Sharice's Weblog

our Christmas tree…

sharice — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:35:49 +0000

…is still not up.

But neither is my mom’s.

We joked about just setting the box on end in the corner, wrapping it in lights and garland, and duct taping the ornaments on. Sure would make putting it away easier next month.

december 1st

sharice — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:49:36 +0000

I just got used to the idea that it was November and now it’s over. I suppose it didn’t help that everyone in the house spent part of the month sick. The kids are excited to put up the Christmas tree this weekend. Which means I have a lot of work to do at home this week making room for the Christmas decorations. My goal this year is to mail the gifts to friends and family Outside early enough that they will arrive before Christmas. If I get that done, I might even try Christmas cards this year. However, if the month goes anything like November, maybe I should just start working on Valentines now…

initial Fireworks experiments

sharice — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:25:44 +0000

Working with Fireworks for the first time was pretty cool. I wasn’t sure exacting what to expect, so I guess my expectations were met. For some reason the directions for the first tutorial were easier for me to follow than the second one. The figures of the panels in the second tutorial didn’t quite seem to match what I was seeing in Fireworks. But other than that, the exercises were problem-free. I came away from the exercises realizing that I understand very little of the capabilities of the program. I’m looking forward to learning more so that I don’t feel like I am gripping the directions for dear life.

color schemes

sharice — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:24:53 +0000

I started my color scheme search by browsing the websites of universities. I found a good example of a blue monochromatic color scheme at the BYU website. The Harvard website is an example of a complementary color scheme, using red and green. After searching for a while without finding any triad or analagous color scheme examples, I figured I needed to branch out. I suppose a school’s colors are going to be the main consideration in the colors selected for a university’s website. To find the other two color schemes, I tried to think of organizations that would want to represent themselves with certain color combinations. According to the reading red, yellow and blue are the “mother of all triadic schemes.” To me, the primary colors, especially when used in combination, are associated with children. So after a little digging for various child-related sites I came across the Big Brothers/Big Sisters site. It uses green, orange and purple instead of red, yellow and blue, but still seems intended to portray a playful kid-related feel to the site. And finally, the analagous scheme was described as the most simple and elegant color schemes to use. So who would want to present themselves simply and elegantly? Martha Stewart, of course, with various shades of soft blues and greens.

Halloween in Fairbanks

sharice — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:56:49 +0000

So we took the kids out to the hills for trick-or-treating Friday night. We had to do a little more driving and walking than the 400+ trick-or-treaters who hit places in town like Shannon Park, but it was totally worth it.

We only did 4 streets and between the two of them they made out with 16.5 pounds of candy. Those folks sure are generous and happy to see the handful of kids who come by. And a special thanks to Grandpa the Chauffeur!

How’d they do that?

sharice — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:50:10 +0000

Maybe this is a simple thing, but I would like to know how to change the color of the text on a link after it has been visited. A lot of websites do this, I have included a link to the faculty list on my work website as an example. (School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences faculty)

thoughts on Dreamweaver

sharice — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:10:27 +0000

I guess the frustrating or most difficult things about Dreamweaver fo me right now mainly stem from my need to spend more time fiddling with it. The little things that should be second nature to set up when we get started are not second nature yet. And I am starting to wonder if I need to organize my root folder materials better. It is becoming quite a list that maybe needs more folders, but I am not sure quite the best way to organize them. It also seems that there are so many different ways to do things, it is almost overwhelming. Mostly, I need to use it more frequently and ask for advice about organizing files. Oh, and I discovered I do much better understanding the directions given during in-class assignments over following through the tutorials on my own.

So far, I am really enjoying the work we are doing with CSS. The options this opens up are exciting. I am looking forward to exploring this more.

I don’t have any experience coding pages with any other tools.

found a great site

sharice — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:52:23 +0000

I should just mention that I am a planner/organizer addict. I am always searching for the perfect planner that is going to help me keep my crazy life neat and tidy and on time. My life’s mantra is “If I could just be more organized…” I usually go through about three planners a year that just don’t quite match what I need. Does anyone out there really have a life that ends at 6 pm? As a single, working mother, that’s just when it starts getting really busy. I’ve realized that probably more than a planner, what I really need to get everything done is a clone. But I have discovered the next best thing.

Kristen Brooke Beck has obviously felt my pain. Her website offers great planner pages in all kinds of variations in pdf format. She has designed some really helpful pages – like the ones that incorporate space for menu information (genius) – and she takes suggestions for new pages. The icing on the cake is that ALL the pages are FREE to use. You should check it out: www.kristensguide.com

rambling

sharice — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:14:43 +0000

Usually, I don’t talk just to hear the sound of my own voice, but I’m making an exception here.

websites using CSS

sharice — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:29:52 +0000

The website I suggested in one of my previous posts (allrecipes.com) does use style sheets. And the one I mentioned as a “stinky” website does not seem to be using style sheets. At least I couldn’t find any clues they were in the page source.

The allrecipes site source has font tags and tables, but they seem to be encompassed within page divisions.

The print preview screen on the homepage looks very similar to the site (just without the ads), but on the pages of individual recipes there are options to have a recipe print in different sizes such as full-sheet, 4 X 6, or 3 X 5 card formats.