dewest20’s blog

Week ten and the fear of interactive web design are gone. I’m now proud to say I can survive in flash. Not sure about writing code from scratch but at least now I can edit code. That’s all I should ever really need. 90% of the vsfx people I know have purchased a site then edit the heck out of it and make it their own. Honestly I have the same intent. Having the basic knowledge well help me further my freelance also. Currently taking on a project to design a simple site to rent condos in Florida. Would have never thought I would be comfortable with doing so. There is still a feeling of relief that people like Daniel are out there. People who truly understand what’s going on in the crazy never ending updating world of the web.

Im not sure how I feel about this topic. As an artist one wants to say they can do it all. Sometime they have to face the fact that it’s simply not the fact. For example this class has shown me things I am not. I am not a web designer. Nor do I consider myself to be a designer of any nature. As you might have noticed by now. So when one says that to make a site visually stunning is a waste I would disagree. If I come across a site that blows my eyes away I am going to appreciate as well as enjoy my sensory overload. It’s like going to a museum to see a painting. You enjoy the time spent with it then move on to the next. I disagree with the next part saying beauty enhances usability. I have come across so pretty sites that just suck. What it boils down to is the usability of the site. Also the amount of time a designer wants to spend on their work.

This is actually a problem with the world to day. Finders keepers is not a law. Finder and credited that original artist is. However we are a group of lazy people. If the info is not in front of use we don’t look for it. This is the problem that face book and other p2p networks have created. I personally don’t want my art stolen. That would suck. I don’t make any money as it is and you want my art for free. Nothing in life is free. So why do you think you have the right to take it?
Personally I think school need to teach copywriting 101. For all students. A past student who I had worked with on many project together. Took portfolio class and clamed all those works were his and his alone. They are not. He has sent out this work to companies and on his site. With no recognition to me what so ever. Besides relying on karma to get him, what do I do? It seems like a waste of time to sue, all I can do is put his name on my flat book and pray for the best. Its people like Stephen Jones who make this artistic world a hard one to survive in.

If I had not seen the days of VHS for my self I never would have believed it. To kids have Tivo, on demand, hulu, nextflix and so many more ways to watch TV. Granted they say TV rots the brain. Hulu counter acts that thought by mushing the brain so aliens can fest. Personally I very rarely watch TV any more. I can tape it with my DVR. Or wait a day or two and find it on the Internet. This makes my life so much easier. I am able to work between the hours of 8-10 with out stopping to watch a show. When I have the time I am able to choose how to waste it. This has cut out 100% of all channel surfing. Hulu gives the ability to watch a couple of seasons of any given show. Netflix provides instanted streaming for a large variety of older movies. Granted the Internet is not TV but its better then what TV use to be!

I agree for the most part of what Jon Jones has to say. Granted most of what he is saying is common scene. Personally I don’t want anyone taking pictures off my site. I want you to go out of your way to get a screen capture. The more time I have you on my site the better. Hence that comment was for most html site. Ive seen the broad side of both ends on this. Known people with really bad Css sites with good content and Good flash with bad. A few past graduates from scad have very good flash based sites. Theboxthebox.com creates a unique style. A more traditional style at overloadgraphics.com. Easy navigation great content on both. Two completely different style of flash site that work very well for the reason they where created,
Jon Jones doesn’t like flash. More then likely he doesn’t know how to use it. We all hate and fear what we don’t know!

For this week I want to talk about flash. To flash or not to flash that is the question. Its my personal experience, it really depends on the message you want to get across. Are you selling a product on the web? If so I would go with a method such as css. Simple easy and majority of the time its more then you will need. There is nothing worse when you go shopping on the web and end up dealing with an endless flash site. Yes your product rocks that’s why im trying to buy it.  I don’t need to see it flying around on my monitor. Unless is an intro, I would say no flash. If you’re a social peer network I would say its about 50/50. Take face book for example. They have done a nice job of integration flash into almost every aspect. Html page loads and a flash player allows you to do something they you would not be able to do any other way. Other sites like Hulu.com and netflix provide entertainment in movie form on the net. Still provide navigation and then link to a flash player. If you’re an artist, or just trying to sell yourself. Then go flash 100% of the way. It has spaz! Its initiative and can really show off said persons ability. For example a friend of mine is a visual effects artist www.overlaodgraphics.com . Great site. This Is what I strive for my site to one day be. Fluid but yet with a bite. His site does have a few issues. Once viewing a project there is no way to navigate, So in my opinion  flash is the bees knees and is here to stay. I do think one day flash will be overtaken by something else. Im all for an internet make over. That’s another topic!

I don’t believe that the web is 90% text. I know there is a lot of text on the web.  Personally I can tell you I do not pay attention to good or bad web typography. I tend to focus on the over all look and feel of a site. There are million of fonts in the world and the design choice is one of the artist. We the viewer might not always agree with impact or gill sans. As long as it is ledge able. I have no problem with web typography. As a visual artist graphic nature tends to speak to me. Text is usually an explanatory factor that produces meaning to the page and its images. When a site has great images but lacking on text design I don’t shun away that site.  I found a good article that talks about good and bad typographic use in the web.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/18/10-principles-for-readable-web-typography/

I remember the day when the web was nothing but text. Computers with slim to none graphic output. Twenty years ago, yes the web was 99.99% text.  Not today I would say every site today has at least 25% dedicated to some sort of graphical interface. With video based sites such as youtube.com peoples voices can be heard with little to no text. Its my estimate that the web is actually split between music, video, images and text. Some times it feels like information overload. Over all the web is a muti-verse of information. To say one form vastly surpasses another is simply wrong in today’s web usage.

Surfing the web really is not my thing. I tend to get frustrated trying to find one simple piece of information in a vast never ending source. Once I find a site I like and or use a lot I tend to stick with it. I like sites for different reasons. First, A site I tend to use a lot when looking for source photography but not limited to is http://www.bluevertigo.com.ar/. Blue vertigo is a link resource site. That contains links to sites that specialize on such categories as Stock photography, fonts, logo types, sounds even photo shop brushes. Each category lists at least 25 links. Stock photography has more then 75. From an artistic perspective it even has a good design. It has a home page and inside the style is carried on and unique. It has a certain flow. The user is able to keep track of what links they have used. Granted many of the site do ask for payment of material, but lets face it everyone needs to make money. Over all i have been using this site for almost 6 years now and will continue to do so in the future.

For these next sites. I dislike then for the same reasons. Face book and My space. First off both sites are a pain in the butt to use. Myspace was like pulling teeth just to upload an image to your page. Facebook can’t decide what their layout should look like. It has changed 3 times in the last 3 years. One of the major dislikes I have is the false sence of high school popularity or (FSHP) they produce. Most of the people on my page or aquentce know through school, work or a person from the past. Now finding my long lost childhood best friend is great. I have no need to add someone from middle school who I don’t even remember. Just because you know who someone is doesn’t make you a friend. Not to mention the giant waste of time both sites are. I don’t care if Dane Cook has a new dog or if Brittany Spears is sad. Useless information! Some people seem to love it. My girlfriend and her mother will both spend the day playing facebook games. I don’t get it and hopefully never will. I will never Twitter!