Website

Hey Everyone!

Here is a link to my website. Check it out and let me know what you think!!

http://lroberts16.5gbfree.com/Website/Laura/home.html

#9 Understanding the Mind of a Web Designer

What a quarter this has been!!!! It has been extremely stressful, painful, but yet exciting to see the development of my website.

I have to say that this is the best one I have done. I wanted to try some new things, such as CSS. It was quite intense for me because I had never tried it, but once I got some tutorials behind me, I was quite happy with what I could do.

Throughout this course, I have come to a better understanding of the many opportunities we have as teachers. The web has such a vast variety of things for us to use and resources to learn from. I want to get out and teach right away because of the excitement I have for all of this stuff. The particular class I want to teach is Interactive Media. This particular course has the students learning competencies in web design, audio/video, photography, desktop publishing, and much more. This course has given me the confidence, that extra little boost needed to realize that I CAN do this. I WANT to do this.

Overall, I have a deeper understanding of all the things this course has gone over; From basic web design, images, layouts, hyperlinks, videos, podcasts, to yes even general teaching practices.

I want to take the time to thank everyone of you have posted on my blog. I have enjoyed reading all your comments. I have taken to heart every little comment, and try and continue to produce things for you to read.

I recently read a really great quote about teachers, "A teacher effects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." -Henry Adams

So as each of us embarks on our journeys as teachers and other great things, remember all of us have something to offer, everyone is a teacher in their own respect. What we offer, will continue on through eternity.

Best Wishes to All!

#8 Learning for Dummies

Well, here we are coming to the end of yet another quarter. This class has been very fun for me. It has a been a long time since I had developed a website, especially one this intricate.

I re-learned lots of things and refreshed my memory. I have been uploading my website, and I could not remember how to do it FTP style through dreamweaver. I literaly pulled out the help index and started reading like crazy.

The best part about this whole website, was starting with an small idea, and then as I started to develop bits and pieces, everything just kept growing and getting bigger then I ever imagined.

I didn't have too many struggles because of my background knowledge of websites and design. So I felt pretty comfortable with everything. Most of the time I referenced my help index in my editing program. Because believe me if you do no know how to do something in your selected program, it is always best to look at the program's help section. Like the old cliche, guys don't stop for directions because guys don't get lost. Too bad, if they did, they would get to where they are going a lot faster! This can be applied to web design as well.


I have uploaded my website, I am still working on some of the kinks I found, but feel free to check it out, and let me know what you think!!!!!
Here are some links to some helpful websites I found.

http://websitetips.com/design/

http://www.cameronolthuis.com/2006/01/75-helpful-web-design-resources/

http://www.coolhomepages.com/

http://www.ndesign-studio.com/

http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml

http://www.thebestdesigns.com/?pg=7

I posted on Bryce and Janet's blogs.

#7 Videos

Alright, so we're talking about videos here....well I visit lots of sites that contain video, but they seem to be about the same stuff.

So I am trying to branch out, and see what I can find...hold on while I search for some...

The first website is one I actually visit often, and that is http://www.tvguide.com/. This is where I can catch what is coming up in tv. I can figure out what is going to be good enough to see and what isn't worth watching. Plus, if I happen to miss a favorite show, I can pop into the watercooler and check out what happened. The videos on the home page work well. They often have previews of what is happening on tv that night. For example, they have a Heroes video showing about the season finale episode for tonight.

...ok back to more searching...

Alright, so I found a really great website called http://www.tv-links.co.uk/. This website has episodes of some of the greatest tv shows out there. Past and Present. For example, one of my favorite shows in the early 90's was a show called Dinosaurs. It was a hysterical tv show that gave great lines such as, "Not the Mamma!" At this website I can see most to all of the episodes of television shows. This website works well with the videos because, the entire website is dedicated to videos. The one thing that I don't like is that some of the quality of the video is not that great, but at the same time is completely doable.

Finally, the third website that I found is Xbox. I am a Xbox gaming freak!!! I love playing Gears of War, Guitar Hero II, Halo 1, Halo 2 and finally on Tuesday, September 25---HALO 3!!!!! Sorry I can't contain my excitement, I have been waiting for this one for a very long time!!

So this website is from the main Microsoft Xbox website. This portion of the website is dedicated to videos. I really like this one because I can watch trailers, commercials, and videos on the making of the games. I love being able to see the videos because as a gamer, I am just completely in aw of how they do these games, better yet, how they come up with the games. The website works well with the videos because they give you a number of options on how to watch the videos, as well as the content of the videos. This website is not appealing to all people, it mostly appeals to gamers.

So there are the three websites that I found that have videos. I guess I do use website with video more then I thought....technology is never ending in the cyber world!

I posted on Peg and Bryce's blogs.

#6 Pod-Nation

So this week we were introduced to the world of podcasting, or as I like to call it pod-nation. It is so cool to see all the different things out there that you can listen to and see for free!! Every day it just gets more exciting.

I went on a mad craze subscribing and downloading more podcasts, then I already had subscribed too!

The following is the podcasts that I am already subscribed to or just subscribed. Hope you check them out!

Academically/Professionally



1. Diggnation-- this is a weekly tech/web culture show based on my favorite website www.digg.com! There are lots of social bookmarking news stories, and now you can listen to them, instead of reading them!






2. Make Magazine--MakeZine.com-- this is an audio show hosted by Phillip Torrone. This is based on the MAKE magazine, which is a really cool and neat magazine. This magazine gives you great do-it-yourself projects.




3. Tips and Tricks Photography-- this podcast is dedicated to encourage their listeners/readers to share and explore their creative natures in photography.

Personally

1. Strong Bad -- This podcast is based on Strong Bad. He answers "real emails from real morons." Tons of hilarious stuff!






2. Happy Tree Friends--They are cute, cuddly, and absolutely horribly wrong! They are cute critters that experience are kinds of things. In the end, that cannot escape their horrible fate. THis is where you can find that twisted humor you've been looking for.




3. Vintage Tooncast -- this a podcast distributing free 30s, 40s, and 50s cartoons. These cartoons came before political correctness, so they can be offensive and seen as inappropriate in today's society.




4. Jamie's Podcast-- want to learn how to make some tast dishes? Well Jamie Oliver has all the right stuff, including good looks! Learn some great culinary tips!











5. Whole Foods Market Podcast--A variety of topics that relate to natural and organic foods--you know the stuff that is naturally good for ya





I subscribed to all my podcasts because they had some interest to me. The ones that I chose Academically/Professionally have great tips and ideas on technology. There is also a few podcasts that allow me to come up with some creative ideas when it comes time to teach my students. The podcasts that I chose personally are a form of comedic relief and also help me to learn how to cook--so my husband doesn't have to go starving!!




I found all of my podcast through the iTunes store. It is a great program that allows you to download lots of incredible podcasts.

I posted on Peg and Scott's blogs.

#5 del.icio.us

I created an account at del.icio.us. I listed websites that I visit often or help me professionaly. I also linked to my del.icio.us account through my links section which is to the right of the blog.

Hope you enjoy my links!

I posted on Tia and Peg's blogs.

#4 Fair Use -- Did I say you could use that?

In the Copyright Act, Section 107, it deals with the limitations a owner of a copyright has to reproduce or to authorize the use of the work. The most important limitation is that of 'fair use'. Section 107 has four factors to determine if something if of 'fair use'.

The four factors are:

1. the purpose and chracter of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. the nature of the copyrighted work;

3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work

If there is any doubt that you may not be using 'fair use' then you should always ask for permission of the copyright owner or contact an attorney.

There are many websites that provide the use of pictures under what is called a creative commons license. Creative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that were released December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S. non-profit corporation founded in 2001.
Many of the licences, notably all the original licences, grant certain "baseline rights", such as the right to distribute the copyrighted work without changes, at no charge. Some of the newer licences do not grant these rights.

• http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/


• http://openphoto.net/


• http://www.creative-commons.org/

There are many other licensing available. Here is a list:

• Attribution (by): Permit others to copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based upon it only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these.


• Noncommercial or NonCommercial (nc): Permit others to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and make derivative works based upon it only for noncommercial purposes.


• No Derivative Works or NoDerivs (nd): Permit others to copy, distribute, display and perform only verbatim copies of the work, not derivative works based upon it.


• ShareAlike (sa): Permit others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work. (See also copyleft.)

I posted on Peg and Josh's blogs.