Daryl Hansen » Assumptions

Assumptions: Design and CMS

Daryl Hansen — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:28:00 +0000

I think alot of websites that people have been reviewing are strong in some form or fashion. However, from my last post on my site project with professor web pages, many of them are poorly designed or from the early days of the web.

Personally, my favorite color is neon lime green… but I think most sites would want to stay away from such a strong bright color. Color is important for web design, like all visual designs. It should all tie back into your site’s purpose and branding.

As for a homepage, I think its purpose has not changed significantly. I think there are 2 main goals for a home page: call to action (thanks Randy) and navigation. The navigation part has two common approaches I see today, either links to major site segments or providing new site information. However, all of this leads back to the sites main purpose and it should be easy to determine from a homepage.

I have not used Content Management Systems very much in the past, but I was exposed to Wordpress before this class.

Assumptions: The Internet

Daryl Hansen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:59:12 +0000

I only have limited knowledge about how all of the internet software and hardware is setup, but I have not done alot of networking before. Thus, while many of these acronyms are familiar, I do not have as much detailed knowledge about them.

The internet is a series of tubes… Well, actually, this is not really the case at all. It is a massive network of computers, server farms, all setup to handle data storage. All of this is linked addresses based on TCP/IP addresses. Client-side is local, ushc as your computer or network, and server-side is information and computation based at another location. For MMO games, determining what information should be client or server based is very important for speed, reliability, ect.

AJAX is something I don’t remember hearing about. However, I took a look at some of the information on it, and it seems to be a group of technologies working together on a webpage. I thought this was really interesting design ideology, since it does alot of blackbox work for the webpage to dynamically load server information seamlessly.

Image formats from the list include jpg, bmp, gif, png, and i believe svg. I’ve seen jpg, gif, and png used extensively online, but after looking a bit online, it seems that svg might be used more frequently than png. I do not know which format web developers are hoping to use more, but svg is currently not supported by IE.

Assumptions: CSS

Daryl Hansen — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:47:23 +0000

I actually have not used or seen CSS before, at least not knowingly. For the web work before, I used HTML to define all of my formatting options! However, now I know better than to do that.

In response to all of the questions on the assignment, I have no correct answers. However, I am a bit familiar with the browser wars going on. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, Google Chrome, and a host of other browsers are popular today. Each program offers different functionality and optimizations. Some are open source and edited by the community – such as Mozilla – and others are integral to an operating system – like Internet Explorer and Safari. Paging methods, user interface, plug-in support, sub programs like Flash, formatting support, and other settings are a few of the key differences between assorted browsers.

My personal experience and comfort is with Mozilla Firefox, as it provides the speed, layout, and customization necessary for my browsing preferences. Also, since I’ve seen some of the optimizations put into the browser from people like my roommate, I know some of the inner workings that I like and how they operate (including some special changes for myself).

Assumptions: HTML & RSS

Daryl Hansen — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:57:57 +0000

HTML has been a critical component of web development for years! As for my experiences, they are rather limited. I’ve done some editing on HTML code writing simple sites and java applets that utilized various HTML code segments. I have not spent the time memorizing syntax and commands, that is what the internet is for nowadays! However, I can tell the difference between this language and others. Of the listed languages – PHP, Java, and Ruby – I could easily tell you the difference between them all, having worked extensively with Java and Ruby before.

As for the name of HTML, it’s Hypertext Markup Language, but I did have to double check the ‘M’! It’s been a long time since someone asked me that question!

I have not used RSS very much, only widgets in websites and the latest versions of Windows. I have a basic understanding of it, but have not utilized it consistently. I do look forward to learning more about RSS this week and maybe some creative ways to make my life a bit simpler.

Also, I’m exciting to get my hands dirty with some of the technical details regarding web development, being a programmer of sorts.