Craig Norman's DAT Workbook Blog: website

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Monday, 24 October 2011

DAT204: Assignment 1: Semantic 'Killer' Application (20% of the module)

For our first project of DAT204, we have to create a 'killer' web application based on the latest web standards (HTML5 etc.) and semantics, that will be very useful for a given task (e.g. a portfolio that is easy to use, graphically attractive and descriptive, hence the usage of semantics).

Semantics are used to make data more descriptive, because, in contrast to humans, computers need to interpret the meaning of data, and in its plain form, the computer doesn't understand straight away. In HTML5, semantics are used to describe the elements and layout, and in contrast to past versions of HTML, HTML5 does not require certain attributes, such as declaring JavaScript in the <script> tag (as JavaScript, by default, is the standard scripting language in the HTML5 platform), and mentioning the XML namespace in the <html> tag.

My initial idea is to create a 'killer' portfolio platform that is very intuitive, simple and easy to use, yet at the same time, is powerful and graphically attractive. My portfolio application is going to be 'the ultimate CV', which will be integrating a workbook, a gallery of practical work, a personal profile and SEO to make the website the first destination for any potential employer, especially those that are in the creative industries, in which this application is aimed at.

Mock-up 1: the workbook page

Mock-up 2: the cover page (i.e. the first page the user sees before proceeding to other pages, as per Mock-up 1)

Although the idea of portfolio websites aren't new, and have already been done, my semantic application is going to take it one step further, and become the CV of a potential employee, replacing the traditional paper format, and also being optimised, so in case the employee is 'Googled', the SEO used in this 'killer' semantic application will be optimised, so then the problem of being faced with an unwarranted social media presence (where it would be bombarded with personal opinions and photographs that, depending on the situation, can make or break one's opportunities) will be eliminated, so then the more professional side of the person takes precedence over one's personal side, especially since, even with, for example, your Facebook profile is set to private, friends may not be bothered to set their profiles to private, and anything unwarranted (e.g. unusual photos of nights-out) tagged with your name can cause problems.

Friday, 21 October 2011

DAT203: How not to design a website, and the future of the iPad

In today's practical, we've had to pick two of the world's worst-designed websites, and we managed to come up with these examples: alexchiu.com and the official Space Jam film website at www2.warnerbros.com/spacejam/movie/jam.htm. alexchiu.com featured a rather inconsistent design theme, a profusion of formatting and spelling errors, and a heavy reliance on animated GIFs to add emphasis on links and certain titles. Also, we found out that when we click on a different language, the design of the website is completely different, rather than having the same design throughout, which is supposed to be the convention no matter what language is used.

Although the official Space Jam website was designed sometime in October or early November 1996 (which was approximately about a month or two before CSS existed, and before CSS became the norm), it featured many bad design features. The website used repeating backgrounds, inconsistent text, frames as title bars (which can cause confusion as the user cannot tell whether or not the logo at the top left actually is the button that returns to the home page of the website), usage of the frame as a menu bar, and clashing colour schemes in certain pages, thereby rendering the text hard to read. We also found validation errors and spelling mistakes after we ran the Space Jam website through an online validator, so, even though it is almost an online 'museum' page, someone at Warner Brothers didn't really pay attention to ensuring that the website at least complies with W3C standards at the time and didn't think about the many little spelling errors that the website had. Even some of Disney's older websites had more of a consistent theme, at least.

Now, on to a different subject. We had a debate about how the hypothetical iPad 5 would evolve, and how it would eventually render conventional computers (desktops and laptops) obsolete. There is evidence that mobile devices are starting to overtake conventional computers in terms of sales, and with the proliferation of cloud computing, it could eventually replace the need to sync the device with a conventional computer. According to the IDC, an independent technology research firm (source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9199918/In_historic_shift_smartphones_tablets_to_overtake_PCs), they are, indeed, outnumbering conventional computers, and even though they are already ahead of performance, the evolution of mobile technology is starting to make mobile devices outperform desktops and laptops in terms of speed, and eventually, they would be just as fast that even the most graphically-intense task could one day be performed on mobile devices such as the hypothetical iPad 5, or even its successor.

Thursday, 16 December 2010

Website news: elnormo91.co.uk will be down due to an infection caused by unknown XSS attack

Due to a XSS attack that has been committed, my website will be down until the problem has been fixed and re-indexed by Google. On some browsers, you would have seen an alert that looked like this:

"Warning: Visiting this site may harm your computer

The website you are visiting appears to contain malware.
Malware is malicious software that may harm your computer or otherwise operate without your consent. Your computer can be infected just by browsing to a site with malware, without any further action on your part."

I have also been working on a new version of this website, which mentioned why there wasn't any more activity since it was first hosted (apart from a few adjustments to fix bugs). This new version will be the actual website once this problem has been fixed. Apologies for the inconvenience caused, I just don't know how someone managed to hack my website without me even knowing.

*XSS = Cross-Site Scripting (more information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-site_scripting)

EDIT: The website is now back up and running, and with a new version!

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

IDAT 106: Addressable Technologies (crossover with IDAT101 for the research part of the blogging)

For my assignment, I chose to look into addressable technologies. Addressable technologies, depending on one's definition, is a technology that sends information to the receiving end (such as a computer or another central monitoring system. Although there are many uses for addressable technologies, the most prominent use of addressable technologies in a practical application are fire alarms, in which most buildings of the University have. In my application for IDAT101, the installation will make good use of it for influencing the ambient lighting and possibly a video screen behind the DJ booth.

Link to research: http://bit.ly/idat106research

Friday, 12 November 2010

IDAT 102: It's here! The completed result

The specifications of the website consist of a conventional layout with a navigation menu to the left-hand side of the page and the content in the main body of the website, with a header consisting of the title and a footer consisting of validation information and links to my Twitter, Facebook and my blog here. The layout is defined by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which is referenced externally in the HTML code, but stored locally in the folder and on the server the website is hosted at. The website is constructed using XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS2. The colour scheme, which matches my personality of minimalism and Apple, will result in less issues regarding colourblindness due to the fact that when there are less colours (especially when they clash), there are less problems, and because the text is bright on a dark background, it's easier on the eyes and because my website did not rely heavily on text-on-images (especially if it had paragraphs on it), my website will not have problems with screen readers.

After ironing out a few things (mostly regarding the validation of the email submit form on the Contact Me page), I now have a completed result of my personal website, which is at http://www.elnormo91.co.uk.

Thursday, 11 November 2010

IDAT 102: Almost there!

Progress is smooth on my website (which will be at elnormo91.co.uk) and the end is in sight, ready for more on Facebook API stuff and other projects that are upcoming

Craig Norman's DAT Workbook Blog