found.

1. Web 3.0 – The Semantic, Implicit, Mobile or Distributed Web?  http://impl.emented.com/2008/04/20/web-30-the-semantic-implicit-mobile-or-distributed-web/
2. Adding Meaningful Content with Resource Description Framework (RDF) http://patternsofdiscovery.blogspot.com/2008/06/adding-meaningful-content-with-resource.htmlA
3.  Web Standards Checklist, or How to make a proper website http://cope57.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/a-web-standards-checklist-or-how-to-make-a-proper-website/
4. On Web 3.0    http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/on_web_30.php
5. The road to Semantic Web     http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/semantic_web_road.php

 

What does semantic or meaningful markup in designing for the web mean?  ”The Semantic Web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web in which the semantics of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to understand and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content”, says Wikipedia. To me that means interpreting code so that we all understand it (meaningful).

The fact that I am still very new at scripting languages it is very important that I follow certain guidlines. Its not just because I can confuse others with it, but it is so that I can understand what I am doing. There has been several times I have just thrown code onto a screen until it worked and when I would go back to fix it I would be lost. It has taken several mistakes to realize that I HAVE to follow certain guidlines. I realize that I have to teach myself good habbits now, so that I dont struggle with it later down the road when I dont have a teacher there to correct my mistakes. If i have a problem in the future the browser will tell me that my code sucks by refusing to display it. Also it is nice to know that if I see something on a site that i think looks good, I can view the source and find the code. With semantic web it would be easier to share code, which will help me out tremendously.

The articles that I found are excellent, with a ton of information.  The one that helped me understand it the most was http://impl.emented.com. It was written by Jonas Bolinder. One of the reasons why is because he placed a lot of references on his page that directed me to others in the field talking about the same thing. Jonas also does en excellent job of explaining semantic web developing, and he backs it up with references. It is obvious that Web 3.0 is on designer’s minds right now, because it seems like every big name developer is talking about it.

Designing for the Web

I know that it is not good to start off a page with a question, but who cares! What does designing for the web mean to me? Well, I need to tell you a little about myself first. First of all, I grew up with a pencil in my hand. I love to draw. After high school I attended this fine school, and graduated with an Associates in computer animation in 2000. I specialized in 2-D animation, but of course the amount of jobs open in that field was slim. I ended up working for a graphic design company, where I designed sports posters. I really enjoyed who I worked for and I especially enjoyed what i was doing. The company ended up belly-up due to some poor decissions made by the owner, which put me back at square one searching for a job. About that time I began to search for any job that would pay me a steady paycheck, and I found it. I became a police officer. For the most part I enjoyed it, eventhough I broke some bones and lost several pints of blood during that time. I was a cop for about five years, and after a several bad events and an engagement I decided to turn in my badge and gun and return to school. Although the life of a student is never pretty, I am excited about what I am doing.

After searching the web for blogs, articles and sites that were geared around web standards and “well-formed” websites I found two big names Tim O’Reilly (the founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Inc.) www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/27 and Jeffrey Zeldman www.zeldman.com. Both of them have an endless amount of information on designing for the web. 

O’Reilly helped coin the phrase Web 2.0 at a brainstorming session with MediaLive International. His site is stocked full of his thoughts. In his article, “What is Web 2.0″, he comments on how important it is to network and to stay on top of what is new. Zeldman’s site is also packed with excellent information. The site is mainly geared toward designing for web standards. Zeldman an a couple of his colleagues actually coined the phrase “web standards”. Both sites were excellent and I plan to stay on top of what they have to tell us all.

Now, lets get back on track and answer my question. I love art, and I especially love creating the art. Before I returned to school I had to figure out what career has what I need to make me happy (to be creative and a steady paycheck). In designing a site I found that I can combine my drawing (when needed), graphic design thats interactive, and I can even design some animation. On top of that if we work hard we all have the opportunity to make a decent living. Its not very often you hear someone say that they are doing something that they enjoy. I feel designing sites is and will be something that I will love. To make it even better my fiance loves it too, because it has nothing to do with law enforcement… ha