FT Class – Workplace Ethics – March Blog Posting

After doing a little research on this topic, I think my lucky stars my boss has never asked me to lie about something or do anything unethical.  However, I’m not saying I have never seen unethical actions being done.  Maybe it was unethical of me to not report this?  I figure I am just minding my own business…

I found a good article called: Workplace Ethics: The High Cost of Compromise
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jun2010/bs2010063_959739.htm

This article talks about how new recruits may participate in unethical activity asked by their supervisor.  This may be due to the fact of the tough job market or a new employee trying to show loyalty to their boss.

Next the article discussed workplace bulling which I found quite surprising.  Since high school I have never seen bulling in the workplace.  I couldn’t imagine working in a professional environment and being bullied.  I just figured this only happened in school.

I have to say workplace ethics has been a tough topic for me to right about.  There is not a lot of information on the internet about this and I could only find one article.  I believe if you live your live ethically it should fall into place at work.  Ethics to me has a lot to do with someone’s character.

2011
03/31
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me!

Respect is one word I learned to spell at a very early age due to the popularity of the song Respect by Aretha Franklin.  This song was released way before my time but I believe that almost everyone has heard.  However, I do not think our assignment is over the song Respect.  In this blog, I will discuss self-respect.

I believe self-respect is something that is needed in order to receive or give any other type of respect.  A great quote about self-respect I found is:

“If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.”
~Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Another great quote I found is:

“It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them. To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character.”
~Dale E. Turner

I believe both of these quotes are very accurate and most people follow these in their daily lives.  Self-respect, in my opinion, has a lot to do with ones character.  In fact I believe you can interchange these words.

Respect in Web Development is also needed.  Web Developers should respect their peers and their opinions, even if they do not agree with them.

2011
02/19
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WIA – Activity Sheet 1 – WebStudio Web Layout

Currently I am working on the Web Imaging Applications (WIA) course which primarily addresses PhotoShop. For the first mini-project (Activity Sheet) we were instructed to go to http://dzineblog.com/2008/07/best-photoshop-layout-design-tutorials.html and find a tutorial to complete. I chose Web Studio – http://www.adobetutorialz.com/articles/2856/1/Stylish-WebStudio-Web-Layout

While doing this tutorial I learned several great concepts and tips. The first concept was opening the Gradient Editor from the blending options menu (this took me awhile to figure out). To do this you can double click on the “gradient” where it shows your colors to adjust them. In the past I would make sure the foreground and background were the gradient colors I needed before going into the gradient settings (which take a lot longer). With the gradient editor you can change, edit, etc everything from there.

Another concept I learned was horizontal text. Every time I selected horizontal text in PhotoShop it would write things like:
H
O
M
E

This didn’t work for me, but I found the Free Transform tool moved the text the direction and size I wanted (with the layer selected, ctrl T).  In conclusion, I really enjoyed this tutorial and will defiantly work some more of their tutorials when I have time. I suggest you check out the links above if you are interested in learning more about web layouts in PhotoShop.  To see my work, click the link below: (please note we are required to make our images no larger than 450 pixels wide to save on server space.

http://inetstudent1.francistuttle.com/ja0836591/wia/as1/as1.jpg

Click this link to see my other PhotoShop class work:

http://inetstudent1.francistuttle.com/ja0836591/wia.html

2011
01/29
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Positive Attitude

First, today has not been the best day.  My day has been fine but I was surrounded by several negative people and kind of brought my mood down.  This month’s blog is over “Positive Attitudes” and I figured today would be the best day to work on this assignment.  When doing a quick Google search over Positive Attitude the first suggestion is ‘Positive Attitude Quotes’.  After review several quotes I have included some a few that inspired me today:

If you don’t get everything you want, think of the things you don’t get that you don’t want.  ~Oscar Wilde

This quote made me think for a few minutes and it is very true.  It seems people in general tend to focus on the things we don’t get that we want.  Maybe if I start focusing on the things I have (car, job, health, etc.) and the things I don’t have (flu, health problems, etc.) it will make me more grateful and positive.  I really don’t need anything I don’t have and want.

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.  ~Mary Engelbreit

This quote can be applied to anything in life but I will look at it from the web developer angle.  If I don’t like the way a HTML element named (for example), I can either try to get it changed through the next HTML standards or just accept it for what it is.  I assume getting an element renamed would be pretty tough but if that is something I felt strongly enough about I can do my part to change it….  Or I could do nothing and accept it for what it is.

All of life is a journey; which paths we take, what we look back on, and what we look forward to is up to us. We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there, and how happy we are when we get there. From A Little Book of Happiness

I have chosen my favorite quote I read today for last.  I look at my Web Design/Development studies as a path I have chosen to take.  I really don’t want to look back 10 years from now and think “I really wish I would have taken those classes.”  These courses have given me a lot to look forward to and I hope I will have a lot of good to look back on as well.  “We determine our destination…” – for me this is like taking action.  They day I decided I wanted to learn about web design and development I took action.  I started researching schools and programs.  Taking action is one of the hardest things for me.  I can sit around wanting or wishing for things, but until I take some sort of action it will not get accomplished.

2011
01/13
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Communication

Communication is a broad topic in which many different things can be said.  In this blog I will discuss two of them, cell phone communication and business communication.

 
Today there are thousands if not millions of ways to communicate with others.  In fact, you can communicate in thousands of different ways with most modern cell phones.  A few examples are: text, email, talking, all the social networking sites, chat, and IM.  Most of us that get use to these “fancy” phones are in constant communication with someone or something every hour we are awake.  I know I am always checking my e-mail (work and personal), texting, keeping in touch through social networks, reading peoples blogs, talking to people over the phone and may other ways.

 
Next, I will discuss business communication as it applies to me every day.  I often find myself digging a hole because I didn’t communicate something well.  It turns out a lot of things I think are common knowledge are not.  At the present I work in the IT world and when dealing with end-users I expect them to know how to restart their computer or where the start button is…  That is not always the case.  Sometimes it can get frustrating because I think everyone should know these things, but I am sure if they asked me to do their job I wouldn’t have a clue.  I try to take a step back and try to communicate things as if I were talking to someone’s grandma who has never seen a computer before.  I also highly recommend creating documentation.  This can be tedious but you only have to do it once and it can be a highly way to communicate.

 
The first section defiantly applies to web design.  However, I will try to apply how business communication does.   I can just picture myself creating some small business a website…  Then the user calls me every hour asking me how to get to the site, where a link is, why isn’t their browser working, etc.  Also, if you give someone CMS access to update their own sites, they could be calling you 24/7 with all kinds of random questions.  I am not saying this is a bad thing, we just need to know not everyone has what I call a working knowledge of normal computer use.  Effectively communicating with users or people in general is something I strive to improve on everyday.

2010
11/25
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Teamwork – October 2010 Blog

Teamwork was a big aspect of my business degree from the University of Central Oklahoma.  I believe the college had a requirement to have some sort of team project for each class.  This helped give me the team skills I use today in work and outside of work, however I do not believe the college atmosphere is necessarily the best place for teamwork. 
It never failed, me and about 2 or 3 other people in our “team” would end up doing all the work while the other 2 or 3 slackers get the same amount of credit as the rest of us.  Even after the peer reviews they would still come out ahead.  This is why I am not a big fan of team work college classes.
Teamwork in the workplace is great.  I have been able to complete many tasks and projects while working with a team.  Also, teamwork outside of work such as collaboration meetings, working with friends/family, or anything else seems to go well as long as everyone involved cares about the project.
Often many problems can be solved by working in a team.  When you get everyone’s mind working on a problem you can usually solve it pretty fast.  I know I have spent days trying to figure out a coding problem or system problem on my own.  After I finally give up and ask a few people we can usually have it resolved within the hour.  I need to keep this in mind and ask for help more, however sometime I like to be “lone wolf” and do it all on my own.

2010
10/13
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Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness is a moral value considered to be a virtue. A trustworthy person is someone in whom you can place our trust and rest assured that the trust will not be betrayed.
From:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trustworthiness
Trustworthiness is a quality I look for in friends and coworkers.  If you cannot trust someone do you really want to be friends or work with them?

Trustworthiness can also apply to web development and design.  Did you “borrow” my graphic, CSS, or layout without my permission?  Did you claim you made it on your own?  These things could lead people to think one is not trustworthy.  However, with the web today, millions of websites, it would be hard to come up with something totally original.  Someone may come up with a great idea, build an awesome web site and think they are the first to do this sort of thing.  However, they could find out there are several websites with the same content and layout on the internet.  I believe if that web designer/developer believed to be original and did not copy any other sites he should be deemed “trustworthy”. 

You also have to have trust in your coworkers, friends, and teammates.  If you tell one of them a great idea you have, then they run to the boss and pawn it off as their idea, would you still trust in telling them your ideas in the future?  I would find it hard to regain their trust. 

In conclusion, try to be trustworthy in every aspect of life.  Whether it is in work, school, social, or economical, it is not always easy to do the right thing, but in the end I am sure it will pay off.

2010
10/13
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ACTIVITY SHEET 14: Take Charge

This assignment was about finding your passion in this industry. I split this assignment into two nights (Sunday and Today) and I learned a lot about things.

First I started off looking on YouTube for videos to help me with Adobe Photoshop CS5. I have decided to really work on my Photoshop skills because I have none. In fact, purchasing CS5 for this class was my first time to ever use Photoshop. Since I currently know virtually nothing about it I figure I need to spend my free time trying to pick up some skills. I have a feeling the ability to create graphics will help me in the long-run.

The first video I watched was about the Content Aware feature in CS5. I really like this feature because you can easily remove objects from pictures you do not want. For example, I was able to remove a lamp from a test picture I was playing with and show the window blinds behind the lamp. The image really looks like it was taken with no lamp!

For more info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI

The next video I watch was showed a lot of the new features in CS5 and was very informative. However, it did not show step-by-step how to preform these functions so I will look them up later when I have more time. Some of the topics were: Image Editing with Constraints, Image Recomposition (Reshuffling), and a few more cool features.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgKjs8ZjQNg

Next, I watched a video on Terry White’s top 5 new features. I learned how to move objects in an image by using the quick select tool and the refine edge function. By doing this you can pretty much grab an object from a picture (in my example I selected a cat in a old picture I had) and move or remove it. If you remove the image you can use the new content aware function to fill in the background. Terry also talked about retouching pictures, in his example he removed a cable line from an image. I could not get this function to work with the pictures I had. I am sure I was doing something wrong though.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfkjHnsAsvg

The Puppet Warp feature was really cool. In this video you lean how to adjust things in images to make them look like it really happened. I took another picture of a cat and moved the head so it was looking up instead of to the right. The author moved a snake on his wife’s body. Pretty cool stuff…

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0fU7L3GaAE

Another video by Terry White really helps in selecting hair or other soft edges. I wasn’t able to get this to work as I would like but the video is still great.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUIcQ1nXkWk

I probably spent about an hour on each 5 minute video trying to recreate what they had shown. Since I am such a novice in Photoshop the learning curve is pretty steep.

Tonight I tried to play catch-up on my Google Reader articles I subscribe to. First I read a step-by-step article about creating cool arrows. I spent probably about 2 hours on this one and couldn’t get it to look right, but I still learned a lot.

Link: http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/Photoshop-tutorial-for-Business-Pentagonal-Arrow-./61844

Next, I read an article about the new Microsoft phones. Microsoft is releasing 9 new phones sold by AT&T. The new phones will allow you to connect to Xbox Live and post photos faster. The phones are made by HTC, Dell, Samsung, and LG.

Article: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-10-11/microsoft-unveils-new-windows-phones-in-bid-to-end-share-losses.html

After that little break… back to Photoshop…

I read an article about how to change hair-color. I took a picture of myself and made part of my hair green. It didn’t turn out very well but I am sure I will get better with more experience.

Link: http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Change-Your-Hair-Color-in-Photoshop/61848

Two other articles I read but didn’t have time to test are:

Floral in CS5: http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/How-to-Create-Amazing-Floral-Illustration-in-Photoshop-CS5/61846

Pirate: http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/drawing/draw-a-pirate-character-in-photoshop/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+psdtuts+%28Psdtuts%2B%29

I look fowarad to trying these and other tutorials out soon. It appears Tutorialized.com posts several Photoshop how-to’s a day. I suggest you subscribe to them if you want help.

 

 

2010
10/11
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Technology Research – HTML5

In this blog, I will discuss the next HTML specifications created by the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) called HTML5.  HTML5 is also referred to Web Applications 1.0 or X/HTML 5.

The official answer to what is the technology is (by the W3C): “HTML5 is a new version of HTML and XHTML. The HTML5 draft specification defines a single language that can be written in HTML and XML. It attempts to solve issues found in previous iterations of HTML and addresses the needs of Web Applications, an area previously not adequately covered by HTML” [1].

The WHATWG began work on the HTML5 specifications in June of 2004 with the name Web Applications 1.0.  This group was created by members of the Opera, Mozilla, and Apple groups.  These browser developers did not agree with the path of XHTML and W3C’s lack of concern in HTML.  Also WHATWG believed W3C had an ‘apparent disregard for the needs of real-world authors.’  The main reason they wanted to develop HTML5 was to replace proprietary plug-ins such as Adobe Flash Player.  By developing the new HTML specifications browsers could handle images and video correctly without relying on third party plug-ins. 

The W3C finally jumped on the HTML5 bandwagon once they saw the direction it was going.  The W3C initially did not want to join because they believed one person making all the decision can be bad.  They figured this person would be Ian Hickson, of Google, and one of the leaders of WHATWG.  Hickson’s rebuttal to this was:  “They have as much power as I do.  Seriously—the spec is licensed under a completely open license, anyone can take it and edit it and have the same level of control as I do.  All they have to do is do a better job in the eyes of the browser vendors.”   The W3C created their first HTML5 working draft in January 2008. 

Today Ian Hickson is the editor for the HTML specifications on both W3C and WHATWG teams.  Also, both groups participate in creating specifications and managing HTML5.

Most websites on the World Wide Web today were created in an earlier version of HTML; however a few sites have been created with HTML5.  Upgrading to HTML5 is as simple as changing the doctype element on current Web pages.  Some developers have already changed this element even though HTML5 is not complete.  Their reasoning is HTML4 is still supported but this change will allow a developer to use and validate the new elements.  The new starting tagline for HTML5 is simply <!DOCTYPE html>, which appears to be much shorter that the earlier versions of HTML. 

Another great item in HTML5 is developers will not need to throw away the markup they already know.  Web applications that work with HTML4 should still work with HTML5.  Ian Hickson states, “If we required browsers to refuse those documents, then you couldn’t browse over 90% of the Web,” referring to putting an end to the “tag soup”.

Some of the new features are:  <nav> for website a navigation block; <header> and <footer> for a header and footer block; <audio> and <video> tags have also been added to work similar to the current img tag.  In addition to the previously mentioned tag lines there are now new API’s.  Some examples are:   A canvas element, timed media playback, offline storage database, document editing, drag-and-drop, sliders, and date pickers. 

For a list of all the new features, check out: http://diveintohtml5.org/peeks-pokes-and-pointers.html

One of the new attributes I am most excited about is the HTML5 video element.  Currently Adobe’s Flash Player is the most widely used embedded video software on the internet and many browsers now come with the Flash Player already installed.  HTML5 video is intended to become the new standard in a way to play videos, but there has been some debate on which video formats to support.  Once this technology is developed it should put an end to the required third-party proprietary software. 

Some items that already work with HTML5 are: draw on a canvas, play video, design better forms, build web applications that work offline and the new HTML is supported in Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera.  Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 should support these features as well. 

There is also a possibility of HTML5 including more accessibility features such as incorporating voice recognition and speech synthesis interfaces within Web pages.  Another feature in the draft, I believe will be helpful, is the scoped stylesheet which allows a <style> element to be put in the document itself with the content.  This would allow only that content to by styled in that manner.  Also, most developers would find the new <datagrid> tag useful.  This tag would allow a tree view list control for AJAX-backed data stores. 

The future of HTML5 is questionable.  I do not mean by it will fail but on when the final version will be released.  Some predict it could take up to 2022 to have all of the specifications done.  I assume if it does take that long the new features will roll into place just as soon as they are finished, on-the-fly.

Examples of HTML5 in use today can be found here: http://html5demos.com/

Certifications:

I was unable to find anyone who offers HTML5 certifications as of yet.  I am sure once it has been fully implemented and the final version released, there will be many certification schools. 

Sources:
[1] – http://html5.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5_video
http://diveintohtml5.org/introduction.html
http://xhtml.com/en/future/conversation-with-x-html-5-team/
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9183841/HTML5_may_help_Web_pages_talk_listen
http://wiki.whatwg.org/wiki/FAQ
http://inventorspot.com/articles/html5_being_developed_replace_need_proprietary_flash_plugins_37356
http://www.dharne.com/blog/2010/04/06/the-5-most-important-features-of-html5/
http://www.itwriting.com/blog/2353-the-two-specifications-of-html-5-0-what-wg-vs-w3c.html
http://www.satya-weblog.com/2010/06/fight-between-whatwg-w3c-fight-html5-specification.html

2010
10/06
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Activity Sheet 7: The Five-Second Test

Website Reviewed: http://www.apmex.com/ – American Precious Metals Exchange (I Googled Edmond Gold and this was the first link)

My Five Second Test:

Write down everything you remember about the page: This homepage was pretty active but it was easy to tell this is a website selling Gold, Silver, and other precious metals.  They listed a 1-800 number if you have questions and also listed the current market prices on the metals.

What is the company’s core business? Selling Gold/Silver coins and bouillon to investors.

What captures your attention? I wouldn’t say one thing captured my attention but I do remember seeing the 24 hour market chart which I figured would be helpful to someone wanting to purchase Gold or Silver.  Another thing that captured my attention was anyone should know what exactly this sites purpose is after only five seconds.

What do you think you can do on the home page? You can see the current market values of precious metals, and you can click the links to go into the Gold, Silver, etc sections of the site.

What would you do to improve the site to meet the businesses needs? I may suggest making the website a little less active.  There was a lot to take in with only five seconds to look at the site.  There also seems to be a lot of information below the fold-line that I don’t remember anything about.

————————————————————————————

Two successful home pages I have reviewed are www.google.com and www.amazon.com.  First I will discuss Google.  I believe Google is successful because their homepage has basically one function, to search the internet.  Google has added other links on their page such as news, gmail, etc. but these links are very small and do not take away from the main function of the site.  However, I do not like the new live search function they implemented a few weeks ago.  When I am searching for something I find it distracting when new items show up after every word I type on the search screen.  Conversely, I do like the Google Suggests function and it has saved me quite a bit of time over the past year (or however long they have had it).  Google Suggests is not an exact science some funny suggestions have shown up.

Success:

Next, I will review amazon.com.  I really like Amazon because I can purchase everything from socks to workout equipment in one place.  They also offer free shipping for orders over $25 which really helps save me money.  The Amazon homepage usually has a few items they are trying to push, currently it is the Kindle, but I rarely ever pay attention to that.  I go to Amazon for two reasons only:  To search and purchase an item I want or to search for an item to see how much it costs.  The homepage is simple enough that allows me to accomplish these tasks successfully.  Amazon also has a great marketing system in place on their homepage if you are logged in.  The site will suggest items you might be interested in biased on your past purchases.  When I need to purchase an item I can wait to receive, I usually purchase from Amazon to save money.

Fail:

Two unsuccessful websites I have run across are www.italianosokc.com and agpowerindustries.vpweb.com/default.html.  Italiano’s is a pretty good Italian restaurant located near my office.  I have been to their website to look at the menu or get their hours of operation and notice that if I have not already been to this restaurant, the website does not entice me to go.  First thing I notice is their title on Google and the title on the webpage simple say “Welcome To” and that’s it.  The second thing is the very simple and cheesy (no pun intended) heading.  Below the heading they have a linked picture of a pizza that does not resemble anything like their pizzas and the link takes you to the same image.  Lastly, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to see the menu or get their address/phone number.  I suggest this company hire an experienced web designer to update this site to something more modern.  I believe new graphics and a new layout could help this company’s business.

The next page I reviewed is AG Power Industries (http://agpowerindustries.vpweb.com/default.html).  I do like the simple look of the website but they seem to have put everything about the company on the home page.  In my opinion, you should only have a brief description about the company with links to more information if people are interested.  I also notice their logo (top left) is kind of blurry as if they scanned an image and enlarged it.  I suggest this company update their logo and make their homepage less busy.  They could have a description about the company with a link to more information.

2010
09/22
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