Final Project Idea

For my final project, I won't be building a website for a company but for a person. This person is Travis Bentley, who is a student here at Dakota State University. Travis is a junior and is majoring in Production Animation. The reason why Travis wants a website is for a online portfolio. The main content, and focus, for the website will be Travis's artwork, especially focusing on the different animations that he has created. The whole website will be focused on showing off Travis's animation ability to potential employers. The site will also include other pages that contain some more information on Travis, including his resume and also contact info so people can get a hold of him.

Some problems and difficulties I see with the website are arranging and presenting Travis's work. I have some experience with creating galleries and arranging them, but since this would be viewed by potential employers, the galleries would need to look great so it reflects on Travis. Also, another problem is the fact that my client's work is mostly focused on animation. I don't have any experience of putting animations and movies up on the web, and also how to present them. So this is something I definitely will have to work on. Continueing with the animation aspect, I really want the website to represent that it's about an animator, which could be difficult to do in XHTML. However, I do feel confident that I can work past these problems and create a fantastic website.

Organization with Kiko

The web tool I found most useful for me was the one Zach found, Kiko. One of my biggest problems, throughout my whole, is my disorganized nature. I rarely write anything down and mostly depend on my memory (which can be spotty) or on others (surprisingly dependable). However, this online calender could be very useful with keeping everything organized. Now if I could only summon up the patience and time to completely make one...

But looking even farther into the future is what my plans are after graduating. At the moment, the plan is to move out to one of the coasts and continue going to school for graphic design (which is originally what I wanted to do). With my degree of web development, I plan to support my education by building web pages. After that, it's get a job, and even hopefully start my own business. However, it would not work out well if I applied for a job today. I'm very familiar with Photoshop and Illustrator, and I have a good grasp on XHTML and CSS. I don;t, though, have a very good knowledge with basic website building programs like Dreamweaver and I just started playing with Flash.

Assignment 2: Web 2.0

After looking through a bunch of different Web 2.0 tools, one really caught my eye, JustHearIt. JustHearIt is a site/music player that quickly finds music and plays it on the site. For Free. Yes, free. What I really like about it, especially compared to other simliar websites, is how easy it is to make playlists. All you do is search for your song and then drag and drop into your playlist. You can find the website at here. Finally, the picture below is a view of how the site works.

Introductions are in order

Name: Grant Miiller

Contact: gamiiller@pluto.dsu.edu

Hometown: Corsica, SD

Grade Level: Junior

Major: Web Development

Favorite Food: Sirloin steak

Favorite Movie: Snatch, Shaun of the Dead

Hobbies or interests: Been skateboarding for a couple years now. I also got really into drawing as well and I'm trying to teach myself how to do it right. My main love (and plans for the future) is graphic design, but I'm getting a web publishing degree to help pay for it. Can't go wrong with video games either.

Goals for this class: I really want to master web publishing. I plan on using the skills I learn from this to get a job and help me pay for and achieve my other dreams.