In Kevin's Web Design Garden

My Website Project

2006-05-10T19:24:00.000+10:00

My East Timor site is coming on slowly but surely and i am enjoying doing it. The client is very good to deal with but I am sure using documentation and aiming for good communication techniques as taught in our Web design classes has been a big help. There has been some good feedback about how well I have communicated everything with the East Timor group and how this has given them quite a bit of confidence in the process.
I can really recommend to other students that doing the documentaton will make life easy for themselves as they do website projects. It might seem boring but as you work through it you can see how much it helps. I reckon it will make our web designing easier with better outcomes for both parties.
I have had a few very bad experiences doing sites for friends, and because of this I have become very particular that good communication is the way to make sure things don't fall apart .
I don't handle stress well and i don't want to put myself into situations again that could have been avoided .

Holiday Laziness

2006-04-27T07:15:00.000+10:00

Well, I did have great plans to get lots done but seem to have achieved very little.
Have done some work for my client project (East Timor Sisters) but not as much as would have liked. We had another meeting here at my place with the site contact person and the coordinator of the group and that went quite well. They are happy with colours and banner and very pleased with overall look of the site so i guess I should be happy with that! More needs to be done regarding the content written material I think. Getting the content correct seems to be one of the hardest parts in web design it seems to me. Sometimes just getting the content from the client is a giant step foward.
I don't suppose i have been that lazy in regards to TAFE work during the holidays. I did actually turn the computer on and spend at least four hours per day in front of it, it's just that not much came of it. Although I have had a general re-organisation of all my stuff in the office, and i can now find many things that i couldn't before. I have been telling all my friends that I have had a personality change and that I am now a neat and well organised person!!!!
I don't think they believe me though..........

Client Brief Communication

2006-03-23T08:58:00.000+11:00

This is a copy of comunication to my client for design of website Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters.

Following email and personal discussions regarding the design of a website for BMETS, I have compiled the following for you to check and comment on if needed.

I think you would agree that it is important to clarify the design processes and aims so as not to cause any disappointment or misunderstanding in the future.

If you have any questions or feel that changes are required, please feel free to contact me.

Could you please sign at the bottom if you agree so we can proceed with the design of the website?

Project Summary for Website.

Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters is a partnership between women living in the Blue Mountains and women in East Timor. It aims to foster friendship and cooperation between women in each country.

Purpose and Goals

Increase community awareness of issues for people in East Timor amongst the local and broader community.
Facilitate access to BMETS,
Promote fund raising and educational events and forums
Provide Communications between members (old and new.)
Sharing information
New membership applications
Provide a new opportunity for members and interested community members to contact the group.
Provide accountability to members and supporters

Audience Profile

Members and supporters of BMETS
Wider networks of supporters and advocates for East Timor, nationally and internationally
General community within the Blue Mountains

Suggested Demographic

· Women in Blue Mountains and other areas, aged mostly over 25 years, aware politically, Feminist / activist, Aware of poverty issues / causes, majority regular users of the internet

· Women in universities outside of the BM, aged mostly under 25, politically aware,

· Women in East Timor and around the world / all age groups

Typical Tasks for Visitor to Site

· Find out about BMETS / its philosophy and goals

· Email / contact BMETS in order to become a member

· make a donation

· ask for more information (newsletter)

· receive updates for future events and fund raising.

Perception /Tone / Guidelines

As the brief requires a design that is colourful and dynamic, the use of primary colours and the use of photos will play an important part in the website design.

The site will be approximately six pages with an additional page for a photo galley.

Some features of the site have been tentatively agreed upon., including the fonts and background colour.

You have made the following requests as to the look and feel:

· “It should look colourful, dynamic, have photos of lots of real people and action.

· The weavings should be shown as they have importance in traditional East Timor life.

· The site should feel up-to-date - i.e. that it is updated frequently, be reader friendly (not too busy, easy to use)

· .Should have a local ambience (a Mountains feel)”

A time span for completion of two months was suggested by you and agreed upon, although no urgency was mentioned.

Supply of content by you either has been done or is in the process of being compiled. Photos have been supplied on disc, as has the written content.

We need to discuss in more detail how images of the East Timor countryside can be obtained. Copying photos from other websites can be problematic as far as copyright is concerned so we would need to obtain approval from the owner. You may have another contact for supply of these.

Sincerely

Kevin Hardwick

Please sign here

Pre-Prototype Prototype East Timor Sisters Project

2006-03-14T20:58:00.000+11:00

I know I am getting ahead of things here but just playing about with background colour and banner to see how it looks.

First Client Interview

2006-03-11T15:14:00.000+11:00

Client email interview results.
This questionnaire was done via email after the initial meeting where agreement was made for me to proceed with the design of the website.
The costing of domain name and hosting was included here as Judy Finch (acting as the person responsible) needed to get approval from her committee of Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters

* Name of site. to appear at the top of opening page

Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters should be the name of the site.

* Domain name required.

bmets.org.au

* Hosting requirements.

Costing of the above to be provided.

* Purpose of the site.
These are the purposed of the site:

Community awareness raising, provide a new opportunity for members and interested community members to contact the group, information sharing, accountability to members and supporters.

* Who do you think will be the likely audience
The likely audience will be:- Members and supporters of BMETS; general community within the Blue Mountains; wider networks of supporters and advocates for East Timor, nationally and internationally

* Do you think the site will assist the aims of BMETS?
Yes, it will increase community awareness of issues for people in East Timor amongst the local and broader community, facilitate access to BMETS, promote fund raising and educational events and forums.>

* Is there a specific date for completion?
No - but if we could work for the next completion within 2 months, that would be great.>

* Are there any specific graphic content requirements?
Yes, the addition of photos as part of the "templates", the addition of the logo in the border frame (not sure what you called it), the capacity to add photos of events as they occur. We see photos as one of our most sucessful mechanisms for communication.>

* Do you have ideas as to the look and feel of the site?
Yes, it should look colourful, dynamic, have photos of lots of real people and action, the weavings. The site should feel up-to-date - ie that it is updated frequently, be reader friendly (ie not too busy, easy to use). Should have some local feel - ie Mountains feel, ambience.>

* Are there any long term plans for expanding the site?
This has not been discussed at all but could be at the next meeting of the group. It could be that we gather donations through the site or get people to register for forums. We might also want some kind of interactive capacity - ie to ask questions, to take out membership. Can we add an email address? >

* Will any on-going maintenance be required?
Yes, not sure how this is to happen. We will need your asistance I think in identifying the ongoing maintenance needs, I'm not saying that we need you to do the work - rather that we need to know what will be required and the skills that this work takes.>

* Content format to be supplied by client
Yes, I have supplied some of this already and will bring remainder on Friday when we meet. Happy about the Word documents.>
* Images required. Will a photo gallery be needed?
Yes, we have discussed adding photos.>
* Will client provide Photographs and logo? Yes.

Another personal interview was carried out last friday
Results

Additional Client Analysis
from second personal meeting on Friday 10th March 2006

Name

Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters

Proposed web address www.bmets.org.au

I aimed to clarify a few points and get more of an idea as to the concept and layout.
Some points have been repeated from prior interview.

Additional Site Concepts and Objectives:

Generate requests for information
Provide latest information regarding events and special promotions (fund raising)
Recruit new members
Possibly build database for member emailing

Any interactive features?

Possibility for membership registration and for events.
Newsletter download feaure.
Feedback form.

How big will the website be?

Approximately 6 or 8 pages with photo galleries

Links to other sites and subjects

Other women’s related organisations in Australia and key organisations in East Timor.

Any plans for order forms or guestbooks?

Possible order for weavings and other items at later date.

Contact forms.

Membership possible.

A flow chart has been prepared see below

A layout has been discussed and prototypes created. Design will continue following consultations. A background colour has been chosen, this may need further consultation

Other site competitors?

And which ones do you like?

ETWA (Melbourne) ALOLA foundation East Timor

Flow Chart

image gallery experiment

2006-03-07T20:20:00.000+11:00

I found the css for this gallery somewhere and wondering what others think of it.
aerialvideo
still working on it and haven't validated it or anything like that, maybe it won't.

multimedia march 7

2006-03-07T14:25:00.000+11:00

Website Accessibility

2006-03-07T10:15:00.000+11:00

Basic checkpoints

Validate HTML and CSS
No frames, please
Automated accessibility checking tools
Images and alternative text
Make sure that JavaScript is unobtrusive
Increase text size
Look for semantic markup
Disable CSS
Use Fangs to emulate a screen reader

Digging deeper

Colour contrast
Document titles
Link text
Non HTML formats
Platform discrimination
Keyboard navigation
Data tables

link to accessibility article

A Few Tips

2006-03-02T01:32:00.000+11:00

To create image maps use Mad Edit software, it is cheap and very eazy to use , believe me I have tried many, some of them (including Photoshop) you need to be a genius to figure out how to use them, or have more patience than me.

http://www.boutell.com/mapedit/

to encode email from span here is a freebie, it looks legit but don't know for sure. i am about to use it so will find out soon

http://automaticlabs.com/products/enkoderform/

Client Requirements Questionnaire

2006-02-27T21:13:00.000+11:00

Client Requirements Questionnaire For Blue Mnts. East Timor Sisters

As this site is non-commercial and I am doing it as a volunteer I have not included certain questions that would normally be asked of a client.
However, I think it a good practice even for a volunteer to have the requirements and agreement for doing the site done in a professional manner. I believe that misunderstandings can lead to bad feelings later on if the work is not what the client had in mind or what the volunteer understands as the brief for the project. Good communication to begin with should solve this.

Name of site

Domain name required.

Hosting requirements.

Costing of the above to be provided.

Purpose of the site.

Audience and reason for site

Is there a specific date for completion?

Are there any specific graphic content requirements?

Do you have ideas as to the look and feel of the site?

Are there any long term plans for expanding the site?

Will any on-going maintenance be required?

Will content text be supplied by client

Eg. Word doc. PDF

Images required. Will a photo gallery be needed?

Will client provide Photographs and logo?

I have just found an excelent site which would be very helpful to our planning processes in web design Web style guide
lots of helpful information here, one of the best i have found so far on this subject

The following ponts taken from this site
Goals and strategies

* What is the mission of your organization?
* How will creating a Web site support your mission?
* What are your two or three most important goals for the site?
* Who is the primary audience for the Web site?
* What do you want the audience to think or do after having visited your site?
* What Web-related strategies will you use to achieve those goals?
* How will you measure the success of your site?
* How will you adequately maintain the finished site?

Production issues

* How many pages will the site contain? What is the maximum acceptable count under this budget?
* What special technical or functional requirements are needed?
* What is the budget for the site?
* What is the production schedule for the site, including intermediate milestones and dates?
* Who are the people or vendors on the development team and what are their responsibilities?

Advantages of Web Standards

2006-02-27T09:53:00.000+11:00

Easier for search engines to access and evaluate information in documents and get indexed more accurately.

Adding a search engine to your site becomes easier and gives better results.

Old browser still understands basic structure of documents. Even if it can't display recent additions it will still display content. Applies to robots.

Gives the oppotunity of validating service. Lists errors, saves time, easier to correct.

Easily converts to other formats eg. databases or Word Docs.

More versatile use of information within documents including tv and PDA's

New Project For Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters Group

2006-02-26T18:00:00.000+11:00

A re-think on design for BMETS site.
I want to get away from the box look so have done a different nav , header and arrangement of photos for opening page. I am fed up with sites that are contained inside a bordered box.
The vertical graphic is from a weaving done in east Timor called a Tai.
I plan to use more of them in following pages, maybe with more use in the gallery page.
I don't know if i like the background colour or not, trying to blend in with colouring of the Tai.

Above is a preliminary rough sketch for the site, i have started to add div's and classes and dimensions of some of the images to see how they will fit into the page.

Below is the East Timor national flag and it will be used in the site.

My latest project is a website for the Blue Mountains East Timor Sisters group.
I was very pleased to be asked to do it as I have been an admirer of their work for some time. They raise money to help women and children in East Timor, which is one of the poorest nations in the world. Funds raised are used in a variety of ways including programs for education, health and other welfare for the people. Late last year I was shown a calender which they produced as a fund raiser and I thought it was such a beautiful publication with many excellent photos of the country and people.
The aim of the website is to attract new members by publicising the aims and objectives as well as communicate with existing ones.
I would like to design with a simple but interesting layout with some of the photos used on the calender and hopefully new material.
The opening page will have a very short to the point description of what the group is about with links to other pages which will let the viewer get as much infomation as possible so that they might either join the group , make a donation or attend the various fund raising activities and forums which are organised regularly.
Above you will see a few ideas I am working on.
I plan from now on to do a skech of the design and put in all the divs and classes etc before i try to code it. I think this will make it a lot easier as I find it difficult to visual properly what i am doing.
I will scan the sketch (although I can't draw at all!!) to show what I mean.

Metaphors and Web Design

2006-02-21T16:31:00.000+11:00

Design and layout are intimately linked, but before you figure out how you will arrange everything, figure out the design effect you want. The easiest way to do this is to think of a metaphor. Ponder what your content scope is. What metaphors come to mind? Think in pictures and in words.
Thinking in metaphors requires both sides of your brain. You need to sit back, relax and just allow your mind to reflect on your content. Think about your audience too. What would fittingly make your readers instantly think of your content, your product or your service? If you have an art site, you´d likely think of images that represent creation, expression, visuals, harnessing the muses, eurekas and tapping the soul. A health site might bring up images of beautiful bodies, balance, wholeness, treatments, fixing things, building, connecting or caring. And so on.
Once you have decided what your metaphoric image will be, you can begin to plan. Does it make you think of cool or warm colors? Softness or crisp lines? What kind of images come to mind? What style of lettering (font) would suit the mood of your metaphor? Would it be better to use a columns based "we mean business" layout or a soft colorful soulful approach. Does your metaphor suggest movement? Is animation needed to bring it to life? Everything in your site comes from the metaphor. Design. Layout. Graphics. Navigation. It´s what gives you an unique website identity.
http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdsymb.htm

Projects

2006-02-20T09:13:00.000+11:00

I am currently working on several projects, see links below.
The first one for Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre which is now online but you will notice some bugs and the content is still being compiled and corrected.I will be working again on this on Wednesday this week. I plan to have a good feedback section under "have your say" for people to comment or make suggestions generally for the mid mountains, eg. the widening of the highway.
Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre

I also have other sites in the pipeline,including a site for East Timor Sisters Project which I am very excited about doing. They have a beautiful calender available which is sold as a fund raiser and hopefully I will be able to use the great photos on the site.
Other sites I have been working on:
Chichipaws
The code is a mess for this one but hopefully i will be able to fix this up soon.

Multi Media Class D Film

2006-02-14T13:33:00.001+11:00

Format for graphics.

jpg or jpeg,
use for photos. Looses some information

Gif

used for animations lossless

block colortansparencies

PNG

used for fireworks. large files size , animations, transp.

SVG Scaleable vector Graphics ( math. equations)

Tiff bitmap

Uncompressed max quality

PSD Phtotoshop

used for master file, not on web very large file size

SWF

Used for FLASH animation , vector garphics.

RAW

maximum quality.

Jeffery Zeldman is a standars guru. Accessibility and usability, what are they? are they the same.
Whay are they important?

reach more users on more browsers.

Stops wasteage.

End costly spiral of obsolescence where each new browser or inetrnet device means whole new coding cycle and another line item on the budget. The merry go round of coding and re-coding

To create today as well as tomorrow.

To work seamlessly with XML based services and tools.

to stay on the right side of accessibility laws and guidelines.

link to Zeldman site

Photoshop Lessons
tools used today included.

Selection, magic wand Lassoo-magentic--esc d. click
Zoom . manifying glass
Navigator
clrt+cltr
Cloning alt. click to sample. Use to touch up images.
Clone within image for image to image.

second project.... a three page site

2006-02-13T09:59:00.000+11:00

The aim of the second project is simply to practise and build on the skills
that you've learned in the first week. You might choose to do a small 3 page
site about something you're interested in such as a fan site, or a guide to
a local area in the mountains such as Wentworth Falls.

The following tasks are just a guide to help you design a simple site. You may find it useful to use your blog to document the purpose, target audiences and content requirements, as it will allow other people to give feedback too (if you invite them!).1. Purpose of site

To display and comment on my garden. What sort of design is it and what plants have been used. The audienve will be for people who are interested in gardens in the Blue Mountains. It will have a phorto gallery with a short description of plants and design.

2. target audiences.

For people who have an interest in gardening in the Blue Mountains

3. Define content requirements (What content do you need to provide to fulfil the purpose of your site for your target audiences?)

Provide clear photos displaying the plants and various elements of my garden

4. Develop simple site structure (Plan how your information will be structured)

Intro page with banner at the top and a few photos with a link to the gallery. Short descritption and history of the garden

5. Create a prototype on paper or in Photoshop, clearly showing the look-n-feel of your site. Make sure you get lots of feedback from others about this!

6. Code HTML and CSS, using HTML for your content and CSS for all your presentation.
7. Upload your site to your webhost.

8. Test and peer review. Ask some random people to use your site... give them specific tasks to do and see if they find the information!

I am thinking about something with this sort of layout. I am aiming for simply structure but with some sort of striking colours for banner.
I need a different photo maybe for the intro one.
I am planning to have 2 gallery pages so things won't be too crowded. I haven't manually coded a photo gallery before wthout tables so that might be a challenge and i reckon I need to get used to no using any tables at all.
I just hope I can remember all the plant names

and now for something completely different

I just watched Ausralian Story on ABC, I feel so sorry for those kids and parents. I know what they did was stupid but they are so young and need another chance in life. I wish they would let them go free. I have been to Bali six times but wouldn't go again as much as I love it there.

plants and gardens my other passions

2006-02-12T12:32:00.000+11:00

In a past life I worked in horticulture for many years but because of spinal injury and the effects of ageing ( I am the senior citizen of this class!)have not been able to work in this area for about 7 years.Here are a few shots of our garden in Lawson where we have lived for just over two years. We moved here after living in another house in lawson where we had been for over thirty years. This new garden is much easier to care for but still large enough to do lots of planting and re-doing some bad landscaping which was done here about twenty years ago.
We have help sometimes by a friend, who we have paid to do some of the heavy work such as paving and removng unwanted plants. We also have a friend who lives with us and he loves to
work in the garden, doing the mowing and weeding and lots of other things.

Later I will put more photos of the garden on my personal web site.

Day Three of The Web Design Course

2006-02-09T11:35:00.000+11:00

Well here I am again at W.F. TAFE and getting over my initial nervous state. I felt a bit pressured the first day but now that Michael has explained how things work here, it is not a problem now and I am really looking forward to this year.
I am in the process now of designing a site for Mid Mounatins Neighbourhood Centre in Lawson and will have a link from here when it goes online in two weeks. I envision the site as an on-going development which will grow over time. I plan to have a lot of content which can't be used on the MMNC newsletter because of space and to expand on various issues and projects of the Neighbourhood Centre.
I will have the option for people to download word docs and/or PDF versions. I also plan to have a section where locals can give their ideas, suggestions and complaints on issues in the area. Initially I will have email comments and later to maybe have a forum for people to use.
The Neighbourhood Centre were keen to have the site online middle of February in conjunction with the summer edition of the newsletter which I have just put together for them.
I will hopefully have any bugs fixed before it goes online.

Day One Web design Course

2006-02-06T13:35:00.000+11:00

Hi my name is Kevin and this is my first Blog for the Web Design Course at TAFE Wentworth FAlls.My passion for the last five years has been Website Design and having been self taught I am sure I have a lot to learn. I have picked up quite bit from web sites but have found most help by using books on the subject. One of those books which i find fascinating is a book written by Eric Myer called "Eric Myer On CSS ,Understanding The Language Of Web Design" . I have also used "CSS and DHTML For The World Wide Web" and "HTML For The Worldwide Web". All of these books I use constantly, read myself to sleep at nght etc.
Some web links which I often look at
ERIC MYER
CSS Max Design
A List Apart
In my haste I made a few blunders for the above links and a few spellos! but they will work now !!