Sarah Grabowski's Reflection Journal

Project Contract

I will be designing several web pages to be included in the new web site for
Electronic Recycling Technologies (ERT).

This will include:

  • a design and color theme and logos
  • an introduction page
  • the home/content page
  • a contact page
  • a form to request more information page
  • sift through content for each specific page

These web pages will then be converted to PHP by an outside source.

 

Date (Week)
1/20 (3)
4/2 (12)
3/5 (9)
4/10 (13)
3/13 (10)
4/17 (14)
3/20 (--)
4/24 (15)
3/27 (11) 5/1 (16)

 

Reflection #1 - Week 3
Monday, January 20, 2003

Tools Selection

Authoring: 83% Dreamweaver & 17% Flash
Multimedia: 100% Photoshop

Learning Resources

  1. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX with CourseBuilder Extension
    • Sam's Teach Yourself Dreamweaver MX in 24 Hours book
      • all 24 chapters
    • CourseBuilder Workshop
  2. Macromedia Flash MX
    • Sam's Teach Yourself Flash in 24 Hours book
      • first 5 chapters
  3. Adobe Photoshop 7
    • Sam's Teach Yourself Photoshop 7 in 24 Hours book
      • all 24 chapters

Activities to be completed by week 9.

References

Sample 6190 Tool Selection & Work Plan Contract from Studio News and Notes #1 January 14, 2002 email.

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Reflection #2 - Week 9
Thursday, March 5, 2003

For the past couple of weeks, I have been learning the tools that are listed in my contract, by reading the chapters and completing the exercises in each chapter.

Activities completed by this week:

  1. Chapter 22 (out of 24) for Dreamweaver
  2. Chapter 5 (out of 5) for Flash
  3. Chapter 20 (out of 24) for Photoshop
  4. Attend CourseBuilder Workshop (2/20/03)

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Chapters 23 & 24 of Dreamweaver
  2. Chapters 21 - 24 of Photoshop
  3. Start working on project!

References

  • Sam's Teach Yourself (Dreamweaver, Flash & Photoshop) in 24 Hours books
  • CourseBuilder Workshop
    • Facilitated by Kim Gibson
    • February 20, 2003

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Reflection #3 - Week 10
Thursday, March 13, 2003

Activities completed this week:

  1. Chapters 23 & 24 of Dreamweaver
  2. Chapters 21 - 24 of Photoshop
  3. Design meeting with client
    • Sketches of the intro page and the home page were created. Both pages need to be fluid in order to be compatible with larger browser windows. Also, a list of items to be included on the request for more info page was generated. Client referenced the City of Buffalo and Algonquin Studios web sites as examples.

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Turn design sketches into draft web pages
  2. Notify client & Studio members of pages on the web
  3. Receive Desk Crits from both client & Studio members

Reference

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Reflection #4 - Week -- (Spring Break)
Thursday, March 20, 2003

Activities completed this week:

  1. Design & color theme discovered
  2. Logos (recycling symbol & computer thanks to MS Clipart) modified to fit into color theme
  3. Intro page created and uploaded
    • Making this page fluid in order to be compatible with larger browser windows was really difficult. I have tables inside tables inside tables! But, I finally got it to work! I found that my inner square (the cell that has all the content) needed to have odd numbered pixel dimensions in order to always line up. My fiancee said it has something to do with round-off error.
  4. Approval from client
    • Yes! The client really likes the intro page! He had a few suggestions (the table background being a lighter gray than the page background and making the recycling symbol a little closer to the computer icon size). He is also going to get back to me with a slogan for ERT to put in the bottom left corner.

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. ERT logo (asap!)
  2. Home/content page
  3. Request more info pages
  4. Notify client & Studio members of pages on the web
  5. Receive Desk Crits from both client & Studio members

References

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Reflection #5 - Week 11
Thursday, March 27, 2003

Activities completed this week:

  1. ERT Logo created
  2. Scoped out competitor's web site
    • Not only is this site ugly, but it is very elementary. The creator could have at least made the frame bars a color that works with rest of the site. The only good thing from the site is the first picture of the computers in the dumpster.
  3. Home/content page started
    • This page is located under the services link. The page is up for design purposes only right now. That means when the page is resized, the design falls apart. The cross needs to move more to the right so another menu bar can go down the left side of the page. The black squares and graphics can possibly be made larger and the top where the logo is located needs to be taller so there is light gray above and below. Also, the client wants a footer on every page with the copyright and webmaster email and a place for a breadcrumb.

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Home/content page (asap!)
  2. Request more info pages
  3. Notify client & Studio members of pages on the web
  4. Receive Desk Crits from both client & Studio members

References

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Reflection #6 - Week 12
Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Activities completed this week:

  1. Home/content page (finally!)
    • Making this page fluid in order to be compatible with larger browser windows was really difficult, even after learning from my mistakes from the intro page. Again, I have tables inside tables inside tables inside even more tables! My biggest problem was when the browser was made smaller, everything would collapse instead of causing scroll bars to appear. But I think it's finally working correctly now.
    • A footer was added with ERT's contact info to appear on every page. The client referred to the footer on Algonquin Studios Web Site.
  2. Approval from client for home/content page
    • The client really likes this page, too. He had a few suggestions (changing the footer order and changing the left navigation bar to green highlite with white letters).
  3. Requested Desk Crits from Studio Members

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Request more info pages
  2. Get slogan for intro page
  3. Receive Desk Crits from both client & Studio members
  4. Get ready for Dress Rehearsal
    • Get html converted into PHP

References

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Reflection #7 - Week 13
Thursday, April 10, 2003

Activities completed this week:

  1. Desk Crits received
  2. Form pages complete
  3. Approval from client for form pages
    • Was there any doubt that the client would like these pages? I think not! He had a few suggestions (take out the reset button, put the submit button in the center, and reword the agreement checkbox).
  4. Sent pages to outside source to be converted into PHP

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Get slogan for intro page
  2. Update all pages based on feedback from already received Desk Crits
  3. Get ready for Dress Rehearsal
    • Get html converted into PHP
  4. Receive Desk Crits from both client & Studio members

References

  • Sam's Teach Yourself Dreamweaver in 24 Hours book
    • Chapters 19 & 20

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Reflection #8 - Week 14
Thursday, April 17, 2003 (Dress Rehearsal)

Activities completed this week:

  1. Updated all pages based on feedback from Desk Crits and client
    • I incorporated Beate's suggestion and moved the first letter closer to words in Electronic Recycling Technologies.
    • I incorporated Arthur's suggestion and moved "Contact" closer to the end of the navigation bar.
    • I wanted to use Ginger's suggestion about the color change to more of a taupe, but the client preferred the gray colors. I tried.
  2. Sent last of pages to be converted into PHP
  3. Client requested I sift through content for the web site
    • Updated Project Contract

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Get slogan for intro page
  2. Receive Desk Crits from both client & Studio members
  3. Update all pages based on feedback from Desk Crits
  4. Sift through content
  5. Get ready for Showcase
    • Get html converted into PHP

References

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Reflection #9 - Week 15
Thursday, April 24, 2003

Activities completed this week:

  1. Updated all pages based on feedback from Desk Crits and client
    • I incorporated Lea's suggestion and changed the recycling symbol to be a link to the index/intro page
    • I updated the navigation bar to reflect the actual headings to be used
  2. Sifted through content received from client
    • I separated all the content to go into its appropriate page on the actual site. I then decided to add the FAQ page to my site.
  3. "Services", "Contact", and "FAQ" are the only pages that will be up on my site
    • updated links to reflect pages that are actually on my site
  4. Sent updated pages to be converted into PHP

Activities to be completed this week and next week:

  1. Get slogan for intro page
  2. Get ready for Showcase
    • wait for html to be converted into PHP

References

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Reflection #10 - Week 16
Thursday, May 1, 2003 (Showcase)

Activities completed this week:

  1. Slogan added to introduction page, finally!
  2. PHP completed...Ready for Showcase!

References

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