I have used this post to help someone who is not familiar with the website folder to open my website.
To get to my final page and website,
Go to my folder,
go to my finished website folder, (within my folder, there are my preliminary tasks)
then click on html folder,
then click on html folder again (different folder),
then to open up the website with the frameset, open 'Home - with frameset', which will load the final website.
Friday 15 January 2010
Saturday 9 January 2010
Sourcing of Images/Videos Cont....
On this continuation post, I will follow on by sourcing the images and videos taken from the Internet:
This is an image of John and Edward from the Xfactor. This image is used on my homepage, at the top in both the box and the slideshow widget. It is also used on the news page. It was found by using google to search for 'Jedward' Here is the website source of this image: telegraph.co.uk
This image is the CD cover of the X factors single. It is used on the reviews page under 'single of the week' and on the music player page. It was found by using google to search for 'XFactor Single'. Here is the website source of this image: x-factor-2009.blogspot.com
This is an image of the logo for Pimp my Ride UK. It is used on the listings page as a pick of the week. It was found by using google to search for 'Pimp my ride UK'. Here is the website source of this image: mtv.co.uk
Here are the last remaining images which are sourced below:
This is an image of John and Edward from the Xfactor. This image is used on my homepage, at the top in both the box and the slideshow widget. It is also used on the news page. It was found by using google to search for 'Jedward' Here is the website source of this image: telegraph.co.ukThis is an image of Susan Boyle from Britains Got Talent Runner-Up. This image is used on the Homepage in the news column. It was found by using google to search for 'Susan Boyle' Here is the website source of this image: telegraph.co.uk
This is an image of the Black Eyed Peas. This image is used on my Homepage as the main image for the music column. It was found by using google to search for 'Black Eyed Peas' Here is the website source of this image: milkand2sugars.wordpress.com
This is an image of the Run's House. This image is ued on my homepage in the shows/listings column. It was found by using google to search for 'Run's House' Here is the website source of this image: mtv.com
Here are four game cover images, which have been used for my games review section on the review page.
Sources - Assassins Creed: blogs.creativeloafing.com (searching google for all of these)
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: interelectronic.co.uk (this image is also on the competitions page)
- Demons Souls: christian-gaming.com
- Forza Motorsport 3: digitalbattle.com
This image is the CD cover of the X factors single. It is used on the reviews page under 'single of the week' and on the music player page. It was found by using google to search for 'XFactor Single'. Here is the website source of this image: x-factor-2009.blogspot.com
This is an image of Susan Boyle's Album Cover. It is used on the Reviews page under 'Album of the Week' and on the Music player page. It was found by using google to search for 'Susan Boyle I Dreamed a Dream'. Here is the website source of this image: mp3passion.net
This is an image of the logo for Pimp my Ride UK. It is used on the listings page as a pick of the week. It was found by using google to search for 'Pimp my ride UK'. Here is the website source of this image: mtv.co.uk
This is an image of the band Cartel. It is used, accompanyed with the single 'Wonderwall' (from youtube) on the music player page. It was found by using google to search for 'Cartel'. Here is the website source of this image: teens.aol.com
This is an image of South Park. This is used on my listings page as a pick of the week. It was found by using google to search for 'South Park'. Here is the website source of this image: hardcorenerdity.com
These next three images were used to illustrate the reviews page.
Rihanna - Source - chicagonow.com (again all searched on google)
Ne-Yo - Source - last.fm
Jay Sean - Source - chakpak.com
This is an image of cinema tickets. It is used on the competitions page. After searching cinema tickets on google, this image came up. Source: cssc.co.uk
This is an image of The Terminator Salvation DVD. It is used on the competitions page. (google). Source: freshwap.net
Video
Here are the videos, which I have embeded from youtube.com
I used these two videos for my forum discussion, as these two singles were fighting it out for Christmas No.1.
Friday 8 January 2010
Evaluation
Introduction
In this last blog entry, I am going to evaluate my website, looking at a number of aspects including forms and conventions, and new media technologies. In my previous post, I evaluated the effectiveness of my audience feedback, finding that the combination of all the results helped me distinguish what was successful in my website, additionally pinpointing improvements which would help my website get better. I also learned more about the interests in the teenage audience (what colours they liked, what they found entertaining, what genres are most popular amongest the teenage audience, mainy being sports and music etc..).
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?
My website uses various forms and conventions to a certain degree. The layout and design of my website is constant, with the same font and font colour being used throughout the entirety of the site (veranda and white).
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are a large variety of social groups within today's society. My website was made in synergy with a new Teenage TV Channel which was being launched. There will be programmes which will be aired and shown on the website which will represent the teenage audience, such as Teen Dramas. The Channel will represent the audience categorised as 'the unemployed', so this can be done by a number of methods. The clothing of actors, mode of address/language etc..
Many of the young audience will live in low-income households, so the programmes and advertising on the channel and website will need to take this into account, as items such as clothing need to be made affordable.
6. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I used a variety of different technologies throughout this coursework. In the early construction stages of production, I used a Digital Camera to take photos for my website. I was fairly familar with using the camera, but the difficulty began when I had to learn to use a website making programme called Adobe Dreamweaver, which was very hard to understand the concept of its working. I was able to transfer the photos from my camera to my laptop, but then needed to learn how to import the photo onto my website. Once learned, it was fairly straightforward, but I needed to make sure I saved all my images in my images folder, which I made at the start (by managing sites at the start, so images goes to one folder and images to another). I also had to learn how to use a video camera, which was new to me. (2 uses of video - one in the schools talent show, the other on a trip to New York which was used for my compeitions)
In the research stage of the coursework, I mainly used the Internet to research websites on well known Music TV Channels, such as MTV. I then analysied and took printscreens of them, so I could brainstorm ideas for my website's production.
In the planning stage of the coursework, I again mainly used the Internet, which I used firstly for finding images for my website (using google search engine) for some of the content of the website (alongside my photos). I also used the Internet for tuturiol lessons on using Adobe Dreamweaver. I used youtube to help me learn how to use html coding, in order to add specific features to my website. I also used youtube to upload the videos from the video camera, so I could embed them in my website.
In the construction stage of the coursework, I used Adobe Dreamweaver for the production of the website, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks for the construction of the logo, and Microsoft Publisher to save the images from the Internet as JPEG files. I also used a free widget website to make a slideshow type widget on my homepage. I later used Adobe Photoshop again for the construction of the newspaper advert and double page spread.
In the evaluation stage of the coursework, I used Microsoft Word to produce my Website Evaluation Form (Questionnaire), as well as using facebook to distribute the questionnaire to my friends and peers, in order to get audience feedback for my website.
I think the layout of this page works well, even with a spry to the right, which takes up some room when it opens. The page is split into two, with the bottom half containing reviews on some games. Looking back at this, I now feel that this might not work so well, as I stated at the start of this coursework that I would target both males and females. Writing game reviews therefore in a way caters for the male gender over the female. I could have made this work though if I had added games of female interest (or unisex interests), such as viva pinata, or rock band games. The images of each game cover clearly illustrates what games are being examined, and the coloured headings clearly show what elements of the game the review is talking about. I could have added an overall star rating for each game (or %), so the audience gets an idea of what TMH thought of them on a scale. I have tried to counterbalance the gender issue on this page, by adding a pink background to this page. The main critisism for this page, or possible improvement could be to add more music related games, considering this is a music website.
Forums Page (There are two different forums on two pages)
On my TV music channel website, I wanted to give my audience a more interactive feel, as well as allowing them to give contributions to TMH itself. This is why I decided that I would produce a forums page. As forums would be reviews of such written by the audience, I felt it would work better if the forums page was included in the Reviews section. I feel that this works, as it gives the audience the impression that the website value their audiences opinion by comparing it to their main reviews. On these forum pages, I have embeded music related videos, that can be used to start a discussion about what people thought of them. I feel my second forums page is the most successful, as it compares two different videos. This can encourage people to express their own opinions. I therefore feel that adding a forums page was successful to my website.
Music Player Page:
In this last blog entry, I am going to evaluate my website, looking at a number of aspects including forms and conventions, and new media technologies. In my previous post, I evaluated the effectiveness of my audience feedback, finding that the combination of all the results helped me distinguish what was successful in my website, additionally pinpointing improvements which would help my website get better. I also learned more about the interests in the teenage audience (what colours they liked, what they found entertaining, what genres are most popular amongest the teenage audience, mainy being sports and music etc..).
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?
My website uses various forms and conventions to a certain degree. The layout and design of my website is constant, with the same font and font colour being used throughout the entirety of the site (veranda and white).
I have tried to keep common page elements, a basic convention of websites. This includes adding a navigation bar, which is located in the same place on every page, a unique logo and a copyright notice on the bottom of every page (similar to a real-media product).
I have challenged a design convention of a website when it suggests keeping the background colour the same on every page, so it helps the audience bookmark the website as a favorite (additionally the logo does this). I however felt that this would make the website a little boring, as each page looks very similar in appearance. I decided that I would have different colours for each page, so each section was colour-co-ordinated. (news - red, listings - yellow etc..)
2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?
There are a large variety of social groups within today's society. My website was made in synergy with a new Teenage TV Channel which was being launched. There will be programmes which will be aired and shown on the website which will represent the teenage audience, such as Teen Dramas. The Channel will represent the audience categorised as 'the unemployed', so this can be done by a number of methods. The clothing of actors, mode of address/language etc..
Many of the young audience will live in low-income households, so the programmes and advertising on the channel and website will need to take this into account, as items such as clothing need to be made affordable.
I added Teen Dramas to my programme listings, as they focus on teenage characters, facing an array of realistic teenage issues. These teenage characters would be giving a realistic representation of how teenagers in today’s society are. Their age would be represented by their clothing, fashion/style and mode of address and language (eg, slang).
On many of the pages on my website, the content applies to my target audience, which are teenagers. The genre of my website is music, which is a popular interest with teenagers. There are many styles of music which focus on niche audiences, for example: R&B (Afro-Americans), Pop, Rock etc.. My music website is going to include a large range of different music styles, in order to maximise audience ratings. The News page emphasises on entertainment news, with celeb goss, as celebrities are role models to the large majority of the teenage audience.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In order to promote and distribute my website, I needed to advertise my website to my target audience. Teenagers spend lots of time on social networking sites and the Internet, so places like facebook would be a good place to advertise my website/channel. This would increase the likelihood that the teenager would notice my website, therefore going onto it. Other methods of advertising could include television and magazines. Adverts could be placed on the Television and in magazines, which would most likely be seen by the desired teenage audience (eg. Kerrang).
Another possible method could be to introduce subscriptions. However, I would like to keep my website free, so more people would go onto my website, therefore watching the TV Channel.
4. Who would be the audience for my media product?
My desired target audience is the teenage audience of both male and female genders. My website caters for this by having a large array of music appropriate for both genders. There are a range of colours, so there is no specific gender references in my website. Of course, as the website and the TV Channel would work in synergy, my audience of my website could include people who have watched the channel, then afterwards wanted to check out the website for any updates on news, see what time their favourite programme was on later etc..
5. How did you attract/address your audience?
My audience would be attracted by promotional items, advertising the website (and channel). Two of the most popular mediums, magazines and newspapers, were two good places where I could possibly advertise the website, increasing the number of people who would see the new channel being launched. As part of my preliminary task, I therefore produced a newspaper advert and a double page spread to promote the website.
The text on my website uses a very informal language, with a mode of address suitable for my teenage audience. I also created a logo which acts as a USP (unique selling point) for the website, making it easier for my audience to remember the channel. The title Teen Music Hits (TMH) I feel will instantly attract teenagers, as the title immediately expresses its genre through the name. Its abbrivation also makes the title sound more attractive, rather than saying the whole title.
6. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I used a variety of different technologies throughout this coursework. In the early construction stages of production, I used a Digital Camera to take photos for my website. I was fairly familar with using the camera, but the difficulty began when I had to learn to use a website making programme called Adobe Dreamweaver, which was very hard to understand the concept of its working. I was able to transfer the photos from my camera to my laptop, but then needed to learn how to import the photo onto my website. Once learned, it was fairly straightforward, but I needed to make sure I saved all my images in my images folder, which I made at the start (by managing sites at the start, so images goes to one folder and images to another). I also had to learn how to use a video camera, which was new to me. (2 uses of video - one in the schools talent show, the other on a trip to New York which was used for my compeitions)
In the research stage of the coursework, I mainly used the Internet to research websites on well known Music TV Channels, such as MTV. I then analysied and took printscreens of them, so I could brainstorm ideas for my website's production.
In the planning stage of the coursework, I again mainly used the Internet, which I used firstly for finding images for my website (using google search engine) for some of the content of the website (alongside my photos). I also used the Internet for tuturiol lessons on using Adobe Dreamweaver. I used youtube to help me learn how to use html coding, in order to add specific features to my website. I also used youtube to upload the videos from the video camera, so I could embed them in my website.
In the construction stage of the coursework, I used Adobe Dreamweaver for the production of the website, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks for the construction of the logo, and Microsoft Publisher to save the images from the Internet as JPEG files. I also used a free widget website to make a slideshow type widget on my homepage. I later used Adobe Photoshop again for the construction of the newspaper advert and double page spread.
In the evaluation stage of the coursework, I used Microsoft Word to produce my Website Evaluation Form (Questionnaire), as well as using facebook to distribute the questionnaire to my friends and peers, in order to get audience feedback for my website.
7. I have learnt a great deal about the capabilities and the limitations of the technologies from making my products:
The DTP software (Adobe Photoshop) enabled me to create a professional look for my newspaper advert and double page spread, by allowing me to use layering, lighting effects and shadows. There are lots of different options to choose from, manipulating photos to help them mix with the fonts and colours used. This may include cropping, where the tolerance of the crop can be lowered to erase backgrounds which are not desired (this was done on the artists like Alexandra Burke on the newspaper ad).
Adobe Dreamweaver has allowed me to create my own website, learning new skills such as hyperlinking html files, hotspots, html coding and lots of other skills (refer to evaluation of skills blog post).
The Technology used was very useful, and I wouldn’t have been able to produce my finished productions without it. However, the process of using I.T did have its disadvantages. Loading and saving these files were very time consuming, as the amount of content on some of the pages on my website took quite alot of memory. As well as that, it was very easy to lose the work accidentally. This unfortunately happened, due to the program freezing, leading me to restart from a previous state.
As most of the work was carried out in school, the Internet Surf Control also had a negative impact on the time taken to carry out research, planning and the adding of videos from youtube. This led me to try and get extra work done at home, so all the work would be completed on time.
8. Time and Resources
Looking back at my time allocations blog post, I have found that there have been issues which have resulted in the delay in the completion of my coursework on time.
As was mentioned in section seven, the negative impact of the use of technologies did have an effect on how quickly work could be completed. The process of learning how to use Adobe Dreamweaver was more complicated than first thought, so this started to take time out of my website research. Also the surf control on the school Internet stopped me from blogging effectively, as well as other things such as youtube etc..
Additionally, this school term as been a difficult one, as snow days have stopped me from working on my coursework. There have also been a number of teacher training days for my media teacher, so this also had a negative impact on my time allocations.
I however tried to do some extra work at home, by downloading a free trial of Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, as well as blogging at home on the Internet, so I would get all the work done on time for the final deadline.
9. Evaluating my final website - Each Page
Here are my final website pages, which have been printscreened from my final product.
(each page has different coloured backgrounds, challenging codes and conventions)
Home Page:
This is the Homepage for my website, the first page the audience will go to when entering the site. I had made this the first page that the audience will go to because I have learned from other websites that a Home page is necssisary to welcome a user to the site. On entry to the website, music automatically plays, entertaining the user as they navigate the site. I left the play/stop button visible, so the audience may turn it off if they so choose to. I think the music works well in my website, as it distinguishes the genre of the website straight away from the style of the music being played (strong 4-4 beat, club-like/remix). I have then beneath this added a blinking header, which says 'Teen Music Hits is the music channel to watch'. The effect of blinking makes it stand out, similar to the effect of flashing neon lights in the city. I feel this works well, because it instantly brings the audience's attention to the TV Channel. I do however think it may be slightly annoying after an extented period. Below this, I added a widget, which acts as a slideshow slider, so the audience may see whats on the site in a more interactive way. From my research, I found that many well-known websites such as MTV, 4 Music and E4 all add this feature on their websites. I feel this function works to a certain extent, as it does allow the user to look at pictures which are on the site. I could not find a free widget on the Internet however that allowed me to add text to my slider, neither could I find one that would hyperlink to another page. I have added text to the side of the widget, so it does appear to do the same effect.
As you scroll down the homepage, there are three columns, which are tables which I inserted. These columns were headed News, Music and Shows. The idea of having sections on each page on my homepage came from my research again, as they all to did this to promote what was on the site. I feel this works, as it is obvious from just looking at the homepage what the website has to offer. I have added hotspot images in each of these columns, so when clicked, the audience will be taken to that page. This works, as navigation becomes a lot easier.
On this page, I feel there should be more content, as the page appears to be slightly bare. I do however think my homepage is a success, as I feel it does what it is supposed to do, by acting like a front cover on a magazine for example, it shows what the website has to offer, with lots of images and different colours.
Each of my pages had a different colour background. I am aware that this challenges codes and conventions, but I feel that a range of colours will make my website more attractive.
News Page :
This is my News Page. Each page on my website has a subheading, with somewhere there having 'TMH' in block yellow capitals. I feel that this page is the weakest of the pages, mainly due to content. I do though think this page offers the options typical of a real website such as MTV. It offers entertainment news, breaking news and the latest celebrity gossip. These ideas have been inspired by MTV specifically, as a teenager myself, I found what was on their news page particurly interesting, especially as you don't hear about most of it on the mainstream news (on BBC), as it is more music related. I therefore think the effectiveness of what content I do have on this page works well. I feel that there could have been some more interactive options on my news page, as it is generally reading. There were however lots of images on this page to illustrate the news bulletins, which help convay what it is about to the audience before reading it, helping to draw their attention to read it.
Reviews Page
I think the layout of this page works well, even with a spry to the right, which takes up some room when it opens. The page is split into two, with the bottom half containing reviews on some games. Looking back at this, I now feel that this might not work so well, as I stated at the start of this coursework that I would target both males and females. Writing game reviews therefore in a way caters for the male gender over the female. I could have made this work though if I had added games of female interest (or unisex interests), such as viva pinata, or rock band games. The images of each game cover clearly illustrates what games are being examined, and the coloured headings clearly show what elements of the game the review is talking about. I could have added an overall star rating for each game (or %), so the audience gets an idea of what TMH thought of them on a scale. I have tried to counterbalance the gender issue on this page, by adding a pink background to this page. The main critisism for this page, or possible improvement could be to add more music related games, considering this is a music website.
Forums Page (There are two different forums on two pages)
On my TV music channel website, I wanted to give my audience a more interactive feel, as well as allowing them to give contributions to TMH itself. This is why I decided that I would produce a forums page. As forums would be reviews of such written by the audience, I felt it would work better if the forums page was included in the Reviews section. I feel that this works, as it gives the audience the impression that the website value their audiences opinion by comparing it to their main reviews. On these forum pages, I have embeded music related videos, that can be used to start a discussion about what people thought of them. I feel my second forums page is the most successful, as it compares two different videos. This can encourage people to express their own opinions. I therefore feel that adding a forums page was successful to my website.
Listings Page:
Music Player Page:
This is my music player page, which will give the audience the chance to hear TMH's weekly playlist of popular music. I produced this page by embeding youtube music videos into my website, editing it so only the play/pause button is visible. I have arranged the music titles and play buttons around the page, so it creates an ipod looking image/feel. This page requires loading time, as each embeded youtube video would need to load before they are played, so this is one disadvantage of this page. However, the addition of music to my website would encourage the audience to go on my website, as this would be a form of entertainment for them. The music player helps enhance the success of the website, as the genre for both my website and TV Channel is music, so adding music would be a sensible thing to do.
Competitions Page:
There is also a temporary unavailable page:
This page is used, so if my website was to challenge a real-media product in the website industry, the audience will know that the page they are trying to get to is under maintenance or improvement.
Evaluation - Audience Feedback Conclusion
How effective is the combination of the audience feedback collectively?
What have I learned from my audience feedback?
After looking at the results of my questionnaires, I have found out a lot about what it is teenagers find interesting, what they wanted from my website and what improvements I could make.
All the results were complimentary of the website, saying how it navigated well between pages, how the layout was nicely placed, with two side frames and the use of videos and music on my website. A couple of people commented on the use of the colour of the backgrounds. They felt the use of different colours on each page was effective, as they felt that if the same colour was used on every page, it would start to get boring. Nearly all the people surveyed liked the logo very much, as it gave the website a professional finish (this was mainly said to me, but not written down). Some said that it was appropriate for teenagers because of the shape of a spirial with some effect and colour of the logo. Two people also commented on the writing next to the logo in the top banner, saying that the neon effect adds appeal.
There were some improvements which were raised from the results. A couple of people felt a games page could add more interactivity to the website, as well as adding entertainment to the website. From this, I feel that games could have been added as an option to my competitions page. Some people felt the content was good, but either not revelant or not enough. I later asked them what they meant, and they said more content such as more news bulletins and more forum disscusions. Some people also said to larger range of music could have been added to the music player, additionally a choice of music to listen to whilst on the website.
The combination of these results have enabled me to pick out the most pointed out improvements that could be made, making it easier to assess what are the main improvements I should make to my website. The combination has also brought out the personal interests in my audience, learning that sports and music are two of the most popular interests in teenagers. I can also see what positive feedback I get from my audience, so I know what works well in my website, and what doesn't.
What have I learned from my audience feedback?
After looking at the results of my questionnaires, I have found out a lot about what it is teenagers find interesting, what they wanted from my website and what improvements I could make.
All the results were complimentary of the website, saying how it navigated well between pages, how the layout was nicely placed, with two side frames and the use of videos and music on my website. A couple of people commented on the use of the colour of the backgrounds. They felt the use of different colours on each page was effective, as they felt that if the same colour was used on every page, it would start to get boring. Nearly all the people surveyed liked the logo very much, as it gave the website a professional finish (this was mainly said to me, but not written down). Some said that it was appropriate for teenagers because of the shape of a spirial with some effect and colour of the logo. Two people also commented on the writing next to the logo in the top banner, saying that the neon effect adds appeal.
There were some improvements which were raised from the results. A couple of people felt a games page could add more interactivity to the website, as well as adding entertainment to the website. From this, I feel that games could have been added as an option to my competitions page. Some people felt the content was good, but either not revelant or not enough. I later asked them what they meant, and they said more content such as more news bulletins and more forum disscusions. Some people also said to larger range of music could have been added to the music player, additionally a choice of music to listen to whilst on the website.
The combination of these results have enabled me to pick out the most pointed out improvements that could be made, making it easier to assess what are the main improvements I should make to my website. The combination has also brought out the personal interests in my audience, learning that sports and music are two of the most popular interests in teenagers. I can also see what positive feedback I get from my audience, so I know what works well in my website, and what doesn't.
Saturday 2 January 2010
Audience Feedback
In this post, I am going to state the questions which I have produced in order to gain feedback from my audience. This is will help me understand what it is teenagers like and dislike in a website, and hopefully give me constructive methods of improving my website. I also hope to learn alot from my audience feedback (This website evaluation form was given out as handouts to friends and placed on facebook and survey monkey):
Here are printscreens of my questionnaires, which will be given out to people who have tried using my website.
1. Was the website easy to use?
2. Did all the buttons/functions work?
3. How effective was the layout of the website eg. the look?
4. Did it appeal to you as a teenager? If yes, why and how?
5. Did you like the content of the pages? Was it all appropriate to the website?
6. Was the colour scheme and logo appropriate?
7. What areas of the website could be improved?
Here are printscreens of my questionnaires, which will be given out to people who have tried using my website.
1. Was the website easy to use?
2. Did all the buttons/functions work?
3. How effective was the layout of the website eg. the look?
4. Did it appeal to you as a teenager? If yes, why and how?
5. Did you like the content of the pages? Was it all appropriate to the website?
6. Was the colour scheme and logo appropriate?
7. What areas of the website could be improved?
Here is one example of the results which I received back from my friends and peers
Handout returned:
Age - 15-20, Gender M, Personal Interests - Music
1. Yes, it was very easy to use because all the pages were all set out properly and were simple to follow.
2. Yes, they all worked, except from the animating buttons at the button of each page. They look funky and cleverly made, but they don't work
3. The layout of the website was very effective. I liked the the two sidebars on either side of the middle section, as otherwise the page would have looked to wide on the monitor.
4. Yes, because the music that is played on the website is the music I like.
5. I liked most of the content of the pages, but not all of it.
6. I thought that the colour scheme was appropriate because if the same colour was used throughout the website I think it would have been boring. I think the logo design was appropriate for teenagers because of the shape and colour of the logo.
7. I like the website very much, and I don't think there is much more that can actually be improved. There could be a page where you can actually play games, and possibly more music on the music player page.
Out of all the people that participated , sport and music were the most popular interests.
In my next post, I will look at how effective the combination of all the results are. I will also see what I have learned from its results.
(Survey Monkey and Facebook returned results with just yes/no replies.)
Evaluation of Skills Development
Throughout the completion of this coursework, I have found that I have learned a great deal about the media industry. I have learned what the production practises are in both the website and magazine industry and how to produce both mediums using programmes which I thought were out of my capabilties. I have discovered how to use an array of programmes this year, which includes Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks and Adobe Flash. I have also become very familiar now with using this blog site, blogger.com, which is a more friendly and interactive than just making a powerpoint presentation. This blog has enabled me to keep a diary of what I have done over the course of this coursework.
Here are some skills which I have learned, and I shall explain how I have developed them, identifying any problems I may have encountered.
Adding Frames
I have added a frameset to my website, which consists of a top banner frame, two side frames and a middle frame, which was to hold all the content. I encountered problems with this skill when I had trouble disabling the scrolling option on the top frame. I however managed to tackle this by using w3schools website, which gave me the code which would disable the scrolling.
Adding Images
This skill has been demonstrated a lot throughout this coursework, but the most statisfying example I can think of was when I added the top banner image in the top frame. This was done by clicking inside the frame using the right click, going down to Page Properties, and then making my background image the logo banner, which I saved as a JPEG file beforehand in the images folder. I added images to the website (in the Mainframe) by going to insert, images, then going to my images folder, where I had saved a selection of images, then chosing the image to go into my website. The main problem I encountered whilst adding images was that images was very hard to position, but I found that placing images in tables (which had no borders) made positioning a lot easier. I also added images to my promotional products, which were the newspaper advert and double page spread.
Adding Videos
I added videos, which I had uploaded to youtube to begin with. I then copyed the embed code from the youtube video into the html coding of the forums (under reviews) page, where it was used to start a discussion on whether the people singing were good or not (filmed at a school talent competition). The problem I had initally with this was that I was trying to get the video directly from my camera onto dreamweaver, which I could not do. However, my teacher suggested uploading it to youtube first, so I made a youtube account, then uploaded my video there, making it easier to embed the video into my website.
(The Name of the Band is The Karl Weston Experience, named after him)
Adding Tables
Adding tables to my website wasn't too hard, but was a skill because I was able to use it for lots of different functions, such as holding all the programmes on my listings page and inserting images in a particular alignment on the page. I did however encounter a problem with the tables when I wanted to add more rows or columns to the table, as it was different to tables on microsoft word. I later found whilst watching tutorials on youtube that it wasn't that difficult, and that all I needed to do was to click on the table, then down at the bottom of the page, a new set of properties would appear, with drop down boxes so you can change the number of rows and columns.
Editing Images/Cropping/Resizing
I cropped images when it came to inserting images to blogger, so unnessassary white space would not be copyed over. I also cropped and edited images when I was making my promotional products, which were the newspaper advert and double page spread. This was done when I needed to remove the background from behind the artists, so only their bodies were in the image, layering them in front of my blue background. I did encounter problems with resizing, both on photoshop and dreamweaver. I found when I enlarged an image in photoshop, the image would become blured. I did however learn that it was possible, after the image is made larger, there is a tool which alters the pixels in the image, which made my image clearly visible. I then needed to save my image the right size before importing it onto dreamweaver, so there would not be blur on that.
Adding Content
Content was added on all of the pages of my website. One example of content was on my homepage, which included information on the latest news, music etc.. As part of the content on my homepage, I added a widget, which acts similarly to MTV's website, where the audience can chose a photo to look at, but in a more interactive and interesting way. There was an issue when I was adding content when I tried to add text. I found that if I changed the font colour of one word/sentence, it would change the colour of all the font colours on the website. It was though resolved, because I found that you needed to assign colours to a label, so if you wanted black font, you would go to the properties whilst highlighting the text, then select the label which you have the font colour black.
Editing Content
There were quite a number of times when I edited the content, making changes to suit the audiences needs. I changed the background colour of the mainframe and the two side frames quite a number of times, until I got the look I was really after. One problem I encountered doing this was when I wanted to have the background in both left and right frames (eg. behind the mainframe), it would not work. I however found a solution. I copyed the background into Microsoft Publisher, where I made two copies of the same background. Then, I cropped the two, so I had two halves (one copy cropped to the left, and the other to the right). This allowed me to give the impression that the background continues behind the mainframe. I also changed the style of writing every so often, so it was more interactable with the teenage audience. I found this slightly difficult, as I wasn't sure how far to go in informality, using words which are more acceptable with the teenage audience.
Hyperlinking Pages
My website has six hyperlinking pages, which have been mentioned throughout this blog. These pages are Home, News, Reviews, Listings, Music Player and Competitions. I have used a navigation bar, with these hyperlinked titles to redirect the user to that page, making it easier for navigation of the website. Within Reviews, there is also a hyperlink on the text Forums, which links the user to the Forums section within the Reviews title. An issue which was raised when completed these links was when the hyperlinked title was clicked in the top frame, the content would load in the top frame instead of the mainframe (middle and largest frame). This was very hard to understand why it was doing this, but my teacher helped me by going into the html code view whilst clicked on the frameset. The middle frame needed to be labeled, so I named it 'Mainframe', then when I went back to the hyperlink, it gave you the option in the properties in which frame you would want it to open in, leading me to choose 'Mainframe', solving the problem, and the content would correctly load in the middle frame.
Hyperlinking Images
I have added flash buttons to my website, which is only given as an option in CS3, and not in CS4. I have used flash buttons on my reviews and competitions pages on my website. There is one button (times the number of singles) which is used to hyperlink my website to the itunes website, where the user can download the selected song read about on my reviews page on the itunes website fairly easily. There is also some hyperlinked images on the homepage, where the images under each of the three headings (colour co-odinated) are clickable hotspots, which take the user to the page the image was illustrating.
Adding and Editing HTML
A good majority of this website needed to be completed using the html code view rather than the design view. At first, this proved very challenging, as you needed to know specific commnands and know the language of html coding. This was when I first used youtube and w3schools to help me learn how to use it. I used w3schools to give me codes, which I could manipulate and alter easily into something I wanted, like flashing text, which is used on the homepage (flashing red and black). I then used youtube to work through the basics of understanding html, additionally using it to obtain codes for the website. I added html coding when I added a youtube video to my home page (used as a music player), and then I edited to so it would play automatically when entering the site (autoplay=1)
Use of Appropriate Language
Bearing in mind the audience, the text style of tone which I used to interact with the teenage audience was very informal, using abbrivations of words every so often to lighten the mood (for example omg, lol, aka). I used emotions eg. :) to go the next step, as teenagers use these to symbolise how they are feeling. The actual style of writing was bold, with statements instead of descriptions to leave the teenage audience wanting to know what the story might be about.
Creating a logo suitable for the intended audience
Using extensive research which I completed of other related websites, there were lots of different types of logos with catchy names. My favourite name was MTV, as it had another meaning, and lots of well known TV Channels do it, such as ITV, BBC, MTV, VH1, and TMF (now up your viva). I decided however to keep the full name on the logo, as it uniquely indentifies the TV Channel, and I really wanted to effectively use different fonts to make it stand out (also, I didn't want any confusion with TMF). I feel the spiral behind it, with a nice silvery surround made the logo very retro, which was my intention. I did encounter some problems when trying to import it into dreamweaver, as it didn't look right without a background. That was when I took my logo back into photoshop and made a top banner logo frame. I feel that by doing this it made its apperance a success.
Creating Moving Images
Using the spry options on Adobe Dreamweaver, I created an accordian and collapsable panel. I added the accordian on the reviews page to show the single, album and artist of the week, which animates when the button is clicked (when a button is clicked, a tab opens from beneath it. When the next button down is clicked, the button aboves tab closes and a tab from beneath the new button is opened etc..). I also added a collapsable panel to my listings page. When the day of the week is clicked at the top, the days listings suddenly appear from underneath it, giving some animation to my website. However, to start with, the tab would not open, so it was an issue. But then, I edited the html coding on its spry assests file so that the panel would open when clicked.
Before I started making my website, I managed my site, so that all the work was organised from the start. It was organised so the html files where going to one folder and images to another. Whilst in the process of production of my website, I saved regulary so work would not get lost in the event of a power cut or computer crash.
Here are some skills which I have learned, and I shall explain how I have developed them, identifying any problems I may have encountered.
Adding Frames
I have added a frameset to my website, which consists of a top banner frame, two side frames and a middle frame, which was to hold all the content. I encountered problems with this skill when I had trouble disabling the scrolling option on the top frame. I however managed to tackle this by using w3schools website, which gave me the code which would disable the scrolling.
Adding Images
This skill has been demonstrated a lot throughout this coursework, but the most statisfying example I can think of was when I added the top banner image in the top frame. This was done by clicking inside the frame using the right click, going down to Page Properties, and then making my background image the logo banner, which I saved as a JPEG file beforehand in the images folder. I added images to the website (in the Mainframe) by going to insert, images, then going to my images folder, where I had saved a selection of images, then chosing the image to go into my website. The main problem I encountered whilst adding images was that images was very hard to position, but I found that placing images in tables (which had no borders) made positioning a lot easier. I also added images to my promotional products, which were the newspaper advert and double page spread.
Adding Videos
I added videos, which I had uploaded to youtube to begin with. I then copyed the embed code from the youtube video into the html coding of the forums (under reviews) page, where it was used to start a discussion on whether the people singing were good or not (filmed at a school talent competition). The problem I had initally with this was that I was trying to get the video directly from my camera onto dreamweaver, which I could not do. However, my teacher suggested uploading it to youtube first, so I made a youtube account, then uploaded my video there, making it easier to embed the video into my website.
(The Name of the Band is The Karl Weston Experience, named after him)
Adding Tables
Adding tables to my website wasn't too hard, but was a skill because I was able to use it for lots of different functions, such as holding all the programmes on my listings page and inserting images in a particular alignment on the page. I did however encounter a problem with the tables when I wanted to add more rows or columns to the table, as it was different to tables on microsoft word. I later found whilst watching tutorials on youtube that it wasn't that difficult, and that all I needed to do was to click on the table, then down at the bottom of the page, a new set of properties would appear, with drop down boxes so you can change the number of rows and columns.
Editing Images/Cropping/Resizing
I cropped images when it came to inserting images to blogger, so unnessassary white space would not be copyed over. I also cropped and edited images when I was making my promotional products, which were the newspaper advert and double page spread. This was done when I needed to remove the background from behind the artists, so only their bodies were in the image, layering them in front of my blue background. I did encounter problems with resizing, both on photoshop and dreamweaver. I found when I enlarged an image in photoshop, the image would become blured. I did however learn that it was possible, after the image is made larger, there is a tool which alters the pixels in the image, which made my image clearly visible. I then needed to save my image the right size before importing it onto dreamweaver, so there would not be blur on that.
Adding Content
Content was added on all of the pages of my website. One example of content was on my homepage, which included information on the latest news, music etc.. As part of the content on my homepage, I added a widget, which acts similarly to MTV's website, where the audience can chose a photo to look at, but in a more interactive and interesting way. There was an issue when I was adding content when I tried to add text. I found that if I changed the font colour of one word/sentence, it would change the colour of all the font colours on the website. It was though resolved, because I found that you needed to assign colours to a label, so if you wanted black font, you would go to the properties whilst highlighting the text, then select the label which you have the font colour black.
Editing Content
There were quite a number of times when I edited the content, making changes to suit the audiences needs. I changed the background colour of the mainframe and the two side frames quite a number of times, until I got the look I was really after. One problem I encountered doing this was when I wanted to have the background in both left and right frames (eg. behind the mainframe), it would not work. I however found a solution. I copyed the background into Microsoft Publisher, where I made two copies of the same background. Then, I cropped the two, so I had two halves (one copy cropped to the left, and the other to the right). This allowed me to give the impression that the background continues behind the mainframe. I also changed the style of writing every so often, so it was more interactable with the teenage audience. I found this slightly difficult, as I wasn't sure how far to go in informality, using words which are more acceptable with the teenage audience.
Hyperlinking Pages
My website has six hyperlinking pages, which have been mentioned throughout this blog. These pages are Home, News, Reviews, Listings, Music Player and Competitions. I have used a navigation bar, with these hyperlinked titles to redirect the user to that page, making it easier for navigation of the website. Within Reviews, there is also a hyperlink on the text Forums, which links the user to the Forums section within the Reviews title. An issue which was raised when completed these links was when the hyperlinked title was clicked in the top frame, the content would load in the top frame instead of the mainframe (middle and largest frame). This was very hard to understand why it was doing this, but my teacher helped me by going into the html code view whilst clicked on the frameset. The middle frame needed to be labeled, so I named it 'Mainframe', then when I went back to the hyperlink, it gave you the option in the properties in which frame you would want it to open in, leading me to choose 'Mainframe', solving the problem, and the content would correctly load in the middle frame.
Hyperlinking Images
I have added flash buttons to my website, which is only given as an option in CS3, and not in CS4. I have used flash buttons on my reviews and competitions pages on my website. There is one button (times the number of singles) which is used to hyperlink my website to the itunes website, where the user can download the selected song read about on my reviews page on the itunes website fairly easily. There is also some hyperlinked images on the homepage, where the images under each of the three headings (colour co-odinated) are clickable hotspots, which take the user to the page the image was illustrating.
Adding and Editing HTML
A good majority of this website needed to be completed using the html code view rather than the design view. At first, this proved very challenging, as you needed to know specific commnands and know the language of html coding. This was when I first used youtube and w3schools to help me learn how to use it. I used w3schools to give me codes, which I could manipulate and alter easily into something I wanted, like flashing text, which is used on the homepage (flashing red and black). I then used youtube to work through the basics of understanding html, additionally using it to obtain codes for the website. I added html coding when I added a youtube video to my home page (used as a music player), and then I edited to so it would play automatically when entering the site (autoplay=1)
Use of Appropriate Language
Bearing in mind the audience, the text style of tone which I used to interact with the teenage audience was very informal, using abbrivations of words every so often to lighten the mood (for example omg, lol, aka). I used emotions eg. :) to go the next step, as teenagers use these to symbolise how they are feeling. The actual style of writing was bold, with statements instead of descriptions to leave the teenage audience wanting to know what the story might be about.
Creating a logo suitable for the intended audience
Using extensive research which I completed of other related websites, there were lots of different types of logos with catchy names. My favourite name was MTV, as it had another meaning, and lots of well known TV Channels do it, such as ITV, BBC, MTV, VH1, and TMF (now up your viva). I decided however to keep the full name on the logo, as it uniquely indentifies the TV Channel, and I really wanted to effectively use different fonts to make it stand out (also, I didn't want any confusion with TMF). I feel the spiral behind it, with a nice silvery surround made the logo very retro, which was my intention. I did encounter some problems when trying to import it into dreamweaver, as it didn't look right without a background. That was when I took my logo back into photoshop and made a top banner logo frame. I feel that by doing this it made its apperance a success.
Creating Moving Images
Using the spry options on Adobe Dreamweaver, I created an accordian and collapsable panel. I added the accordian on the reviews page to show the single, album and artist of the week, which animates when the button is clicked (when a button is clicked, a tab opens from beneath it. When the next button down is clicked, the button aboves tab closes and a tab from beneath the new button is opened etc..). I also added a collapsable panel to my listings page. When the day of the week is clicked at the top, the days listings suddenly appear from underneath it, giving some animation to my website. However, to start with, the tab would not open, so it was an issue. But then, I edited the html coding on its spry assests file so that the panel would open when clicked.
Before I started making my website, I managed my site, so that all the work was organised from the start. It was organised so the html files where going to one folder and images to another. Whilst in the process of production of my website, I saved regulary so work would not get lost in the event of a power cut or computer crash.
Wednesday 9 December 2009
Preliminary Task: Newspaper Advert and a Double Page spread
Analysis of Advertising in Newpapers
In order for my website to gain interest in a potential audience, I need to advertise it by producing promotional adverts in popular mediums. I have decided to produce a newpaper advert, which will appear in newpapers popular with teenagers. Therefore, after some research, I have decided that tabloids would be better to advertise in than broadsheets, as more teens buy these type of newpaper. Some of these papers, like the News of the World, have more emphasis on entertainment and celebrity news than other papers.
In order for my website to gain interest in a potential audience, I need to advertise it by producing promotional adverts in popular mediums. I have decided to produce a newpaper advert, which will appear in newpapers popular with teenagers. Therefore, after some research, I have decided that tabloids would be better to advertise in than broadsheets, as more teens buy these type of newpaper. Some of these papers, like the News of the World, have more emphasis on entertainment and celebrity news than other papers.
Preliminary Tasks
These last couple of weeks, I have been producing my methods of advertising and promotion for my Teen Music TV Channel. I have developed a newspaper advert, which will appear inside a popular newspaper, and a double page spread, so the TV Channel can reach its target audience.
Here is my finished Newspaper advert below:
And here is my Magazine Double Page spread:
Here is my finished Newspaper advert below:
Evaluation
Looking at my finished advert, I am very pleased with how professional it looks. I feel that it is eye-catching and very colourful, especially the spiral background. I feel that the layout is well organised, with a top banner with the logo, the bottom banner with the TV Channel providers and a very attractive background. The effectiveness of the artists on the right of the advert adds a teen flavour to the advert, as they are all influencal artists. I asked friends what they thought of my newspaper advert, and one commented on the wide range of fonts. I think that the use of layering (of the artists, background behind, etc..)is effective, giving the product a 3D feel. The information which includes plenty of details about the Channel talks about what the TV Channel and website offer, and the website address is given to the right. I like the colour scheme very much, and it stays consistent with the theme of the website. My logo is again used here, as it uniquely identifies the brand of the TV channel, making it more likely the audience will bookmark it as something to look at. The advert also includes the providers, and what channels TMH is going to be shown on.
And here is my Magazine Double Page spread:
Evaluation
On apperance, the double page spread looks well structured and organised. There is a column to the right which shows images of the shows of the week, which would possibly encourage a teenage audience to want to watch the TV Channel. I have made a theme, and continued it throughout all my mediums, with a quotation. Here on the double page spread, there is more emphasis to this, as it is the main sub-heading above the text, which is 'Enter the New Age of Music'. The quote is 'The New Age of Music', but for the double page spread, I felt adding 'Enter' would make the quotation sound bolder, bringing the audience's attention to it (also the meaning of enter suggests the TV Channel is going to be unique and a lot different to most TV Channels).
The text is split into two categories; the white font applies to the TV Channel, and the yellow font focuses on what the website has to offer. I think this works well, as it gives the impression there is less writing than there actually is. There are lots of images around the double page spread, with a printscreen of what the website looks like. Some of the images and fonts have also been aligned in an angled position (eg shows of the week). I have kept the background consistent with the background on the homepage on my website and newspaper advert, as it increases the likelihood the audience will remember the brand/channel. Again the website address has been included.
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