Web designing on the fly…

Monday 07th September, 2009

I found this really interesting tool that seems to be legit.  It would probably be really helpful for maybe graphic designers who are starting out in learning XHTML/CSS, and web designers learning to use table-less designs. Yes, I know there are still some of you out there still designing in tables! *shudders*

Here’s a link to it to check it out:  PSDtoCSS online.

There are some guidelines to follow when uploading your file, that you should consider, in order to assure accuracy.  Looks pretty cool, though. If I ever get some time, I’ll try it out some more and let you know how it works out.

Good luck!

the moo-vie review comp

Thursday 20th August, 2009

Finally overcoming a design block hurdle, here’s the comp I’ve finally chosen:

A couple changes I’m already thinking of implementing since having the initial design are:

1) incorporate a drop down sub-navigation

2) include breadcrumbs

3) make the left column in the main content area a little more solid. To me, it feels like it’s missing something, missing some cohesiveness.

4) I do plan on incorporating breadcrumbs to help navigate the site.

So, anyways, I’m all open to ideas!

Research

Tuesday 18th August, 2009

I feel like I’ve fallen behind a bit, but I’m working hard to stay focused. Anyways, I’ve been researching websites that are similar to my capstone project. There are several sites out there already doing movie reviews, so competition is fierce. One thing no one else is yet doing, is providing their movie reviews in video format. So hopefully, mine will be unique and fun enough to make a name for itself.

Rotten Tomatoes

I remember when Rotten Tomatoes wasn’t as widely-known. Their website wasn’t so inundated with advertising. What I don’t like about their site now is that it seems a bit cluttered. Their homepage is so loaded with content, sometimes I don’t even know where to begin. I typically will just go to this site now and search for a specific movie, no browsing. What it does do really well, is provide up-to-date reviews, and information on specific movies you are searching. They have a pretty large following, so it makes their reviews more reasonable. After all, the more contributions, the better way of averaging a rating. They are pretty organized however, and their main navigation and subnavigation are fairly easy to follow. The one biggest thing that I liked about their site, is that they have a page dedicated to their critics. It’s definitely something I’m incorporating into my site.

IMDb

IMDb is a lot less flashy and a bit more straightforward. Design-wise, they are not impressive. I can definitely say that I do use their site when I want information on a movie or an actor. I don’t really use them for the reviews provided, but more for the factual information they provide on movies/actors.

Yahoo Movie Reviews

I didn’t even know Yahoo had an official movie review site. It’s fairly well organized, but it just seems so geared towards advertising and not about putting the information out there for users to read. Their reviews are minimalized, letting me know their site is not really focused on the reviews themselves, but just advertising the movies.

Roger Ebert

Well, can’t have movie reviews without Roger Ebert I suppose, however I’m the least impressed by his site. Design-wise, I really hate it. Everything about it. The colors,  the way the navigation sits. I totally missed the navigation when I first opened the page. If your users can’t navigate your page, why would they even bother to read your content? I’m not sure if his site attracts a lot of traffic as the reviews are only his. Ah vanity, thy name is Roger Ebert. There doesn’t seem to be a place to comment back. No social networking allowed. Well, he does allow for people to email him with questions, but that seems to be the extent. Overall, not really a site I will be using as a good influence.

Overall, I think these sites are a good mix. They offer both the good and the bad, which is a great thing. They allow me to see what I as a user like and don’t like, and thus in turn can apply it to my site, hopefully making it just as successful if not more.

website for the mobile phone?

Thursday 06th August, 2009

i’ve always wanted to learn how to make a site for the mobile phone, so doing this research was something i was looking forward to.

i found this website that made it seem so simple.  It has 4 easy steps to make a site mobile:

1) use a mirror hosting site with a mobile subdomain, so for example, my site could use http://mobile.themoo-viereview.com.

2) there’s a snippet of php code that is necessary to use to make a site be usable by mobile phones.  What the code does according to the site is:

Changes all URLs to “mobile”-ized URLs.

Strips all linefeeds, carriage returns, and tabs.

Trims multiple spaces down to one (HTML doesn’t recognize more than one space in a row).

Changes any anchored images with alt text to plain text anchors.

Strips all stylesheets, images, inline styles, scripts, and comments (including RDF).

Tells search engine robots not to index or crawl the mobile version of the site so as to not create duplicate listings.

3) you will also need another piece of php code that.  this part of the code actually tells the page to output to the browser. it takes it in and reads the code and spits out the page.

4) finally, i will need to use an .htaccess file to enable prepends and appends. the prepends and appends are the files that store the codes in #2 and #3 above.

Another site I found was MoFuse. This site apparently has a simple platform that makes it easy to build your mobile site.  Seems like they let you choose for iPhone or Blackberry, but looks like there’s a fee to use. But looks like they also host as well.

I think for my site, which will contain several videos (flash-based), it would be ideal for me to make a mobile site. the mobile site will exclude the video reviews, but will display the reviews in text format. i think this would be the best method to not alienate my mobile users.

Much too long

Thursday 06th August, 2009

I know it has been a great long while since the launch of my new blog, but many great things have been happening.

I finally got to go visit Chicago for my summer break, and found it absolutely spectacular!  If Seattle doesn’t deter me, then I am most definitely moving to Chicago at some point in the future.  I am now also in the middle of my summer school quarter. With midterms coming up next week, and only 2 more remaining school quarters left in my educational experience, things are getting busy!

I am for the moment working on updating portfolio pieces that will be a part of my final portfolio presentation that is required for my graduation.  I am having to update websites I’ve created, as well as print pieces.  I’ve uploaded a lot of my work up on my facebook and myspace accounts.  I am still working on making my flickr account more active, but need to digitally enhance some of my photographs.

I found this amazing article for designers, who like me have struggled on their own personal designs.  It was really great info, but most of all it was great food for the designer soul.  It helped me realize I was not the only one out there who struggled with getting up my portfolio re-design up and running.  I can’t even begin to tell you all how many revisions I went through and how many different designs and re-designs and scraps and everything.  It was a good read for me, hope the rest of you enjoy it as well!