Giving Back

Today I was touched by an article posted by Laurie Boris on her blog conveying the gratitude she has for a teacher who impacted her life so long ago – Author Laura Jan Shore. Laurie Boris found Laura through my blog and I thank her for sharing her journey and reminding us to look back with gratitude to those who have encouraged us – and to acknowledge the progress we have made.

I was reminded of the journey that has taken me to being right here, right now. I had no idea that attending a voice and self expression workshop with Maniko last year would bring me in contact with Laura, who encouraged me to recite the first poem I had ever written at a Dangerously Poetic gathering – something I would never have dreamed of doing!

I attended her poetry workshops and connected to a deeply buried creative voice that I was unaware of. Laura awakened in me a joy of writing and she is an inspiration to many with her unending enthusiasm and energy.

Soon after in my Web Design Course, I was introduced to blogging and I enjoyed the freedom of creative expression that blogging allows.

After coming home from a one month journey overseas, I was feeling uninspired – then along came Laura to fire us up in the new year with a Dangerously Poetic workshop. I felt this is what I needed to reconnect with my inner creative and breathe new passion into me.

The post by Laurie Boris has inspired me and I wonder how often teachers learn how much of an impact they have made on their students lives?
To the many teachers in my life and the lives of others, I thank you.

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WordPress Blogging Tips

Here’s a blogging tip I found for people using WordPress blogs.
Have you ever lost your post and have been frustrated because of the time you put into it? I found a great article about the Post Revisions feature on WordPress, that keeps track of your revisions and allows you to restore them.

If you want to make an Image Gallery on WordPress like I have made in the post about Tumbulgum on the Tweed River and Uki Village, here’s a WordPress video on how to Create an Image Gallery.

Upon reviewing my posts using the image gallery, I have found that the larger ‘stand alone’ images I had inserted in these posts are now not visible – though previously they were. I would advise not using separate images in posts using the image gallery as they are the only posts that have been affected in this way.

For a post with lots of links and interesting information about the great features on WordPress, click here

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Web Design Course

After an eventful and busy year I have completed my Web Design course at Kingscliff TAFE. Reflecting on all I have learnt, it has been an amazing journey and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn the basics of Web Design and much more about the web.

My course was Certificate IV in Web Design where a lot of the focus was on using Adobe Programs such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, and a taste of Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks, Contribute, Premiere Pro and Adobe Bridge.

I also learnt a lot about navigating the web, Scribd, Blogging and using WordPress software which I have enjoyed the most. Blogging and marketing are a big part of the web these days and here’s a post I made about How Blogging Can Help You get a Job. The course also contained units on personal development and getting a job – plus lots more.

I found an interesting article on how you can make many different websites using WordPress called 30 Untypical WordPress Sites.

Learning about Disabilities and the Web was very interesting and important for anyone designing for the web. For our first blogging assignment on Accessibility of Websites for People with Special Needs I created a blog about Web Support for Visually Impaired and posted my research on it.

I could say I enjoyed learning programming languages such as JavaScript, Pseudocode and algorithms, but I’d be lying! CSS and HTML are alot easier!

Apart from all the technical stuff, we also had some practical lessons in Graphic Design which was great. So you can see there’s alot more to web design than just making some pages and linking them together.

Now that it’s over I’m going to enjoy a long holiday and look forward to what the new year will bring. This is not the end – just the beginning!

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Scribd and Adobe InDesign CS4

In my Cert IV Web Design class at Kingscliff TAFE we are taught many different practical tools for use on the net and to get us out there testing what works.

Scribd is the largest social publishing company in the world, where tens of millions of people each month publish and discover original writings and documents. On Scribd, you can turn nearly any file into a web document and share it with the world. To view an article about how Scribd can substantially increase your viewing audience, click here

I have made some tutorials and uploaded them to my Scribd account, creating my own online library. By making the tutorials about lessons I want to remember, not only do I get practical experience re-creating the steps and have an on-line reference for the future, I am testing what information is needed by others out there on the web.

Adobe InDesign has become the industry standard for creating professional layouts and compiling content for printing and digital publishing. Last week we were taught some basics of using InDesign and I created a tutorial on Creating Hyperlinks in PDF files for on-line publishing and posted it as Blogging and Adobe InDesign Tutorial.

Yesterday I made a tutorial on Importing a PDF file into Adobe Indesign. I have embed it into this post for ease of viewing and because I can!!

View this document on Scribd

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Blogging and Adobe InDesign CS4 Tutorial

There are millions of sites out there on the net and in my Web Design course we are taught many different methods for creating a profile on the net and getting your website/business/product known.

Blogging is a tool that can be used to share your creativity with the world, network, become famous, help on-line businesses lift their rankings, make money or connect with people who share interests, activities and information. Linking to other sites is a good way to create online connections.

Some other students of Web Design have created WordPress blogs associated with their profession or business. One such student has posted a very informative article about the Therapeutic Benefits of Massage on her blog. To view Yaninayoga’s blog click here

Scribd is a very popular service that people use to share information and creating links to their sites is one method for attracting visitors. I like sharing information and I have created a tutorial on Creating a Hyperlink in PDF File Using Adobe InDesign CS4 as people have had trouble making hyperlinks work in PDF files when uploaded to Scribd.

I have embed the tutorial here so people can print or download immediately. I also have created a tutorial on How to Embed a Scribd Document into a WordPress Blog

View this document on Scribd

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Insert YouTube into WordPress Blog Tutorial

Sometimes people have problems inserting YouTube videos into a WordPress blog using the Embed code method. I have created a new WordPress Tutorial on Inserting YouTube Video into a WordPress Blog Using URL Code after learning about this method in class, and I uploaded it to Scribd. Within 24 hours it has had over 100 reads, so there definitely seems to be a need for it.

View this document on Scribd

A friend in class has a great blog for her Active Body Therapies Massage and has created a document on 4 Ways Office Workers Can Benefit From Sports Massage which is very informative.
To view document and more click here

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Julie & Julia, and The Cake Recipe

It’s official, my youngest son is now a teenager! It won’t be long before he wouldn’t dare to be seen with his mother at a movie called Julie and Julia, so I took advantage of catching a movie together the day before he turned 13 - while I still can! Half the movie was set in Paris, and my son has the desire to go to there. He’s also interested in cooking and enjoyed the Masterchef series, so who knows, maybe he could become a French chef!

After I heard that Julie and Julia was a great movie, my curiosity got the better of me as this is the first movie based around a blog. I wondered if blogging would be portrayed as being addictive (and I’m not saying it isn’t), or if the blogger became obsessive in order to accomplish her goal of cooking 524 recipes in 365 days, and blog about it. It created turmoil at home, but had a good outcome in the end.

I must admit that my house is the most untidy it’s ever been in my life, but my husband is very supportive, so ‘que sera sera’ (what ever will be will be!)
It was a fun movie and is based on a true story, or two true stories.
To view the trailer click here

For my son’s birthday he wanted a chocolate mud cake of course, so we bought one for him and his friends. My husband and I prefer a healthier treat, so I made this lovely Date and Ginger Cake with spelt flour. It’s got lots of butter, milk and sugar – so it’s very yummy!

I love to share so I decided to create a PDF file of the recipe, upload it to Scribd and embed it into my post. You can download, print or view the document full screen by clicking on the tabs at the top.

View this document on Scribd

To learn more about Scribd click here

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How Blogging Can Help to Get a Job

From what I have read in the media, it seems people have been fired from jobs for posting content in their blog that has been deemed unacceptable to the company, and there have been cases where various social media eg, Facebook, MySpace etc, has been used by employers to catch their workers not being honest about their activities.

I love blogging as it’s fun and creative, so I was elated to find a blog post about how blogging can help you to get a job. It seems that these days a lot of companies want employees with web skills, and are coming to see that blogging is a powerful tool for informing people and bringing customers closer to the organization.

For 10 ways Blogging Can Help you Get a Job click here

When I find some tips on-line that I think will be helpful to anyone using a computer I will post them. Here’s A Quick Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts that contains the most useful ones, without going overboard. I hope you find it helpful.

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What is a Blog?

Most of you would already know what a blog is, but the response from people being newly introduced to blogs – namely my friends and family – has been, ‘What is a blog?’, ‘Where do you learn to do that?’, or ‘I’ve never known anyone that has had a blog before’.

They have been impressed that it looks professional, but it’s fairly easy when you know how to use the WordPress software. I was introduced to blogging in a very progressive Web Design Course at North Coast Institute of TAFE.

A blog is a person’s on-line journal that may contain content on any subject, or a range of subjects, and be used as an outlet to express yourself, share information and connect with others. Blogs are updated easily and more frequently than traditional websites, and viewers can add comments to the entries, called posts.

I like blogging as I am enjoying creating, sharing, and learning. I found an interesting post by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame, with advice about how to start blogging, where the journey has taken him, and how it’s all about learning. Click the link for Blogging to Learn

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