Blog #5

I created a beginning Spanish II travel vocabulary website to use as a supplement for an online course, an on-campus, class, or as a business course. This website was designed for high school, college, business, and adult learner students who have previously completed beginning Spanish I. I used Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 to design, create, and implement this website. I am not confident in using frames at this time, but I did create tables to balance and separate the website title, webpage title, images, and content. I used tables to create a navigation bar, and I included individual navigation links to use to guide the viewer back to the top or to the next page.

I have included the following information and materials within the website:

·         A description of the topic,

·         An overview of the website contents, objectives, last updated, copyright, step by step instructions that are in depth, logical, and clear.  

·         I used illustrations and images such as Microsoft clip art and graphics I found via online Google image search. These graphics and illustrations allowed me to use them as an appropriate instruction method to clarify the lesson for the learner.

·         I have included a reference page which listed web resources, print, and image sources used in the website as well as a separate author page which included a copyright throughout each webpage. Each website had 2 or less external links to provide additional instruction and practice. The index and set up (1) images contained an external hyperlink to provide additional instruction. I included an email link on each page to allow the viewer to contact me.

·         I used a table to create an ease of instruction to separate the English and Spanish translation, I included page citations to give each resource credit and acknowledge their hard work and as my cited sources.  

·         I included a U of A disclaimer which is required of the U of A.

        I chose the colors of light purple an aqua blue because these colors are festive and reminds me of a vacation and the ocean water. I included tables using the insert tab, then table; I decided how many tows and columns I need, changed the color of the table from light purple to aqua blue and then proceeded to completing my table. I included the tables to create an ease in learning and studying the material on the web. In step 6, I created a quiz using the insert tab, then form, click form again, and click radio button to create a multiple choice form which allows the learner to select one answer. I included the U of A log which is found in the University’s free images for students to use and the U of A website.

The first obstacle I had encountered was trying to get the photographs to show once I uploaded the photos. I am not sure why the images did not show once they were uploaded but I did select document instead of site root but I think I am very confused about how those work and I forgot to ask about those. I was confused because on the 1st Dreamweaver topic assignment, I used the site root and the images did not appear so I thought using the document would actually show. I have the Teach Visually Books and it did not include this step. : ( The second obstacle I encountered was trying to upload the website because the FTP that U of A allows us to use did not comply and stated I had an invalid password. I am not sure why it did not work but I had to download File zilla and once I understood what I was supposed to do…it worked beautifully!!!         The successes I experienced was learning how to create a website, how to create an instructional supplement or main tool, and finally, web design is not the devil and it can be very fun, creative, and rewarding.         The Dreamweaver features I would like to use that I have not used yet are the following tabs: modify, commands, and the window tabs. I would like to know how these may change my website or make it much better. The future uses of Dreamweaver CS3 are using it to create instructional websites for K-12 and higher education, an on-line training tool for a corporation or a non-profit organization, an informational site for a non-profit, educational, military, and corporate entity.

Blog #5

Blog #4

Blog #4

This post must include, at a minimum:

1. Description of how you used Dreamweaver

Last we created a 2 page website using Adobe Dreamweaver, it is unlike basic HTML & CSS coding, and it is truly amazing and very powerful software! I used Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 to create the 2 page website as an instructional website to teach a beginning Spanish II lesson titled Geography and Geographical features. I inserted 1 image per page, and it included external websites, each page was linked to each other, it included unordered lists as a navigation menu, I included my email account link in case a viewer needed to contact me regarding the material in the website. I used styles such as bold to distinguish the titles, the headings, and the necessary materials the viewer needed to know. I included paragraph that explained the significance of the images and the subject matter. I saved the documents as index.html and DWTopic2.html and I created a zip folder with all of the website files in one folder which was placed into my desktop for easier access and emailed to my professor.

2. What obstacles you encountered

The obstacles I encountered were learning how to allow the images to show, I did not realize most of my images and links were under the site root and this cause them not to show. I also forgot to link one of my pages to external website and finally, another problem I had was I forgot to include my email link on the next page; I included it on 1 page. :(

3. How you resolved these obstacles

To be honest, I did not realize that my files and links were saved as a Site Root instead of relative to the document. Err…I did not realize that it would not show because I could see it on my test page. I did resolve these obstacles by re-reading the Teach Yourself Visually Dreamweaver CS# book and it showed me that I was not achieving the results I wanted do to this fact. I now know how to cease this problem and prevent it from happening again on my 100 point assignment! ;-)

4. What successes you experienced (what you learned) Ideas about how you can use Dreamweaver for future projects

The successes I experience are how to create a wonderful website on my own and how to test it before I upload it! The ideas that spring forward from my mind using it as an instructional manner to create a lesson create a website for a non-profit organization or a business. I would love to use a Spanish lesson in a corporate setting to teach business professional how to communicate effectively in a Spanish speaking country while on business. :-)

As always, be sure to submit the link to your blog in this assignment.