Last Dreamweaver Lab

This, the last lab (#9) for the class, introduced us to the process of submitting data to a server application. Our instructor has written a short program that echoes back the information the form sends; next semester I'll learn how to write one myself using PHP and mySQL. If you should be tempted to try the form, enter fictitious data. The program on the server does not, I’m told, store anything in a database, but it is still good practice to not give out any personal information unless you really understand where it is going.

Some Photos ‘Shopped

Photoshop has a wide variety of filters out-of-the-box, as well as innumerable available out on the internet. I’ve posted three more of my experiments with them, one of which also contains effects via adjustment layers; they are the Forsythia in Autumn, Basswood in Spring, and Lake Independence at Dawn.

Cascading Style Sheets

This week’s installment is all about cascading style sheets, which you won’t see just by viewing the mini web sites (there are two, Lab 7 and Lab 9). But if you were to look at the HTML code behind each page, you would see only content. All of the formatting, except for the table structures, is done in a separate CSS file. For Lab 7, this meant designing one of the ten web pages (HTML file and CSS file), then simply referencing that CSS file to do all of the formatting on the other nine web pages, a considerable time saver. As I built the other nine pages, I came across a problem or two and a design tweak or two. To correct the problems and tweak the design, I made the change in the style sheet alone and the change was automatically applied to all pages.

Lab 7 is an attempt to build something similar to a commercial web site, with an emphasis on structural unity between pages and ease-of-use. The set of pages includes an introductory page, one about the company, one on contacts, one on service, and one for each product. Since I am not in a position to actually sell anything, the product line is a bit whimsical. In a future class I’ll learn how to connect a database to a web site which will remove the need for managing a fair amount of content on each HTML page.

Embeds

The highlight of this week’s Dreamweaver assignment was learning how to embed video, so I had to go create one. And being in possession of music notation software (Finale), I had to write a sound track. I chose not to rent or build a soundstage, however; the kitchen fit the bill nicely, the bill being $0.00. Also, the film is more of a short subject rather than feature length; the cast did not want to spend a lot of time on the project.


The other two parts of the assignment also have to do with embedding, namely an mp3 (a playlist was my choice) and a small program (Java applet). No reporters were embedded because none seemed interested. The Java applet was written during a class I took ten years ago. In the class I am taking now we have not yet progressed beyond applications that run from the command line. Towards the end of the semester I should have some newly-minted Java applets to show.

Read the Music While You Listen

This week’s Dreamweaver lab assignment (number 5) has three objectives:

• create a auto-stretching web page
• build a set of swapable images
• add a sound file on the page

The auto-stretch part has the cornices and pedestals of ionic columns with a solid color that adjusts to the window size as the column (it’s actually a table cell with a solid background color). The cross beam at the top is setup the same way. The music control buttons are there by virtue of the underlying audio file (Shockwave flash). The page number buttons change color when you move the mouse pointer over them, which also causes the related page of music to display between the columns; that’s the swapable image bit. The sound and the score images are therefore synchronized only by the reader’s music reading and mouse movement skills.

Website Reorganization

Five days late, but I have redone the home page as well as the whole structure of the web site, including easier navigation, several “about” pages, and a site map. The content has been expanded to include three other classes I’m taking: HTML, Image Editing, and Intro to Computer Graphics. Adding in Java will be next, maybe over Spring Break.

Table Layout

The latest lab (#4) assignment for the Dreamweaver class focuses on using a table to control the layout of a web page. The content is a little eccentric, but the underlying table complete with rollover buttons does work. There are five pages (Lab 4 Home, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass) each of which shares the same layout. The only difference is one button on each page is not active (e.g., the Soprano button in the Soprano page). From a usability standpoint, the buttons should be graphically more obvious (there are seven of them, six on the left side and one for Mr. Shelley on the right). I had to skip ahead to the end of the book for the Photoshop class to learn how to slice an image and save the slices (actually rectangles) as separate images each of which was placed in a cell on the underlying table. For the buttons, there are two images in the cell, one is displayed when the mouse pointer is on the cell, the other when the mouse moves off the cell.

The video of the music is almost illegible; I didn't spend much time on it and it shows.

Later today I may have the site home page re-done with a table layout. Unfortunately, I've outgrown the Lockhart ranch; there just aren't enough buildings.

Many thanks to the volunteer proofreaders out there (not their :-).