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Tuesday, June 29, 2010
What a cool template!
Looks like Blogger got some new templates. This one is called AWESOME.
Goes along with the fact that, like Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother, I'm from AWESOMETOWN. If I were applying to a new job, I would totally make a video resume just like this. Knowing how the world works, I'm sure it would actually do it's job!
Goes along with the fact that, like Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother, I'm from AWESOMETOWN. If I were applying to a new job, I would totally make a video resume just like this. Knowing how the world works, I'm sure it would actually do it's job!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I'm BACK
So this blog was originally created to show students how to use Blogger. Then I actually started posting things to it during the Spring of 2009 because my graduate course required me to.
Now I'm going to start posting on a regular basis (hopefully). If people enjoy reading then great, if they don't, well, there's like five jillion blogs they can read instead. :)
Stay tuned my friends!
Now I'm going to start posting on a regular basis (hopefully). If people enjoy reading then great, if they don't, well, there's like five jillion blogs they can read instead. :)
Stay tuned my friends!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
iWeb - Hope this Helps You All
So this is it. My last blog post for the semester. We were supposed to do two blog posts a week and that is a total of thirty blog posts and this be my thirrr-tee-eth.
Thought maybe I'd close this partay out by giving some tips on Apple's iWeb program to those of you who are planning to start a news website (or any website for that manner). I know some of you already have web skills, but this is intended for those who don't.
iWeb is really cool because it is pretty much the only true WYSIWYG web-production program that is very intuitive. If you know how to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, or Adobe InDesign, then it's pretty easy to use iWeb to make websites.
By the way, WYSIWYG is computer lingo (pronounced "wizzy-wig") that stands for "What You See Is What You Get."
I recommend iWeb to all students I see at Annenberg who want to create a website and have no clue how to do HTML or Dreamweaver because the program is so easy. Even Dreamweaver is a pain to use if you're not a web expert. In case you didn't know, you automatically own iWeb if you're own a Mac user and if you bought it in 2006 or later.
Although I could have used a lot more sophisticated means to produce my web-based paper for a class (boy I sound pompous), I decided to do it in iWeb so I could educate myself about it as much as possible and really know what I'm talking about when I help students use it in the Annenberg Digital Lab. I've played with the program a lot before, but I wanted to actually create something for myself to see what roadblocks I'd hit, and then would know how to help students get around them.
It also allowed me to legitimately work on my paper at work because I was techinically doing software research. I love killing multiple birds with one stone. :)
So I got the stupid thing done on time, but I didn't bother to test it on multiple browsers because I was so eager to begin my weekend with my girlfriend. Unfortunately when we stopped by the Apple Store in Walnut Creek, I tested my online paper website on the computers there.
My paper looked F*&@D UP.
All the embedded YouTube videos, QuickTime movies, audio clips, and Comedy Central video clip players appeared ok, but they were misaligned and overlapping on top of the text. Goddammit.
I just finished fixing all the problems this morning before work. Yeah, it took me that long and I'm praying to the good Lord above that our esteemed professors David and Geoff don't consider my paper late because of this. Thankfully, now I know how to avoid this....
When creating a website in iWeb, be sure to do the following...
1. Don't cram too much stuff onto one page. I made the mistake of pasting my entire written paper onto one webpage and peppering the videos and stuff throughout. This is just too much crap for the a computer to handle when loading the page on the internet and probably causes problems when parsing all the YouTube videos and stuff into the page. It worked better for me to chunk up the paper into four separate webpages.
2. Break up your text boxes. In the case of my online paper, I originally had all the text in one giant text field and this apparently caused the layout of the page to goof up (hence all the videos and stuff appearing in the wrong place). My solution was to stop a text field where a video was supposed to appear and then begin a new text field to continue the written paper after the video.
3. Don't do the cool "reflection" effect on your images. I know, that template in iWeb with pictures that have the reflection on the bottom looks really cool, but that effect only works on the internet if you view the page on a Mac with the Safari web browser. So you're alienating all the PC users out there because when you look at the page in any other browser you get an ugly blank area where the reflection is supposed to be.
The funny thing is that a student that I recommended iWeb to didn't encounter these issues. She was creating a website for the Trojan Dance Force and she apparently managed to use the program more effectively than me (and I'm supposedly a web guy). Well sheeee-at.
Oh and BTW - it might be important that I was using iWeb '08 and they just released iWeb '09.
Good luck out there and it's been a pleasure.
Late.
Thought maybe I'd close this partay out by giving some tips on Apple's iWeb program to those of you who are planning to start a news website (or any website for that manner). I know some of you already have web skills, but this is intended for those who don't.
iWeb is really cool because it is pretty much the only true WYSIWYG web-production program that is very intuitive. If you know how to use Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, or Adobe InDesign, then it's pretty easy to use iWeb to make websites.
By the way, WYSIWYG is computer lingo (pronounced "wizzy-wig") that stands for "What You See Is What You Get."
I recommend iWeb to all students I see at Annenberg who want to create a website and have no clue how to do HTML or Dreamweaver because the program is so easy. Even Dreamweaver is a pain to use if you're not a web expert. In case you didn't know, you automatically own iWeb if you're own a Mac user and if you bought it in 2006 or later.
Although I could have used a lot more sophisticated means to produce my web-based paper for a class (boy I sound pompous), I decided to do it in iWeb so I could educate myself about it as much as possible and really know what I'm talking about when I help students use it in the Annenberg Digital Lab. I've played with the program a lot before, but I wanted to actually create something for myself to see what roadblocks I'd hit, and then would know how to help students get around them.
It also allowed me to legitimately work on my paper at work because I was techinically doing software research. I love killing multiple birds with one stone. :)
So I got the stupid thing done on time, but I didn't bother to test it on multiple browsers because I was so eager to begin my weekend with my girlfriend. Unfortunately when we stopped by the Apple Store in Walnut Creek, I tested my online paper website on the computers there.
My paper looked F*&@D UP.
All the embedded YouTube videos, QuickTime movies, audio clips, and Comedy Central video clip players appeared ok, but they were misaligned and overlapping on top of the text. Goddammit.
I just finished fixing all the problems this morning before work. Yeah, it took me that long and I'm praying to the good Lord above that our esteemed professors David and Geoff don't consider my paper late because of this. Thankfully, now I know how to avoid this....
When creating a website in iWeb, be sure to do the following...
1. Don't cram too much stuff onto one page. I made the mistake of pasting my entire written paper onto one webpage and peppering the videos and stuff throughout. This is just too much crap for the a computer to handle when loading the page on the internet and probably causes problems when parsing all the YouTube videos and stuff into the page. It worked better for me to chunk up the paper into four separate webpages.
2. Break up your text boxes. In the case of my online paper, I originally had all the text in one giant text field and this apparently caused the layout of the page to goof up (hence all the videos and stuff appearing in the wrong place). My solution was to stop a text field where a video was supposed to appear and then begin a new text field to continue the written paper after the video.
3. Don't do the cool "reflection" effect on your images. I know, that template in iWeb with pictures that have the reflection on the bottom looks really cool, but that effect only works on the internet if you view the page on a Mac with the Safari web browser. So you're alienating all the PC users out there because when you look at the page in any other browser you get an ugly blank area where the reflection is supposed to be.
The funny thing is that a student that I recommended iWeb to didn't encounter these issues. She was creating a website for the Trojan Dance Force and she apparently managed to use the program more effectively than me (and I'm supposedly a web guy). Well sheeee-at.
Oh and BTW - it might be important that I was using iWeb '08 and they just released iWeb '09.
Good luck out there and it's been a pleasure.
Late.
Monday, May 4, 2009
A Modest Proposal 2009
I can't believe I'm going to write about this because it has to do with Octomom and the more we talk about her the more notoriety and attention she gets (and does not deserve, I believe).
But I'm watching KTLA news right now and saw yet another story about that crazy lady, just when we thought Swine Flu or the N1H1 virus of the piggy wiggy sicky or whatever the hell they're calling it now had wiped out all mention of Mommo Octo. I got a blog post idea.
Some lady is speaking out in protest of the Octomom getting her own reality TV show. I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying but I'm pretty sure I agree with her. I was too distracted by the lower-third C.G. that listed her as "Accuses Octomom of Exploiting Babies."
Hmmmm. Exploiting Babies.
Anyone ever read "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift in 1729? I think Tom Sparks talked about it in our presentation on satire --- I'm not sure though I wasn't paying attention. Haha :)
Well from what I recall from High School Advanced Composition class, Swift wrote a hauntingly believable idea to help the economic problems of 18th Century Ireland by suggesting that everyone eat their own children. While he noted himself that he had no intention of executing this horrific plan, his essay did a frighteningly good job at proving that it would work.
Hence all the times you might see some people joke about "eating babies" as one of their hobbies listed on Facebook.
Now if Mr. Swift were alive today, maybe he'd have this suggestion for our society today to help our economy (or, for our purposes, the newspaper industry).
It would not be eating babies. It would be exploiting babies.
Newspapers who are struggling to make the shift to online publications would financially could exploit babies to help money. Newspapers could adopt a bunch of babies and put them all in a warehouse, swearing that they will take good care of them. Then, one of the TV networks dying for new reality TV show material would pay the newspapers to make a show about a newspaper organization
Think about it. It would take all these orphaned babies out of orphanages hands and then people who were anti-abortion could put their babies up for adoption by a newspaper company. Now if you're wondering, "Well only one newspaper company would benefit from one reality TV show." But then the answer is a competition reality show where all the newspaper companies show how well they can take care of the babies. It would be like American Idol. The weird thing is, people would TOTALLY watch it. If people are going to watch A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila they will definitely watch Be My Babies hosted by Dan Rather. Hey, it seems to working for Mommo Octo.
Oh my god, did I really just write all this? I think I need sleep.
Oh sweet Friends is on!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Letterman hates Twitter
I don't know if we're still supposed to be blogging or if David and Geoff will grade us down if we don't even though we're in the heat of presentation/take-home-quiz/paper/final-exam crunch time. But just in case they are, here's a tidbit for you who missed Letterman tearing Twitter a new one.
I guess I don't really hate Twitter as much as Letterman does (even though I said "F*)& Twitter" in a previous blog post, I was just being humorously snarky). But I would agree that I just don't see the point and do not want to spend the energy to let everyone know that I'm eating a smoked turkey sandwich (a la the Jimmy Kimmell clip we showed in our class presentation). Anytime I Tweet it's just a reiteration of how much I don't want to Tweet.
What I like about this clip is that Letterman believes that Twitter is the first step in the downfall of our civilization. I recall joking the same thing about Facebook in that the Facbebook servers know everything about everyone on the planet and could amass so much knowledge it will acheive consciousness of itself and take over the world as Skynet did in the Terminator franchise.
The big difference is that I don't hate Facebook. Not sure if that's good news or not.
I guess I don't really hate Twitter as much as Letterman does (even though I said "F*)& Twitter" in a previous blog post, I was just being humorously snarky). But I would agree that I just don't see the point and do not want to spend the energy to let everyone know that I'm eating a smoked turkey sandwich (a la the Jimmy Kimmell clip we showed in our class presentation). Anytime I Tweet it's just a reiteration of how much I don't want to Tweet.
What I like about this clip is that Letterman believes that Twitter is the first step in the downfall of our civilization. I recall joking the same thing about Facebook in that the Facbebook servers know everything about everyone on the planet and could amass so much knowledge it will acheive consciousness of itself and take over the world as Skynet did in the Terminator franchise.
The big difference is that I don't hate Facebook. Not sure if that's good news or not.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The rant I told you about
Just in case anyone is curious to read the article I mentioned in class:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/who-the-hell-is-enrolling-in-journalism-school-right-now/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/who-the-hell-is-enrolling-in-journalism-school-right-now/
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