A great example!

Wow! I found a site I like in many ways. Take a look at this one. I love how they've done the navigation. It has the right-hand navigation I was hoping to get. They put the major sections across the top. I like it a lot.

In fact, there are several things I like about the design of this site.

• I love the soft colors, though lavender is perhaps too feminine for this project. The soft colors are pleasing, but don't compete for attention. The content is highlighted.
• I like the small header. I want mine to change from section to section, but I'd like it to stay relatively small.
• If you go to their home page, you'll see the word "unforgettable" is more pale than "web design". That's what I was trying to describe with all of my earlier rambling. Each section (home, narrative, vita, etc) would have it's own header so the viewer can keep track of where they are. The section title would be the more prominent word and my name in smaller and less prominent color and font would also appear. I'm not sure what I'd like to do for the banner on the home page.
• I love how this designer used white space! Even on a page with a lot of text it's not overwhelming. The vertical spacing allows the text to "breathe".
• this feels understated, elegant and uncluttered to me. Since there will be so much text in my portfolio, the uncluttered feel will be especially important.

What a month it's been!

Today I got in touch via email with a graphic artist. Here's what I've asked for and why.

• an HTML template - or series of templates - into which I can drop my content. This will simplify the development process and provide a consistent look across the entire site. This is an important design consideration to achieve unity and help establish an identity and presence.
  
• navigation and banners as small as we reasonably can to maximize the space for the content. There will be a LOT of content and I was thinking a very small right-hand navigation would be nice. I want to try this because I recently read right-handed web users can more accurately click on things in the right.
  
• a series of banners for the top of the template pages. The banners should be relatively consistent. My name on the home page. Then all others could have my name washed out (20% or so) and the name of the section at 100% or something close to 100%.
  
• I like script fonts, but I think Edwardian is too fancy. (Bickley Script is about right).
• I think I'd like a blue color scheme, but I'm negotiable on that. My big concern is that I don't want this to look too feminine because I plan to use this professionally.
• a clean background behind the text. White is fine, but anything else would have to be very, very subtle.
• some very small icons/graphics named reflection, artifact, and printer-friendly, one or two different bullets and a very simple dividing bar.
• I'd like the proejct done in CSS if possible. That way I could easily change it at a later date.
  

Lots of tangents

I've missed posting for a couple of days, but I've been distracted by a little hurricane that is coming to visit my part of the world. The night before last, I made most of my decisions about what I wanted to bring with me as I traveled to a hotel in Tampa. It's natural to bring irreplaceable photos and it's important to bring copies of insurance documentation. But what else? My laptop was the first choice, of course. It is an extension of myself, I think. Others think so too, for I notice people comment when I DON'T have my laptop with me. No one comments when I DO have it.

I knew I wanted to spend time this weekend working on my portfolio. I am grateful to be creating an electronic portfolio! I simply could not have brought paper products of everything I might consider including in the portfolio. Because my portfolio is electronic, everything I will need is in a compact 10x12x1 box. All I need to add is power and Internet access. It turns out I didn't bring my copy of the PhD program handbook that has the program objectives. It's one of the two things I don't have in digital format. (I hope my study doesn't get blown away. It's in there!) The teaching evaluation forms from my internship are the other thing I only have in paper format. I brought those with me.

Earlier today I went to an official Apple retail store. Cem and I bought an Airport Express so we could (peacefully) share the one Internet connection in the hotel room. The electronics that surround me as I do this entry must make the housekeeping staff shake their heads. Between the two of us, we brought four laptop computers. We each have a Windows machine for things we can't do on the Macintoshes we prefer to use. We each brought digital cameras to document our adventures and possibly (but hopefully not) our losses. Cem is working on videotaping some lectures, so there's a digital video camera staring at me as I type. It quietly reminds me that I need to include some video in my portfolio. I am rarely a fan of technology for technology's sake. In this instance, I think I need to come up with a legitimate reason to use video - if for no other reason than to prove I can. I need to think on that some more. I also have my cell phone at my side.

Despite all of the technology at hand, my dad has been left out of the loop. It was unintentional.My sisters and friends are well-informed about the hurricane situation because Cem and I have been sending updates via email. In fact, we are communicating more than we usually do. However for years, my dad has stubbornly refused our attempts to bring him into the Internet age. He knows we use it and he knows I can find just about anything that interests him. He occasionally asks me to look up something and then (snail) mail it to him. But he's not connected, so tonight he called to find out what was going on with us. I really wish he'd get online so I wouldn't have to remember to keep him in the loop. I don't think he knows what he's missing with the email messages that fly back and forth between my sisters and I.

What I really wanted to mention was my progress on the research section of my portfolio. I've started working on the research section. I was terribly concerned that it would be the weakest part of my portfolio, but it turns out I've been making more progress in that area than I thought. Whew! I have several examples of qualitative research projects and several of mixed methods. I was concerned about the survey research but, to my surprise, found I had some entries to make under that category. What a relief that was! Tomorrow I plan to go through my evaluation documents looking for student comments about the use of technology. I think that will be the strongest section of my portfolio. It seems so "normal" to me that I hope I can adequately capture it for my portfolio reviewers.