Edexcel BTEC

Creative Media production

Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 1

Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 2

Class Work

Week 1


Content
Web Authoring Principles and Protocols

What is URL and WWW?
Uniform Resource Locator is a string of characters that create a web address.
The web address is broken down into sections. They are as follows;

http hypertext transfer protocol. This identifies the protocol going to be used
to access the resources in the domain.

WWW World Wide Web. This is a subdomain that is used to ascertain the
domain.

Domain Name - This is used to identify the name and location of the site you
are trying to access.

References
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/internetaccessbestuses/g/bldef-url.htm


Internet service provider organisation that provides services for other
people using the internet.

Web Hosting Service An internet hosting service that allows people to
make their website accessible to other people.

Internet Global system of interconnected networks and hardware systems
that use various protocol suites.

HTML Hypertext Markup Language. A Standard language used to create
web pages.

Domain extension A domain extension is the .com .co.uk or .org. These
signify a country, area or organisation.

Dreamweaver A web development tool developed by Adobe. It lets you
share work and keep up with web standards.

Top level domain name - .com is at the top level of the hierarchy of domain
names. Secondary names are anything but .com, for example .co.uk.
Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 3


Font size and colour - Typography demands that font size and line-height
are accurate and controlled. Colour adds emphasis to the writing and
highlights the importance of information.

Hyperlinks An electronic document that links one document to another.

Style Sheet Enables the user to create a style that is consistent throughout
a document or web page.

Metatags Is the HTML part at the end of the URL. It helps to improve your
search engine placement.

Index page Main page on a website usually called the homepage.


References

http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/metatags.shtml
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/hosting_services.html
http://uk.ask.com/question/what-is-dreamweaver-used-for
http://www.utexas.edu/its/help/utnic/848


This session has enabled me build web based knowledge and apply it to
further research. Before this session I did not know the official definitions of
these words. I can now begin to produce a comprehensive site based on the
knowledge learnt today and apply it to the website.





















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 4

Class Work

Week 2

Exploration of
Websites




I dislike this website
because I feel that I
am bombarded with a
lot of information that I
do not necessarily
want to see as I log on
to the site. I then
struggle to navigate
the page.













I like this website
because it is simple
and easy to use.
There are no adverts
and there is a simple
sign in process.
Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 5


Accessibility A degree by which a service or product is easily available.
Web standards are continually monitored to ensure that a website meets the
requirements needed for people with disabilities to access the site. For
example, they may have a hearing and/or visual impairment. Websites need
to be user friendly and easily accessible. Users can rearrange and magnify
pages or choose a reader to read the site information.

Functionality Whether something is suited to and serves its purpose. The
range of operations that can be run and is expected to fulfil.

Usability the ability to use and learn an object at ease.





















Evaluation

I believe this can inform my practice by highlighting the importance of creating
an environment of equality on my website. It will need to function in a simple
way using clear text and information. It is clear from the above that it needs to
be user friendly for all users. Tabs need to serve their purpose and fulfil the
service they should be providing. There should be an option available to
rearrange and magnify pages as and when necessary. Before learning this I
would have based a good website solely on design, font and colour. However,
I realise that the user journey needs to be apparent within the website,
making accessibility, functionality and usability the most important aspects of
the site.



Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 6


Examples of font size and colour












The above show two different versions of the use of font size and colour. Both
use bright colours to sell a product or convey an important message. On the
websites both are very clear and they are the first statements you look at
when scanning the page. They have used very few words to project the
message making them more defined.



Other fonts used are to convey navigation tabs.



The websites tend to use similar font style, colour
and size in their navigation bars. This is to
determine consistency within the website. It also
allows text as previously discussed to be more
prominent.















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 7


Examples of background -













Most backgrounds are white. I believe this makes the text on the site clearer
and allows space for areas of colour that the company want to stand out, such
as advertisements and offers that would appear sporadically on the page.











Examples of a paragraph

Websites very rarely have paragraphs on their homepage. Even the example
below of a BBC news headline has a very small paragraph. It is only when
you access the article that more information can be viewed. The other screen
shot is taken from a site that is loaded with information that will not
necessarily be read by the user before they click on something else. It is also
interesting that the navigation tabs simply small images at the bottom of the
page. I do not consider this to provide the functionality, usability and
accessibility needed to navigate a website.


Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 8


Example of line break -

Line breaks separate content without creating new paragraphs.


Examples of hyperlinks


The above hyperlinks take the user to another page of information. These
hyperlinks are clearly laid out and visible on this page. Most hyperlinks are
found on the side or at the bottom of the page.


Examples of style sheets -

The below style sheet is an example of how a websites presentation is
separated from content. It contains details of content and structure but does
not define visual layout.




Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 9


Examples of meta tags

















This is the HTML part at the end of the URL. It helps to improve your search
engine placement.


Evaluate the above points from 2 websites that were printed out



















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 10
Class Work

Week 3

Content

Four e-portfolio websites that I have researched.






























I do not like this website because it is difficult to navigate and contains a lot of
moving images. The site does not allow you to go back and therefore you
have to re-load it. The menu is confusing because it keeps moving. Once you
enter one of the tabs there is barely any information about the artist available.
This website is not accessible due to the confusing layout. A reader would
not be able to translate the content. It would be very difficult for someone with
a sight impairment to navigate this site.

Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 11
















































Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 12

The above images are homepages of websites that I like. I like the simple but
effective layout. They do not use flash to try and integrate moving images,
which tend to be difficult to load. The pages are not overcrowded but contain
the specific information that is important to the artist. All use very natural and
subtle colours. They have all uploaded their strongest images making their
homepages eye-catching and attractive. They attract other photographers as
well as potential clients. The text and font are clear with the exception of the
Jessica Hilltout site. I do not think that this text is very easy to read. I think that
she could have chosen a more professional font. However, even though these
websites are easy to use they do not have a function that offers a reader or a
larger format.

Mind Map for my own site.
Above is an illustration of working ideas for my website.

Potential Content
Home


Contact

Portfolio News /
Updates
Biography Links
Images About Me Pinterest
Facebook

Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 13



User Journey


User arrives on index page



User finds primary navigation tabs

About
Me
Portfolio Classwork Glossary References Contact
Me



User chooses from primary navigation tabs



User finds secondary navigation tabs

Portfolio Classwork

Film Unit 11/12
Digital Research



User arrives at a drop down menu from secondary navigation tab



Film Unit 11/12

Landscape Week 1
Portraits Week 2
Still Life Etc
Questionnaire


The purpose of my site is to enable people to browse my portfolio and
potentially buy my work or potentially hire me as a photographer. My target
audience will be employers and customers.




Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 14



Evaluation


This session has enabled me to identify how accessibility will influence the
design of my website. I will need to ensure that the site is clear and simple
and accessible for all users. Before this session I would have made a website
that was in cohesive and inconsistent. Websites with flash software or sites
that contain film were appealing to me before this session. However, since
analysing these sites more I have found them to be in accessible and they do
not necessarily serve their purpose. The website referenced at the beginning
of this session (Hamish Fulton) is an example of this. I struggled to obtain any
information from the site as I could not navigate it. The index page was slow
and the hyperlinks did not work. The diagram above illustrates how I will
consider the user journey on my website. I want to ensure that the user
explores the site thoroughly and after investigation I have found the way to do
this is by maintaining simplicity and accessibility throughout the site.
Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 15


Class Work

Week 4

In order to create a banner for my website I have used photoshop to develop
and adjust photographic images.
First of all I needed to consider the width and height of the banner in pixels.
Pixels per inch will determine the quality of an image on screen or in print. A
pixel is essentially a dot in an image and the image is divided into thousands
or millions of pixels forming lines on the screen.





















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 16


To create the banner I have used the controls
- cmd, a to select all
- cmd,c to copy
- cmd,v to paste

I then began to create layers when applying images on top of each other.


















At this point I expanded the images to cover the entire banner and used
colour burn to create a shadow effect on the top layer.


















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 17


I then added another layer and added a multiply effect in order to see through
the different layers


















At this point I wanted to add some tones. I used the colour balance
adjustment to create a new layer and add a yellow mid tone.



















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 18


I added another image as a layer and introduced the multiply effect so that all
the layers were visible.


















I brought in another image on top of the existing ones and used the lighten
tool to blend the image further.



















Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 19



I expanded the image in order for it to cover the entire banner.

























Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 20


I applied the colour balance tool in order to produce more tones in the image.








































Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 21


Document saved for web as a JPEG.
Edexcel BTEC
Creative Media production
Unit 11 and 12
Holly Martin 22

Class Work

Week 5


Content


Evaluation