FLEWY

Blog theme

2009-06-04T23:48:00.000-07:00

Didn't get much time to focus on my blog :( but I have chosen to do a beachy, layed back theme for my blog, as it reflects my love for this magnificent environment that I have been connected to all of my life as I grew up 1 minute from beautiful Sandy Beach... Ahhh to be in Canberra now sucks...!

Well not as 'flashy' and 'pimped' as other blogs, but I'm happy!

Overall, this unit has been challenging, rewarding, stressful and every other verb in between! But I have learnt a lot and hope to do alright!

That would be all for now!

Website Completion!

2009-06-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well I have successfully finished my website, here is the link: http://stonefest.x10hosting.com/

I am very relieved that it is done, now to finalise my blog theme... Hmmm I have a general idea of what I wanna do, I probably am leaving it a bit late, but the website has truly pulled my focus away from everything else!

Ok wish me luck, it's now a race against the clock... My blog won't be as great as some other awesome blogs that I've seen but I will do what I can in the time I have and that's all I can do!

2009-06-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

My website is pretty much finished just got to do some finishing touches and I'm laughin! The design of my site has not changed much since my last design concept post which showed how the background would look. The site will be posted up very shortly for all to see my final design. I am reasonably satisfied with my design, however, given more time to focus on just the design it probably could have been a bit better.

I have encountered various successes and fails so far in the process of making my site. But hey hasn't everyone, it's all part of learning I guess! I must say that it has also been a challenge keeping this blog, because I am so busy with my web site and other assignments that I forget to write what I'm doing every week! This is something I will have to improve upon!

The main problems I encountered in the process of making my website was getting the table menu to function correctly on the program page. Had issues with sizing and getting it into a position I wanted. In the end google was my friend, found some sweet sites that help n00bs with css positioning. Other than that it was just about using Divs and CSS styles in the right order. I'm happy with the end result.

Could not get a footer to work, wasted days... trying sigh. Footer would not stay at the bottom, no matter how many step by step guides I followed on the interwebs, or in the book.

Getting my main menu to be horizontal was a little bit of a challenge, found out from random forums about inline and how to make a basic html css horizontal menu. Gotta love google.

I know that my site looks and functions nicely in mozilla firefox, but it still looks ok and functions fine in Internet Explorer, it just doesn't listen to my height commands for the program table. But as long as it looks and functions great in mozilla I'm happy.

Will post again when I submit my web site link!

2009-05-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

Website is coming along nicely... A bit stressful at times... but making progress!

Design Concept

2009-05-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

This is an example of one of my website designs that I have been working on. I have decided not to go with the idea of nature themes like I said in my last post, I like the direction my new design approach is going because I think it reflects more effectively the contemporary atmosphere and feel of Stonefest.

2009-05-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well... I am so not good at this whole blogging thing, I keep forgetting to use it! definitely won't be getting my full 20% for my lack of bloggingness, but don't judge me ok!

It's been ages, but it's better to write something now then leave it even later, have mercy and have that in mind when marking my blog progress... I was and still am a bit behind in my web site project but I am currently in the process of catching up! I have nearly finished the web book, and have found a hosting server of my liking called x10 hosting, my website will be located at http://stonefest.x10hosting.com/ and so far I have an "In development" heading there where my stonefest site design will eventually go!

As far as my design is concerned I have experimented with various different looks and styles, I have decided to go for a natural earthy look using a warm colour scheme and themes from nature. Pics of my design will be posted in another 10 weeks... JOKES!

Design References

2009-03-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

I have decided to go with Stonefest for my website design. The following sites are my 5 design references. (Please note that for some reason they have not turned out to look centred even though they are...)

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/20-beautiful-photoshop-montage-tutorials/

http://www.sixdifferentways.com/

http://www.gingermonkeydesign.com/

http://www.viciousenterprises.com/summersblog/innovation-in-lingerie-fail

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/

Seven key characteristics:

1. Illustrations
Across all five reference sites that I chose the use of vector based illustrations is a key element. The illustrations are featured across the top of the page together with the main heading/theme of the site. The illustrations dominantly reflect themes of flora and nature. I really love the illustrations featured within the sites, it is a look I'm aiming to accomplish for my own web page.

2. Alignment/function
The alignment of the site's content and designs are centred. I am particularly drawn to centred pages as I believe that they look more aesthetically pleasing, are more easily accessible and look clean and fresh to the eye.
The main headings of the sites are mainly aligned to the left of the centred page lay out. The site's pages are easily functional due to the directional vertical scrolling of the pages. The various panels of main content/text have been conveniently designed so that navigation between the information featured on the sites is conveniently accessible simply by either hovering over the link topic where the information relating to that particular topic will automatically appear in the left side of the page, or by clicking directly on the link. For my web site, I hope to be able to incorporate the automatic content change which occurs by simply hovering over the link, (without clicking)and if the viewer is interested in a particular topic of information that they have already sampled while they were hovering over the topic with their mouse, they can then further directly click on the link to make the content permanently stay on that topic.
The layout of the sites is simplistic, to the point and effectively designed to reflect that of the main themes and further suited for the intended audience.

centred page

3. Backgrounds
All sites (excluding the Ginger Monkey site) are laid out so that all of the content is encompassed within a white paneled box. Surrounding the white box, there is a background of either a bright colour or plain white. I preferably like the sites which have the white box with the bright colour surrounding it as the contrast is more effective and it really attracts more attention to the content and focal elements of the page. Another benefit of having the white panel box as the background for the content is that not only does it make the central themes of the page more legible, but it also allows for more freedom with font colour selection.

contrast between white box encompassing the content of the page and the coloured background.

4. Main text/content layout
The main content (includes the area that features the most type) is featured mainly so that it is to the left of the centred page layout situated underneath the central heading/theme of the page. The majority of the sites happen to feature the main text content to the left of the page, however, I would be happy with it either way, left or right, as I think that both sides could have an equal effect. I will just have to see which side the main content will suit to go on for my page!

5. Links layout
The links across the sites are dominantly featured to the right of the centred page layout, on the opposite side of where the main content section is. I prefer the way the majority of the sites are laid out, that is with the links running vertically down the sides of the page as opposed to across the top, as I think that the central theme/heading should at first be the central focus of attention and shouldn't be clashing with links directly underneath. Again, similarly as mentioned above I don't mind which side the links are on, depends what goes with the other elements of my design at the time! Across all sites links are easily accessible and clearly identifiable.

6. Fonts/typeface/text
The choice of typefaces within the sites are clear and legible. The headings and sub-headings stand out successfully above the other text, as they are either featured in different colours, larger font sizes or in bold signifying a hierarchy of importance. I will strive to pick a typeface that is easily legible and at the same time compliments aesthetically with the other elements within my design.

7. Colour
The choice of colour is dominantly vibrant and bright across all of the sites. The illustrations and the headings are the main attraction central to colour. From the chosen sites, the colours which are most dominant are warm colours such as red, pink, orange, yellow etc. Similarly, in my web site design I would like to use bright and vibrant complimentary and contrasting colours.

Well there it is... Hope it's ok, took me a while. I have really learned a lot over the duration of this assignment, so I hope that is reflected above!
Note: for some reason on my actual blog, the 5 site references did not turn out to look centred even though they are on my posting preview, don't know what's up with that?

2009-03-05T01:33:00.000-08:00

So I figured this out ay, woooo! Finally got myself a blog...

Web Design & Production sounds pretty cool so far, (I say that now...) even though I have no idea about anything to do with web design! But that's what I'm here for to LEARN!

I decided to go with blogger because I felt sorry for it, because from what I noticed not many people went with it. I wish I could say that I'm not going to pick Stonefest for my web project, because it's sooo popular, but out of the other options I guess it's the one that suits me best, or should I do the folk fest one? I love folk music... Hmmmm decisions... Don't worry I will decide very soon!

Now for the next task, finding 5 Design references, I will get on to this very soon because I'm such a procrastinator and am trying to stay more on top of things this year... Wish me luck!

Till next time!