I giVe uP !! *%^#$!

Image : Sharlene : "iGiveUp" :P

A Better Week Than the Last One

I am pleased to inform I not only brushed up on some css and got my new index page made, I also kinda validated my Contact Form. I say kinda because I'm sure there's a better way, and I'm sure I'll hear about it :)

I havent uploaded the new index yet because I'm too tired to change all the links, but this is what it will look like.

Back to the javascript form.... I want to have the whole thing validate in one foul swoop and/or have the fields that are not valid change colour with the error message alongside. I'm very confused about all the different ways you can write javascript and have gotten myself quite overwhelmed.

I think I was supposed to start on 3755G - Apply a Web Authoring Tool as well this week, but that hasn't happened yet. I will be using Dreamweaver for this module - I hope I get to like it but at the moment it seems a lot easier to keep manually coding in an editor.

So... two blogs this week coz I was slack and had none last week. Cheers.

Try Hard that Never Quite Makes It

Ok.. I think I have my multimedia sequence happening! Woohoo. Check out my Flash video 'Random Life' and also my PowerPoint Show, 'Rain Florist' – which opens in another window so you don’t get stuck in limbo with no return to the webpage - I knew there had to be a way :P
The credits for images and music used are on the last frame of the video.

I still had some reading to do about accessibility and now you can check out my understanding of the WAI Guideline Priorities here.

I have tested my webpages for the sight impaired using a free version of Thunder ScreenReader. When downloaded this talking software makes a modern XP or Vista computer immediately usable by someone who can’t see to read the screen. Makes a talking computer that speaks as you press keys and reads out what’s on the screen.

Well that’s a few more little things out of the way. Im old and Im tired and Im not glowing with pride that all the good stuff is still a work in progress with me. It IS like rocket science when I can rarely give full attention to study but one of these days I'll have my tasks completed in a more suitable timeframe.

Image : Sam & Ian : "A Single Daffodil"

I know I should be doing my javascript form validation but im really tired of the look of my website so Im going to play around with Photoshop and create a new index page that’s fresh and sunny looking – kinda outdoorsy since I don’t get out there enough for the real thing.

Accessibility

Sheesh... who woulda thought!

Ok. Instead of doing what I planned for this week, I've been the whole time making my site more accessible (Level AAA conformance, no less). I miss my gradient background but its nice to see green ticks when I put my pages through the checker. It took ages to find one that I had any amount of affection for. I finally settled on WebEXACT for the following reasons:

• Its free! An online service that lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility and privacy issues.
• You can choose to test for Priority 1, 2 or 3 automatic checkpoints.
  
• Optionally expands the code fragments (line, tag, attribute & value) to easily find the location of the problem in your code.
  
• Provides a detailed guideline for manual checkpoints with number of warnings and instances included.
  
• Each guideline warning has an explanation and rationale plus links to the WAI Guideline checkpoint references.

Its friendly as far as they go and I think, kinder than some. Anyway, just thought I would share it here coz it might save y'all some time searching.

One that I tried spat the dummy because some of the links in my footer were not reachable by a screen reader within a certain amount of time. What do I do to fix this? I have no idea and not in the mood to research.... sooooo.... if anyone has some pointers, please feel free to comment :)

Now thats out of the way, Im going to do myself some dreaming under a tree and suck up some fresh air and sunshine for the weekend. Yayyyy.

Image : Nyx : "Here be Squirrels"

My Work in Progress

I guess I should post a link to my TAFE site so here it is:

http://www.bathurst-tafe.nsw.edu.au/~schapman/

Be afraid (very afraid) of the links to my self taught websites. Ok for first attempts but they're ghastly designs now I know a little better. yuk lol.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on the books database last year. It was my first experience with PHP and mySQL. Powerful stuff once you get a handle on it and no doubt I'll have to review it again a lot this year for it to stay in my head. Actually I really need to get back to work on the Sessions which I didnt complete. hmmm. note to self: get back to sessions! soooon.
The RSS and XML stuff was interesting too.

Currently I'm working my way through the Tizag Javascript Tutorial - a good simple tut for my bad simple mind.

Javascript is funnnn :)

Wow. Two posts now. Blogging in leaps and bounds...
hopefully next time I'll have some up-to-date work to post.

Fresh apples for the Teacher
Do apples get bonus points?? heheh

Image : "I Love Apples" : Ansy