Monday, November 16, 2009

CMOD6001 Site Visit

It looks like the site visit will go ahead after all. Details soon.

CMOD6001 Project Deadline

Final finished product is due on Monday 23 November at noon. Deliver to Colin in IT2.1.

CMOD6001 Week 10 DNET Lab

I gave out boxes to be used for the project. I would prefer if students could fit their game into these boxes. Hopefully I will catch the DCOM half of the class on their way out of Maths.

Students seems to be working on other things (mostly Alice). No problem with that I suppose. They are all big boys now.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 1 B

We looked the different wasy to publish a website. We didn't go into the details of UNIX and FTP because my voice gve out.

Students worked on their projects. They seem to be making progress although a few need to make some decisions and go with them.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 10 Class 1 A

We looked at files are transferred to web servers and we went on a whirlwind tour of UNIX and FTP.

The web server we were going to use wasn't working so we didn't actually do an FTP.

I attempted to do some work on the project but students didn't seem interested. Something about a database assignment.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Submissions - Still waiting on some essays

According to my records I have not yet received essays from

7633
5753
7042
2041
6070

This information is based on a cross check of the list I have for students. If you are not on the list, because you didn't to the HTML exam, for example, I might have missed you.

The next deadline is noon on Friday 13 November. If you e-mail me your essay to colin.manning@cit.ie and it is received before then, the standard late penalty if 10% will apply. If your essay is received after that time the standard penalty of 20% will apply.

There will be no further reminders.

CMOD6001 Week 09 Class 2

I gave a handout on common mistakes in writing in English. In remaining weeks we will discuss writing skills a bit.

We discussed the project a little

We finsihed up at 1650

CMOD6001

No lab this afternoon.

CMOD6001 Week 09 Class 1

I met with the groups

Team Actimel 3/4 present
One the way. Needs to prioritize the ending summary for the host. That will keep the clues on target.


Team Untitled 4/4
Nearly there


Team Warner Bros 1/2
Needs to prioritize the ending summary for the host. That will keep the clues on target. Otherwsie nearly there, I think. I haven't seen much.

Team Alpha Beta 1/4
Hopeing to get loads done today if the rest iof the team comes in. Summary done and submitted. Well on course methinks.


We wrapped up at 0940. Bold I know. But it was an extra hot extra strong coffee type of morning.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 4 B

I was late because I went to the wrong place again. You'd think I'd know my timetable by Week 9!

Some students have expressed interest in using www.wix.com to build their sites. Like webnode.com, this doesn't work in the labs, so if there are problems I won't be able to help out. However students are free to use an online CMS if they wish, as long as they are aware of the risks they are taking.

Students worked on their sites

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 4 A

Only 6 students were present.

We evacuated for a fir alarm. After the all clear no one returned. Given yesterday's display of dedication, I am not surprised.

BBADM3 HTML Exam Scripts

If, having seen the marking scheme for the HTML exam, you would like to see your own script please e-mail me with either SCRIPT A or SCRIPT B in the message header.

I want to know the group you are in so I can arrange a suitable time.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 3B

Met with 1 more group

Suggested to all students that they go Publisher and find candidate templates.

Group T
Reconsider re-naming page 6
Otherwise seems fine

Group O
Need to think hard about categories. some overlap
{Student took notes. so less info here}

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 2B

I met with each group to discuss their projects

Group D
Who is the target audience? students 15-29
Web2.0 stuff not practical to do. maybe find a free plug-in service
Think harder about the categories
Does Publisher do sub-headings well?
Plenty to go away and think about

Group P
Working on a new idea.

Group F
A make up tile retailer
Site map seems fine. Two way to get the same info is usually consdiered bad practice, but in this case it's fine.
Does wall tiles belong in Product Catalog
Maybe re-name Products Catalogue
Think about the order of the headings
Does Publisher do sub-pages well?
Think about where price info will go. How will it be updated. There is no database
Some people may be looking for particular brands. Think about brands
The group is well on the way


Group H
Will probably be an interesting site.
Think hard about the structure

Monday, November 9, 2009

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 3 A

I asked students to work on a few things in Publisher just to jog their memories about how it works.

2 did. 3 continued looking at celebrity gossip sites. 1 read something else.

I went out to the toilet at 10 past. When I came back everyone was gone. I adjusted the attendance records and left.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 2 A

Met with groups to discuss project

Group M
Only 2 students were present.
Minutes need to be more detailed.
Page names need to mean something.
Think about men/women
Maybe do makeover page
Lots to think about


Group K
2 group members present
Minutes need to be more detailed.
Topical things can be a lot of work. Weekly updates is asking a lot.
I think this group needs to go back to the drawing board.

Group R
2 members present
Minutes need to be more detailed.
Site might be a bit small and there's not much scope for showing off skills. I'm worried there's not enough in the topic to make a good site.
It could work but I'm worried. At least have another think.

BBADM3 Site Maps

I had a look at student site maps today. I'm glad I asked for these to be posted because for the first time I have a clear picture about what students are doing for their projects. Information has been fairly scarce on the group blogs up to this point. Some groups need a tighter focus for the project.

Some useful questions to ask are:
Who is this site aimed at? What does this site have that others don't? What is the point of this site?

Each page should have a name. page 1 is not a good name. If you can't think of 1 or 2 words that sum up the page, then it might be a indication that more focus is needed.

Some projects don't strike me as being suitable. I am not going to insist anyone change their plans. I only give advice. I don't make people take it.

If you are revising your plans, leave old blog posts intact and post the revised versions. Web Site Design is a process, and there are marks going for working through the process.

CMOD6001 Week 09 DNET Lab

I met with each group to get a progress report.

Team Untitled 4/4
Writing up conclusion.

Team Alpha Beta 3/4
Conclusion done. Had too few clues. Adding more clues. Adding more
details.

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

BBADM3 Web Apps HTML Exam Marking Scheme

The marking scheme I used for the HTML exam is now available.
{Small typo "!00" should be "100"}

I want to recheck the scripts. I expect to do that today. After that students will be able to view their scripts if they want.

BBADM3 Web Apps Week 09 Class 1 B

We looked at compression and video compression in particular. I discussed the cost/quality trade off in lossy compression.

We looked at how graphics degrade poorly when heavily compressed in JPEG.


I outlined the format for the rest of the semester. 1 of the 4 clases per week will be a lecture. For at least 2 of the other classes students will work on their projects.

I told students to let me know if they need classes in Publisher. The general feeling was that that was unecessary. We will see how we go and revisit the question later.

I offered classes in Photoshop. Students have already done the basics, so there might be no need. There didn't seem to be much support for looking at it in more detail for the craic. That's understandable, I suppose, since anything not essential to the project is probably an extravagance at this stage.