Blog #9

sIFR

sIFR is short for Scaleable Inman Flash. It has been designed to replace small pieces of plain browser text with text created in the typeface of your choice, whether or not the user has the font installed in their computer. It is able to to do this by using a combo of javascript, CSS, and Flash. Below is how it works:

1. A normal (X)HTML page is loaded into the browser.


2. A javascript function is run which first checks that Flash is installed and then looks for whatever tags, ids, or classes you designate.


3. If Flash isn’t installed (or obviously if javascript is turned off), the (X)HTML page displays as normal and nothing further occurs. If Flash is installed, javascript traverses through the source of your page measuring each element you’ve designated as something you’d like “sIFRed”.


4. Once measured, the script creates Flash movies of the same dimensions and overlays them on top of the original elements, pumping the original browser text in as a Flash variable.


5. Action script inside of each Flash file then draws that text in your chosen typeface at a 6 point size and scales it up until it fits snugly inside the Flash movie. Check more info at sIFR or from Wiki.
   

Considering we have to count words sometimes (to include the amount in our weekly blogs or placed in our web site), I found a place on-line that will count your words for you. You simply just cut and paste your info in the window and hit submit.

As we are learning CSS and making everything look good we also need to consider how users will navigate through our site with ease (hopefully). I located five basic rules to navigate by:

1. Navigation Should Be Easy to Find (Very Easy): usually at the top and should be obvious/stand out.


2. Keep it Consistent: Should be in the same location throughout the site.


3. Use Obvious Section Names: Be as specific as possible.
   


4. Less is More: Keep it simple; don't add too many choices.


5. Remind the User Where They Are: use a consistent method to highlight the section they are in.

I obtained this info at about.
I also found a site that contains some great tutorials for creating friendly interactive navigation. Just go to Nav for more info and tuts.

Tid Bits

• Research, research, research reminder. Always good to learn from famous graphic designers. I found some of these names while researching. Tschichold, Scleger, Rand, Fletcher, Aicher, Muller-Brockmann; to name a few related to typography.


• Do not chew gum while cliff diving or snorkeling. It can have some ugly results.


• Quote to live by"Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right or better." John Updike

Useful Web Sites

• Throughout my posting process I am constantly researching and coming across many links that are helpful and even some that are not. In addition to your own research it is also a great idea to ask fellow designers about what sites they like to visit as well. This week I've included some halloween design sites.
  
  
  


• I'm sure everyone has their favorite site for brushes but here is one I found while looking for hair brushes. The cracked brush set is awesome and just in time for Halloween if you want to doctor one of your photos (or one of your friends photos). Pretty Scary!


• Another site I found was scary psd tutorials. It is not for the squeamish though. There are tutorials as well as brushes too.
  
  


• One last site useful for our web design is this one. It lets you pick a background color and see text/link colors and preview each choice.
  
  
  

In Other Graphic Design News

This first site was cracking me up. It shows a bunch of photoshop mistakes that were made and not only that they were published. Mistakes that obviously could have been avoided.

I also found a website that has a ton of scary Halloween content. The graphic designer at Rogues Hollow Productions have a very haunted. portfolio. Those of you who are currently taking typography may do pretty well and end up in the Hall of Fame.

Blog #8

Acronyms and Reminders

SVG is a scaleable vector graphic and is a text based graphics
language that describes images with vector shapes, text, and embedded raster graphics. SVG files are small and give high-quality graphics on the Web, print material and on mobile devices. Also it supports scripting and animation; great for interactive, data-driven, personalized graphics. Check more info at Adobe.

Graceful Degradation is the property that enables a system (often computer-based) to continue operating properly in the event of the failure of (or one or more faults within) some of its components. If its operating quality decreases at all, the decrease is proportional to the severity of the failure, as compared to a naively-designed system in which even a tiny failure can cause total meltdown (from Wiki). In other words design for flexibility. Make sure your content is accessible without images, scripts, applets, and plug-ins.

JavaScript is apparently THE scripting language of the Web. It is one of the most popular programming languages on the web. It has had widespread success as a client-side scripting language for web pages. It adds functionality, validates forms, detects browsers and much more. It was released in 1995 and is the behavior side of code. For more information visit W3 or Wiki.

Considering we are about to take our Midterm test, I thought I would review some of the things that I obviously misunderstood the first time around and share the correct info with you. A quick refresher helps keep things straight.

1. Front end processes happen on the visitors computer and Back end processes happen on the server.


2. www.browsershots.org is a site you can use to see how code is rendered in different browsers.


3. Attributes for form controls: Single Line Text Entry = text, File Upload = file, Checkbox Button = checkbox, and Multiple Selection Box = multiple.


4. Three additional buttons in HTML are image, button, and button element. There are also submit, reset, checkbox, radio, browse, and pull-down.


5. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator (or URI-identifier). It is made up of 3 parts. These are the protocol, site name, and absolute path.

Tid Bits

• Practice what you Preach reminder. Realized that I provided info last week about being attentive in class and realized that I did not follow my own advice during last weeks session. Note to self: Pay attention to yourself. Note to Jesh: My bad; sorry.


• Do not use more than three different fonts in one piece of design. It may look too busy and confuse the message for the viewer.


• Quote to live by"Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience" George_Louis De Buffon

Useful Web Sites

• Throughout my posting process I am constantly researching and coming across many links that are helpful and even some that are not. In addition to your own research it is also a great idea to ask fellow designers about what sites they like to visit as well. This week I obtained a couple new ones from Mario.
  
  
  


• If you are creating a logo be sure to visit FlippingTypical. This site is awesome because it allows you to type in your text and then it will proceed to show you how it will be rendered in each font that you currently have loaded. This is much easier because you can see them all at one time as opposed to just clicking on one to see how it works out.


• Another site he mentioned was WhatTheFont. Now I am pretty sure I have heard about this site before but what I did not know was that they have an app for this site. Now you can take a picture of the font you are looking for instead of scanning it into the computer. Way Cool! Thanks Mario.
  
  

In Other Graphic Design News

This first site I came across when I was trying to find a cartoon for acronyms. It is just a fun site which reviews some of the Worst Email Mistakes made by various people in the business world.

I also found a website that has a font game on it. Rather it is more like a test but challenging none the less. It is Font Game. Those of you who are currently taking typography may do pretty well and end up in the Hall of Fame.

Blog #7

Style

Style has finally arrived! Woo–Hoo!CSS is going to be so
rewarding as graphic designers.

Just as facial hair can be styled in many ways, your web site can be styled in even more ways.

CMS

CMS is not what you are thinking but rather a content management system. CMS is a computer application utilized to oversee work flow needed to jointly create, edit, review, index, search, publish and archive various kinds of digital media and electronic text. CMSs are mostly utilized for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing company specific information such as news articles, manuals, guides, and marketing brochures.

The elements overseen may be computer files image media, audio, video, and web content. CMS is also just like DMS, document management system which is a computer system used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. DMS can be very small or very large for huge companies. Most methods for managing include location, filing, retrieval, security, recovery, retention, archiving, distribution, workflow, creation, authentication and traceability.

There are many different names for this area of work and Web CMS is one of them. WCM or web content management system is a CMS geared to ease the publication of web content to sites, specifically, allowing content creators to submit content without requiring technical knowledge. More info can be found at Wiki.

Tid Bits

• Elements of an Ad include the visual, a headline, body copy, tagline and the sign–off.
  The visual is just that the image or combination thereof that grabs the viewer. The headline is the
  main message that is conveyed usually at the the top. The body copy is the info
  that supports the over all message. The tagline is the theme or spirit of the
  campaign. Finally, the sign–off includes the logo or photo of the brand ore even both.
  All of this information can be accessed in chapter 11 of our Graphic Design
  Solutions book. Always a good reference for design.


• Be attentive and actually pay attention to not only your
  teachers but your peers as well. Acknowledge your listening and understanding
  with eye contact and nod your head occasionally. Ask questions and also provide
  constructive feedback as well. Everyone is spending both time and money to
  be here so it should be spent wisely.
  


• Do not chew gum during an interview. Also, be sure that you don't
  drink too much coffee or energy drinks prior to either. It may have the
  opposite effect you want.


• Quote to live by "Furious activity is no substitute for understanding."
  -- H.H. Williams, Oakland, California.

Useful Web Sites

• Throughout my posting process I am constantly researching and coming across many links that are helpful and even some that are not. In addition to your own research it is also a great idea to ask fellow designers about what sites they like to visit as well.
  




• 
  I am sure all of you know about PSDtuts already but I just thought I would
  let you know that they have some international works posted on the site right now
  and they are amazing. Be sure to check it out. It is Awesome!
  

  
  


• Another one I came across was Textures. This site has a ton of different textures and
  backgrounds available for use. And the best part is that they are free. The two shown below were found on this site. Be sure to read
  the information about redistribution because you are not allowed to sell
  the textures even if you make changes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

In Other Graphic Design News

This first site I came across when I was doing a search on unconventional advertising
ideas. This reminded me of the Red Shoe Fundraiser that Philippe spoke to us about. The artist that is featured is Michel Tcherevkoff. He creates these amazing botanical shoes
utilizing both photography and Photoshop.

I also found a website that provides a collection of sites providing free
web icons, buttons, and flags even. It is Technacular. This site was created by Vikas Sah, a techie who just loves to share information and knowledge with others (kind of like us right now).

Check out this hilarious t–shirt that I found.

Blog #6

Deprecated Elements

Deprecated (pronounced de–pre–kat) elements as you may
know are outdated, replaced or phased out by
new changes in software. They should not be used in your semantic
markup. This info, reasons for deprecation and more can be obtained at Wikipedia).

The reason I bring this up is because with the new XHTML5 there
are a lot of new elements that will be deprecated. Including many of the
table elements that we just learned about this last week such as cell padding
and table body. For a list of the newly deprecated elements visit
deprecated.
I have included a cute little deprecated cartoon.

Tid Bits

Techie

is a term used for a person who displays a great, sometimes even obsessive, interest in technology, high-tech devices, and particularly computers. Geeks or nerds are often also considered to be techies; however, the reverse is not necessarily true and more people who would not be considered "geeks" are becoming techies, especially with the advancement of technology in recent years. This information and more can be found at wikipedia.

• Be proactive and research a company before you send them your resume to be
  sure that they are a good fit for you. Also be somewhat knowledgeable about
  the company, its goals and recent projects before you interview.
  


• Do not nest form elements. Meaning don't put a form in a form.


• Quote to live by "Happiness is like a kiss; It's nothing unless you share it with someone else."

Useful Web Sites

• Throughout my posting process I am constantly researching and coming across many links that are helpful and even some that are not. In addition to your own research it is also a great idea to ask fellow designers about what sites they like to visit as well.
  



• The sites that I have referenced this week were found in our book and through my research.
  The first site is whatwg. This site is dedicated to HTML5. It has listed many of the FAQ's surrounding the new semantic structure, deprecated elements by the way of CSS, and also the new DOCTYPE. By the way, their logo is simply, well simple. Check it!
  



• Another one I came across was Style. This site contains a tutorial for Cascading Style Sheets which we will be introduced to very shortly. It is a very simple example but helpful none the less. Adding design to your site its kind of like peeling a potato. You just have to apply the correct information to get the style you want.
  
  
  
  


• A site error I came across was whoops. This site contains a a link at the top of the page; About us. However, if you click on that link it takes you straight to their Contact Us page. As we all have learned this week it is important to have our links actually match up with the correct page. Copy and Paste can be dangerous if you do not take the time to pay attention to the details.

In Other Graphic Design News

As a side note I typed in "the most profitable logo in history" and it led me to a site that I mentioned last week; it was listed first on the results page. That site is Just Creative Design. I hate to repeat myself but there are a ton of links to informative sites. For example, you can see some of the Best Global Brands for 2009 at Best 2009.

I came across a cool book for you designers who may love both tattoos
and typography. It is called "Body Type" (pictured below) and you can order at Amazon.

Blog #5

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY JORDAN!

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Jordan is my, now 9 year-old, nephew and I am including as many legos as possible in this post for him

SEO

SEO is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines. It stands for Search Engine Optimization (obtained at Wikipedia).

The first step to SEO is to learn how to select keywords. Try to figure out what words your clients will be typing in to find your services. Also keep in mind your competition as well. Research more about SEO at Bruce Clay.

Tid Bits

• Include key words in your Root Domain Name to help the search engines find your site. Also use them in the Title Tag, the H1 Headline Tag and in Links. This information and more can be found at seomoz.


• Anticipate what your clients will be searching for on the web and make it easier for them to find your site.


• Do not use Black Hat SEO This is a set of techniques used to get higher search rankings in an unethical manner.


• Quote to live by "You can't regret what you have done, only what you haven't."

Useful Web Sites

• Throughout my posting process I am constantly researching and coming across many links that are helpful and even some that are not.
  However, I always learn something about the web in general. It is also a great idea to ask fellow designers about what sites they like to visit as well.
  


• The two sites that I have included this week were suggested by one of my peers, Joe Ingalls.
  The first site is
  Logo Pond. This site is a great source for inspiration. It contains thousands of examples of logos that other designers have created. You can also post comments if you like. It is always a good idea to see what is already out there and learn from others.
  


• Another one he mentioned was 99 designs. On this site you can submit work for contests and other
  projects too. Once again you can also see what others are creating and review winning entries.

In Other Graphic Design News

I learned about another website in my intermediate photography class. It is a blog site for amateur photographers who want to learn how to light their subject(s). Just visit Strobist. It has many different archives, discussions and seminar info that could be helpful to some of us interested in doing a lot of our own photography.
I found a brilliant example of a lego photo shoot that utilizes some mad lighting skills. It is at the very bottom of this page. This one is dedicated to my nephew, Jordan, who absolutely loves legos. His birthday is today.

Happy 9th Birthday Jordan Taylor Glover!!!

Another site that could be useful is Just Creative Design. This is a site created by Jacob Cass, a graphic designer. This site has links to popular articles that are useful for new designers. Be sure to read the article on what makes a good logo. It is straight to the point and a good reminder of the basics.