Module 3: My thoughts on HTML Vs. Blogging

I have only had extremely limited success with HTML (currently more problems than actual success stories in this area), and have been blogging almost continually, but for only one month.
However, I do feel that my limited experience allows me to conclude that both HTML and Blogs have pros and cons that need to be considered before attempting a choice between both.

At this stage of writing I am personally more comfortable with my blog on 'blogger.com', as I have had relatively few problems.
Each day I have learnt something new by either clicking all the available Tabs on my page, by viewing other bloggers pages, and also from following tips left behind from our tutor Peter or classmates.

Having said that, I also believe that with more time and experience, I should become comfortable with the basic aspects of creating and publishing a Web page via HTML tags through the use of Notepad.

Ultimately, whether you choose HTML or Blogging will depend upon your goal and reason for publishing.

HTML Pros:

* Can design the page to *completely* reflect your needs
* Could possibly reach a wider audience, especially if the Web page produces a high number of hit's when people search your particular topic.
* More freedom to do what you want

HTML Cons:

* The need to be aware of the 'Invisibility of difference' while creating your page, so people with differently configured computers will still be able to view it's contents as opposed to navigating away
* Addressing *specifically* but *briefly* what your page is about through the page title - which is likely to return more hits and views than if labelled improperly
* Not understanding how to use the software adequately (my main problem!)
* Your page can be viewed by *anyone*, so content, especially personal content, should be guarded closely.

BLOG Pros:

* Your page is already set-up according to a template - which you choose
* There are choices which allow you to decide who will ultimately view your page (eg 'all internet users', 'registered blogspot users only', 'only those who you have allowed access to'.
* there is a choice to write in text or in html. Thus far, I have only tried text. My html ventures have come back with angry red writing that says: tag not closed (I wanted to make a word bold by using the bold tag). It looked perfectly fine for me, but I will obviously need to work this peculiarity out!!!

BLOG Cons:

* If you don't understand how to do something, the process can be difficult (ie no 'help' menu)
* If a wider audience is needed, it would be essential to check your permissions page - or your blog may become 'hidden'
* Internet users with no blogging experience may not know how to navigate to your page (I'm a major example of someone who had *absolutely no* experience with blogs prior to the start of this course (!) - whereas a random web page can be easily navigated to if the search criteria typed in, connects with the search parameters (set by the words typed in) of that Web page.

Module 3 HTML - the continuing project: Stay Tuned \0/

I was able to put the validate icon on my HTML Page - even though it does not like the Google links I put in (which were directly copied then pasted into my tags.

Is this bogus or what????

By the way, when you click on the W3C Validator, it takes you to a page that says it could not find the URL - I'm sure this is because the WebCt is behind a firewall.

My main concern though, is if it was this easy to download the W3C Validation Icon - how many other "Bogus" pages are out there?
Does anyone police/regulate this?

My other concern, is that the major problems were with an http:// link that I merely copied and pasted - I didn't write the html code for it!
Bogus!!!

Posted on : January 22, 2009

A Problem I am currently experiencing, is that when my page is expanded to fill the whole computer screen, it shows four copies of the background photo - instead of just one that fits into the entire screen.

Unsure how to fix this.
May have to post my question onto the board.

AUSTRALIA DAY LONG WEEKEND \0/

Thanks to Amy, I was able to fix my page by centering the photo *and* I was able to remove some html text that had been placed inside my title section - thank you \0/

I also worked on my other photo uploads, and was able to add some html tags underneath words...which worked :)

All that I have left to do, is validate my page...more searching required here, as I must have glossed over that section/not understood it...so I have no clue where to go!

That will be today's task.

Meanwhile, enjoy the 4 photos I took of my finished page \0/ Woohoo!!!

This post will be updated as I progress further with my html page.
Please stay tuned :)

Module 3 HTML Success at 2:17am :)

I've finally had success at uploading a page with a photo on it :)

Massive thanks to Amy, Chriso, James, Louwna, Monique, Peter and the whole tribe at WebCt - I'd buy you all a round of drinks if I could :)

It turns out that I didn't accidentally delete *all* my attempts from Jan 12th.

One page was still lurking under the saved pseudonym of "mybackground.jpg" and I'm unsure how that misnomer came about but it doesn't matter - I still had evidence of Monday's work on my computer. I found it when I went to check my photo prior to uploading a newer version. phew!

My error is as follows:

* I saved as index

* This only saved the file as .txt

* I ignorantly believed that the notepad program would automatically add '.html' to the file in a similar way that word programs automatically save as '.doc'.

* After re-reading *ALL* the posts on the WebCt under 'Module 3 HTML Task', I realised my error.

* Thank you in particular to Amy, Chriso and Peter for suggesting that 'index.html' should be typed into the 'file name' area.

Again, many thanks - it's still a work in progress but I know what I'm doing now (can't believe I managed to upload the 'Blue Page' at the beginning of last week but couldn't remember the steps a week later - woeful!).

Will be re-working the page with renewed vigour from tomorrow...yikes!

It's after 3am in Sydney!!

Good Night :)