Today I fixed and messed around with my layers that the fine Gentlemen helped me out with. I was going to pull a Nathan and add some Layer masks, but I think I'll skip it. I know that they made me really flash literate, but I'm glad that I could create more simple layers. I learned a lot today about layer masks, but I don't think I'm going to experiment with them.

Today I was criticized by my fellow classmates on how my Portfolio had way to many layers. They INSISTED that I completely recreate my entire portfolio and start from Square One. I was helped, but I completed it just in time for the end of class. I did learn a lot more about layers. Since I'm sort of a Photoshop Fanatic, I was taught that you can never have to many layers! Apparently, that's not the case for the Masters of Flash. They said that I should clump my whole navigation bar into one layer, which I did. It looks a lot the same, but it is certainly a lot smoother. I thank them a lot for helping me, and teaching a Photoshoper about layers.

Today I played in flash with backgrounds, changed my background and the transparency of my Navigation bar. I'm thinking about changing the color of my text to black with the background -- But I doubt I will.|
I really like the classic black font color, so I think I'll stick with that. I'll even change my background if I need to. But today I learned a lot about layers, key frames  etc. I have to make for instance the button "Education" to go to frame 50. Which is pretty basic, I just need to make a lot of key frames on frames. (:

Today I messed around with ActionScript. I learned a lot with ActionScript 3.0, but I also figured out that it I'm going to be sticking with ActionScript 2.0. Even though I am a fan of the insanely user friendly ActionScript 3.0, it's really the new thing. I would get into 3.0 if I was new (Or a Web Design teacher), but since I already know how to use all the code I'm sticking with 3.0. I really like the friendlyness of 3.0, but 2.0 is just for me!

Today I tested my flash program in browser and made sure that everything looked right in chrome and in the Flash Preview. It looks alright, maybe not what I was expecting. I wish it would fit the monitor better. I'm not sure if I should resize the entire program to make it fit just these monitors dimensions, just for school, or if I should just keep it the same size. I will definitely think about it and come back on Tuesday and have a good idea of what I want to do.  

I messed with a lot of FLash today, and played around in it. I made a great portfolio that I'm alsmot done with, I just need to fill up the Favorites folder. I'm thinking inputting Music Players to play on the webpage, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about it. I learned a lot today, including Motion Tween action script, and Folders and Layers properties.

I continued to work on my electronic portfolio today. I really tried to make it a fun environment and a lot neater and nicer. I'm really going to simple with my portfolio. I'm really excited with the way it turned out, just the way I wanted it too. It really took a lot of ActionScript, and my Java class helped out with seeing what the ActionScript was all about, and what I needed for certain instances.

Why am I getting an error?

Today I worked on my ePholio more, more on the homepage. I'm really happy about my homepage. I'm also working for transitions to other slides, such as Education, which is on a separate frame. I'm trying to make an actionscript on a button that takes you to a different frame, skipping over the others in order. It's pretty hard and stubborn, so I've been having to look up how to do it in ActionScript. It's very similar to Java, and because I'm working a lot more in Java in my Computer Science I class, I am understanding ActionScript a lot easier, and I am learning a lot. For example, we're working on the If Statement in my java class, and I just wrote an if statement for a button in my Blog. An if Visible tag, since I fade in the Education button on the navigation bar.
I'm having a lot of fun in this class, and hope I can complete everything and up to my standards by the end of the school year.

Today I worked on my flash portfolio more. I was really fascinated with the new flash after the break, and refreshed my memory with a lot of actionscript. They moved a lot of stuff, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. Everything looks different, but I really like some changes. It's a different environment  but it's frustrating whenever a code doesn't work.

Today it's a short 20 minute day. For this block I am just going to customize my blog. I'm looking at backgrounds and different layouts, learning a lot of stuff that I didn't originally know about Blogger. It's a really cool website -- I really like the layouts. The only thing I dislike is the lack of backgrounds. There aren't that many, and less are really taken seriously. They should have a lot more backgrounds. I'm kind of into the current one, but maybe I'll browse for one. I really like my layout a lot, and it's customized. I learned how to customize my layouts, browse for backgrounds in blogger, and HTML code in Blogger

Today I looked around and browsed on more hosting websites. I also worked on my Efolio, and made it a lot more smooth and slick. It's getting to the point where there might be too much bling and buttons on it. I'm not sure, but I think I'm going to have Zach take a look at my EFolio. I am learning a lot in this class, but time flew by really fast!

Today was a short 42 minute day, so it was pretty short. I really just messed around in flash a little bit, fixed  some Action Script, and learned only a few things. I changed up the layers, being more specific. I separated a lot of them so there is only one object, and I renamed it. Also, I grouped a lot of items together so that Inside, they would be broken apart. CS6 is pretty similar to CS3. I don't really think there is that big of a learning curve at all, unlike my peers. There is a big similarity, only a slight difference.

Today I worked more on my Efolio! I have the home page almost completely done, with pictures of myself and all. I decided to change up the backgrounds, and make them change. I couldn't settle with one background, so I learned how to make the background fade as a new title was selected, which I am pretty proud of even though it was quite simple, it still looks really amazing! I like it a lot, since I couldn't settle with one background color anyway. Now my backgrounds all have the same color theme, all I have to do is figure out a color for the Contact Me page, since I've already picked 5 colors to change. Color is really important in Backgrounds, too light of a background is straining to read, and to dark of a background might blend in with the text. I don't want white because that's way to white and way to boring anyway. I'm not quite sure on what I want to do with the Contact Me Background page, but I'm sure I will figure it out on Thursday when it's a manic day in this class. I cannot believe the quarter is almost done! This class is half way through, even though I am going to take Web Design III for sure.

Today I started some more on my portfolio. I got some pictures from home that I have created in the past, and I worked a little bit on my website as well. I learned about PHP coding, and explored some more hosting websites. BlueHost, HostGator, iPage, there's a lot of cheap web hosting websites. I can't wait until the School Tech admin comes to talk to us so I can ask some questions about hosting, and how to import PHP coding through a web hosting website. Also, I want to ask how much money is spent on the website through Network Solutions, because a lot of websites say 5.99/mo, but that's with a whole bunch of ads with their names all over it, which I don't really want. What I'm going for on my website is clean, simple, to the point. No ads. Ads really ruin the cool factor of the website, and would be super annoying. Personally, I hate ads, and I definitely don't want any on my website. On the other hand, I don't really want to pay more money, but if that's what it takes then I might as well. I can't wait until the admin comes here, I have so many questions for him.

Today I collected a lot of Portfolio designs and such for my Efolio. I found some Photoshop documents from this year that I already put in my flash folio, but I couldn't the Photoshop CD from Graphic Design freshman year. I am going to look a little harder when I get home today, and put some designs that I have done at home on a flash drive and import them to the Library in my portfolio in flash. I'm super excited. I learned a lot today, and played around in Photoshop with a lot of healing brushes. I experimented with the new Patch tools in CS6, and the Spot healing brush and Healing brush tools, they have changed a lot!

Today I worked on my Portfolio, and I was setting up different pages. I got my Portfolio page completely set up, so tomorrow I really hope that I can start setting up different Photoshop designs and things that I have made in the past, maybe in Mrs. McNaneys Graphic Design I took in Freshman Year. I think I still might have the CD, but I'm not positive. I really hope I do, so I can expand my portfolio page even more than just the designs that I have made this year. I also set up a few more pages, including pages about my past jobs, credits, etc. All of them have the same theme as my home page, which I am really proud of. I just cant wait to start filling in the pages. I learned a lot of stuff, and I'm still expanding on ActionScript and it's variables. It's really fun!

Today I really learned some fascinating new stuff! I really experimented with the new flash. We have a Flash CS6 book in the classroom that is really helpful when you want to have a physical book at your side and reading it, rather than dual screening it up on your monitor. I really like the book, but this Flash CS6 has a huge learning curve compared to CS3. I like CS6, it's just that it is a lot more different and a lot more complicated than what they could have made it. I am a huge fan of Adobe, but it's really complicated and frustrating sometimes!

Today is day 15! I have really worked mostly on my website today. Figuring out CSS, and refreshing my memory from a year ago has been such a blast. I'm really liking the book that was bought from Amazon, and I'm raelly getting into itl. It has really nice examples and is a good stair step teaching skill. It's a really nice book, and a lot of thought was gone into writing about HTML5. It's pretty simple, when you get down to it. I'm really liking everything, and CS6 is helping me so much with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash. CS3 was holding me back, but now this CS6 software is really helping.

Today I perfected animations in my Portfolio, and I decided to have my navigation bars sort of float in, not a quick slide in. I'm still a little concerned about the rest of it. I'm not sure exactly how to make the entire navigation bar enter, or if I should just have it all come in at the same time. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with it, but I'm going to visit some other Flash websites to try to get a grasp on the whole Navigation entrance. I think it's a very important aspect of a website, so I'm going to work really hard on it.

Day 13

Today has been a very productive day! But hard to keep on track. I always have a plan when I come into this class, expand portfolio, have a better website, whatever the case may be. Always about 10 minutes in, I find out something new with an Adobe program, or html, or something, and I always side track and do a lot of it. I mean, I still get the goal done. Expand Portfolio, but I go above and beyond on something else. I guess it's a positive, but I have just really noticed that I do it. Today I'm checking out NetworkSolutions, because GoDaddy has failed me. I just trust NetworkSolutions more, because GoDaddy hackings happen a lot. I just want a Site with no ads, and complete HTML control editing. Apparently my expectations are too high!

Day 12

Edit: Today is actually 9/13/2012, because last class period Blogger would not let me post! So I wrote this, and now I am copying and pasting it from a Word Document.

Today I have messed around with Flash, and seen the new features. The perspective tool is really cool, so you can change at which angle you are seeing a graphic from. I've been importing a lot of things, which is always taking a while. So I ended up just converting a lot of my .PSD files to .JPG files, which are much smaller. Today we got uninterrupted by a Fire Drill, which has really cut down on a lot of time! I would like this block to be a lot longer. I'm really glad that our school has new computers, because I could not run the 3 Adobe programs at the same time like I have been doing all hour and not end up waiting for a few days. I'm really glad we got this upgrade, and I think that I have been ignoring the fact that we have.

Today I took the hour and forty five minutes of class and looked at fonts, design, and colors. I learned some really neat facts about how the brain takes in colors. Like what colors are easier to look at than others. Red and black are a very popular color scheme for people in school, just because it looks really neat. When really, red and black are extremely hard on the eyes. It's really hard to focus and read. Same with a colorful or busy background. That's why it's really easy to focus on white, like word documents or different text documents. White and black are the biggest contrasting colors, so that's the default. But default is boring! So I need to go with a Sans-Sarif font that's easy-on-the-eyes, and same with a background. I think that it would be really good if I had a page that was easy to look at first, then organize it.

The ninth day!

I'm still working on my flash Portfolio. It's coming along really nicely. I have figured out a title, and I made a nice fancy navigation bar. I really like it, it has a total of four slides. so far. This hour went by really fast, so I don't have a lot of time to blog. Today I really got refreshed on ActionScript, since the last time I used it was a year ago in Web Design I. I have now remembered how to make buttons, and the different tags such as gotoAndPlay (slide#); I didn't really learn a lot of new material today, just got refreshed on a lot of past subjects. The HTML5 book is working out really nicely, and I'm glad I got it. Even in my free time I crack open the book and start coding right at home. I've also studied the design of my Portfolio. Like what colors, fonts, designs, etc. Going with THE font for your website is a tough process. Lots of times it's not really taken seriously and into deep consideration, but to me it is actually very important. Not only does it have to be easy on the eyes, but it has to really express the words. Make a bold statement, or a fun goofy sentence. Font matters!

Eight

On day eight, I have been changing gears and working with my eFolio instead of my website. I’m making the design and backgrounds in PhotoShop. So far I only have the Navigation Bar and a background for it. But once I get the rest of the slides done, all I really have to do left is write about myself, and of course add in some animations. I’ve been having a lot of fun so far. Today, I learned that ActionScript is really similar to Java. I learned ActionScript first, and I never really thought that they were alike until I coded in ActionScript today. Resizing my page is sort of difficult, because when you preview your page in a window it should go to normal size. With my customized size, it doesn’t. So I have to type about 20 lines of code to make the window resize when it starts, so all of it can fit in the window. I'm already running into difficulties my first hour and forty five minutes! But that's the fun.

This is Day Seven. Happy week of Web Design II. On this day, I have tinkered around with HTML 5 and seen what it can do. Especially with GeoLocation. This is a brand new thing for HTML 5, and it's really cool. I'm thinking about putting it on my website. I have learned a lot about GeoLocation so far, and might even expand on it. It's really interesting, and fun. 

Also, I can officially say that I have made Cases! Which is probably the happiest I have ever been getting an error. 

It can automatically detect an error, here's an example of my code:

 function locateFail(geoPositionError) {

                switch (geoPositionError.code) {

                    case 0:

                        alert('An unknown error occurred, sorry');

I have a total of 4 cases, including how the browser doesn't support GeoLocation, you don't have your location set up, unknown, and timed out. It's really cool, and I have always wondered how websites detect errors when they are happening. I have been really loving this class, and this HTML5 book is really helping me out with everything. I'm glad this book was purchased! 

Seis.

Today I forgot my flash drive, so I will be making another page to my website, but instead of Notepad ++ I will be using Dreamweaver to code it. I like N++ Better, but Dreamweaver will have to do. I am really enjoying my website. I did purchase a domain from GoDaddy over the weekend, but I strongly disliked their service. It was tasteless. The site was filled with Templates, and no actual code. The only thing that I could input myself was Java Script, and I'm not going to write the whole website in that. Java Script is the only code I saw in the website. And even though I did purchase the domain myself, there was still a GoDaddy ad at the bottom. So I canceled my order and got a refund, and now I'm thinking about going with Network Solutions. I really like their setup, but I am going to continue my research with them so I do not make the mistake of just going with any host company. The host company is a lot more important than I thought, since it is the entire skeleton for my website. I want something that is simple. Not like GoDaddy, with super simple "templates", so a businessman can set up a website even though he has never worked with any coding language ever. But I would really like a professional hoster, which is what I will be researching later today. Honestly, a website that fits my needs shouldn't be complicated at all. But, researching is fun.

The 5th Day

Today I researched how much domain names cost. I'm thinking about buying one to maybe make an image board. When I signed up for this class, my idea was to make a really good website with an actual domain. I'm getting close to compeleting my goal, and I'm really hoping that it will turn out well. I'm not sure what website I want to go through with yet, I'm thinking about GoDaddy.com. I'm really pumped for this class, and it went really fast! I also learned about making table backgrounds, which was really complicated. I thought that it was in the style, not the <TD> or <TR> tags. It's hard when you get back into HTML after taking a break, because you recognize the attributes, but not where the attributes go.
But it has been a great day, and the class has flown by really fast!

Day 4

Today I am making the general layout for my website. 

Right now I'm trying to have Captcha be on my website -- But I think that it actually has to be online. Usually websites provide the code for you to have their images on your website, but the code that I copied from the captcha website doesn't work. I think that the problem is that the website has to be online. 

Everything else is going fantastically though, I am programming in DreamWeaver, even though one day I hope that we have Notepad++ on these computers so I can try and keep up with Zach. This captcha thing is so confusing, and it keeps pulling me away from the window. 

Website link will be up soon~

Tres!

Today is an all block day, so I am going to write this blog with haste! I am really excited with this class, because I just got my second edition HTML 5 book from Amazon. I was really surprised how fast the book shipped, and I'm happy with the book I got. I can't stop reading this book, and I have wasted almost the whole block reading all of it's information. I'm a little interested with this new Canvas feature, and really interested with the Geolocation in Applications in cell phones.
Back to having fun with the new code~

Day 2

I have really pinpointed exactly what I would like to extend my knowledge on in this class. I want to use HTML5 to make a website. Of course, the site isn't going to be purely HTML5. There might be some other code like php, or something along those lines. But I have a pretty high goal: To build, and host a website that I own, with my own domain. I really hope that everything works out! I know that it's going to be a really long coding process, but since I have a whole semester class to complete it, I think that I will be doing just fine. I also have started to think more about my efolio, which will be really neat. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Flash, I think that programming a whole page about myself, and my life shouldn't be the most complicated thing in the world. What's going to be much harder is my website. I'm really excited for this class, and it's my favorite so far!

1st Day - Passed

Today, I experimented with Blogger. I found out how to customize my Blog page. I also added some fellow classmates. I am having a great time, and I think I really like my customized Blogger page. I also figured out what I now want to study in this class -- HTML 5. I would really like to extend my knowledge on this new Programming Language. I already skimmed one of Mrs. McNaneys HTML 5 Books, and it was really hard to stop reading. I think that this will be my favorite class this semester. I am really happy I chose to take this class after Web II, even though I had no idea what I wanted to study. I also really like the people taking this class as well, because they are so friendly. I love this class, and cannot wait to start learning and extending my knowledge in a new programming language!