Communication

Yesterday I was introduced to communication in the workplace. To start my day on the wrong note my hot dog steamer went out of commission forcing our members to either abandon lunch at our building or choose pizza. My associate informed me that we have had a problem with the heating conductor from the hot dog steamer since the weekend. So I sat my associate down and asked her why this was not brought to my attention sooner. Today, I informed her via text that as a result of lack of communication in the workplace our department suffered a -24% decrease in sales versus last year.

While I was ringing up each member I noticed a young woman that seemed to set herself apart from the rest. How do you transpose what you want for lunch when you are deaf? So I spoke to her so that my mouth didn’t seem to be mumbling because I assumed she could read lips. After I realized she couldn’t read my lips I felt confused. This young woman took my hand and cupped it together and stared her eyes into mine. Even though I couldn’t understand her speech impediment I knew what she wanted because she introduced me to her way of communicating. She wanted a pepperoni pizza, cinnamon pretzel, four berry sundae and a wild cherry icee. After I finished the transaction with her she smiled at me and said thanks.

This made me realize that when I graduate from Francis Tuttle Technology Center I’ll need to find a way to communicate with others. I need to begin commenting my HTML, CSS and JavaScript files for when someone else encompasses my projects. This also made me realize that I’ll be posting a mandatory meeting with my associates with the main topic of communication.

Team Work

I’ve plowed through the course LAPs and I can’t imagine working alone. On October 28, 2010, I attended OpenBeta5 which was held at The Oklahoma City Co-Working Collaborative in Oklahoma City, OK. The community of web designers and developers showed me what teamwork is all about. The foundation for all the projects and companies success are solely founded on teamwork.

Teamwork is essential to the success of any business from retail to web design. As I mentioned earlier, I can’t imagine conducting business alone in the web design and development field. You need a team that you can trust that will take on various tasks that make a working web site successful. Many people in our field focus on one area of ability. Someone could be an expert in JavaScript and nothing else. This means you need to have someone who is an expert is CSS and HTML for JavaScript to work. That is where team work comes in.

The people who I heard speak at OpenBeta5 created a strong bond with their fellow web designers and developers. These people spend long nights hacking away on codes to create something fantastic. As I progress in my education I hope to acquire similar friendships so that one day I’ll be presenting at the next OpenBeta.

Take Charge

My whole life has revolved around ideas and interests that last as long as a hobby. I’ve wanted to be apart of the Web Design and Development program at Francis Tuttle since I was 25. Now that I am 32 years old in two weeks I realize that I’ve taken the biggest step towards a better life. Running across this assignment was a punch to the gut when it told me that I must have the passion for this industry. With all the complications and obstacles that I’ve run across since August 18th, 2010 I’ve proven my dedication to this program. Sure it cost me an arm and leg to fix my computer and many long hours to finally grasping the concept of File Transfer Protocols (FTP). I can now proudly say that I do have the passion for this industry. Back when I was younger I would’ve given up due to all the road blocks that I’ve encountered and went on with my life caged up in my house like a true loner.

Over the summer I realized that my life was placed on pause while everyone else was still in motion. I knew that it was time for me to stop waiting for others to hand me instructions on how to earn success and do something about it. I knew it had to be something drastic and outside the box. One day I checked my mail and saw the course outline to the Web Design and Development program in my mailbox. I can confidently say that my grandmother would be proud that her money from her inheritance is going to a good cause.

Today I went out and bought Business Plans Kit for Dummies by Steven Peterson and Peter Jaret. I’d like to start a couple of businesses after graduating from school. One business focusing on web design and development with a lot of skills and the other being a summer camp for the youth that discovers our future. Hopefully with the help of my father he will guide me in the right direction to get these goals due to his successful background as a business owner.

All my projects have given me the hope that I needed to reassure myself that it isn’t too late no matter how old you are to become influential in this industry. In the near future I’d like to create podcasts that show what I’ve learned to help others. One day I would be honored to be your mentor. Today I am taking charge.

Drupal.org

Dries Buytaert is an open-source software programmer and founder of Drupal from Wilrijk, Belgium. In 2000, Dries and a friend (Hans Snijder) created a wireless bridge between their dorm rooms to share a modem connection among eight other students. After Dries setup this elaborate solution he ran across one big problem, how do we communicate with one another? This is where he created a message board which evolved into the infamous Drupal.org frenzy.

After Dries graduated from the University of Ghent he created drop.org so that his friends can stay in contact with one another. They were able to send snippets of code, keeping up with each others lives, etc through the site. After a year had gone by his friends spread the word about his software and the ideas from the community starting poring in for the possible expansion and growth of Drupal. Dries decided that it would benefit him that he make the software an open source technology so that he can be left alone to conduct his own experiments and developments. Dries created a free software package that allows a community of users, or an enterprise to easily publish, manage and organize many types of modules on a website. The technology allows any site to automatically link content together, allow multiple users to affect the site’s content, and add, change, cut content through a web browser. These modules include blogs, forums, podcasting, picture galleries, file uploads and downloads, newsletters, peer-to-peer networking and many others. The types of websites that these modules offer appealing upgrades to the users site are discussion sites, intranet applications, e-commerce applications, corporate web sites, community web portals and many more.

Today thousands of websites have switched to the popular Drupal CMS (Content Management System).

• The Emmy’s
• The Grammy’s
• Java
• Symantec

According to Tom Geller’s video training modules on Lynda.com he tells us that no special training or certifications are needed to understand Drupal CMS. He does state that it wouldn’t hurt to understand HTML, PHP, SQL and System Administration.

Here are a small group of content management system technologies that are like Drupal. After many hours of web surfing I have come across some exciting systems such as Javelin Content Management System which was created by Dave Miller’s company at back40design.com, CMS Made Simple, Joomla!, Frog CMS and our beloved WordPress.

Here is a solution to saving the rain forest. We create a new technology named News CMS and anyone in the world can be the author of today’s newsworthy topics. You can send pieces of work ranging from cartoon strips, obituaries, news to daily advice. If someone beats me to the punch on this concept I’d like to be apart of the bundle of money that comes your way.

Cites

1. Drupal.org: About
2. Drupal.org: History
3. Wikipedia: Drupal
4. Wikipedia: List of CMS
5. US & V Designs: Who is using Drupal?

Trustworthiness

 

For most people, trust is a sensitive issue in the web design and development world. Trustworthiness is key to your success in this industry whether your job is of the graphic designer, information designer, interface designer, document production, scripting and programming, multimedia and student. When your supervisor gives you a deadline to meet they are trusting that you’ll complete the task.

Trustworthiness can come in the form of simply logging on a preferred browser and navigating your website. The user expects to browse the pages with ease. Would you gain their trust if you forgot to double-check your work and the user ran across a dead link?   How about if the user had to wait 15 seconds to have your page load or you had annoying sound playing that couldn’t be turned off?  The user has lost trust in your work and has now left to never return.  Just by imbedding the words, “Designed by [Your Name Here]” at the bottom of the page can seal the deal.

I’ve had many downfalls in the last couple of weeks with my computer. If it isn’t my power supply dying then it is something else. So when I took it in for repair (the name of the company will remain nameless) I trusted they would fix my computer since they advertise themselves as the best. They told me that I would get a call in the next one hour on the status of my computer and I never got a call. So after work, 3 1/2 days later, I walk into the store and confronted them about the status of my computer. Apparently, they were unable to fix my computer because my motherboard blew and they suggested that I buy a new one. So I took my computer to another shop and in 24 hours they fixed my computer and informed me nothing was wrong with my motherboard. It was the power supply that they installed at the previous shop. So who are you going to trust? At this point, I feel like I am letting my professor and peers down by not meeting my deadlines.  

The one major concept that I’ve learned from this program is to trust yourself.  I’ve taken the time to browse my fellow peers’ portfolios and I’ve not been disappointed.  I trust that after graduation someone will hire all of us because we trusted ourselves and our work.

Home Page

You are either intrigued by a website or you feel the need to quickly close your browser. One of the worst sites you can visit on the world-wide web in our field of web design and development would be bellsnwhistles.com. When you arrive to this site you become overwhelmed by the several links on a single page. It wouldn’t surprise me if you conjured up a huge headache. Aside from never knowing where you are among the dozens of links this site hasn’t changed in years and seems out-of-date with our times. In order for this web page to be easier on any user they need to consolidate. You’ll notice that they have too many separate links to bullets, backgrounds, animations to resources. If you look hard enough you’ll notice three essential links that would be of interest to you.
1. Site Index
2. Resources
3. Software

Another site to avoid is rentmychest.com. This site will never be designed to be easy to navigate. I can suggest ideas to better this site until my face is blue but it wouldn’t matter. Rentmychest.com is too busy and its ego is too large.

Netflix.com is ultimately the easiest web site to navigate. It allows the customer to log on and find what they are seeking without frustration. The tabs allow you to keep track of your current place inside the site. They seem to use the same rule of thumb that I love, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Hulu.com isn’t on the top of the list of great web sites but the web developers understand the importance of navigation. As a viewer you’ll always know where you are inside the site.

A friend of mine told me about inspiredm.com so I visited it after work. Even though it seemed like a lot of information after a quick glance I realized they knew how to clump information up and make it easy on the reader to navigate the site.

Taking Stock

1.  What are your web design goals?

My goals are to become fluent in several computer languages.  I want to learn how intricate websites become functional.

2.  Which aspects of web design interest you the most?

My goals are a toss up between scripting and programming or document production.

3.  What currents skills do you have that will be useful in creating web pages?

In college, I was familiar with Front Page.

4.  Which hardware and software tools do you already have for web design?

1st and second computer.  The first computer is a desktop and the second is a laptop.  I am in the midst of obtaining the required software.

5.  Which tools do you need to buy?  Which tools would you like to buy eventually?

Adobe Photoshop.  I am contemplating on Adobe CS5 or a new version if that becomes available.

Choices

Choices come in many forms.  It can be situations where you wish time machines existed or it can be deciding between two television shows whose time is clashing at the same time.  So we must decide which to choose from because 7 p.m. is thirty seconds away.  Thank goodness for DVR and or online archives on established media sites.  Whew that was an easy choice to make!

Another form is found in deciding to make the big leap into a new career.  Will going back to school help jump-start my new life?.  I hope so. The Web Design and Development program has taught me a lot in the past couple weeks by helping create a brand name. Should my focus be in one area or all areas of my study? My choice is to be well-rounded so that I have a better chance to be hired.

Choices in the business world can be a sink or swim situation.  For the past year at my workplace we have ranked 13 out of 14 in my market until a choice was made.  Should I order more bag in the boxes or move the chip rack away from the members?   The first decision means spending more money to make negative or positive results.  Or I could simply move the chip rack away from the members so that we could make more money at no other cost.   So I decided the latter and succeeded in obtaining rank 11.  The reason this choice was made was that the members thought the chips were included in the combos so they simply got free chips on my dime.  This was a difficult choice that gave me butterflies but eventually rewarded my department.

Additional choices come in many disguises that can damage a relationship, improve the workplace or make you a better person.  I hope someone hires me by the time I’ve completed my courses at Francis Tuttle Technology Center. Of course that is my prospective employers choice. So what choices do you have to make today?

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is power.

Do you remember when you were a child going to school for the first time, then rapidly passing each grade level with a certain level of difficulty to walking across the stage after graduating high school? Do you remember you couldn’t get that grin off your face? It was us working together as a team to gain that bit of knowledge and power.  And here we are again.

Now that we’ve returned to further our education this new level of knowledge has me excited.  I am yearning to learn the following tools of the trade.  I know that PHP, HTML, XHTML, AJAX, CSS, XML, JavaScript, MySQL and Drupal all sound like abbreviated medical issues.  But don’t fret because these so-called abbreviations can create a wonderous new world.

My fellow friends I am looking forward to collaborating with you in this journey into the unknown.  I look forward to learning these wonderous tools of the trade so we can conquer our fears and questions.  To pinpoint that one thing that has me most excited to learn about in this course is almost accomplished.  My first blog.