A look into the mind of a web designer/writer/[insert everything else here].
Anthor Schirtzinger
Portfolio Project Timeline/Plan:
March 9 – 20:
Portfolio Web site
March 23 – May 15:
50 Graphic Design Pieces Including…
10 Photo Touch-ups
20 Abstracts
5 Logos for Imaginary Companies/Groups
15 Drawings, Digitally colored
With how slow I am at working in Photoshop, I might not get all of the graphic design pieces done, but the above is my goal. I still have to plan the poor Web site, but it will host the graphic design pieces.
Greetings readers! I’ve come back to tell you more about my senior project!
I know, isn’t this exciting? Today’s subject: My thoughts on how the project was done this time around!
Personally, I felt like i didn’t have enough time to make my site… which no longer exists due to admin issues. Of course, I chose a time-consuming project that I had trouble making, but I did my best with the tools I had.
All-in-all, a rewarding experience… or at least an enlightening one.
Yeah. I did a ton of work over thanksgiving break. I worked the following days and hours…
Friday: 4:30pm – 3:30am
Saturday: 5pm – 7pm
That’s all folks!!!
9:30 pm – 11:14pm: Configuring Ajax for site… epic fail, but I did find a few things that worked. Hopefully I don’t have to scrap the whole thing and start over.
October 26, 2008
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Set-up WordPress and planned my features. Some things worked, some didn’t. I hope this gets done on time… It’ll take a lot, even using wordpress to make things go faster…
My product will be a website for an online comic called the “Flying Gamer’s Association” using the technologies researched for my senior project, Ajax in particular, to increase interactivity while keeping file size and loading times down. I will be using Ajax in this site to allow the displaying of different pages of the comic without having to reload the entire page, making browsing faster and reading the comic way more enjoyable. I’ll also work on adding a sort of chat room with Ajax if I have the time, but it will take me all the way until last minute to do this since this is the first time I’ve even considered any of this. I have to learn the very basics of the syntax and proper uses of Java Script and XML, and the processes behind them, and how I use them to make Ajax. Just the learning could take half of the allotted time to complete the product, and I have to draw up some comics for the site for demonstration. I’ll be working around the clock out of lab as well as using as much time as possible during lab in order to complete this.
As part of the senior project, I have to send my interviewee a thank you letter of sorts. Since I did my interview over email, I just thanked him for his help… and am now posting what I sent him here:
Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to answer my questions. Though your answers didn’t give me any information in the way of research, they were still helpful in bolstering my confidence and giving me more motivation to do my best on this project. I greatly appreciate your contribution.
That’s it yet again.
I couldn’t find an Ajax programmer, but Gallagan recommended me a friend of his by the name of Keith Wedinger. He’s done some work in web design, so I sent him an email and got this as his reply (Note: everything in bold is what he replied):
I would be happy to help. My answers to your questions are below.
My first question is whether you are willing to answer my questions.
Yes
If yes, then it’s time we get on to the real questions.
When did you first become interested in what you do?
When I was in high school (early 80′s). I got exposed to Basic programming on early personal computers (TRS-80, Atari 800) and from that point forward, I was completely hooked on software development.
Do you work with anything other than PHP?
Yes. I’ve developed software using the following languages (in no particular order): C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, Assembler, Ruby, Perl, and Java. Regarding OS’s, I’ve developed software for DOS, Windows (all versions since 3.1), OS/2, Linux and OS X.
Have you done any AJAX work?
Not really. I’ve done a few things here and there to learn some things but nothing significant.
What projects are you currently working on? What have you completed?
I am currently a Lead Software Engineer at Sterling Commerce doing Java development for our large scale business-to-business software suite. I have completed several projects for this particular product. I also maintain Sciotofootball.com and Bearcatnews.com (websites based on HTML, PHP and MySQL).
Where did you learn what you know now?
Combination of my education at University of Cincinnati and “on the job” training. Over my 19 year career, I’ve found that diving into new technology and trying to use it productively is the best way to learn.
Do you work from home? Why?
No.
How much do you make on average?
I would prefer not to get too specific so let’s say I currently earn between 100K and 125K.
When you were younger, did you see yourself doing this?
Originally, I wanted to get into meteorology. I was exposed very early on (1974) to tornados and to this day, storms have always interested and fascinated me.
Put down anything else you want to say here. Please?
If you have any further questions, let me know. Good luck.
That’s it for questions. Thanks for reading this.
Have a nice day!
That’s it! it’s great to see professionals this willing to answer questions like this. It gives me a lot of confidence to get this done and learn something.
I) AJAX and it’s Components
A) AJAX
1) Short description of AJAX and what it’s made of (Include Thesis)a Explain that AJAX is a collecton of standards under one roof, and that it isn’t a new language but a new way of using these standards to make things smaller, faster, and more user friendly!
B) JavaScript
(1 and 2 are interchangeable, maybe even in the wrong order…)
1) Elaborate more on what JavaScript does (works to add interactivity and makes forms to work)
2) Add a touch of history and it’s creators
C) PHP
1) Give the history of Server-Side Scripting
2) Get into detail on how this does what it does
D) XML
1) Same as with the other two, explain what XML is and how it’s used in AJAX to make sites more interactive
E) Conclusion
1) Repeat everything in different words and in short
Now in class we’re working on a portfolio. This is part 1 of that project, or the first semester thing… whatever.
This project is broken up into 5 different sections, with different works being done during each section. This is my plan for the sections:
Sections 1&2: Graphic Design
Section 3: Web Design
Sections 4&5: Animation
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed.
Well, I need to interview a professional AJAX programmer, and I have to have 10 questions lined up for it.
Here goes:
If you don’t like any of these, leave a comment and check back sometimes… I might reply in a year or so…
LOL JK!!!
but SRSLY…
Back in the ancient days of computing, there was the Internet. It used Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to create static pages for information. However, recently Dynamic content has been possible in pages using AJAX (Asynchronous Java Script And XML), a programming language that allows the page to update without having to reload the entire page. Thanks to this, no two web pages are the same, and the web is much more interactive.
—
That’s it, copy-paste style!
In my letter of intent, I stated that my project is on Javascript, XML and PHP. My product will be a fully working online store with a web comic and animation site… >.<
It will take up alot of my time to learn the languages required for that and then actually make the site for it to show that I learned something. Well, I’d better get started
In my letter of intent, I told what my project is on and what my product is going to be, as well as my rough estimate on how long it will take to do it…
To start off, my project is on Javascript and PHP and how they interact to make different things work, and I’ll even learn XML so that I can pretend that I know AJAX (Asyncronous Javascrips and XML). Joy. I have roughly 4 months to do that, so it probably won’t be complete, but it will make it easier to get the rest of it while I’m out working for my moneys to get into tech school (and some online art classes). Of course, I will definately be using all the time I have been alotted, and probably a bit more.
That’s it for now. I’ll keep you updated.
Today we have talked about our thesis statements for our senior project research paper. Of course, my paper is about the history of javascript, php, xml, and how they make up ajax.
I will be using Beginning JavaScript by Paul Wilton and Jeremy McPeak, Learning PHP & MySQL by Michele E. Davis and Jon A. Phillips, Step by Step XML by Michael J. Young, and Ajax starter kit by Phil Ballard.
That’s it for now.
In my letter of intent, I stated that my project is on Javascript, XML and PHP. My product will be a fully working online store with a web comic and animation site… >.<
It will take up alot of my time to learn the languages required for that and then actually make the site for it to show that I learned something. Well, I’d better get started now…
—UPDATE—
Well, I’m making a webcomic instead of an online store, but the main point is still the same.
I’ll keep you updated.
