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Further Ideas for development

{ January 10, 2008 @ 11:45 am } · { CSS, Katie Butler, PHP, web design }
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The skills that I have developed and practiced throughout this module have been beneficial to me in that I now have them to use in future projects, and I genuinely feel confident with them.

Firstly my initial idea for personal development will be to continue with trying to resolve the problem surrounding the use of PHP in my project.

Secondly, for the purpose of this assignment it was not necessary to build all pages to the website; however these are what I will now look to build and develop, so that the menu links such as ‘About me,’ actually have some content to link to and display.

In terms of developing my CSS skills further, this could include making print-friendly versions of my web pages to go with my portfolio site as a brief example, but overall I think the more practice I have with CSS the better my chances are of becoming quicker at designing on the whole. As for PHP there is a large amount to develop with, and my original project idea of a Facebook application will be another main focus of mine. PHP is where the future of web design is, and as a growing web designer this is the direction I too need to be taking.

New Employable Skills

{ January 10, 2008 @ 11:41 am } · { CSS, Katie Butler, PHP, web design }
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CSS is seen as a fundamental part of web design; however is an area that I personally admit to have been quite lazy with since learning the field. This is the main reason why I now wanted to develop my knowledge within the area, because at such an important point in my academic studies I knew that it was vital to know how to deploy these key skills confidently into practice, given that my third year project is to build a website and that will take such elements into account. What’s more, they are basic knowledge and skills that are almost certainly required when seeking employment within this sector, Employers will not only be looking for someone who can create unique designs, but will also depend on that person to have such skills that will make the work they produce more accessible, as this is an important issue for web companies. CSS skills also engage the designer more so with usability, for instance the placement of content is thought out more logically with CSS, and hence makes the designer more aware of how content appears and impacts on a user’s general site experience. The main reason people want websites is to attract the attention of users, and a user’s attention is only held with good design - something which CSS clearly promotes.

Not only have I tried to improve my CSS knowledge and skills, but I have also used some PHP coding in my project. PHP itself is a technology which I have only recently been introduced to, and was the basis for my original project proposal which unfortunately became overrun with problems, and these were deemed too challenging for the short space of time with which this project had to be completed within. The use of PHP in my project is to pass PHP variables with a URL. This means that with my CSS designs, a user would be able to change the style/design of the webpage dynamically, i.e. change/load the new style into the webpage itself by clicking on a link.

In order to learn and develop this technique I first worked with a tutorial, and later also sought advice from the module lecturer. Unfortunately however, I have not yet been able to get this feature to work 100% correctly, and have been trying several methods, that I have been testing on my own personal webspace (http://www.katiebutler.co.uk) over the past week to resolve the apparent problem - so far with little success. Despite this my understanding of the technique has developed from virtually nothing to an adequate level, therefore with more practice and guidance I may eventually be able to get this element to work how it should. In doing so, I will have gained further skills to present to and hopefully impress potential employers or even clients with, especially those who may want to utilise my web services in the future.

MySQL

{ November 28, 2007 @ 8:58 pm } · { Marc Taylor, PHP, Tutorial, Web 2.0 }
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Learning MySQL/*First what needs to be done is to create a database for users to store the table; in order to do this enter*/CREATE DATABASE (database name);/*example CREATE DATABASE members;*//*next is to create a table within the database, to do this select the database you wish to use, for example ‘members’ typing ‘USE members’ into MySQL. Then type*/CREATE TABLE `members` /*to create a table called MEMBERS*/(
`id` int(4) NOT NULL auto_increment, /*sets up the classification and

`username` varchar(65) NOT NULL default ”, /*setting up the username variable and allowing a maximum of 65 characters*/

`password` varchar(65) NOT NULL default ”, /*setting up the password variable and allowing a maximum of 65 characters*/

PRIMARY KEY (`id`) /*ordering of the table by listing them in the order they sign up for the website, in this case by ID NUMBER*/
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=2 ; /*not to sure what this does however in my case the coding didn’t work*/–
– Dumping data for table `members`
– INSERT INTO `members` VALUES (1, ‘john’, ‘1234′); /*this is setting up the user data into the table*/ ALTERNATIVE CODING THAT DOES WORK FOR MYSELFCREATE DATABASE members;USE members;CREATE TABLE tblUsers(
UserID INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
/*alternative to PRIMARY KEY(id) as labelled above*/
UserName VARCHAR(65),
UserPassword VARCHAR(25),
UserEmail VARCHAR(255));All MySQL Coding is like actionscript in the sense that it is in between the ( ) brackets instead of { } that actionscript usesINSERT INTO tblUsers (UserName, UserPassword, UserEmail) VALUES(‘Marc’,’1234’,’marctaylor6631@googlemail.com’);

Final Proposal

{ November 2, 2007 @ 11:47 am } · { HTML, Lee Aplin, PHP, Web 2.0 }
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Project Summary

The main goal of my project is to produce all of the main elements required to build a small community based website. While my initial idea was to build a similar website/application to Last.FM, after researching PHP, and frequently using the website, I have decided that Last.FM is probably the leader in online music communities and would be extremely difficult to rival.

The website will hopefully be a prototype of an online music community. I would like to be able to give users the chance to sign up to my website and from their individual user areas, upload and share files, and discuss music. I have done a lot of research into online communities and how they function. The PHP is the focus of the site, and will take the most time to develop; whereas the actual HTML part of the website will take much less time to develop and I can put together the website in a short period of time. I would like to focus most of my attention on the development of solid PHP.This will also be beneficial to me in my final year project which will also be mostly based on functions which are made in PHP.

Target Audience/Users

The target audience of my website will preferably be music fans, possibly the same sort of audience of PitchforkMedia.com, or DrownedinSound.com. These websites are focused on music which is not generally in the charts, and have a very specific fan base. These users might be interested in such a website because Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound are mostly news websites, and do not provide much interactivity. This is where my website will differ, as it will give the users more freedom.

PHP Research

In order to understand PHP and how PHP websites are used, I joined many interactive web 2.0 websites. These include Myspace.com and Facebook.com, which are the two prominent current online communities. While these websites are two of the most popular web 2.0 sites (and possibly amongst the most popular websites online in general), they are by no means the only online communities.

A personal favourite is the music based website Last.FM. I have been a member of this website for over a year now and frequently use it to find new music and share my interests with other like-minded people. I think that this is a big factor concerning online communities; the fact that they can find a website specific to their needs despite what their interests may be. There are always like minded people, no matter how niche the subject.Popular functions of online communities tend to be the following:

· The ability to add a picture or avatar

· The chance to edit your own profile somehow

· Being able to add other members

Although this is just three functions, they appear to be the things that users expect when they join an online community. However, adjustments could be made for the fact that my site will be about music, as it will not necessarily be a social networking website.

Because I have spent a lot of time on Last.FM, I have a good understanding of the habits of the community. Music communities are different to the other social networking websites such as Myspace and Facebook, because activities are not as focused on chatting and meeting new people. Users are more interested in seeing each others musical tastes, comparing and sharing new music, and generally discovering music they would not have known about.

Personal Goals

This will be my first venture with PHP, and therefore I will gain all my experience with the programming language merely during this project. Due to this one of my main goals will be to create a working prototype of the website within the time limit. As previously stated, this project will help me greatly during my final year production project, which will run in the same vein.

The first section of the PHP programming that I will focus on will be the Login section. Despite the fact that the tutorials for this are quite straight-forward, it is still a large part of the project, and testing this section will be very important. Another of my goals is to get the login PHP as close to perfect as possible so that I can reuse it again if necessary.

A Gap in the Market?

Although there are several different social networking websites on the internet, there are not many focused around online music. The website Last.FM is the leader in combining music and social networking, but as previously mentioned, it is very different from other social networking websites. I plan to make my site more like Pitchfork media in terms of the information it provides, but with a social networking feel to it, providing interactive content as well as letting the users have some control over their own user areas. I think that this could be popular because of the merging of two popular types of websites.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think that this project will be extremely useful to me in terms of learning new technical skills which are required to advance in the industry. I hope to greatly improve my knowledge of PHP, and become efficient in creating many of the elements used in online community websites. The final product should at the very least, be a partly working prototype of my community website, but I am hopeful that I will be able to take the website live onto the Internet and maintain it after the module is over.

Proposal (draft)

{ November 2, 2007 @ 11:28 am } · { Lee Aplin, PHP, Web 2.0 }
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Below I will introduce the ideas I have had for my project. I will build upon these ideas in order to write the final proposal.

The main idea

My initial idea was to produce a website similar to Last.FM, the online music community. After doing extensive research and testing of Last.FM, I have decided that although there are elements of the website which could be improved or changed, there is not enough wrong with it to justify building a competition website. Also, I do not yet have the abilities to produce a fully working PHP website.

Therefore, my idea is to produce a more basic website, but still based around online music. I hope to produce a smaller and simpler online community, allowing users to create an account and hopefully upload music or files to share with each other. The main focus to start this project will be creating the user login in PHP. If I can successfully create this, along with the database required to make this work, then I will also consider making the website more elaborate, with other aspects of PHP included such as a forum.

Research

Research into other online communities such as Myspace.com or Facebook.com have shown me which areas of online communities are most popular. The ability to interact, for example, is very important, as users tend to use the website more if there is more for them to do. User generated content is also very important. In social networking websites such as those stated above, most of the content is actually user generated, with the option to change photos, write blogs, chat to one another and share files or pictures. Due to the fact that I am new to PHP, I strongly doubt that my website will have these elements included, but any useful information I pick up on the way might help me to expand the website and include some of this interactive content.

There have been many different inspirations for this project. Obviously the main inspiration is Last.FM. I have been a fan of this website for over a year and frequently use it, and it has heavily inspired many of my projects. However, other inspirations have been websites which are not online communities as such. For example, Pitchfork Media is a music news website which provides up to date information about music as well as reviewing lots of new releases. I would like to combine this news element with the online community idea.

Web Proposal Detailed

{ November 1, 2007 @ 11:05 pm } · { Marc Taylor, PHP }
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Summary of the Project:——————————–

With the end of my student life nearing its end, this is my last chance to do something important while studying at Birmingham City University, and with this in mind for my production proposal (next semester) I wish to create a Virtual Community in which offers students the ability to upload their CV (or portfolio of work/ to advertise their personality) to the internet, the ability to communicate and discuss potential media enterprises with one another, to find users who offer technical abilities required to fix or address a missing gap in a potential job (photographers, coders, graphic designers etc…), job opportunities and company review forums (to tell others of their experience while at a company,) with the aim of advertising themselves to potential employers. So consequently in a supportive environment, job opportunities can be passed from specialist to specialist, recommended by users or just generally skills can be searched for as required by potential employers to help build up a virtual community of online media employees.

This project is very large for just myself to produce, and with this in mind, for this Web and New Media module I proposal to create a simple mock up of what potentially the website could look like. As I have little knowledge of Apache, PHP and MySql before starting this module, I am requiring heavily on the skills learnt within this module for the project to work, therefore the development will be less on what the topic is about, rather then, what I can create with the coding. Within this module I will be able to gain a larger insight into what is possible and what isn’t within PHP and MySql, and use it as a springboard into the final development next semester.

———————-Target Users——————-

My target audiences consists of students wishing to become more recognised within their field, and potential employers or entrepreneurs who wish to search for particular skills or talents they require to help in their projects. Other target audiences could be Universities trying to raise their post grad- job aspect ratios, employment agencies who wish to fund/ advertise or sponsor the website, to help in the promotion of their own. Therefore the colour and theme of the website need to look professional (to attract employers etc) yet also eye catching and appealing for the student market.

———–Colours and Themes————–

Although I have proposed a customisable web page for each user, I feel in order to attract employers (seeing as some users on websites like Myspace and Bebo have no eye for colour or style), the customisable features will be limited similarly to Last.fm, which offers two different coloured style sheets for users. (More will probably follow with added customisable features.) The theme needs to be modern and up-to-date to illustrate the type of users to be featured within the website. A clear metallic or marble effect is currently popular with the likes of Microsoft Vista and Media and Apple I-pod and Website displaying futuristic modern looking features. (Appendixes 1) .A 3 colour scheme is going to be used within the whole project, which I am currently favouring Black, White and Red (if you are being pedantic then Black and White are shades.)

——————- Market Research:——————-

Competing employment websites include the likes of Monster.com, Unitemps.co.uk, and Jobcenterplus.gov.uk. I am currently approaching Monster.com for their opinions on the project and to see if they have any issues, or can help on the development of the project, however I have yet to get a response. Websites like these offer users advice about writing CV’s, interview techniques and covering letter advice, as well as bulletin boards with job opportunities on. This aspect leaves little for the users to do but search for jobs, instead of individuals for the jobs. These websites lack (or limit) the communal, supportive atmosphere virtual communities offer, through the CMC (computer mediated communication) of users. The advice sections I feel also needs to be included as it is key in the development of those individuals within the website, thus making it feel like we are helping in their professional development.

However competing coding websites (websites in which i would like to replicate), I feel include the likes of Myspace.com, Facebook.com, Last.fm, and Bebo.com as they all offer a form of online community in which users use forms of CMC to interact with one another. All these websites feature internal Email systems, bulletin boards, customisable web-space, wall-to-wall comment system and forums. These are areas in which are vital to developing a thriving CMC community. Devientart.com and Fotix.net are also competing markets, as users upload portfolio content and can gain responses from alternative users through a comment system. This is important if I decide to built a portfolio aspect of the website, in which users can upload their own content/work. I have also approached a number of Media and Arts students from across the country asking if they are generally worried about the competetiveness of their industries and whether they feel they are able to compete within it. Most said that they have had little work experience or forms of contact, within the industry and thus are generally worried about getting a job within the industry in the near future. The website should hopefully help more university students follow their dreams, and point them in directions of extra courses, or skills needed in which to gain the jobs they require; instead of dropping out or in constant fear that their course will lead no-where, and therefore never reaching their potential.

——————Production Plan:—————-

As this is a mock up, with the final outcome only having to be a prototype, a feel I have a free rein over how and what the development will entail. Within this module I am planning to experiment with these areas I have yet to cover, therefore sections may be included or scrapped depending on whether they operate or function successfully. The first weeks of the development will entail myself designing, re-designing, market research sourcing and planning, however the main bulk (4 weeks) will be spent on the development of the coding and CMS system and if there is time left optimising and fixing accessibility issues.

Marc

Http://marc.izonedesign.co.uk (Appendixes are not included within this blog however they are in the printed word document)

Rough Proposal

{ November 1, 2007 @ 9:46 pm } · { Marc Taylor, PHP }
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———–Summary of the Project:————

With the end of my student life nearing its end, this is my last chance to do sometime important while studying at Birmingham City University, and with this in mind for my production proposal (next semester) I wish to create a Virtual Community in which offers students the ability to upload their CV (portfolio of work and a advertise their personality) to the internet, the ability to communicate and discuss potential media enterprises, to find users who offer technical abilities required to fix or address a missing gap in a potential job (photographers, coders, graphic designers etc), job opportunity and company review forums (to tell others of their experience while at the company,) with the aim of advertising themselves to potential employers. This project next semester is a very large for just myself to produce, and with this in mind, for this Web and New Media module I proposal to create a simple mock up of what potentially the website would look like and function.

————– Objectives—————-

My main objectives within this project is to learn the coding language PHP combined with MySql, in order to aid me with my project next semester. As I have little knowledge of Apache, PHP and MySql before starting this module, I am requiring heavily on the skills learnt within this module for the project to work. Within this module I will be able to gain a larger insight into what is possible and what isn’t (With PHP and MySql), and use it as a springboard into the final development next semester.Within this module I wish to learn more about Web2.0, and the customisability that PHP websites have to offer, how to create a CMS system, looking at the creation of comment and internal email systems. As for my professional objectives I wish to understand whether a project of this scale needs help from alternative sources, whether loading times will be slow due to the vast amount of data available, and whether the maintenance and upkeep of the website will drain a lot of time. I already have skills in the area of HTML, CSS and Actionscript and therefore learning another program language will make myself more versatile when trying to gain a job in the future. This project should also give me a greater understanding of project and time management.

Developed Proposal

{ October 30, 2007 @ 11:06 am } · { Katie Butler, PHP, Web 2.0 }
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Project Outline

The main aim for my assignment 2 project is to design and create a fully working application for Facebook. However realistically speaking, this will prove to be a difficult challenge for me and my personal technical abilities, especially as I will be embracing the field of PHP and technologies that I have previously never used or worked with before. What’s more, professional developers themselves do not always produce flawless applications to begin with, so with this in mind I can probably expect that my own application will take a great deal of work and progress to become effectively useable.

Ideally I hope to be able to meet the demands of this project outline, because in doing so I can expect many personal benefits. Nevertheless at the very least I will certainly produce a finished prototype for my proposed Facebook application.

Target Users

My taget users will initially be users of Facebook whose profession or hobby is as a web designer - a profession/interest which I can connect with. Nonetheless if this application does become developed successfully, then there is no reason to say why a similar application for photographers or designers for instance might not be developed as well, and which can be used in the same way.

Market Research: Analysis of similar/exisiting Facebook applications

In order to gain some insight into the types of characterisitcs that make an application successful on Facebook, I have done some initial research into similar existing applications to that of my proposed idea.

‘MySpace Link’ - The MySpace link is a popular application that allows users to put screen grabs of their MySpace page onto their Facebook profile. This application is what inspired my idea for a portfolio application specifically for web designers, and therefore the objectives for both applications are the same: 1) To Promote something 2) To Attract attention towards something that reveals more about that user, or represents that user.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2444083156&ref=s

‘Blog Link’ - Designed by the same developer, the Blog Link appears to be a relatively new application that is an extension or adaptation of the original MySpace Link. Instead of putting a screen grab of your MySpace page onto your Facebook profile, with this application you can but a screen grab link to your blog. As a new application the percentage of users is relatively low, however with the popularity of Facebook and blogging combined, I can almost certainly see this application growing in popularity, especially with professionals such as journalists etc.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2804306884&ref=s

‘Top Friends’ - The reason why I have considered the Top Friends application is because it uses ’skins,’ something which I may incorporate into my own application. The use of ’skins’ with the Top Friends application is extremely popular and makes the application highly distinguishable on a user’s page - This is a quality I would like my own application to have.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?api_key=217a985a6147764ff583cc944fa14633

‘Top Sites’ - Finally the Top Sites application is one that I came across when looking at the Top Friends application, and allows a user to put screen grabs of their favourite websites onto their profile. The application however doesn’t appear to be very popular which could be due to a number of reasons - I.e. It could be quite new, users might experience technical problems with it, however the reason why I feel it is not so popular is because it is quite broad. By this I mean that it may become more appealing if it was more focused, for example instead of just being ‘Top Sites’, it could be ‘Top Clothing Sites’ or ‘Top Music Sites’ etc.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=4247506471&ref=s

Market Research: Would a web designer use my application?

Instead of just follwing my own judgement on whether my proposed idea would work well or not, I decided to contact an established industry professional through Facebook to see what their thoughts on my idea are, and whether or not they would potentially consider using the application on their own profiles.

My contact was Steve Firth, and below is a short extract from what I asked:

‘Im looking to develop an application for Facebook, and was proposing an idea which would allow web designers to put screen grabs of their work onto their profiles to promote themselves.
I was wondering what your thoughs on this idea are as a web designer (good or bad!) and would you consider using the application on your own Facebook account? if yes, why? if no then why not?’

Below is the response I got back from Steve:

‘Yes i’d certainly use the app myself (would be nice to install a useful one for a change). Any extra links and exposure is always good, web worlds pretty saturated [mostly by bodgers] and anything that helps one rise above the bg noise is always welcome.As regards making it ‘commercially viable’ i’d consider keeping it quite open, don’t pitch it too tightly to a niche as if you miss it it’s pretty much end of story … if you kept it so that, for example other creatives could use it as a portfolio or even gen public you’ll probably get a wider uptake.If you’re being marked on just the app itself, that it works, forfills spec etc then keep the focus tight - that way you control the varibles that you’ll be marked on, take up being secondary.If you’re being marked on the ’sucess’ of the app then flexibility is key, people will find use a general app for their purposes. Some gen thoughts:

You can go mad on javascript, facebooks dependant on it anyway (also with slow general loading times ppl wont notice the overhead)

Whilst your designing an app for webdevs, its the public that will ‘use it’ and public like shiney/popup things (am thinking ask’s use of url preview etc)

Any support for stylesheet switching so they can skin own portfolio? (cross url content is common on FB so isnt a security block on this)

Hope this is of help, feel free to msg/add me should you want to bounce any ideas off me or just fancy a webby chat.

gl with your app, it’s nice to see a some women coming into webdesign to balance off a pretty much XY world.

I feel that Steve has made several key points in his response that I can and should take into account, making this particular research quite valuable towards my assignment. For instance when he talks about targeting a niche or mass audience depending on the assignment criteria - I found this particularly important to consider. I also liked the fact that he too suggested the idea of using ’skins,’ something that I have proposed but did not actually put foward to Steve in my original message.

A link to Steve’s company: http://www.devolved.co.uk/

Other comments welcome

The Facebook Conquest?

{ October 29, 2007 @ 5:03 pm } · { Katie Butler, PHP, Web 2.0 }
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Below I have collaborated links to some of the most interesting articles which show just how popular Facebook is, and how the site is becomming more than just a social networking site…

Article 1 - ’Is Facebook the next frontier for online news?’

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/071008yung/

Article 2 - ‘UK Facebook users soar to 3.5m’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/may/23/digitalmedia.facebook

Article 3 - ‘Microsoft strikes ad deal with Facebook’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/aug/23/digitalmedia.microsoft

Article 4 - ‘Social networking a boost to PR’

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2195423,00.html

Article 5 - ‘Amnesty harnesses Facebook generation’

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2187073,00.html

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