Overall I learned many things from COMM 350. I learned how to design a website using website builders. I now proficient in Using In-Design. I can replicate a magazine cover to the smallest detail possible. The project that I m most proud of is the group website. I was impressed when it came together. We all worked hard on gathering the information and putting it online. The project that was the most inconvenient to complete was the podcast. Finding a room at the right time that was silent proved to be a challenge. This class helped me hone my skills in using Audacity. I know believe that I can use Audacity to modify any audio that I need too.
This link will give you an overview of what I learned. It helped me become better at mastering In-Design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLvDU3ApzM
I haven't stayed connected with LinkedIn. After giving it a go, I discovered that it wasn't for me. I m not at a point in my career where I believe LinkedIn will help me. Constantly maintaining a profile, was too time consuming. I believe it is too easy for Employers to filter out your resume in LinkedIn. With social media you are just a number on a screen.
I had a positive experience maintaining a blog. I maintained a blog for a previous class. Blogger.com was easy and fun to use. This quarter let me refresh my skills on using a blog. I learned more about emerging communication technologies by maintaining this blog.
Overall I enjoyed COMM 350 Emerging Communication Technologies. The activities that we did were fun and gave us experience. There isn't anything that I would do differently.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Friday, July 25, 2014
Week 5
I think that the rules on the other sites had many good points. Following their rules will make my website better. When making my individual website, the rules will be taken into account. The rules that I found are
1) simple is beautiful. Cramming too much into each page creates confusion. Visitors get frustrated when they have to scan through rows of links and images to find what they are looking for
I really like this rule because it points out what is wrong with a lot of websites. Having to scan through rows to find a product makes a website cumbersome. Having a simple layout will ensure that visitors can buy they came for without getting lost in your website.
2) Design is important.
I believe having a good home page is important when designing a website. If your home page has pop ads generating on visitors computers they are unlikely to want to come back. Furthermore if your website looks like it will be a pain to navigate through than users are likely to switch to a different site.
3) Develop your website to support multiple browsers.
In an era where not everyone uses the same browser, a website should be able to function on Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc. Not being able to function on multiple browsers could turn people off from visiting your site.
4) URL should be easy to remember.
This is one of the most important rules. If your website, has a hard to remember URL, people will have a harder time remembering it. In order to get the maximum value, make your URL short and easy to read when possible.
5) Website should be easy to look up.
If your Website requires users to spend more than five minutes looking up they are likely to go elsewhere. Making your website accessible will allow more people to visit it. It will also help your website grow faster than it would have.
6) Don't have videos play automatically
This is a feature that users hate. Automatic video play makes the screen slower and results in visitors becoming annoyed. You should allow people the option to play videos when they want to not when they have to.
7) Don't have music play when a visitor first enters.
The average user doesn't want to hear your music right off the bat. If I want to sample your music, I will search for it myself. Having music play automatically will annoy most people.
8) Have good content
Don't forget the primary reason why people have visited your site. While design is important having something there is just as important. If the website has very little content most users will become fed up. You need a good reason for your audience to keep coming back.
9) Don't have flashy pop up ads.
Advertisements may be important to keep your site going but how you display them is just as important. Displaying them in a way to clutter users screens will not give you the desired result. Make the advertisements flow.
10) Be consistent
Design your website so that each page is different but the flow of the website stays the same. Users should feel like they are visiting one site not three.
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-23/the-10-commandments-of-web-designbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
http://web.clubrunner.ca/inner-lang-1-1.aspx?pageid=204
http://sharpened.com/web_design_rules
1) simple is beautiful. Cramming too much into each page creates confusion. Visitors get frustrated when they have to scan through rows of links and images to find what they are looking for
I really like this rule because it points out what is wrong with a lot of websites. Having to scan through rows to find a product makes a website cumbersome. Having a simple layout will ensure that visitors can buy they came for without getting lost in your website.
2) Design is important.
I believe having a good home page is important when designing a website. If your home page has pop ads generating on visitors computers they are unlikely to want to come back. Furthermore if your website looks like it will be a pain to navigate through than users are likely to switch to a different site.
3) Develop your website to support multiple browsers.
In an era where not everyone uses the same browser, a website should be able to function on Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc. Not being able to function on multiple browsers could turn people off from visiting your site.
4) URL should be easy to remember.
This is one of the most important rules. If your website, has a hard to remember URL, people will have a harder time remembering it. In order to get the maximum value, make your URL short and easy to read when possible.
5) Website should be easy to look up.
If your Website requires users to spend more than five minutes looking up they are likely to go elsewhere. Making your website accessible will allow more people to visit it. It will also help your website grow faster than it would have.
6) Don't have videos play automatically
This is a feature that users hate. Automatic video play makes the screen slower and results in visitors becoming annoyed. You should allow people the option to play videos when they want to not when they have to.
7) Don't have music play when a visitor first enters.
The average user doesn't want to hear your music right off the bat. If I want to sample your music, I will search for it myself. Having music play automatically will annoy most people.
8) Have good content
Don't forget the primary reason why people have visited your site. While design is important having something there is just as important. If the website has very little content most users will become fed up. You need a good reason for your audience to keep coming back.
9) Don't have flashy pop up ads.
Advertisements may be important to keep your site going but how you display them is just as important. Displaying them in a way to clutter users screens will not give you the desired result. Make the advertisements flow.
10) Be consistent
Design your website so that each page is different but the flow of the website stays the same. Users should feel like they are visiting one site not three.
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-23/the-10-commandments-of-web-designbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice
http://web.clubrunner.ca/inner-lang-1-1.aspx?pageid=204
http://sharpened.com/web_design_rules
Friday, July 18, 2014
Week 4 website builders
Overall I have had a positive experience with personal website builders. So far, I have used Wix and Weebly to design a website for class. I have had a smooth experience with building websites. I have had a better experience with Weebly because it is easier to use. The layout on Wix was a little buggy and cumbersome. Weebly had a much smoother layout. Wix takes a little getting used to at first while weebly allows users to feel right at home. Weebly allows multiple people to work on a website at once. I think Webstarts had better designs than Weebly or Wix did. I learned how to insert text and video on my website. Overall I have learned many things from using this communication technology. I learned the basics of designing a website. I can now pick and theme and turn it into a website. I believe that this skill will help me in my future career because I will be able to do more for a potential employer. This communication technology allowed me to further hone my computer skills.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdOgTj7x7o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uszawnOka1c
http://bhamvenues.weebly.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBdOgTj7x7o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uszawnOka1c
http://bhamvenues.weebly.com/
Friday, July 11, 2014
Adobe Indesign and Google+
I selected the site based off how useful I thought it would be too me. If I couldn't see myself using it in the future, I didn't choose it. I chose Google+ because I had never used it before. It is a social media website that allows you to keep in touch with your friends and family. It attempts to merge Google apps together to make apps easier to use. With Google+ you can learn what experts have to say about the issues. One of the biggest complaints about Google+ was that Google tried to integrate it into Youtube. Another complaint has been that Google has deleted accounts where people aren't using their real name. Overall I found Google+ to be clunky and hard to use. Google needs to clean up the process if they want it to succeed. Better marketing may also help people know about Google+.
http://www.martinshervington.com/what-is-google-plus/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218622/Update_Complaints_mount_over_Google_account_deletions
Adobe Indesign is a program that allows you to design, publish, and preflight documents on tablets, PC's, etc. The tools in Indesign allow you to create intricate page layouts that weren't possible before. Indesign is primarily built for designers and print service providers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaY3jWktT0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHDy_nEvgd4
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403552,00.asp
http://www.nhboston.com/localweb/ma/boston/adobe-indesign.aspx
http://www.martinshervington.com/what-is-google-plus/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218622/Update_Complaints_mount_over_Google_account_deletions
Adobe Indesign is a program that allows you to design, publish, and preflight documents on tablets, PC's, etc. The tools in Indesign allow you to create intricate page layouts that weren't possible before. Indesign is primarily built for designers and print service providers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaY3jWktT0w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHDy_nEvgd4
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403552,00.asp
http://www.nhboston.com/localweb/ma/boston/adobe-indesign.aspx
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Basic Layout and Design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF_mWi6r-9I
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/classroom-basic-site-layout-and-navigation-in-dreamweaver-cs5/part-01-introduction/
http://www.slideshare.net/SherwinM/basic-layout-principles
These websites will help me in a variety of ways. They will help me design the website in an easy to use way. I will be able to make the website flow so that it is easily readable. This information will help me create better business cards and logos in the future. I will make sure that the website is organized efficiently. Instead of grouping everything together I will spread it out in a way that makes sense to the audience.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/
Audacity is a free open source voice recording software. Open source programs give users the ability to use the program and improve it. This is different from closed source where the use of the product is much more restricted. Audacity lets you edit and customize recordings to your style. You can get rid of white noise in recordings. There are thousands of other free source programs out there to use.
http://www.howtopodcasttutorial.com/what-is-a-podcast.htm
Podcasts are digital files that are available for download. Podcasts can be about any topic from football to politics. With podcasts you're in control of what you want to listen too. They can be played as many times as individuals want. Podcasts are more flexible than audio files because you can take them where you want. One of the biggest advantages about podcasts is the lack of commercials.
http://www.feedforall.com/what-are-sound-effects.htm
"A sound effect is a ready made sound for podcasters or producers to use." Incorporating sound into a podcast can increase the effectiveness of it. Various editors can successfully accomplish incorporating sound into a podcast. Sound effects vary greatly in price from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. Anyone can use sound effects.
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/classroom-basic-site-layout-and-navigation-in-dreamweaver-cs5/part-01-introduction/
http://www.slideshare.net/SherwinM/basic-layout-principles
These websites will help me in a variety of ways. They will help me design the website in an easy to use way. I will be able to make the website flow so that it is easily readable. This information will help me create better business cards and logos in the future. I will make sure that the website is organized efficiently. Instead of grouping everything together I will spread it out in a way that makes sense to the audience.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/
Audacity is a free open source voice recording software. Open source programs give users the ability to use the program and improve it. This is different from closed source where the use of the product is much more restricted. Audacity lets you edit and customize recordings to your style. You can get rid of white noise in recordings. There are thousands of other free source programs out there to use.
http://www.howtopodcasttutorial.com/what-is-a-podcast.htm
Podcasts are digital files that are available for download. Podcasts can be about any topic from football to politics. With podcasts you're in control of what you want to listen too. They can be played as many times as individuals want. Podcasts are more flexible than audio files because you can take them where you want. One of the biggest advantages about podcasts is the lack of commercials.
http://www.feedforall.com/what-are-sound-effects.htm
"A sound effect is a ready made sound for podcasters or producers to use." Incorporating sound into a podcast can increase the effectiveness of it. Various editors can successfully accomplish incorporating sound into a podcast. Sound effects vary greatly in price from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. Anyone can use sound effects.
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