Pixel Surfers

Living Design is worth a mention

Elaine — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:33:21 +0000

This site features an imaginative and unusual blog design that is lovingly crafted down to the last element. In addition, though, the art and design the author highlights is truly unusual and extraordinary; unusual as in beautiful. So much in the way of art today just seems ugly and anti-human to me. This collection, however, raises my hopes in that regard. It’s well worth keeping an eye on for inspiration from around the world (it has a very international flavor).

H/T: Nancy K.

How to replace standard Moodle icons with Tango icons

Elaine — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:41:31 +0000

One of the things that I liked about different Moodle themes are their icon sets, because IMO the standard Moodle icons are ugly and uninspiring. However, what if I wanted to use a better icon set with all of my themes? Was there a way to replace the standard icons? And what would you replace them with?

I found a nice icon set based on Tango icons on the Moodle site, and apparently someone went to the trouble of organizing and naming them so they will work with Moodle.

Here is the link to the .zip of Tango-based icons.

In order to replace the standard icons, you copy everything out of the pix folder in the zip archive and paste it into the pix folder in the root directory of your Moodle installation. They copy (or cut) the icons in the “mod” folder now in your pix folder and paste them in the “mod” folder in the root directory as well. Make sure you choose to have everything overwritten when you copy/paste.

That’s it! Your icons are now cool new Tango icons and you no longer have to be tortured with bad design when you use Moodle – at least from your icons in any case. I don’t know of a down side to doing this, but if you find one let me know.

Edit: There may be icons included in the mod folder for modules you do not yet have installed. This will cause an error. The fix is to delete those folders in “mod” that do not have a module installed (you can tell which ones from the error message: “The “Books” module is not accessible. Check permissions.” etc.)

Success and first module: breadcrumbs

Elaine — Wed, 26 May 2010 19:29:09 +0000

On xhtmlteacher.org I now have a basic taxonomy with terms set up for my xhtml class material and I’ve added the first pages. I managed to set up a menu and create urls that are very similar to the way things were organized on the hand-coded site; minor victories that have given me confidence. One thing that bothered me was that breadcrumbs didn’t work for the menu that I had created. I didn’t know that Drupal core does not feature breadcrumb support for any menu other than “Navigation”, but I found out when I came across the breadcrumb module.

The module was perfectly easy to install and it works the way it was advertised. In the meantime, I’m back on Drupal IRC (Nick xhtmlteacher if you are looking for me) and I’m back on Drupal.org and Drupal Groups. I’ve had one question that is such a n00b thing that I’m unsure where to post it. I can’t figure out how to get rid of the search box in the left hand column. I have set the search block to be on the right hand side, and it is…but it’s repeated on the left as well, at least when I’m logged in as administrator. Under any other role it doesn’t show at all, regardless of permissions. I’m missing something simple.

Another Moodle Competitor?

Elaine — Mon, 24 May 2010 23:53:43 +0000

Google has just launched an open-source course/learning software solution called Cloudcourse that may rival Moodle. The more I use Moodle, the more I don’t want to use it, so I guess any alternative is welcome, but…

Oh man, at first glance this looks really sweet. I live my life on Google already and the idea of having a tool that fully integrates with Calendar is very appealing. The only problem is that I don’t have a clue how to use Google’s app engine much less Python, so it’s out of reach for me for the time being. I sure would like to try it, though.

Here is the Google blog article on the subject: http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/05/cloudcourse-enterprise-application-in.html

Update: It seems that all it really consists of is a calendar/scheduler. While useful, especially if you are already using Google Apps for your enterprise, it’s not anything that you can’t do with Drupal with a little configuration…except the automatic integration with Google Calendar of course. You can try it here.

Refreshing with Drupal

Elaine — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:31:39 +0000

I moved all of my class materials off of Moodle several semesters ago to a straight HTML-based site and I was quite happy with the results. However, I decided to move all class material yet again to a dedicated URL just purchased for this purpose. I guess I was inspired by the recent Web 2.0 Expo and the site housecleaning that I was doing elsewhere as it’s going to be a Drupal site!

It’s actually a perfect project for me, still a Drupal newbie: It’s a project with clear goals, the material is already written and organized in terms of taxonomy and I don’t need to do anything fancy with user participation in the short term.

The project is located at XHTML Teacher dot Org.

Another advantage is that I’m really thinking that the Department website idea I was discussing with Suzie is best suited on Drupal, so no time like the present for getting more familiar with what has been, in the past, my nemesis.

Learning from the students

Elaine — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:17:07 +0000

I’ve been meaning to revive this blog for some time. At one point I found it essential for tracking the progress I was making in web design, the problems I was having with coding, content management systems, hosting and other related things. I don’t have a “readership” and I really don’t want one. This blog was for me, to track my progress, albeit publicly.

However, blogging is hard work. It’s a hard habit to maintain. I sometimes rail against this idea that everything must be tracked in some way. In some ways I think that all that really matters is the experience; who really cares about my work, the work that will eventually fade into eternity like my memories and my bones. (This kind of thinking keeps me far away from Twitter at times.)

Yet I’ve enjoyed the conversations I’ve had here with people. I know some have found a few of my posts helpful. I’ve even used my own posts to help me remember some technical issue I’ve solved but long since forgotten how. In the end, I believe the effort is worth it. I think that one of the most valuable things a budding web designer/coder can do is keep a blog…a living diary of creative attempts, gray hairs, and successes to enjoy and learn from. Maybe you will even help someone else out along way.

I’m making this post in honor of the students in the summer session of my XHTML class…as some of them said in the intro forum: maintaining a blog is hard work. Well, that class is hard work! Hard, but worth it.

Epic Re-design Fail

Elaine — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:32:31 +0000

The Sci Fi channel has redesigned their name and logo. As someone who actually watches this channel, I have to say that this is a fail of epic proportions. Who are they trying to appeal to, the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” crowd?

Redesign Epic Fail!

Woo Hoo! I’m back up again.

Elaine — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:27:39 +0000

I haven’t been paying much attention to my own sites over the last year or so. Which is why it just so happened that all of my sites on one server were hacked! I think I had an insecure password, and they made a mess of everything by inserting Javascript trojans in every .php and .html index file in first and second level directories. I’ve lost a couple of posted in the database mix-up, but I think I can continue on from here. Ugh.

How blogs invigorate learning and extend the conversation

Elaine — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 06:56:50 +0000

I don’t have any experience teaching, but I have been learning the ins and outs of web design over the last seven years or so. So far, I have had the experience of learning both in online classes and, more recently, through online communities. These online communities are comprised of a loose-knit combination of bloggers, commenters, forum posters, IRC and other chat users, and even pod- and video-casters. I have personally been involved in communities that talk about coding, open-source software, digital photography, and even religion, both as a passive reader/listener/viewer and an active participant. To say that this informal discourse is helpful and facilitates learning is an understatement! In fact, especially in the arena of software development, information technology, and web design, I would say that it is absolutely essential.

So, how can these new discourse communities be used to inspire new techniques in the online classroom? Well, first let me share what developing and maintaining my own blog has given me:

I had to learn to use a new technology, i.e., blogging and content management systems.
A place to keep my discoveries, be they techniques, websites, tools, or even my own insights. I have found myself referring back to certain posts more than once because they contain information I use again and again.
A way to track my progress.
The lovely surprise of meeting people who are interested in the same things I am, and were willing to help me!

I felt that something fundamental changed once I started my own “conversation” with the wider world, although it’s difficult to describe what exactly that was. I do think it had something to do with the fact that I had gained the immediate benefits of social capital, which as defined by Wikipedia means that I gained an “advantage created by a person’s location in a structure of relationships” by defining my location in the first place. It is important in that it is public, it is fresh, it is uncensored, it’s my little corner of this brave new world. It is also difficult to maintain, but is worth the effort.

So, back to my original question: How can I, as an educator, encourage the development of social capital in my students? Well, the first thing is to be a good example. I can share my own blog, encourage comments and participation, and continue to interact with the world at large through the blog. I can also encourage (but probably not require) students to start their own blogs as they begin their educational journey; as I will be teaching students primarily interested in web design at some point having a blog really becomes a professional necessity. Starting this kind of public conversation sooner rather than later is a good thing to do. And I can definitely share with them all the resources, in terms of other blogs, podcasts, and personalities, that I have found absolutely essential to my own professional development. My motto to them would be: Get out there, say something!

This habit, like that of life-long learning, is one well worth fostering in students. Like being able to think logically and analyze information from different resources, it’s a survival skill.

URL faux pas

Elaine — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 05:49:31 +0000

My sister, who is studying graphic design in the Yukon, just sent me this list of URL choices that should have been vetted a little more thoroughly before being decided upon by the marketing team. Now, I like URLs without underscores and dashes because they are harder to remember, but a few well-placed dashes may have saved them from being so disastrously misread. Pretty hilarious, but I wouldn’t want to be the one responsible!

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is www.whorepresents.com

2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com

3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net

4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com

5. And don’t forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales, www.molestationnursery.com

6. If you’re looking for IP computer software, there’s always www.ipanywhere.com

7. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site, www.speedofart.com