Communication Technology: Creating Forms

I learnt how to make forms in which users can submit information today. Pretty simple really. The image below shows the coding I've learnt.

There are two tags that are needed: <form> and <input>. Form dictates that it is a form simply, and input tells the computer that these are user-defined fields.

Inputs are defined by the user. I've used name and age, but it could be anything.

Finally, there's a submit button. A whole host of other directions can be given such as <password> or <file>. Using previous knowledge of CSS, I quickly changed the font to Arial from Times New Roman- this is what the span class style 1 bits are; merely telling the browser to show the text in Arial.

The coding... (click to enlarge):

...and here's the information as it appears in preview (click to enlarge):

Communication Technology: Collapsible Widgets

Communication Technology: Website Design

The designs shown below are purely design work and demonstrate what I would ideally like to learn. It shows how some of my ideas based on the theory I've been learning could be applied to future websites.

Development One:

• Tahoma
• Media Column
• Events Column
• Widgets/Features- white background/black outline
• Light grey background
• Flexible

Development Two:

Changes:

• Georgia headings with a more defined hierarchy. 
• More padding around narrower columns; space to breathe
• Slightly lighter grey background
• No black outlines around widgets; attempt to make the headings more legible

Development Three:

Changes:

• More padding around headers, and clipped tabs to improve legibility 
• Deep grey widgets to improve contrast and visual effect, with white text
• More space between columns

Communication Technology: Javascript

Let's make a start with Javascript.

I've never used Javascript before, nor do I have any clue about it. I know the basics of some web languages like XHMTL, PHP and CSS, but Javascript requires a completely different syntax and is used for different things.

To learn Javascript, I'm following tutorials by thenewboston on YouTube, who also taught me Flash and After Effects. I found YouTube tutorials really helpful in developing my last website and learning CSS, so I hope this approach will be to some success! Here's part one:

Communication Technology: Interactivity

I have chosen to learn 'interactivity for web'.

What is interactivity?

Interactivity is the way people engage with something; in this case the web. Learning interactivity will allow me to explore further how people use websites, what they actually demand from a website, and how easy a site is to use.

Technical Skills

I intend to start to scratch the surface of web languages that can help me to create widgets. This week I've started to look at Javascript. I'll learn how RSS Feeds can be used, and how to embed existing codes into my website code- for example if I want YouTube videos within my app. Although the advent of HTML 5 makes the future of Flash unclear, I will learn how to manage and design interfaces in Flash.

Theory

Interactivity is not just about programming, it is about how the viewer uses the site. I will learn the principle of type and layout on the web. The web can also be accessed from different hardware like tablets and phones, so I'll need to consider this too.

I want to take website design up a gear from developing simple sites that 'do the job', to visually engaging sites that are easy to use.