Some Good Advice

My advice for computer class is to always go to class. Even though the notes are online, the class provides you with the opportunity to practice the skills learned with the teacher around to answer any questions. I missed few days due to basketball and the homework was difficult without learning it in class. Always make sure you do the homework. The points add up over the semester so it's important to do the assignments.

My last piece of advice is have fun in the class!

Student Websites

I really like Michelle's website. her organization is very good and the site is easy to navigate. I like the navigation bar with the snowflakes. It brings in her hometown Bolder, CO. I also really like the background on the travel page of all the stamps from foreign countries.

Emily's website is very well done. I like her homepage with her image map and animated dynamite sticks. The dog email icon is very cute and goes with her love of dogs. Her page about Trinity is nicely done and shows a students opinion about the school.

Leigh-Anne's Web Page was interesting and incorporated her passion for swimming. I liked her pictures and her postcards for Hawaii and Italy. The use of thumbnails make the site easy to look at because pictures were not jumping out at the reader.

You can view my blog at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~lrandall/

Importance of HTML

HTML code is important for web designers because it is the language of computers. If there is a problem with the web design, the designer can fix the code from the source rather than opening the software. Also the software may not be able to do certain things that the designer wants so the code would be easier to use in that scenario. Software programs make designing webpages easier and less time consuming than writing HTML code. The word format of Web Expression makes adding details like font color and tables easier than code, but a designer should still know both.

Impressive PowerPoints

I really enjoyed Brittni Scruggs PowerPoint. Her slides were informative, but not loaded with information. She did not read off the slides or hide behind the computer table. She was also very passionate about her topic and knew a lot of information. Her argument for becoming a PhD/MD was very persuasive and she increase my awareness of the disease. She had a very consistent background and made use of the text boxes and animations.

I also enjoyed Ellie Leeper's presentation on Henry A. Guerra and communication. I like how she used a personal aspect to her interest in communications which gave the major an interesting point of view. I liked her background and she had good extra information that she said in her talk. I also like how her last slide was her great uncle's signature sign off.

Guidelines for Making a Good PowerPoint

Here are my 5 simple tips for making a good PowerPoint
1. Don't overwhelm the presentation with animations. They distract from the presentation.
2. Use complimentary colors. Bright pink writing on a lime green background gives the reader a headache and they don't focus on your presentation.
3. Do not read from the slides. I passes first grade and can read, I don't need the presenter to read to me. The slides should emphasize the talk.
4. Use appropriate font sizes so the people in the back of the room can read the presentation with out squinting.
5. Use professional images. Nothing looks worse than a cheesy clip art image inserted into a professional presentation.

Searching the Web

Today I learned some helpful tips on how to better used Google. Before the presentation I had no idea what Cached link meant at the end of the website URL. I think it's very useful to have the words highlighted in a web page because sometimes the document is long and it helps to determine if the website is useful or trash. Also Google Scholar is very useful in finding scholarly articles that could be useful in research papers. I think its neat how Google can link the searcher to the Trinity library page that has the book or article.

It surprised me that Google only access 20-30% of the stuff available on the web. Usually when searching Google recovers millions of articles and maybe 25% of the results are helpful. It surprised me about the number of websites/articles out there that are not available to us through Google.

Learning about Copyrights

Digital music is a new medium for music and is causing the record companies a lot of problems. People are sharing the music online and posting music videos on YouTube. The free sharing and downloading of music causes the record companies and artist to loose money. The record companies have to lay-off people and can't afford to sign new artist because they lack funds. The record companies and music artists want harsher copyright laws and ways to prevent sharing of digital music files. The Internet has provided an easy way to copy and distribute digital music. Unlike photocopies of paper digital files remain the same and don't become worse quality. Because the files remain the same a user can download the song to a website and share the file for others to download and put on the iPod's.
I like to listen and buy music, but sometimes I don't want the whole album. That is why programs like iTunes are nice. Having music on the Internet is also a way to expand your musical tastes and if people could not go to YouTube to listen to new artist then they might never buy their songs and the artist would never sell a record.
Overall I think we need some copyright protection so the record labels can sign new artist and keep producing music, but the copyright restrictions could be slackened so it is easier to find and listen to new artist.