First Day of Class

Hello and Welcome to the Art213 Intro to Digital Media blog. This blog contains up-to-date information on the class, assignments &; projects. There are also important links from this blog to other class resources. This blog is the hub of the class, so don't forget to check if frequently. I usually updated the blog within 24 hours of class. 

Part of your first assignment is to bring your laptop to class and show me the bookmark to this site.


The Intro to digital media class is an overview of Print based media, Time based media and Interactive Media. These areas of media are explored through the use of Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, Quicktime Pro & Dreamweaver as well as a hand full of useful shareware and web applications (YouTube, Flickr & Blogs).

We will investigate the mechanics of creating Digital Media as well as consider the roll of media within American society and it's potential to alter peoples perceptions. We will also look to consider the many facets of technology that interact with digital art.


  * This class has a $100 Lab fee &; you will need a 4 GB thumbdrive.




The Syllabus

Lets take the Awareness Test!

Final Exam

Monday 4-7pm

Digital Art Lab

In class wed Nov 30th

The Final is on ???

Work on Projects!

in class Mon Nov 28th

How to get your own web space and .com

- check out namesecure for domain names

- URL Grabber (domain forwarding)

* there are a lot of places to purchase web space up on the internet.

- I use Richmond Internet Technology but a quick web search will uncover many other possibilities.

To get your files up on the web you need a FTP program

* FTP = File Transfer Protocol

- The FTP program can connect your computer to a server so you can copy your files onto the server for distribution on the web.

*For Mac I like Fetch. On the PC try CuteFTP.

Work on Project!

In class mon Nov 21st

Final Project Assigned!

Introduction to Dreamweaver

-Whats Where

the Order of Dreamweaver
- Make a folder on your desktop with your name all in lowercase.
ex. - joevonstengel as my folder name

- Open Dreamweaver

- Make a new site and hook up the folder with your name to it

- Open your HTML files from Photoshop in Dreamweaver one at a time

- Change your 'Background Color'

- Change your 'Title'

- 'Center' your image

- Make your 'Links'

- Save your pages in the 'mineself' folder inside the folder with your name.

Creating Rollovers in Dreamweaver

Work on Project!

In class wed Nov 16th

The Web

'Structures of Experience'

.

.

- The structure of the experience on the web is created through linking.

- How and What you link too, in What order changes the viewers experience.

* Choose your own Adventure

* Web Structures

* Love is Patient

* Sofake

* Send Me Something

* Spider

* One Bit Increment

* Freecycle

* Gapminder

Lets look at how a Web site is set up on a server

- Only Folders, JPEGS, GIFS and HTML/HTM are used on the web!

- Servers are case sensitive!

- Keep file names simple & relevant, all lower case, no spaces!

- File names can only be alpha numeric with "-" and "_"

- The first file of all web sites is labeled "index.html" all lower case

- You can seperate files on the server with folders

Assembling your pages, Slicing and your sites structure

- Open up a new document in Photoshop, 72dpi sized 960x620 pxls or smaller

- Save the doc with, 'Save As'

- Open your images and bring them into your new document

- Layout and Design your Images

-- Rulers & Guides

- Slice your image

- 'Save for web' your doc, include both images and HTML

In class Nov 14th

Lets check out the web!

Web page sizes
- the web is measured in Pixels

-- these 'pixels' are related to the actual amount of pixels there are across & down a screen
- the 'Resolution' of images on the web is 72dpi
- the Average MAX size of your web pages should be smaller then 960x620 pixels

Creating web pages using Photoshop

- First go in to 'Preferences' and change the units from 'inches' to 'pixels'

- The first page of all websites is call 'index'

* It is important to make sure 'index' is in lowercase because web servers are case sensitive.

- Go to: file --> new

-- name the document 'index'

-- make sure the 'Resolution' is set to 72dpi

-- choose a page size no bigger then 960x620 pxls

-- 'Color Mode' = RGB

- Save your file

- Drag & Drop images from one of your folders into Photoshop

* This is your work space. Collage, blend, cut out & interact. Make sense or chaos out of the images you found on the internet. DO NOT USE TEXT!

- Save your file

- Slice up your file

* Slices have many advantages like a faster and more dynamic load time

* You can make links from slices in Dreamweaver!

- Save for Web (and Devices)

Web File Types

JPG - RGB - Photorealistic, small file sizes

GIF - Index Color - limited to 256 color, can be animated, can have transparency

PNG - is the best of both worlds but currently PNG files can only be used in Flash

In class wed Nov 9th

Introduction to the web

The web gives us the ability to break the bounds of 'Space.'

It also helps us control 'Time.'

The ability to control Time & Space are 2 of the main aspects of digital as an art medium.

The web is all about interaction and the Journey.

Have you ever read a "Choose Your Own Adventure" books?

Lets try it out.

Internet Lingo
the language of the Internet:

* Web2.0, The Semantic Web, Social Networking, Tags, Links, Embedded Code, RSS Feeds, Servers, Web Applications,

HTML

How does it work?

- Head & Body model

- Head contains meta data, the title, and other info

- Body contains the content

- Created through the use of tags.

<> = open

= close

to make a word 'bold' surrond it with the tag. ex... Hello I'm Bold

to make a paragraph break

Web File Types

JPG - RGB - Photorealistic, small file sizes

GIF - Index Color - limited to 256 color, can be animated, can have transparency

PNG - is the best of both worlds but currently PNG files can only be used in Flash

Project 5 Assigned

Work on Projects!

Hand in Videos by the end of class.