Project Junction

I’m using my vacation sabbatical to consolidate my thoughts about web design. Here’s a link to my draft report.  Click Here

The wordle below visually depicts the concepts I’m exploring.

This report is open to collaboration. I consider it a work-in-process so if you have any thoughts or opinions of your own, please share them with me.

Class,

Your final exam may include questions on any of our lessons to date. You have all of the information you need in the Computer Apps Class link above. There you will find every lesson plan, tutorials, cheat sheets …  In addition, here’s a memory jogger wordle that includes every word in the final exam test.  Click Here

Please send me your completed projects by close of business (12/09/08) in a single email in pdf format. If you send the files in multiple notes and clutter my inbox, it will make me cranky and influence your grade.

1. Indesign Resume
2. Magazine spread
3. InDesign Report / Business Plan
4. Illustrator Live trace (copied to Powerpoint)

There are three reasons that I’ve been so persistent about asking for files in pdf format: source files have a greater probability of carrying a virus, not everybody has the applications to open certain files (on the other hand, everyone has a portable document format reader) and pdfs files are much smaller size.

I also want you to bring in a printed copy of each project above to class next week.  Put your Indesign resume on top and stable the other pages below it.

Fyi … I’ve already graded your LinkIn connections so there’s no need to send me your link. If you haven’t made a connection to me yet, you earned a zero on that project.

Class,

Here’s an AI survey that I recommend you take. Enter AIRD under “other” category for the school.

Click Here

This is not my survey and I will not see the results, but it is important that you register your opinion about our computer lab and technical support. Be heard.

Class,

Here’s the guidelines for completing your Indesign Business Plan Project.

First, I apologize for the brain freeze last night. When you need to type in a text frame that you created on a master page, hold CTRL+SHIFT as you click the text frame on the document page.

Using the template you created last night.  Please add the following headings to your report:

1. Market data
2. Marketing Plan
3. Proforma Income and Loss Statement
4. Summary

You can use Type > Fill with Place holder text to fill in each section except the first one.  Under the market data section, please include a customer persona.  Add a graphic of your “typical customer” to that page on the left side column.

1. Here’s your secret page with every lesson plan.  Click Here
2. Spend more time on LinkedIn spiffing up your profile than you spend on Facebook.
3. Perform system maintenance on your home computer
   Run disk cleanup, disk defrag and your anti virus program on your Windows home machine (or equivalent programs on Apple)
4. Update your web browser
5. Complete your Indesign Business Plan project.
6. Study for the Quiz

DreamWeaver

• T/F It is good practice to put images in a separate subfolder
• T/F The home page filename must be lowercase
• T/F It is good practice to add a tag description to every image
• T/F Two common web menu placements are horizontal and vertical
• What is the file name for a web home page?
• Why is a CSS file useful?
  A: CSS defines fonts, colors and other formatting attributes across many web pages.  Define a CSS once.  Use many times.  [It is a similar concept to Indesign Character Style sheets].
• How can you put a space between a picture and text without using a table?
  A: Use a spacer.giff file (a blank picture)
• Practicum: Create navigation link between two pages

Indesign Practicum

• What does leading, kerning and tracking do?
• What is a drop cap?
• Create two objects and use Object > Pathfinder > Merge to combine them
• Drop Cap 3 letters of first paragraph
• Justify Text
• Insert white space, flush space, at end of paragraph

Class,

Here’s your homework for this week. Finish your Indesign projects (Resume and Magazine Spread).  See Lesson 7 for details. Click Here

Spend more time on LinkedIn spiffing up your profile than you spend on Facebook.

Perform system maintenance on your home computer:  Run disk cleanup, disk defrag and your antivirus program (or equivalent maintenance programs on your Apple).

Study for the Quiz.  Here’s a memory jogger.

InDesign

1. Can you still explain the difference between raster and vector graphics after one week of vacation?
2. T/F the control panel is docked by default at the bottom of the screen
3. Which provides better precision: tabs or spaces?
4. The space between columns is called _____________
5. What’s a pica?
6. What’s the most widely used font?
7. What is a “story”
8. How do you hide tools and panels?

Indesign Practicum

* File > New [1 page / 2 column] document

* Draw two Text frames to fill both columns

* Thread the two frames together and fill with placeholder text

* Draw polygon (my choice of points)

* Fill with color

* Wrap text around object shape

* Drop cap the first letter in the first paragraph

Class,

Please bring in a magazine or a page of a magazine that you like to our class on Monday, 11/24.

Please tell your classmates about this request if you see them.

But don’t worry, if you can’t find one or you don’t see this post then (because you are not using an RSS feed), I’ll bring in a Sport Illustrated for you to work with.  Sorry, that is the only magazine I read.

I also told you that there would be test.  Can you answer:

1. Explain raster graphics
2. Explain vector graphics
3. Why use vector graphics?
4. What is a pixel?

Use our secret page to review Lesson 6 if you need a refresher.  Click Here

Class,

We will not have class next week, but you are required to do research for our next project.  I want you to read the following posts.  No, let me be more assertive.  I want you to study these posts:

• Read life clever: 7 deadly sins of resume design
• Words that hurt your resume
• 36 Beautiful resume designs
• A glimpse and a Hook
• 10 Tips for a slightly less awful resume
• 20 Most Creative Resumes

Why am I asking you to study these posts?
Because they contain many useful tips for resume content and design.  We will use the design tips when we create a new resume using InDesign. To ensure that you actually read these posts, this assignment will be worth the full weight of your homework grade for the last part of our quarter.

How will I know if you actually read them?
Answer:  I have ways.  But stop trying to game the system and just do it.  Use the time next Monday from 6 to 10 pm to finish the assignment.

… in addition, I asked you to bring in any old (paper) photo and to bring in one example of a before and after photo restoration.  I will ask to see both in our class on 11/24.

My two favorite websites are:

Ideal Bite

Metacritic

<a href=” http://www.URL”>Click Here</a>

Let’s practice our HTML by commenting to this post

Your post should include a highlighted word and three things you’ve learned expressed as an ordered list.  Example:

The top things I’ve learned so far:

1. Web pages are written with a common language called HTML
2. A CD holds about 640 MB of data