Content and Going All Romanian

This week I have been starting to put in content that my client has started to feed through to me. I have the welcome page text, the 'about us' content as well as a few other bits and bobs.

I am just starting to insert their products into the database to replace the test images and information that I have been using, its all slowly taking shape.

Another thing I have been working on is the Romanian half of the website, this has started to come together now that I have the text content to use on the pages. I managed to adapt my MSQL table so that it defines 'romanian' and 'english' so that the right pages can pull the right information (in terms of language required). This will all come together now that I am going to insert the actual products to the database.

Also, I found out today that the CMS (back end) can stay in English which is quite convenient, this is because the person that will most probably be making any changes on the website is sufficient with English. I have told my client that if they do want it changed to Romanian, it will not be a problem.

Product of the Day

Getting the product of the day to display in the index page has been a big coding challenge for me. The aim was to get a different random product each day from the 'Product' database, this would be the 'Product of the Day'. I managed to get the random code working so that a random product was selected from my database but it kept changing on page load instead of the same product displaying throughout the day.

I was unable to solve this problem so I have had to compromise and delegate a product to each day of the week. This works just fine and still means that the product of the day is automatically selected, which is what my client requested, it also means that the products can easily be changed if my client wanted to.
This is the PHP code for the Product of the day:
It took a while to sort out the displaying of the product of the day, I am just trying to sort out the positioning of the rosette:

Contact Page for Client Project

 After playing around with several different php contact form codes, I finally realised that it was my wamp server that was not allowing the email to send, not the code. So now I have a simple contact page which a person can fill in and the email will send to my client's inbox.

Many Thanks to freecontactform.com for the easy to follow code.

So now my contacts page looks like this:

Contact Page and Action Plan

I am now working on the contact page for my client's website, I have followed tutorial to do this because I have never made one before, for some reason though this is not working yet. I will keep at it and try to get it working in the next couple of days.

With regards to the overall progress of my Client website, I would say that I was about 60% done which means I have lots to do before my deadline in 5 weeks.

I need to:

• Finish the contact page (get it working)
• Look at integrating some Flash interactive elements to the photo banners on the About Us and Location Page. This will have to include 'if' statements for relevant browser or flash software used. So if the user does not have the right software to view this it will display as a static image.
• Create the PHP for the 'Product of the day' which will appear on the index page and the menu page. I have tried to find some tutorials for this and so far have not had much luck, I need to do this soon.
• Content Content Content; I will need to again ask for the content from my client so that I can start to replace the lorem ipsum and finalise composition of the text and image elements throughout the site.
• I need to create the Romanian half of the site, there will be an option to switch between English and Romanian. One of the ways to do this will be to add another table into my database which will be the products in Romanian to pull from for the Romanian menu pages.

So, lots and lots to do still....best get to it!

Artefact 4 Evaluation

Evaluation of the One Page Templates

I tried to build a picture as to what the future of online portfolios and online presences might be. My understanding is that employers want to see all the various online presences a person has in order to get a full picture of how the person works and how competent they are at what they do. Therefore I think a future trend might me that practitioners create a one page portfolio website, like a profile, that brings in elements from whatever online presences they feel is necessary. To demonstrate my idea I created two examples of these one page portfolios into which I included examples of my work, a feed from my blog and a feed from my Twitter account. I then held two focus groups with my peers to get their thoughts on my idea of the future of portfolio websites.

Both groups agreed that this was a really good idea because the websites were both simplistic and they liked how everything was pulled into one place which they saw as being much better for the employer who can easily see their work or blog posts and quickly get a good sense of the person they are and the skills they have.

They discussed how the style and functions of a portfolio website (which I described as being like a profile page portfolio website) would benefit them as practitioners because people can view all of their information easily. This style of portfolio allows the designer to include whichever information they see fit, Filmmakers also discussed how they find it important to include who they have worked with in the past to better depict their work experience. They said that this dynamic style of portfolio will easily enable them to do that.

Artifact 4 cont

I have now made a second website as part of my 4th artifact which has a different layout, this layout came from seeing this one page portfolio website (which I think is really good) - www.kinoz.com.


Second Website: www.skirky.co.uk/portfolio2

Now that I have made the two portfolio websites, I will get feedback on the effectiveness of the sites. This will either be done via a questionnaire or a focus group. I think a focus group will the better way to get people's opinions on the websites.

Artifact 4

Have finished to first website to be used as an artifact:

Portfolio 1 

I am now working on the second, it will have the same information in it but will have a different layout.

Artifact 4

I response to artifact 3's results, I have decided that for my 4th artifact I will create a portfolio website that is designed to fit the criteria that was stated by the employers who have helped me with my research (see artifact 3)

This portfolio website will encompass different online presences that employers look for when hiring. It will hold examples of work, blog feeds and Twitter feeds in a one page format.

I feel it is important that this is done over one page because this will mean less navigation involved and many portfolio websites are being created in this style which makes it more up to date.

Here is a quick look at the un-finished portfolio page. Please note, I have made the theme of the page quite plain as it is a generic layout:

I have placed the content in three columns and it is easy to establish which column is what.

The portfolio content uses jquery's 'fancy box' and includes links to the websites displayed. I have utilised 'google reader' to link the RSS feed from my blog to this page. With more time I would hope that some content of each post (a couple of lines at least) would also be displayed instead of only the title of the post. - If anyone knows that this is possible through google reader please let me know - @samkirkfinks via Twitter.

For the Twitter feed I just grabbed the code I already used on my blog and re-styled it to suit this page.


I am working on a nice sliding content area that will come down and give the standard "this is me" jargon, I saw this in a lecture given by a past student www.jupiterking.co.uk . I couldn't find the example I am thinking of but this site demonstrates it with the navigation bar hide/show tabs.

A great example of a single page portfolio can be found here - www.kinoz.com the content areas here are clearly stated although much scrolling is needed, I think the design makes up for it.

Artifact 3 Evaluation

Email To Employers within the Design Industry:

        I emailed various different employers within the design industry to get their opinions on my research topic. I wanted to find out what kind of online presence they look for when hiring somebody and what were their thoughts on the use of blogs and more socials sites such as Twitter.

Many seemed genuinely interested in this topic and made some interesting points towards my research. It seems that the general consensus is that it depends on the kind of job that is to be undertaken as to what kind of online presence a person would require. However it was clear in the replies that an online presence of any kind is very much to be expected. The overall response was that a mixture of both personal website and blog would be looked at when in the process of hiring a person. As one person said “These are not different mediums, but shades in the same palette of online presence.” Some employers place emphases on having a personal website, especially if the job is web design related, the employer would use the website as a live example of their working capabilities. Others expressed emphasis on the use of blogs to demonstrate their knowledge and interest in their occupation. “We look for a knowledge and understanding rather than a physical example of a web site.”  

Twitter was also claimed to be very popular with the majority of the employers, “It's simply about being a part of an arts community”, twitter gives the employer a better insight into the person they are hiring, it also grants a great opportunity to acquire people through recommendations from others, “I always like to see people doing a Website Portfolio backed up with a Blog & a Twitter account.”

Times Past

Just thought I would re-post a video made by two of my Peers; Steven and Daryl:

Getting you up to date with my PRP Research Topic

I realised that although I have posted a couple of bits and bobs relating to my final year research project, I have not kept you up to date with where I am up to.

Just to clarify, my research document is titled "Portfolios Vs Online Presence" I have written a thesis

that outlines my research topic as mentioned in an earlier post. 

I am now working on the 6 artifacts need to prove or dis-prove ideas outlined in my research paper. 

 Artifact 1

My Questionnaire was composed to research the expectations that designers have, with regards to an online presence. I asked which kind of portfolio they would like to have, only 2 people opted for a paper portfolio, 28 opted for both and 11 (26.8%) opted to only want an online portfolio. This is a significant amount of people who choose to rely on the Internet to represent them. More specific to my research document, the questionnaire revealed 53.7% would choose to have a blog instead of a dedicated online portfolio website.

          Results lead me to think that perhaps the boundaries between social networking and work related networking are being blurred with the help of social websites. I also find it interesting that Personal Blogs are popular tools for work related networking. Perhaps this is because they are an informal means of sharing progress and opinion which make them a much better utility for networking than a portfolio website which is not so informal.

          A few of the comments at the end helped me to get a better understanding of what designers are expecting from having an online presence for work purposes. One person said “I find a blog useful as I can show my current work, so perspective clients can see my process and my current employers can see what I am up to/looking at.” It outlines one of the main differences between an online portfolio and a blog. The portfolio usually displays a person’s finished accomplishments, whereas a blog is a continuing commentary of a person’s progress. Another person adds “Most designers will have a website then utilise social networking tools to go alongside it.” So the expectations these days are that people will use both blog and portfolio together to create a successful online presence. 

Artifact 2

I wrote to several peers who I know have attained work through their online media. I asked them to share with me their experiences of using online presences and the methods they have used to promote themselves online. One successful method was found using Twitter “I currently have custom searches set up to notify me with certain tweets which include keywords such as hire, need, web and designer”  a few of the people I emailed told me that they have gained paid work by replying to feeds which have come to their attention using this method.
Blog posts have also led to these people acquiring work “tagging blog posts with keywords can help provoke interest in your work” A lot of companies will search themselves online to see what the public think of them and their products. This is how one person was asked to produce some web elements for them because they read a blog post about them which prompted them to find out more about this person and they eventually contacted him to do work for them.

Social networking sites such as facebook are used to tell people they already know about the services they provide “hence doing work for previous associates rather than new clients” 

All of the peers who replied said that they use their online portfolios, after somebody has already expressed interest in hiring them, as a showcase for their work, a tool to show what they can produce. This tells me that it is the other online presences such as Twitter and Blogging websites that are used to get the prospective clients and start these conversations. The online portfolios are used as an efficient way for people to view your technical skills and creativity.

Artifact 3

I emailed various different employers within the design industry to find out what their opinions were on my research topic. I have not yet evaluated this artifact as I am still in the process of gathering the information i have received back. A lot of the people who replied to my email seemed really interested in the topic and many were keen to give me their opinions on the matter.

(I will post more of my findings when I have evaluated the replies I received)

So as it stands I am due to begin Artifact 4 of my personal research project. I keep trying to think about my project as an ongoing investigation (which it is) and in doing this I realise my research document discussed what has been and I am now satisfied that I have gathered enough information for the state of things as they are now, what I want to begin to do is look at what might be with regards to people's online presence and how they can be used to promote successfully promote a person.

Client Website Update

Just an update on my client project to document where I am up to at the moment.

I am really happy with the progress I have made regarding all of the back-end code work (mainly the PHP, MYSQL). So far I have made the site so that my client can upload another new product easily to their website, the four product types are; Pastries, Cakes, Wedding Cakes and Special Products (suitable for diabetics etc). As it stands the four types are all separate, they are uploaded via separate links and the data is stored in four separate tables within my MYSQL database. It all works really well, the upload is great, the edit function works great and also the delete function works fine for all four products. I am really Happy with it so far, here a some screen shots of the work:

Index Page:

 About Us Page:

Menu Page:

Product Page:

Location Page:

Here is the CMS system that I have built into the site linking with a MYSQL database:

Admin Tabs have been included in various different places on the site.

Authentication is required:

This is the CMS interface:

Icons appear for my client to edit/delete a post:

Adding a new product is nice an easy:

Overall I am really happy with my progress, however after meeting with my tutor and peers I realise that a few changes need to be made.

Firstly, as it stands, each type of product gets uploaded to a corresponding table in the database, I need to change this so that it all goes into one table called 'products'. I will add a field called 'type' and edit the CMS system so that my client chooses which type of product it is (cake, pastry etc) when they upload the image and details. This will help me when it comes to coding the 'Product of the day' section on the homepage where a product will be randomly selected each day.

I also need to change the width of the content area as at the moment there is too much white space at the sides. This will lead to adapting all content within the content field so that it still looks in line. I am going to add a washed out background colour to the text areas of the CMS system because the text is a little difficult to read with the background being so busy.

I want to avoid scrolling as much as I can, so I will adapt the layout of the product information and image so that there are two products side by side instead of viewing them one at a time. This also means getting rid of the 'show all' function because I want the browser to automatically show all of a type of product.

I am going to change the layout of the main menu page, if the content area is wider then I can also have these side by side instead of as a list, the aim of this change, again, is to avoid scrolling.

Other things I will look at changing are the banners, the main image on the home and menu pages will be adapted to suit the new content width and I will look to incorporate some Flash into the banners of the Location and About Us pages.

This is because they are in the style of Polaroid photos, so I will look at including an interactive element that means the image can be played with, shuffled around and perhaps enlarge so that they can be viewed better.

So, even though so far I have accomplished a lot in a week, I now feel like I have a lot more work to do!

Best get to it!