The aim is to create a digital portfolio in the form of a website
First thinking about what the internet is used.. a form of communication, self promotion and a resource for research, news and information.
A web page typically consists of links as navigation and content which is visual or written.
The program that we'll be using is Dreamweaver which I know a bit about and have used to construct three previous web sites. I can work quite well with html code to so that shouldn't be much of a problem.
Issues that people face when designing a website, you don't have complete control of how it is going to look as there are many different ways that it will be viewed.
You first have different screen dimensions, if you create it on a small or large screen it will either be to bag and have a scroll bar along the bottom to fit it all on which never works very well if the page is intended to read down or it will be positioned in a strange place lost in the free space around it.
Then there are different web browsers and new forms of technology and ways of viewing it such as smart phones, games consoles, iPads etc.
Another issue to consider is image quality and which file type to use. The most commonly used for web would be gif. or jpg. as they are smaller files and the smaller the files for the content the faster the pages will load which is essential as people will become impatient waiting for the page to appear and might leave it for another site so you would have missed out on an opportunity for someone to see your work.
Jpg. is a compresses file that could be of image or text and it has unlimited colours.
Gif. is a graphic image file, that has limited colours of 256 so often they don't work well with photos as there are a lot more tones of colours in the photos so the image will become slightly distorted.
I took a photo and saved it as a jpg. and a gif. and you can see the difference in the backgrounds where the tones really start to blend and form new colours the gif can't pick this up so you start to see rough edges of colour.
My next step to take is to look at websites that I like visually and decide what sort of thing I want to create with mine, layout, colour, images etc.
The main structure for the website is shown below, It has to include an introduction link to CV, Contact page and Portfolio and from there it has to link to six portfolio piece minimum.
It can include video etc.
What I plan to do next is get some screen shots of my favourite web sites, not thinking about it from a design point of view to start with, then analyse them, see which I think work well and why that is then I can look further into the design of the ones I thought worked well.
I can then start planning the design and layout for my website.
Tutor Notes and Ideas
-Updated CV: improving and updating my CV, adding any changes of ideas, things learnt etc.
-Notes: Keep regular notes of exhibitions, events, journal articles of interest and any thing of relevance that I find interesting.
-Business Plan: Ideas for a hypothetical business
-Digital Portfolio of work: Could include development of piece, recent work in and out of class.
-Notes on potential employers: Be looking out for possible employers, ideas of who clients could be, who might employ you and what your role would be.
-Issues that you might face, ethical issues, rights and copyrights etc.
Working towards a work placement thinking about the work you are creating, where it will end up and who might employ you.
Portfolio presentation may be shown as the website if it is complete
keep notes on journals and screen prints of progress.
Records of where the information and ideas are from, bibliography of books, web links, tv, radio, film, documentary's etc.
