Reflections

Almost finished with Management Information Systems class. I have learned a lot in this class. To be honest, I have learned a lot in almost every class that I have taken. Most of what I have learned is that there is soooooo much to learn. Taking classes and homework has become the focus of my life for the past 3 years. I come home from work, or church, or from a friends house, or from grocery shopping etc....and I am always aware that I have homework to do. One more year of this!! I will probably get my Masters degree...but not until I get a job where they cover the tuition costs. I lost my 4.0 in Statistics class, and then again in Marketing I. Now I have a 3.97. Not bad, but not the 4.0 that I had dreamed about. I can hear some of you out there saying...what is the big deal. 3.97 is amazing. What is your problem? Good question. I just thought I was capable of getting a 4.0 and I am sad that I did not. It seems to be the goal of some of the professors to "take you down". When you hear phrases such as...If you do what is required you will get a C. What the heck. How about you tell me exactly what you want so that I can get an A! A professor should not have a Gotcha mentality!

blogging again

I am blogging again as part of my Managment of Information Systems class. The question is "Have you ever blogged or read someone's blog?"

Well the answer is yes to both, and mostly because of the web design class. Ocassionally I have checked out someone's blog that was a direct link to Facebook or an email. But truthfully, I haven't done much blogging. Perhaps as time goes on I will blog some more. Only time will tell.

Holy Cow.....It's June 8th. I have 48 credits. I am so pumped. I finished English 101, Problems in American Culture, Science in the Modern World, 19th Century History, Jazz & English 102. Dang....

Now I'm taking Food and Culture and Drawing. Next I'll be taking Latin American Studies and then who knows.....Waiting for my cohort to start.

I guess I have learned a few things about writing papers....but they still don't come easy. I guess I am a dreamer.......hmmmmm

Back at School Again

On Monday night I started back at School again after having seven glorious weeks of vacation from School. I am taking English 101. So far I think I am going to like it. Hopefully, I will learn to write papers and essays the correct way. Might even take less time.....if I know what I am doing. (A girl can hope : )
I am excited cuz not only is the topic interesting, but my buddy Maria is in my class too!
I went on a cruise over my vacation. It was the best vacation I have ever had. I want to go again. Beautiful water, sunshine, yummy food, fun, relaxation and splurging. See you later.

Just for fun

It is almost two weeks since the last web design class. I really enjoyed the class. I learned a lot of useful information and I was able to apply it to my life. So even though nobody is going to grade my blog, I felt like checking in and writing down some of my thoughts. I took a little break from studying till September. Then I will be hitting it hard again. I took two classes this past time, and I am sorry I did that. Probably won't do that again. If anybody does read this blog, I will be surprised. Maybe I will check back in later if I have anything worthwhile to say.

Webnode - If only they had some on-line directions

http://woodartacustommadelegacy.webnode.com/


Here is the website I built with Webnode. I started this at 6:30 this morning. It is now 1:37 pm. I could have shaved off about 3 hours if there were some directions. Blah, Blah, Cry me a river.



Now it all makes sense. It is all relative, if you know how to do it, then anything is easy. I will type out all the details after I get some refreshment.

Thinking back on Monday evening and my very "rocky road" experience with Frontpage. The evening started out a little bit shaky, but by 10:00 I was almost finished. I still need to add the additional links and tweak some of the cosmetic issues. Some of the columns aren't lining up exactly right. I made my logo a little bit different for Webnode, so I still need to replace that. I also need to get rid of a few of the duplicate pictures. For the most part, I was pretty satisfied with the way that Frontpage looked when I was finished. The Frontpage format worked well for me. I erased some prefab formats and put in some new tables. This is pretty easy to do with Front page. You can get rid of the unwanted stuff without much trouble.

Like I said earlier in my blog, I started playing with Webnode at about 6:30 am Wednesday morning. I signed up for an account, actually, I signed up for it late Tuesday night.
Anyway, as I started playing with WebNode, I was getting pretty discouraged. I could not find any instructions anywhere. I see now that there is a tutorial at the sign in screen. Sadly, I did not see that until after I had already figured out the program through trial and error. When I figured out how to upload pictures, and how to apply the templates then I started to get somewhere. The templates are nice, and you have a lot of different templates to choose from. They look very polished.

The top of the screen, the website name field is not easily edited. I have not been able to change font style, font size, or the color of the text. If anybody else has figured out how to change them, would you please let me know.

At first, I was wishing for the flexibility of the Frontpage, when I could not figure anything out, but when I started to make progress, I think I have a new favorite. Webnode is more polished looking overall, and it has more gadgets.

Features that are easier or better with Webnode.......

• Previewing your webpage is easier with Webnode.
• You can set up a slide show of your pictures with Webnode (not available with Frontpage)
• I like the styling of the templates better
• Webnode is free
• You don't get the Active X script message every time you load the page
• It has widgets and other cool add ons

Features that are easier or better with Frontpage.......

• It is easier to change fonts, and headings at any location of the webpage
• You can delete unwanted "stuff" easier
• The links to the website are also displayed on the bottom of the page
• Home is listed with the other links (With webnode the home button is available, just not at the same location.
• I liked the styling of the tabs on the left - (a little fancier)
• You can put a description with each picture that you upload (I could not figure out how to do this in Webnode.)

(Never mind, I just figured it out in Webnode. You can add a description under Image Properties.)

Some of these things may be different with other templates, and since I don't have a lot of experience with either Frontpage or Webnode, I can only speak based on my limited use with only a few of the layouts. I would rather use the layouts in Frontpage, or the layouts in Webnodes vs. creating everything from scratch. I can also see why some people choose to use Web generation programs without using templates. Templates are great for novices. However, a website expert may not want to be locked into their limitations.

Overall, I am pleased with the fact that I can in fact build a web site. Yaaaaay. Thanks Ms. Mislevy for your instruction and your patience.

Web Page - Part 2

For my website, I will add several other links to help the potential customer choose the type of wood, the color of the stain, or ceramic tile needed for their custom made piece.

The first one will be a site that shows the different kinds of wood that could be used for a project. A hardwood guide. http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/species_guide/display_species.asp

The next ones will assist in the selection of stains to choose from with a lot of different manufacturers. Specialty Paints and Coatings.
http://www.spcofpa.com/
or Olympia
http://www.olympic.com/stain_products/index.htm


The final one will be types of ceramic tile that could be used.
http://flooring.builddirect.com/Porcelain-Tile.aspx
or
http://www.homedepot.com/

These websites should assist the potential customer.