I checked out my WebQuest on my website, then went to the Evaluation page. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and the information was about 135% to 150% too big for the page.  The rest of the pages were exact fits.  The rubric I cut and pasted into this page looked normal to begin with.

How did this rubric information page get to be too large for the page?  I did use a 21" computer at home that I cut and pasted the rubric on.  That should not matter.  I do not know how this happened.

I quickly tried to move margins and the text box parameters to resize the information.   Most of it did not work.  Finally I shrunk it down quite by accident.  Saved it.   Whew!

Cutting and pasting just is not worth it on Google Sites.  The spacing gets off and nothing wants to stay where it is dragged.

Regarding my Evaluation rubric, I cannot get the colors in my titles of the columns to just appear on one line.  It goes right into a triple layer of color, which I did not put there.  I am trying everything I can think of short of re-writing the whole webpage manually.    

The rest is good and I feel great about my entire website project.

 Hello blog,

Tonight was a very special night in my life.

I directed 125 3rd graders in their 3rd grade musical.  My co-worker and I split many of the responsibilities and directing.

Tweaked the last page of my website.  --the Search page.  I feel it is my weakest page.  I must have copied and pasted something on there that re-formatted the page a month ago or so.  Now I can hardly get any image or even the text to move to where I want it to be.

In Google sites, that is the point where I would instruct a student to copy and save on Word, then delete the page and hand type in everything.

Google sites does not do well in copy and pasting.   Formatting goes in, the spacing gets off and it's just not worth the convenience.  It will come back to bite you if you copy and paste!

I take private computer lessons at the Mac store.  Add this to the classes I take in techie-ness at the University of TN and ...really I should be an expert by now!    I'm not!  ....I experience the excitement of trying new tricks and tools on the computer followed by wanting to throw the computer through the window.  My consolation is that, even with a bad experience I keep learning and growing in my skills.

This weekend I spent a great deal of time on my WebQuest and modified my process, photos, added and fine tuned the whole site.  I have spent an inordinate amount of time on this website as a whole.

I think a great way to teach the Web Design class would be to put the check-off sheets on line, particularly for the opening (landing) page.  Students would have a lot of freedom:  no need to keep up with paper, could work ahead or catch up independently instead of asking the teacher and other classmates lots of questions, could read exactly what is expected and get it right the first time.  It would be a smooth way of communicating exactly what is required.

 It would be helpful if all links on the course catalog and these online papers were in their own table, at the top of the course catalog page.  Easy to get to, means students will use them.

This weekend I went into iphoto on my Dad's computer and created albums (folders) in a logical way for him to store his zillion photos.  Clicked and dragged and labeled lots of photos.

Made a concert program using a template, and delved into my own iphotos to create a slideshow for my son's Eagle Scout Celebration.  I moved the photos into imovie to try my first shot at that but was not successful.  Need some lessons on imovie.

I have tried to stretch myself in using more tools in my Google site.  I have researched, watched tutorials and even scoured the "unofficial google website help".  I have added a table, table of contents and an embedded video to my site.  I feel that using more tools instead of just listing information and links adds variety and interest for the reader.  Also I feel that learning about web design should include learning about how to make use of the most important features this host has to offer on the sites.  Each tool has its own quirks and takes quite a bit of time (for me) to figure out.  I feel that my site is interesting, yet does not reflect the many hours I have spent on it.

New in the last 2 weeks is the use of sub pages I have added to the site.  They are also reflected in the sidebar navigation.

At home I have researched, compared prices and purchased a new all-in-one printer.  I have enjoyed finally being able to scan.  For $139 I purchased a new N-router and installation package from Best Buy.  The Geek Squad came out and hooked up the new router, secured the network, and connected the wireless printer with our 2 desktops and 2 laptops.  It's a whole new computer haven!

Webinar

Well well well,

Let's see... I have listened to my first webinar.  It was on BrainPop and was geared toward music teachers and featured info on their  music/videos/lessons/movies/quizzes.  It was slow moving, but staying with it, I discovered info about BrainPop I never knew.

I have researched and created a banner for my website.  I tried out every possible combo they offered and even selected one and imported it onto my site.  Did'nt like it and so redid it completely.   It worked, looked good and makes the site look more balanced and attractive.

Web Design is a field that really interests me.  From the time I saw my first website created by a teacher I knew I wanted to learn more.  I began to notice which websites caught my attention and others that were too cluttered to read the content clearly.

One of my inspirations is a young teacher at my school who has taken on the responsibility of building level computer helper.  Olivia is really good about answering questions and likes to hear others new ideas and tricks also.

I am spending a lot of time on my google site.  I can't get pictures to places where I want them to stay.  They seem to snap back to a grid all the time.  The text is not staying where I want it either.  Another text problem is that it doesn't text wrap the way it should.  The more I work with it the more it seems to fight me instead of staying where I place it.  I would like to go to other google sites and see what sites are out there in google sites that look a lot better than mine.

I feel that seeing other sites would really help me see what is possible on google sites and what is not.

I have been working and working and working with the google site in my own domain.  I can not figure out how to add my title into the header.  What the heck?  Why is something so basic so bleeping hard?  Also, it is so frustrating because there are so few options for change and to add pizzaz.  The color choices are laughable.  Not even a color wheel to choose from, just a limited numer of colors chips.  Can't Google do any better?  Don't they own the whole internet per se?  Check out wix.com .  Endless templates, colors, up to date designs and coolness... and easy to use...and free.  Why can't Google do this?

Starting to notice and judge good web design

I am beginning to notice what I determine to be good web design. I went to the Hermitage site and really admired the design of the home page. "Wow!", I thought. "I'll never know who did this web design, but it sure is good." Then I clicked a part of it and it led me to an impressive display for the company that designed the site. They show the homepage they created for each of their important customers.  What is really interesting is that they tell what the customer came in looking for and then what web design content was selected to play up the customers products.

I have watched some Blogger videos to see a way to change the header by selecting an image and manipulationg it in photoshop. The image is cropped, resized and has text added and layered over it. It is exported,saved, then selected in "browse" and replaced as the header in blogger. Very cool. I followed the steps and went in to HTML to see the "outer wrapper" pixel size, went in to my photos and experimented but the photo always came out too large for the blog. I can see the problem lies in finding out the exact dimensions of my original saved picture and manipulating it. More experimenting to come...

Welcome Readers!

Come back often to see what Patricia is creating. It will be an exciting ride!