Hippy's DHTML

Alright Bye

2008-12-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

Well i gotta say, javascript has been pretty interesting over the last couple months. learning how to do the things we have done has been quite a trip to, with all the calculators and menus and other code i've had to write out and hopefully get right within 498 tries. i think this has basically been a journey of road blocks, i dont think i had any easy parts in doing most of the assignments for DHTML.

writing JAvaScript, i realized, is so much different than regular CSS or HTML; in those two you can miss one thing in some cases and not have much of a problem with getting it to work, but JavaScript is a total different story i tried for 6 hours one night to get my BMI calculator to work and i finally realized it had absolutely nothing to do with the actual code, mostly, i had a Capitol F in the word function at the very beginning and didn't realize it. that was just one roadblock i faced, everything else had to do with just getting the stuff to work.

other than the roadblocks i did like some of it even though it gave me a massive migraine in some cases. i did happen to like making the calculators for some reason, i have wondered how those were made i had no idea it was with JavaScript until i had to make them myself. i liked learning about how Javascript works, its a very interesting way to spice up websites, i'm going to try to use it more and get used to it.

tahts about all i have to say at the moment so...Alright Bye.

Events

2008-11-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

ok, this was a bit confusing at first when i read through the chapter doing the worksheet. I think the events and stuff are pretty handy in websites, i've actually wondered how some websites change backgrounds and stuff every time you refresh the page or click a link or on a certain page its different for each ones. Example would be Kontraband.com their videos have background images behind them but every time if you refresh the page or go to a different one its different each time. i have alwasy liked the idea of those accordion menus too, JavaScript has a lot of nifty things to use to impliment things like this into your websites, they can be very helpful for doing things like cfhangin stuff up when you click links or hover over a link you can get tool tips, i actually thought that had to do with the html and the css at first untill i read over the chapter.

i have to admit i havn't had any problems with this yet because, genious me i didn't think i'd have homework over the BREAK, i didn't look at the blackboard untill saturday night so i havn't had much chance to do it yet but hopefully by end of monday i'll have my site all worked out and stuff.

so this is just my thoughts on what i have read about so far, but i cant wait to figure out how to impliment this into my site.

DOM

2008-11-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

well, i was doing my research on the W3C website and i had trouble understanding a lot of it, i got lost with it in a few places, i noticed that most of the DOM is about standardizing it and setting up a certain set of rules for the vendors to follow across platforms, so the JavaScript runs effectively for anyone viewing it. The basic jist i got out of it was the DOM is structured to interact with JavaScript and/or CSS.

The DOM creates objects from the different elements in the HTML document that can be used and manipulated from CSS and JavaScript. in the script you can actually change the state of the element you want to change. There are certain rules vendors have to follow when creating their browsers; they need to make it so the DOM works the same way on any browser someone is using. If they get one node wrong, the JavaScript will render in a whole different way. I think the DOM has come a long way with this, W3C is currently on DOM level 3, making things easier to use and deal with when writing JavaScript and CSS.

My opinion on the subject is not quite anywhere yet, except the fact that its hard to understand at first. I did understand how it works a little bit easier then trying to understand how JavaScript works, don't ask me how but i did. i haven't really seen enough of it at all to have anything to say though, one week isn't really enough to give someone to get an opinion on this.

Java Script

2008-11-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

Ow Ow OW ! my head hurts.
i have actually done very little programing before this but not for 8 years when i was in the 9th grade, i had a class we were learning C++ a little bit but that's it. when i first started getting into this i didn't think it would be too bad because i usually get this kind of stuff right away but boy was i off my rocker that day. i more like fell off my bed sideways and rolled into the fetal position.
i know that javascript was used for programing and mostly websites, mostly all i've known was just making things look cool but i didn't know that java was what made those little alert boxes and all that nifty stuff.

Java and Javascript are both programming languages but usually people would think they are the same thing because of the name , Java basically creats its own applications and is the real programming and JavaSCRIPT is more web based than java whereas it needs to be placed within the html file or linked to it like a css sheets would be for it to run.

Javascript at first didn't work very well for the fact of different web browsers, its sort of like doing html, everything looks different from IE to Firefox to Opera or one of the others, but apparently it was alot worse because it was so hard to get the script to work in the different browsers. but now the standerdization of the web browsers is helping it come back, because its easier to use.

Accessible?

2008-10-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Personally i feel web accessibility is very important, because there are visually and hearing impaired users on the internet and they need to be able to know what they are looking for and what to do on websites. i know that not every web designer remembers this, because i just made a form on my personal site and forgot to make labels in the code so screen-readers would be able to go over it.

The web is an increasingly important resource to the world today, like say for education and government for example. It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society. making the web accessible to people with certain disabilities, helping them get past the certain barriers with audio, print and visual media.

There are actually 14 guidelines in making websites accessible. WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
1. Provide equivalent alternatives for visual and audio components.
2. Don't Rely on Color alone.
3. Use markup and stylesheets, properly.
4. Clarify Natural language usage.
6. Create tables that transform gracefully.
7. Ensure that pages with new technologies transform gracefully.
8. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes.
9. Ensure direct access to embedded user interfaces.
10. Use interim solutions. (helps screen readers and other agents work correctly).
11. Use WC3 tech and guidelines.
12. Provide Context and orientation information.
13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms.
14. Be sure that all documents are clear and simple.

If you are interested in knowing a little more about them, i pulled the list from the WC3 site they actually explain each one in depth pretty well and also show you how you can do them. i have already looked at about half of them so i can see how things are really working. just be weary there are lots of links in each section.

there are many tools to help us work with these standards, HTML editors are the most commonly used and basic ones out there, just using HTML code you can do so much with accessibility for your websites.

Analyzed Websites

2008-09-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

The first site i usually go to is a Gaming site www.Blizzard.com
although it is a table layout it is actually very well done i think.
the main navigation att he top of the page is set up using tables and drop-down menu's, it is actually very easy to use because of the drop down menus when you hover over they have different sections for what the links pertain to.
what i like the most about this site is how easy it is to get to where i want to go. they have the drop down menus or the graphic images to click on. the only thing i didn't like very much was the front page it kinda floats all to the right and has just the one image on the left and after that its just blank space. This website didn't not validate, it had 101 errors and 60 warnings, but then again what site ever does. even our own school's website doesn't. it seems to be very accessible tho which is good.

the next website i like to check out alot of is www.Ultimate-Guitar.com, its is a table layout, which i have noticed alot of over the web not many sites have CSS-based layouts instead of tables. Their navigation is at the very top of the page, i never noticed it at first but i found it today, there is also a footer with other liks like the contact and site map typ stuff.
if i had to rate the ease of use i would have to say probly7 or 8 out of 10 because when i go searching for song tabs for guitar, i typ the song or band name i have to search thru long lists sometimes, i think it would be good to have a search for band AND song names, not just one or the other. What i like best about the site is its actually not too hard to find the songs i'm looking for and that its not just about tabs its got everything to do with music. The only thing i have found kinda cheesy about it so far is when i typ in a song name i gotta search thru all the bands to find the one i wnat or the other way around when i type a band name i gotta go thru lists of songs in alphabetical orderwhen theres 89 versions of each one, i would like it better to have band and song search at the same time so i can get to it faster. this site did not validate, it has 113 errors and 15 warnings. it is pretty accessible tho, i can get around where i needt o be.

ok the third website, ok lets face it not many people like college websites. Boisestate.edu.edu. i gotta admit this is the first website since i started web design last fall that i only notices about 3 td tags instaead of about 9 million on one page, it is mostly set up in CSS using divs. the navigation is alot to go thru one horizontal at the top and the the verticle side navigation that has pretty much the same things in it. unless you take about a year to get used to college websites they are not very easy to use, when i first looked into this school after i'm done at CSI it actually took me about an hour and a half to find the program i was looking for. even when i typed graphic design. so i'd have to say probably a 5 or 6 on ease. don't get me wrong tho i like the way they have the pages set up, they are easy to read thru and posibly find what you need. the thing i dont like about it is it takes about 900 clicks to get close to what you want to find and then you dont get very far. suprisingly enough it only has 15 errors and 43 warning on the validator, its a little bit better than ours but its good.

thats about all i gotta say about those websites .

Introduction

2008-08-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys my name is Matt (or Hippy), a lot of my friends call me Hippy its fine I am for the most part. This is my third semester at C.S.I. in the graphic design program for web. I’m looking forward to this class I think the JavaScript stuff will be interesting.
I guess I should say a little bit more about me, the reason my friends call me Hippy is because last year I stayed in the dorms, as I am now, one of the RA’s that was hanging out with me and my roommate all the time said he’s just gunna call me Hippy. It most likely had something to do with me having 4 feet of hair hanging off my head. I recently cut off 3 feet of it near the end of spring last year (April 12th), after 8 years of letting it grow. Just because I cut it off doesn’t mean I’m not a hippy, I still am, after all, hippy is not a hair-style.
Lets see I’m 21 now, usually very calm and laid back. i listen to most music, depending on my mood it could go from Colin Hay, The Byrds, The Youngbloods, to Ozzy and Pantera or something just out of nowhere.
I am very interested in web development and animation, one of these days I want to be making the animations or something of the sort for movies or video games. Especially movies like Transformers.
Well I guess that all I can think of at the moment, I will post something else some other time. Right now I am actually watching Transformers…and I need food.