Final MPI104 Assessment Week 12 2010

I have learnt a large amount of new information while studying MPI104 this semester. I started not knowing anything about the interworking of the internet and internet sites and, as well as HTML and all the things you can use the internet for. First we learnt about HTML, using tags, codes and links, which I found a little confusing and overwhelming but I am not beginning to gain a better understanding of how this all works.

We also learnt how to use Google for more then just a search engine. We discovered many Google applications such as Google calendar, alerts, Gmail and more.
Each member of the class was also asked to create a blog. We were to use this blog to write posts on everything we had learnt. We learnt how to change the aesthetic appearance of the blog and add different elements. We were also taught how to add links to others blogs, comments and blog posts.

I started a Flickr and Delicious account and found both of these sites very interesting and useful. I am able to upload my own pictures and videos to filckr as well as view other members. I joined a couple to Flickr groups and chose some favourite photos and put these in to a favourite section. I also made groups for some of my own photos. Using delicious I am able to put all my favourite and regular websites in one spot. This is extremely useful as I am able to access this site on the internet wherever I am, making it easier to locate and quickly find websites. I continue to use both these sites.

We learnt about CSS and templates. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. We did research and found out information such as advantages and disadvantages. Because CSS allows separation of content from presentation, it gives easy access and flexibility for changing things such as fonts, colours and layout. Many things can be changed using templates, such as colours, font, background, sizes.
We also did a similar exercise for FTP and Web publishing, researching and sourcing information about advantages, disadvantages and uses.
We were also taught how to use Technorati. Technorati is referred to as a blog digest. You sign up and claim your blog. This increases the popularity and visibility of you blog.

I learnt how to use RSS feeds and add these to my blog, as well as how to create an Athene account through the University and how to create a webpage to place on this site using iweb. I also added a counter to my Athene page and my blog and worked on the aesthetics.

There was a lot to learn and take in during this course and I did enjoy learning how to use the internet and different sites which can make technology a bit easier. It all seemed rather confusing and overwhelming at times as I am quite technologically challenged, however I feel I am become better them more I use and discover about computers and the internet.

Technorati

Technorati is referred to as a blog digest. You sign up and claim your blog. This increases the popularity and visibility of you blog. It searches blogs and looks at the amount of activity on this blog. Technorati ranks blogs using Authority. Authority is based on the number of unique blogs indexed by Technorati that have linked to your blog in a certain amount of days. The more blogs you have linked to your blog the better or more popular the rating.

I can see the possible benefits of this site, however I find it all very confusing!

FTP and Web Publishing

Uses and Positives

FTP(File transfer Protocol) is an easier way of setting up websites. FTP is a standard network protocol used to copy a file from one host to another.

It doesn't need different end host configurations eg. operating systems and file names. This makes working with the program a lot easier then some others.

Another positive is that it is used with a user based password authentication, making it safer to use.

Negatives and risks

There can be many safety concerns when working with any program on the internet. Some security risks which FTP faced were:

Bounce Attacks
Spoof Attacks
Brute force attacks
Sniffing
User name protection
Port stealing

Another negative is that FTP is difficult to tunnel over SSH.
These problems can be minimized by employing encryption tools.

We learnt how to make a web page using FTP, Fetch and Word. I learnt how to use the fetch program, I still need practice as we have just started using this program in class and I do not have much prior knowledge of web pages or creating working we pages and putting them on the internet. This was quite interesting to learn about and sometimes difficult. It took me a little while to understand the process and get things such as links working.
However I learnt that this is a simple method for making web pages and will be very useful to use.

Here is a link to my web page that I created while learning to use this program.

Web page

CSS and Templates.

There are many advantages in using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Because CSS allows separation of content from presentation, it gives easy access and flexibility for changing things such as fonts, colours and layout. It also has advantages in page formatting, by changing just one line you are able to use a different style sheet for the same page. CSS also allows site wide consistency, which means that, when used effectively, site-wide elements can be affected by using a global style sheet. This makes it simple, easy and inexpensive to make changes to elements.

Another major advantage is that because of the separation method used by CSS, it can improve content accessibility. Accessibility means that the content is made accessible to as many people as possible. This is great for people who have disabilities, such as the sight impaired, as the content is able to be changed to sound. Accessibility is worth considering when creating web page design, as the content is able to reach as many people as possible. It also give an advantage to those with disabilities as they are able to access more web pages and larger amounts of information which would otherwise only be available to those without disabilities. It also means you web page content, ideas, business, service, thoughts, reach as wide a community as possible.

Many things can be changed using templates. Colours, font, background, sizes. Templates also hold some limitations, you are limited to few colours, patterns, layouts and fonts. By making changes using CSS you can singularly changes things and have more options and flexibility.

Using CSS I was able to change the colour of various items on my blog. I changed the boarder colour as well as the side by and subheadings text colour. By making these changes I was able to learn and I can now use this in the future to make changes to my web pages.

MPI104 Assignment one blog post.

I have learnt a great deal since starting MPI104 this year.

I have learnt about HTML, links, tags, codes, the many uses of Google, including Google scholar and Google calendar, Flickr, Delicious, blogger and many other useful things.

HTML

I started with little knowledge of the inter workings of the internet and all I knew of HTML was that it was a bunch of letters and symbols. I have now realised that HTML is much more then that and have learnt how to compose HTML to create links and web pages, which I found extremely interesting. I am still developing my HTML skills but am finding it all very interesting. I have used tags with HTML within my blog the tags I have used defines the HTML document.

Google

I have discovered many uses for Google also. Not only is it a search engine but also has many uses, such as a calendar for organising.

Blogger

I have loved using blogger. I have 5 posts on my blog.

Here are some interesting posts:

Holidays
Flickr thoughts

I played around with the aesthetics of my blog and changed the colours to more suit me. I used pinks and purples for boarders, and significant text and black for body text. I used a simple minima template and the fonts I used were Georgia and trebuchet.

I have made comments on both Prue’s and Alera’s blogs, here are links to the interesting comments:

Comment on Prue's blog

Comment on Alera's blog

I have also uploaded images onto blogger.

Del.icio.us

At first I was unsure of Delicious and wondered if I would actually use it often, but I have come to love and rely on it. I started by book marking some of my favourite websites and have now started book marking pages I visit regularly or that I find and love and know I will use again.

I have 14 bookmarked web pages.

All these pages are of interest to me. Many are fashion sites because I have a huge interest in fashion and design. There are also blogs I visit regularly and facts pages for Sweden as I am travelling there soon.

Links to my favourite three bookmarked webpages:

Elena Kalis
Alannah Hill
Chanel

Flickr

I had visited Flickr before but had never started my own page. I find I really like using Flickr as is offers inspiration and the prospect of someone seeing my photos and liking them it quite exciting.

I have 15 uploaded images on Flickr.

Links to my three favourite:

Photo1
Photo2
Photo3

Flickr Flicker Flicker

I'm really starting to enjoy Flickr!
I'm starting to try to upload images every week or so and it's exciting that people can see my photos and see what I do.

Here is a link to a group of photos I just uploaded which I really like.

Random Sunny Day


My Flickr Account

Holidays....

I just got the internet back on after not having it for 2 weeks while moving house.
Here are some photos of the new view!