Week Five Homework

Here is a link to the homework for week 5.  I followed the instructions found in chapters 5 and 6 to make a very basic page. I also tried to use css3 to give one of the containers rounded corners, but it appears not to be working in any browser I try and dreamweaver is not showing rounded corners either. I don't know if I'm missing something, but every tutorial I read online said the same thing and I followed them. Oh well, I'll keep trying css3 tricks on future projects I guess...

Week Four homework (A week late...)

Here is my homework for last week. Sorry its late, but all the festivities of Halloween and The World Series win made it difficult to get this completed.  The floats are a little off, but I really don't feel like troubleshooting anymore at the moment.

Positioning. Absolute, Fixed, and Relative.

When you're positioning your divs in css you have to decide whether you want them to static/fixed or bulletproof and scalable (i.e. floats).  It's always best to err on the side of scalable/relative positioning, but what if you don't know the difference? Well I'm here to tell you.

An absolute position, is also a fixed position. Meaning the div is in one set position on the page. It won't move from that spot. Problems arise when an absolute div is being displayed on different browsers (every browser displays a page a little differently) or when it's viewed on a different screen, such as a mobile device. That's why relative positioning is the way to go.

Relative Positioning means a div is positioned relative to what is around it, thus making it scalable and making it play nice with other content on the page and on different browsers and screens.

Inspiration? Can I get some of that?

Inspiration comes from everywhere (duh) but it's really hard to call on it when you need it, say like a deadline; but there are some ways you can better prepare for those crazy creative blocks or deadlines.

First of all, look around.  You can find inspiration anywhere. I recently found inspiration for a site design/color scheme from glancing at a pack of Parliament Lights.

Which brings me to my next tip, research/search. The pack of smokes was just the catalyst. I didn't get really inspired until I Googled images to get the color scheme right and in doing so, found a wealth of packaging examples and ads from decades past that I've made mental notes of and gave me little ideas for future projects.


USE RESOURCES TO GET IDEAS. You're obviously reading this, you have the entire Internet at your fingertips, use it. Google is there for ideas. Another great site that I visit quite frequently to get ideas and to see what other web designers are doing is Smashing Magazine. Smashing is a GREAT resource for everything web design. If you aren't already reading it, you should be. Go now! Click that link!

It also helps to take notes, mental or otherwise, of things that inspire you. For example, I know I like the color scheme and design/motifs of old cars and guitars from the 50's and 60's but I've yet had a project that I can use those bits of inspiration, but you best believe I've got those ideas stored in the back of my mind when I do need them.

So to recap, Look around, research/use resources, and take notes of ideas to help in the creative process. Now good luck! Go be inspired!