Tuesday, October 27, 2009
New Program
I needed to use a new program. I was way WAY too slow in DW, and I got a tutorial on Joomla, and it was SOOOO much easier. I did one page, my homepage, in DW, then did the remainder of my site using Joomla. I think i'm going to do all my sites in the program! It's so easy. Joomla.org
New Method
My original plans for the site involved the help from other sites to better explain my theme. For example, I had a page idea where peoples good works were something that had contributed to their identity. The things they've done on this earth, can contribute to who they are. Of course, what people do in this lifetime can be good and bad, but I chose to focus on the good.
This site was going to function in way where the face of a well known person will be a link to a site containing their biography. So click on Martin Luther King Jr, and you get send to a site explaining who he is and what he does.
I found out, however, that I cannot do links to to outside sites, so I ended up cutting that page all together. I felt as though I wouldn't have enough time to build a new page that centered around that theme. And it just didn't feel right having new pages pop up w/ a hand-written biography.
So the "Faces" page is not long in my site.
Also, I think its important to mention that I had two other page ideas, one about doors and the choices we make, and one about time and the length of our life. AFter examining these pages, I just didn't feel as though they fit into the IDENTITY theme well enough. They were bit more about my opinion and how I felt about the concept of identity. I didn't want it to be like that. I didn't want it to be just me, talking about identity. So that's when I had the idea to get other people's opinions. I decided to ask people what they thought about identity.
Some of the quesitons I asked were, "What is identity? What is your identity? Can you define you own identity?"
Here is one of the videos I posted on the site.
From here I can go off of the theme "What is identity?"
This site was going to function in way where the face of a well known person will be a link to a site containing their biography. So click on Martin Luther King Jr, and you get send to a site explaining who he is and what he does.
I found out, however, that I cannot do links to to outside sites, so I ended up cutting that page all together. I felt as though I wouldn't have enough time to build a new page that centered around that theme. And it just didn't feel right having new pages pop up w/ a hand-written biography.
So the "Faces" page is not long in my site.
Also, I think its important to mention that I had two other page ideas, one about doors and the choices we make, and one about time and the length of our life. AFter examining these pages, I just didn't feel as though they fit into the IDENTITY theme well enough. They were bit more about my opinion and how I felt about the concept of identity. I didn't want it to be like that. I didn't want it to be just me, talking about identity. So that's when I had the idea to get other people's opinions. I decided to ask people what they thought about identity.
Some of the quesitons I asked were, "What is identity? What is your identity? Can you define you own identity?"
Here is one of the videos I posted on the site.
From here I can go off of the theme "What is identity?"
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
New page?
I thought about a new page to add to my site. This page will have a lot of links to outside sites, so I'm hoping it will help to expand my site a bit.
Here is the image I have in mind:
That title/theme of this page will be "What can one person do?"
It’s not that clear, BUT what I’m thinking is sort of a page full of portraits. Like double the amount of portraits here, So the whole page is full of portraits. Majority of them are Black & White, boring, dull, don’t stand out, blend in, similar to each other, BUT there are select few that DO stand out. Select few that are in Color. Select few that are people that HAVE made a difference in this world.
Each portrait will have a “name plate” under their picture, BUT the B &W will have blurred names, names that you can’t really read. But you can tell it’s a name, but you can’t really read it. You can repeat faces even if you want to. I am trying to show that they don’t stand out, they are just another face in the crowd. The identity comes when you stand out from the crowd. Work to your highest potential. Shine above the others, BUT shine with individuality.
The "important people", (in color) will have the same “name plate” but their name will be very clear. I want people to be able to read who this is. Their faces will be more clear, possibly a color vs. B&W contrast? My goal is to have each of these important people be a LINK to their autobiography. And that way people can read about them, learn about them, etc.
My other goal is for the title “What can one person do?” be hidden in the B& W faces. So when someone scrolls over the B & W faces, the word “What” flashes, than another face will have the word, “can”, then the next “one”, next one “person”…etc.
So it will be a hidden sentence, but people have to scroll over the boring faces to discover the sentence. If that makes sense.
I have picked out a few “important people” and I have found good portrait photos of them.
Heres my list so far:
William Wilberforce -http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/1944_Amazing_Grace_in_the_Life_of_William_Wilberforce/
Mother Teresa - http://www.ewtn.com/MotherTeresa/index.htm
Princess Diana - http://www.princess-diana.com/diana/diana.php
John F Kennedy - http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/JohnFKennedy/
Martin Luther King Jr. - http://www.thekingcenter.org/
Brother Yun - http://www.songsofscripture.com/Brother-Yun.html
They select few don’t’ have to come in any particular order. They can be scattered among the page.
Here is the image I have in mind:
That title/theme of this page will be "What can one person do?"
It’s not that clear, BUT what I’m thinking is sort of a page full of portraits. Like double the amount of portraits here, So the whole page is full of portraits. Majority of them are Black & White, boring, dull, don’t stand out, blend in, similar to each other, BUT there are select few that DO stand out. Select few that are in Color. Select few that are people that HAVE made a difference in this world.
Each portrait will have a “name plate” under their picture, BUT the B &W will have blurred names, names that you can’t really read. But you can tell it’s a name, but you can’t really read it. You can repeat faces even if you want to. I am trying to show that they don’t stand out, they are just another face in the crowd. The identity comes when you stand out from the crowd. Work to your highest potential. Shine above the others, BUT shine with individuality.
The "important people", (in color) will have the same “name plate” but their name will be very clear. I want people to be able to read who this is. Their faces will be more clear, possibly a color vs. B&W contrast? My goal is to have each of these important people be a LINK to their autobiography. And that way people can read about them, learn about them, etc.
My other goal is for the title “What can one person do?” be hidden in the B& W faces. So when someone scrolls over the B & W faces, the word “What” flashes, than another face will have the word, “can”, then the next “one”, next one “person”…etc.
So it will be a hidden sentence, but people have to scroll over the boring faces to discover the sentence. If that makes sense.
I have picked out a few “important people” and I have found good portrait photos of them.
Heres my list so far:
William Wilberforce -http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/1944_Amazing_Grace_in_the_Life_of_William_Wilberforce/
Mother Teresa - http://www.ewtn.com/MotherTeresa/index.htm
Princess Diana - http://www.princess-diana.com/diana/diana.php
John F Kennedy - http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/JohnFKennedy/
Martin Luther King Jr. - http://www.thekingcenter.org/
Brother Yun - http://www.songsofscripture.com/Brother-Yun.html
They select few don’t’ have to come in any particular order. They can be scattered among the page.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
a few page thoughts...
I've been working on the first few pages of my site and I've developed a templet that seems to work for the ideas I've come up with. It seems to work with photos on the right and text on the left, like the photos below. I've got to improve on the look though. It doesn't seem eye catching enough. Right now, there isn't much drawing the viewer's eyes to both sides of the page.
To explain these a bit. The home page (with the globe) is sort of there to note how big the world is and how there are so many people and faces and possibilities. I put myself in there to sort of note the importance of me finding my identity. The importance of me figuring out where I stand in this world, what my possibilities are and how I can stand out above the rest. The questions on the side will be links to other pages that sort of discuss those questions.
There at two door pages: the first one, with the black backdrop follows the template that I had mentioned earlier, but I'm not sure I like the feel of it. I am thinking of changing it around a bit more to make it less geometric and more sort of hectic. I feel as through it should be a hectic page. I came up with a second idea for the doors page, and that is with the white backdrop. This is a bit better, because the site viewer can sort of choose the door for themselves. I am hoping to add some animation so that the doors can be scrolling across the screen. I need to give it some more thought though.
There at two door pages: the first one, with the black backdrop follows the template that I had mentioned earlier, but I'm not sure I like the feel of it. I am thinking of changing it around a bit more to make it less geometric and more sort of hectic. I feel as through it should be a hectic page. I came up with a second idea for the doors page, and that is with the white backdrop. This is a bit better, because the site viewer can sort of choose the door for themselves. I am hoping to add some animation so that the doors can be scrolling across the screen. I need to give it some more thought though.
The final page I put up is the TIME page. This is the page that asks, "How much time do I have on this earth?" When will God decide that my journey has come to an end? I set up the basic idea of this page, but I want to take it deeper. I want there to be a deeper feel from this one. So I have a bit of work to still do on it.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Which door do I choose?
I started a page to sort of think about doing a room with doors. A room in which I have many options. So I currently have 3 doors to choose from, but obviously I don't know what is behind them. I think it is a universal concept that most people can understand, but I do want to put my own spin on it. I think I want to incorporate several doors. Maybe a room full of floating doors or something. Maybe a room that has hundreds of options rather than just 3. This is what I came up with so far, but I know it needs a lot of work...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Page adjustments
My original thought on my homepage was going to have a spinning globe in the corner of it. On that globe, i was going to have a bunch of crowds and faces located at different places in the world, to sort of represent how big the world is and how easy it is to become hidden amongst such a big place. After doing the animation for the globe, I realized that my page would be much simpler if I just left out the animation. I think it would fit in with idea more if I kept my page less complicated and more simple. I tried to upload the spinning globe that I created, but was unable to make it work on the blog :(
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Project Concept
When it comes to design possibilities, I am hoping to go with more of a hierarchical design. The home page will be my main page in which all other pages generally come back to. The home page will set the theme for the rest of the site. The other pages will come from links to the home page. There will be various links from the home page that lead to other parts of my site. The same sort of concept will come from the other pages as well, so as described a sort of hierarchical design will be created.
As far as structure goes, I had originally imagined the site being more organized and easy to navigate through, however, after thinking about how the main theme is the sort of craziness and enormity of the world, maybe a more random/crazy structure would suit the site better. I have not yet decided what to do.
The home page will focus on the world as a whole and how it is so vast and large that it may be difficult to find one’s identity and one’s place amongst such overwhelming numbers. The theme will sort of be like an identity must be seeked out in order to be found. The idea is that an individual’s identity can sometimes be hidden and overcrowded with all the other things of this world, but the important part is finding out what each person’s individual identity is. The answer to finding out a person’s identity may be too complex of an answer to find. Some key steps to finding this answer is to establish one’s place in the world as well as what they want to accomplish or where the fit in.
There are three main questions on the home page:
1) Where do I fit in?
2) What good works can I do? And
3) How long will my journey here last?
So my site will sort of focus on either answering these questions or going in deeper into what these questions are actually asking. For example, when I ask, how long will my journey last? I’m pretty much saying, how long do I have on this earth? How much can I accomplish in the short time that I’m here. I plan to stay away from the whole “sands in the hourglass” idea, because it is very cliché, but I do plan on focusing on how life is really short and its important to seize the moment. I am possibly thinking of going with a hidden life behind a marked door sort of theme. “What’s behind door number 1?” kind of idea. And each door with be a sort of link to life’s possibilities. Career paths, family choices, and of course, the mystery path, where you never really know where you will end up.
Another page might focus on living for a purpose. Standing up for something.
A site that inspired me was www.timespentalone.com. This site did the same sort of hierarchical design in that the home page was the source of the information and you can click on links from there. They also focused on the enormity of the globe and travelling and deep inner thoughts, which I found to be a good idea.
As far as structure goes, I had originally imagined the site being more organized and easy to navigate through, however, after thinking about how the main theme is the sort of craziness and enormity of the world, maybe a more random/crazy structure would suit the site better. I have not yet decided what to do.
The home page will focus on the world as a whole and how it is so vast and large that it may be difficult to find one’s identity and one’s place amongst such overwhelming numbers. The theme will sort of be like an identity must be seeked out in order to be found. The idea is that an individual’s identity can sometimes be hidden and overcrowded with all the other things of this world, but the important part is finding out what each person’s individual identity is. The answer to finding out a person’s identity may be too complex of an answer to find. Some key steps to finding this answer is to establish one’s place in the world as well as what they want to accomplish or where the fit in.
There are three main questions on the home page:
1) Where do I fit in?
2) What good works can I do? And
3) How long will my journey here last?
So my site will sort of focus on either answering these questions or going in deeper into what these questions are actually asking. For example, when I ask, how long will my journey last? I’m pretty much saying, how long do I have on this earth? How much can I accomplish in the short time that I’m here. I plan to stay away from the whole “sands in the hourglass” idea, because it is very cliché, but I do plan on focusing on how life is really short and its important to seize the moment. I am possibly thinking of going with a hidden life behind a marked door sort of theme. “What’s behind door number 1?” kind of idea. And each door with be a sort of link to life’s possibilities. Career paths, family choices, and of course, the mystery path, where you never really know where you will end up.
Another page might focus on living for a purpose. Standing up for something.
A site that inspired me was www.timespentalone.com. This site did the same sort of hierarchical design in that the home page was the source of the information and you can click on links from there. They also focused on the enormity of the globe and travelling and deep inner thoughts, which I found to be a good idea.
Been thinking about my home page...
I was able to do a sketch of what I hope my home page will look like. The trick is learning how to manipulate my pages in Photoshop or in Flash in order to make things move and look good. Here is what i was thinking for my home page...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Site Critique: Time Spent Alone
The site I came across was http://timespentalone.com/. This site really caught my attention because it has a very similar style to what I had imagined my page would look like. This page seems to incorporate several places across the globe and various photos of breathtaking landscapes as well as some of natures little wonders. On my site, I plan on incorporating the world as this giant, enormous and mysterious structure with an emphasis on how small humans are in comparison to it. Where identity comes into play is the idea that our individual identities may be hard to find amongst such enormous, overwhelming surroundings, but as unique beings we are some how able to find our place on this earth. This site speaks to me because of the author’s connection to nature and his fascination with travel. When the author focuses on “time spent alone”, it is the authors chance to step away from the social world and sort of become one with nature. I liked how this author wasn’t afraid to incorporate their passions and the things that they enjoy the most. This author, to me, was sort of thinking out loud. This author decided to take their deep thoughts and questions, and put them on a site. I liked the site a lot.
The homepage of this site is simple in its layout with a few cells on the top of the screen and a scrolling background. The background looks like a view from Google Earth as it rolls across the screen. As you scan your mouse over the image links, they change from transparent to more opaque images. I like this idea, because it makes to page come to life. It makes it an interactive site. In my site, I hope to create a sort of animation when scrolling over words. Hopefully images as well.
I like how the links of this page are the author’s thoughts. Each link is titled, but then has an image to go with it. For example, one link is titled “I wish I could read faster” and the image is a big stack of books. This is great to me, because it is the inner thoughts of the author. It seems as though they just took an idea and went with it. When you click on this link it sends you to a room where books are just piling up. It is very creative, because the books fall from the top of the screen as if they are just being piled on one by one until they fill up the screen. A bit like the game Tetris. This was a very creative part of the site. You can clearly see the titles and authors of the books, which makes me think that these are some of the books the author likes to read. You can tell a lot about a person by their book collection. So this may be a way for the author to reveal a bit about his identity and the kind of things he is interested in.
Another link is when the author wonders whether his memories unravel with time. He wonders if his memories just sort of disintegrate into space when he isn’t looking. Which is really odd and different to think about, but the author definitely thinks about it. Here he has a picture unravelling. It’s slowly falling to pieces. It’s also an interactive page because when you click on the image, you are able to unravel the image further and sort of hurry up the process of the picture unravelling. I definitely want my site to be interactive in a sense that clicking on different things can lead to different ideas or different images or different messages.
Another link which stuck out to me is titled, “the places I would like to visit”. When you click on this, you are taken to a site that resembles and search engine map. Like Google Maps or Google Earth. You type in the place you would like to go, then the map in the background takes you there. The author seems curious about where other people would like to go as well as his own desires. He makes it interesting because he added a bit of flare to the search engine because whatever you type into the search box appears in large, bold letters on the right side of the screen. This sort of emphasizes the place you would like to travel.
It is an all around creative site and I think I can draw a lot of ideas out of it. It gets in tune with nature, and travelling, and has a more global point of view, rather than just a stationary, local one. I like that and I can definitely grab some ideas from it.
The homepage of this site is simple in its layout with a few cells on the top of the screen and a scrolling background. The background looks like a view from Google Earth as it rolls across the screen. As you scan your mouse over the image links, they change from transparent to more opaque images. I like this idea, because it makes to page come to life. It makes it an interactive site. In my site, I hope to create a sort of animation when scrolling over words. Hopefully images as well.
I like how the links of this page are the author’s thoughts. Each link is titled, but then has an image to go with it. For example, one link is titled “I wish I could read faster” and the image is a big stack of books. This is great to me, because it is the inner thoughts of the author. It seems as though they just took an idea and went with it. When you click on this link it sends you to a room where books are just piling up. It is very creative, because the books fall from the top of the screen as if they are just being piled on one by one until they fill up the screen. A bit like the game Tetris. This was a very creative part of the site. You can clearly see the titles and authors of the books, which makes me think that these are some of the books the author likes to read. You can tell a lot about a person by their book collection. So this may be a way for the author to reveal a bit about his identity and the kind of things he is interested in.
Another link is when the author wonders whether his memories unravel with time. He wonders if his memories just sort of disintegrate into space when he isn’t looking. Which is really odd and different to think about, but the author definitely thinks about it. Here he has a picture unravelling. It’s slowly falling to pieces. It’s also an interactive page because when you click on the image, you are able to unravel the image further and sort of hurry up the process of the picture unravelling. I definitely want my site to be interactive in a sense that clicking on different things can lead to different ideas or different images or different messages.
Another link which stuck out to me is titled, “the places I would like to visit”. When you click on this, you are taken to a site that resembles and search engine map. Like Google Maps or Google Earth. You type in the place you would like to go, then the map in the background takes you there. The author seems curious about where other people would like to go as well as his own desires. He makes it interesting because he added a bit of flare to the search engine because whatever you type into the search box appears in large, bold letters on the right side of the screen. This sort of emphasizes the place you would like to travel.
It is an all around creative site and I think I can draw a lot of ideas out of it. It gets in tune with nature, and travelling, and has a more global point of view, rather than just a stationary, local one. I like that and I can definitely grab some ideas from it.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Give it a spin...
After: 
When I swopped places with someone, a completely new image was produced. One that I hadn't thought about. It has this idea of spinning the wheel and not really knowing where i am going to land in a big group of people. I like it. It's different and new.
When I swopped places with someone, a completely new image was produced. One that I hadn't thought about. It has this idea of spinning the wheel and not really knowing where i am going to land in a big group of people. I like it. It's different and new.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Some Inspiration...
I took a few photos that were inspiring to me. I haven't thought about what I would do with them yet, but I feel like I could possibly use them in photoshop to get some really cool designs out of them. If nothing else, I can sort of have a starting point for my site. Here they are.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
some identity sites
I looked at a lot of interesting sites that I think may deal with Identity. Most of these I found from the WebArt blogpage.
Here:
Here:
Still comtemplating...
I've thought about my current ideas on Identity and I want to really sit down and think about where I am going with that. What will the ending be? Where will I end up once I sort of "zoom" into myself? That bit I have to work out and really think about.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Thoughts on identity
Identity. What is my identity? I am a small small dot on this earth. I know that my life will be short compared to the life span of this earth. I appear and disappear in a mere 100 years. I am small, I am so small it's like I am invisible. Yet, I have the opportunity to do many things and make big impacts on the earth in the time that I have. I may be small, but I am unique. I stand out from all the other 6.7 billion people on this earth. I have been given life so that I can make a difference on this earth. I have been given life, so as not to waste it, but to do great things with it.
To put this idea into a webpage, I am imagining a globe. A view of the globe from space. Off to the side of the page. With text at the top that starts small, but becomes large once you roll over it. You roll over the text, to
get to the earth. The text draws you to the globe. Once it gets there, you click on the globe and it blows up. Huge! It fills up the screen. Animation of some kind.
Then once you zoom into the earth it's a better view of the earth, but will 100,000 of small people on it. But people that when you scroll over, they get bigger. They become someone, they have a name for them. Then, when it scrolls to me, I am bigger than the rest, and clicking on me, brings the viewer to the next page.
The theme is to follow that in reality, I am so small in comparison to the rest of the earth and the rest of the people, but once you go deeper, and go deeper into my life, you see that I have a unique role to play. I have a unique function for this earth. The deeper you go
, the further you get into my life, and who I am, and what I contribute to this earth. Here are some photo ideas...
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Numero dos!
Here are some inspiring photos. Haven't done anything with them yet. They are a good starting point.
Blog numero uno
So...as my first blog, I'm not sure what is required of me, but I'm assuming it's mostly writing down my thoughts and ideas.
I've been thinking a bit about my IDENTITY site and I've come up with a few ideas. Seeing another's site, I was reminded of the passion I have for animals. I was thinking I could have somewhat of a jungle theme or a safari theme. Animal print background or the animation could involve moving animals. I would want to make sure that it doesn't turn out too childish, however. Not like a child's book.
I also have a passion for traveling. I want to see the world. Every last corner. And maybe I could tie in the idea that I don't belong in one set place. My heart belongs at different ends of the earth. I'm picturing sunrises, nature, etc. Pictures will come later...
I've been thinking a bit about my IDENTITY site and I've come up with a few ideas. Seeing another's site, I was reminded of the passion I have for animals. I was thinking I could have somewhat of a jungle theme or a safari theme. Animal print background or the animation could involve moving animals. I would want to make sure that it doesn't turn out too childish, however. Not like a child's book.
I also have a passion for traveling. I want to see the world. Every last corner. And maybe I could tie in the idea that I don't belong in one set place. My heart belongs at different ends of the earth. I'm picturing sunrises, nature, etc. Pictures will come later...
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