Synthasite is a Web 2.0 publishing platform that enables anyone to build a website for free. The website features easy to use drag and drop interface which is compatible with all browsers.
* Who are the users?
Websites are build by a variety of people, such as designers,45 artists, hobbyists, small businesses, gamers, bloggers, schools, and countless other people and organizations.
• Information chunk (gestalt principle, amount information)
The Sythasite website presents the information about it’s services in short and concise sentences. The platform allows the user to easily create pages without using HTML code, and follows the standard rules of dropping and dragging of widgets or other RSS feeds.
* Relevance (graphics, content, reading level, text)
This Web 2.0 publishing platform is simple to use. The instructions are well sequenced and the pages are easily created with predesigned templates which can be customized. The website does not contain very much information which would hinder the user from creating and developing their own site with too much difficulty. The novice computer user can easily create a website which encompasses all of the elements of interface design, usability, visuabilty, functionality, and accessibility.
On Interactivity
* Orientation (Can you find the path, and know your way around?)
The platform makes it easy to create and manage the pages of the website without using the HTML codes and linking tools used in other web authoring providers or applications like Dreamweaver. Syntasite automatically creates a primary navigation menu as you create each new page. It also allows the user to edit the pages and the navigation through a site manager.
On Screen Design
# Attractive (first impression)
My initial impression of the Synthasite home page was it was very good. The site invites the user to create a new website for free and presents the information with a professional look and feel. The site utilizes a lot of white space. Even though the page does have rotating images in the main section, they use subtle transitions which do no distract away from the other sections of important information.
I like the professional look and feel of the templates which Synthasite has. The services are a great tool to create and publish websites for free, customize pages without the use of HTML codes, and incorporate the uses of other Web 2.0 tools by dropping and dragging in links to social networks, widgets, and other providers and hosting services.
Dow/Dowe Family Website
http://dowanddowefamilywebsite.synthasite.com/Updates.php
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Web 2.0 Conference @ Moscone Center
Today, I went down to the Moscone Center to register for the Web 2.0 conference. The conference starts tomorrow, Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 10:00. I was told by Patrick, the event coordinator, that the first 300 people will receive a free t-shirt. I'm not quite sure if I'll be able to attend the conference at any time before Thursday, so I probably won't get one.
FYI - My name was not registered or in the computer, so I lucked up when Patrick gave me a free badge to the exhibits only. Let me know if anyone has any similar experiences. Thanks...
FYI - My name was not registered or in the computer, so I lucked up when Patrick gave me a free badge to the exhibits only. Let me know if anyone has any similar experiences. Thanks...
Reflection to class on April 22, 2008
Tonight, in class, we were grouped into groups of three,, and directed t view and comment on each other's site. I was paired with Joshua and Marcus. they both have done a great job at putting their Blogs togeter. My Blog leaves a lot of room for improvement. Intially, when class began, I tried to connect with a few of my classmates from ITEC #830, but I was unsuccessful. After that, I got caught up with the heavy load of work, from my classes, and basicaly developed my Wiki and Blog to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately, I was having a lot of difficulty until Christina showed me hoe to create a page element for links. I'm very grateful for her help.
After the class made comments to our partners, Dr. Foreman gave the class an outline to base our final proposal on. It looks like its going to be a lot more than what I expected, but it'll be alright. I'm practically finished with my #894 project, and started adding Web 2.0 activities throughout the lessons already. I only need to fine tune and post everything onto my website, Keys 2 Digital Music.
After the class made comments to our partners, Dr. Foreman gave the class an outline to base our final proposal on. It looks like its going to be a lot more than what I expected, but it'll be alright. I'm practically finished with my #894 project, and started adding Web 2.0 activities throughout the lessons already. I only need to fine tune and post everything onto my website, Keys 2 Digital Music.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Design of Everyday Things _ Chapter #1 Reflection
Voice thread Outline
Oil burner, which uses tea light candles
Accordances,
• Refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used.
• Afford = is for
Constraints,
• Make something easy to use with few errors. Is to make it impossible to do otherwise.
• Constrain the choices.
Mappings,
• The relationship between two things, between the controls and their movement
• Is the set of possible operations.
• Good mapping has a natural relationship between the controls and the thing being controlled.
Feedback,
• In design, it is important to show the effect of an action.
• Without feed back we turn o\ff equipment at improper times or restart unnecessarily.
• What result has been accomplished.
Visibility,
• The correct parts must be visible, and they must convey the correct message.
• What parts operate and how.
• Visibility indicates the mapping between intended actions and actual operations.
Conceptual model –
• In order to know how to use things, we need a conceptual model of how they work.
• Other clues to how things work come from their visible structure, in particular from affordances, constraints, and mapping.
The fundamental principles of designing for people are:
1) Provide a good conceptual model.
2) Make things visible.
Oil burner, which uses tea light candles
Accordances,
• Refers to the perceived and actual properties of the thing, primarily those fundamental properties that determine just how the thing could possibly be used.
• Afford = is for
Constraints,
• Make something easy to use with few errors. Is to make it impossible to do otherwise.
• Constrain the choices.
Mappings,
• The relationship between two things, between the controls and their movement
• Is the set of possible operations.
• Good mapping has a natural relationship between the controls and the thing being controlled.
Feedback,
• In design, it is important to show the effect of an action.
• Without feed back we turn o\ff equipment at improper times or restart unnecessarily.
• What result has been accomplished.
Visibility,
• The correct parts must be visible, and they must convey the correct message.
• What parts operate and how.
• Visibility indicates the mapping between intended actions and actual operations.
Conceptual model –
• In order to know how to use things, we need a conceptual model of how they work.
• Other clues to how things work come from their visible structure, in particular from affordances, constraints, and mapping.
The fundamental principles of designing for people are:
1) Provide a good conceptual model.
2) Make things visible.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Five Fframe Story
The five frames which I choose was of a street perormer I saw down in Fisherman's Wharf, during the 2007 Winter break. when I first saw the two soldiers dancing together, I was quite fascinated. When we first got to the area where they were dancing, I thought it was two children panhandling for money, by dancing. As I looked closer, I could tell they weren't children, but I wasn't quite sure what was going on. After about five minutes of this waltz around the square, a man took the costume off. He manipulated the costume by bending over and using his hands and feet to move around in circles.
Reflection to Story: Chapter #5 | A Whole New Mind
Our next group assignment was for us to create a Powerpoint presentation on Story: Chapter #5 | A Whole New Mind. First of all, let me begin with a little information about this book and I. I found this book to be very compelling. usually, reading is like pulling teeth, for me, but, after reding the first fewe pages ofthe book, I was reading it at every chance I got, and rcommending it to everyone. These are very unlikely characteristics for me, but that's what happened.
I believe the thing that really impresed me most was the cover of the book. When I purchased the book, in february, I covered the bbook, and didn't look at the cover, ubtil after I read the first chapter. In the book, Mr. Pink often referred to the right creative side of the brain versus the left analytical side, and how the society has been impacted by Asia, Animation, and Abundance. Now I understand how my friend lost his job last year, due to outsourcing. Anyway, the book cover has a brain with music notes going through it. I feel validated, since I have played music since I was a child.
Chapter #5 | The Story Powerpoint presentation was created on Google Docs, by our group. I felt the presentation in class went pretty good.
Reflection to class presentations.
The students in our class have made some very impressive presentations, throughout this semester, but I must admit that the collaboration between Mei Li, Yu Fen, and Doris is very productive. I appreciate how they work with each other . I also thought that using the free online reader in their presentation was ingenious because it compensated for their heavy accent and gave a professional sound to their presentation.
I believe the thing that really impresed me most was the cover of the book. When I purchased the book, in february, I covered the bbook, and didn't look at the cover, ubtil after I read the first chapter. In the book, Mr. Pink often referred to the right creative side of the brain versus the left analytical side, and how the society has been impacted by Asia, Animation, and Abundance. Now I understand how my friend lost his job last year, due to outsourcing. Anyway, the book cover has a brain with music notes going through it. I feel validated, since I have played music since I was a child.
Chapter #5 | The Story Powerpoint presentation was created on Google Docs, by our group. I felt the presentation in class went pretty good.
Reflection to class presentations.
The students in our class have made some very impressive presentations, throughout this semester, but I must admit that the collaboration between Mei Li, Yu Fen, and Doris is very productive. I appreciate how they work with each other . I also thought that using the free online reader in their presentation was ingenious because it compensated for their heavy accent and gave a professional sound to their presentation.
Reflection Updates
Here is my attempt to justify my absence from the digital realm of my Blog. I've been doing a lot of off line work, specifically reading, A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink, and also Design of Everyday Things. I've also been pretty engulfed with working on my #894, and preparing to graduate in May. I started making some post on my Wiki, but did not transfer them over to my Blog. In some cases, I didn't even post my reflections to either site. Sometimes, its very difficult for me to stay dialed into a computer to communicate on a daily basis. When I initially started putting this Blog together, I tried to connect with all of my classmates, but the only reply I got was from Joshua. At that point, I read and posted my reflections, without any interaction with anyone. Eventually, I hope to develop a more consistent routine to keep me up to date with the present social networking trend.
Reflection to Connecting the Dots
Last week, I missed class, because I was out of town. When I return, I was assigned to a group with Brian, Christina, and myself. Our assignment was for us to create a video for the article, Connecting the Dots: Literacy in the 21st Century. As a group, we worked, fairly well, together to put together a pretty good video. The one dilemma which we were faced with was someone erased 1/2 of the first version of the movie we had started creating. Initially, that was pretty upsetting, but we got it together in time to present to the class. The presentation went well, and I was pretty satisfied with the final product. The main thing I realized after that was that saving your work on the computers in BH 170 could be detrimental, if you don't make a backup copy, before you leave.
Reflections for previous assignments
Connecting the Dots Video on YouTube
Created by Barry Dow, Brian Rodriques, and Christina Antos
Five Frame Story on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/
_________________________________________________________________________________
Powerpoint Summary of Chapter #5 - Story | A Whole New Mind -Daniel Pink
Created by: Barry Dow, Brian Rodriques, Christina Antos for ITEC #830
Link to presentation on Google Docs - Story
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dgvn5pg_2fr9xwqht&hl=en
Created by Barry Dow, Brian Rodriques, and Christina Antos
Five Frame Story on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/
_________________________________________________________________________________
Powerpoint Summary of Chapter #5 - Story | A Whole New Mind -Daniel Pink
Created by: Barry Dow, Brian Rodriques, Christina Antos for ITEC #830
Link to presentation on Google Docs - Story
http://docs.google.com/Presentation?docid=dgvn5pg_2fr9xwqht&hl=en
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