Thoughts on website readings

     I really like how in the reading it said that having a main focal point on your page is a good idea.  This way, the eye is drawn to one specific spot. A lot of bad websites aren't appealing to look at because the eye doesn't know where to look since there's no one picture to initially focus on. I would have never thought to make a focal point on the homepage, but it makes complete sense to me, and all good websites have a part on their main page which makes the viewer look at first.  The idea of this "hierarchy" in which the eye starts at the most important or main point, and then moves to the less important/smaller points on the page.

Technology Learning 2 Web Design

I am finding through tweaking our website here and there that simple is definitely better. The Lynda tutorials mentioned that this is the case, but I am really finding that it's true now that I work with wordpress.com.  Our group was deciding on what to put as our home page picture and our background, and I thought that keeping the background as a solid color along with a homepage picture is the simplest most "professional-looking" way to make the home page. If we had chosen to make a busy background along with a picture for a homepage, it would be too distracting and hard to find a focal point on the page. This is what a lot of websites do wrong that makes them seem unprofessional. They are far too busy and this makes it too difficult to find that main focus of the homepage and to work from there.

Technology Learning 1 Web Design

     Right from the tart, this project has offered my so much in terms of learning proper web design.  So many sites are very disorganized.  Having a website like this can make a company or organization seem unprofessional and people won't want to take them seriously.  I'm excited to fix up the "Matunuk Surf Shop" website because right now, it's a disaster. The disorganization of the website makes it seem as though the owner doesn't care about selling the things in his store.    
     I really like using wordpress.com so far.  It's really simple to edit and add whatever you want to the site. As of now, our website looks a lot like a blog and we still need to work on that aspect of it, but it's coming along.  The Lynda tutorials have helped A LOT with getting to know how wordpress.com works so we can tweak our web page to improve it from the disaster that it is now.
    

Technology Learning 4 Wiki

I didn't realize this until a bit after I finished this project, but it really helped me gain some trust in the credibility of Wiki sites. Obviously I'm not going to start using Wiki sites as sources of scholarly knowledge, but after doing this project, I realize that someone isn't just going to go through the process of making a page on something that is all made up. I'm sure very few people have the patience to do that because, what's the benefit? The Wikitravel project made me realize that for something like traveling, I can trust a Wiki site to offer me information on places to stay, eat, and things to do somewhere I'd like to travel to.

Technology Learning 3 Wiki

I'm finding it a little frustrating that most of the place I've been to in Provincetown have already been written about. However, I reached a little out of the box and contacted my friend who goes to Ptown quite often and he described a few places that he's eaten at and stayed for the night so that I could write about them.  It took some time to remove his bias and such, but I'm glad I did that rather than writing about something I wasn't familiar with!

Technology Learning 2 Wiki

I made a lot of progress on y Wikitravel blog recently. I think it's because I am getting the hang of the format and the types of things I would say on the website. I'm really glad now that I chose Provincetown (Ptown), MA as opposed to my hometown, Sandwich, MA. There was a lot already written about my town because it's the oldest one on Cape Cod, but i thought maybe I could write a lot about it. Instead, I chose Ptown because I know a lot about it from visiting, and there wasn't as much written about it.  I had a lot to say about places I've visited and I'm really happy with how it came out so far. It is definitely frustrating to do the format that they want for the website, but i know it keeps it easy-to-read and more aesthetic.

Technology Learning 1 Wiki

The Wikitavel project is turning out to be really fun for me. At first, I was going to write about my hometown of Sandwich MA which is on Cape Cod, an obvious tourist attraction place. However, there was a huge amount already written about my town because it's the oldest town on Cape Cod, and it would probably  be very hard to add to it.  I decided to add to the Provincetown (called Ptown for slang) page because this also a very popular place to visit, but there wasn't much written about it yet. I am also very familiar with Ptown so it's easy for me to write about it. I am definitely getting a feel for how to write without trying to sell the town to people as well.