Thursday, June 28, 2012

HTML5, Websites, and More

I definitely want to jump on the HTML5 bandwagon, and for my internship I've been looking for a page flip animation via HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. Not only does http://www.20thingsilearned.com/ tell the history of the internet, but if you use Firefox>Tools>Web Developer>Page Source you can get a sense of how they made this animation. http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/casestudies/20things_pageflip/ also breaks down the code, gives a zip source code folder, and demos a much simpler version of the code. However, it still doesn't look as good as Flash and seems to only be able to put content on the recto (right) page for each spread.
Fellow Digital Arts Media Network Member Jason typed on our Facebook page some really helpful notes on HTML5 and Processing (an open source processing language used for graphics and animations) that I thought I'd share in this post.
"I figured out how to put processing projects straight onto the web without having to do that crappy export as an applet solution. With HTML5 you can literally just inject them into the canvas tag just as easily as you load pictures on the web with an <img src> tag. All you have to do is load the processing.js file in the header of your page, like this:
<script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/processing.js"></script>
You download the processing.js file at the website processingjs.org, and then to load your processing projects into it, you just have a folder with the processing project .pde file (exactly like you have it in your processing sketchbook) and just put it into the canvas like this:
<canvas data-processing-sources="processingprojecthere/processingprojecthere.pde"></canvas>
And it should work perfectly. Some things to note though that I have figured out are: to load images, webcam, and extras like that, you need to have some more specific code, examples are on the processingjs.org website.And most importantly, IT WORKS ON MOBILE DEVICES!"
Thanks Jason!
It stinks that Flash doesn't work on Apple devices and the page flip by http://www.megazine3.de/home.html that I use for my website doesn't show up on my iPad.
My friend Ryan's website looks really good right now with HTML5: http://www.ryanrudock.com/ using jQuery. 
For my internship I've also been playing around with green screen effects and happily re-found another former Digital Arts Media Network member's site : http://www.adamdthomas.com/VideoBank/ which has stationary green screen videos to play with. http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/greenscreenplates.html has free green screen video in motion to practice with as well.
I look forward to updating my website to work with multiple devices and browsers.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Dolled Up: Designing an Oversized Dollhouse



My clothing order from Victoria's Secret came in and I was super excited to try everything on. Sadly the fit was not what I hoped for but I'm hoping with some accessories and maybe if they shrink a little in the wash it will be the perfect attire for my first university teaching assignment. I tried all the tops on with a silk black skirt and luckily it goes with pretty much everything.
I also went to Michael's Arts and Crafts Store to look for home decor that fits in with my theme of "Oversized Dollhouse." I already have a large lime green shoe-shaped chair, a life-sized mannequin, two giant teacup shaped planters and now I have giant clothespins! I think I want to design oversized buttons and bows for the wall, maybe using a laser-cutter and some paint :) I also saw a huge stop watch at Bealls Outlet which maybe could fit into an Alice in Wonderland twist on the theme!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Petite Professional Fashion

Since I am 5'4" and have a small frame, I have been having a hard time finding clothes that fit me this season. Everything seems to be flowy, loose, and large. I also dislike floral, animal, and horizontal stripe patterns which also knocks out quite a bit of clothing to choose from. To build up my professional wardrobe, I have been looking for blouses and shirts to go under suits. I have grey, brown, and black slacks as well as brown and black suit jackets (I got a lot of great deals on brand names like Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic at a Goodwill and a bazaar in Maryland when I was visiting my family for Spring Break). I went to Belk and got a couple of neon tank tops in green and pink, went to Kohl's and got a white and black striped skirt, and purchased two black belts from White House Black Market. Victoria's biggest secret is that they actually sell more than just lingerie! Online I ordered some fitted button shirts and a dress so I hope that the sizes fit! I still need to find some professional looking shoes. My shoe of choice is the Flojos fake leather flip flop, which I don't think will pair well with a suit :( I'm quite terrible in pumps and my favorite flats brand, Rocket Dog, started making their shoes narrower and narrower, so I need to find a new fave flat. Online at dsw.com, the Fergalicious and the Dollhouse flats look promising. I hope I can find ways to make my individual pieces versatile and when Fall comes, I'll probably look into leggings.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Preliminary Pro(b)logue

Now that I've received my B.A. in English and B.F.A. in Art & Technology (May 2012), I'm preparing for graduate school at the University of Florida. I am currently pursuing a Master of Arts in English and will hopefully to continue my education to receive a Ph.D. and become an English professor. My posts will most likely vary from academic to fashion to photography and design as well as more personal interests. I will admit to having girly interests (ANTM and Pride and Prejudice among them), but I am also interested in digital advances, action/adventure movies, and college football. I am currently preparing to teach ENC3254 and co-teach ENC1101 in the fall and am also nearly finished with my Tutor Training with Kaplan for the SAT and the ACT. I'm also seeking out a more professional wardrobe which is proving to be challenging as the season's trends are less than becoming on a petite frame. I'm currently converting old files from my PC to my Mac and am sorting through many files and folders. The documentation of my trip to the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History (my friends all know I have lepidophobia) never made it to the world wide web, so I thought I would share a few of those photos here.