Web Week 11

Finally, we are at our last required blog post, where we will look back at the Analytics gathered since it began.

First, lets look at some graphs:

According to Google Analytics, my blog received 230 page views from 85 unique visitors since analytics was introduced. However, some of these views came from myself.

Analytics also shows where my views came from. Most people were viewing the page from Ireland, however there were a small number of views from places like the USA and Slovakia. The links which bring people to my blog are also provided. Many viewers made it to my page from the link Colin Mannings blog, but a few made it to my blog from a link I posted on Tumblr.

To conclude, the information I posted on my blog wasn't of much use to anyone, except the people in the course.

Well, I guess this is it. I have nothing else to say on the matter. Web Publishing has been a fun and interesting module. I hope I pass it so I can continue my Web Dev Adventures!

P.S. I'm not sure if I'll post anything else after this, I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

Web week 10

During the lectures this week, we went over Google Analytics and the sort of information it provides.
We didn't have a second lecture this week because our lecturer had a meeting to attend.

In the labs we finished off Assignment 2 and worked on our essays for Assignment 3.

Web Week 9

During the classes this week we learned about video encoding and podcasts.

Videos are just a sequence of images displayed very quickly. Because of this, videos have to be compressed or else the files are huge. The two types of compression used are Inter-frame and Intra-frame Compression.

Inter-frame compression involves the changes between frames. if two or more frames have very little change between them, the video will copy the parts that do not change between frames. This system also makes use of frames that have not been displayed yet.

Intra-frame compression changes a single frame and reduces its file size.

During the second lecture we took a look at podcasts. We discussed the history of podcasts and how they came into being. Colin showed us how iTunes can be a great resource to find podcasts for almost any subject.

During the labs this week we worked on our blogs and essays. Colin suggested that we work on the peer review system on Turnitin.com.

Web Week 8

This week in web development we went over dithering again and learned about the difference between different image formats.

GIFs are mainly used for images with very few colours like company logos. GIFs can also be animated.
JPEGs are used for natural, colourful images.
PNGs are lossless files so they lose no quality during editing. This means they are larger than other files.

During the labs we just worked on our blogs or the third assignment.

Web Week 7

This week in Web Publishing, we looked at the grey scale, dithering and pixel depth reduction

A grey scale is used to display black and white images. The more shades of grey available, the smoother the image will look. The grey scale is most frequently displayed in an 8-bit format which means the maximum number of shades available is 256.

Dithering is a system the computer uses to simulate a colour when only a set pallet is available. This is accomplished by placing two or more colours in a pattern on a pixel-sized scale so that from the users point of view, the image appears to be a different colour.

Pixel depth resolution describes how many colours an image needs. For example, an image with 24 bits per pixel would have 16 million colours available but if it was reduced to two bits per pixel, it would only have 4 possible colours. The system would then choose the colours which fit the best.

In the labs, our group decided to give up on the Google Online Marketing Challenge and instead do a 2000 word essay for assignment 3. I have chosen the title "Law in Virtual Worlds".

Web Week 6

This week in Web Publishing we looked at what we need to do for assignment two. We will be examining different types of file compression using Photoshop. We have been given three images which we must save as JPG's and GIF's with different levels of quality to analyze the differences between them. Afterwards, we must write a report on the quality of the files and whether they would be acceptable for use.

In our second lecture we went over search engine optimization and how it is encoded into a website. Most sites use meta tags and keywords to try and bump up the rankings on search engines. Google also makes use of bots which search through your web page to determine its content.

In the labs we got into groups and worked on our Google Online Marketing Challenge assignment. Our group set a date and time to meet with our client. This took place on Friday.

Web Week 5

This week, we discussed search engines and directories. We saw how directories list websites under useful headings and sub-headings. This is a good way of keeping tabs on websites, however it is not very efficient.
Directories have to add websites to the database manually, whereas search engines update automatically with the use of web crawlers. Search engines are just huge databases which a version of the internet on them.

During the labs, we were given corrections for our blog posts. We also studied for a Computer Architecture test. Colin gave us a link to a helpful video on number bases to assist us.