Blog #14

I started my friendly blog counter a couple of weeks ago. I am proud to say that this is blog number 14 for me. It feels good and encouraging that I was able to accomplish the blog task. The more I thought about the easier blogging became for me.

The best thing about blogging for this class is at gave everyone the opportunity to share what they have learned and struggled with in this class. I also like the idea of keeping last semester blog posts on our blog so we can go back and look at some of the issues in the class before us.
I am very excited with the progress I have learned in this class. With my individual project I worked with Google Maps, fanfeedr and weather api. My group project I worked with the youtube api and really enjoyed the documentation on it. The biggest thing left with our group project is getting one more api and I think we will all be very happy with the progress.

I looked around and tried to get some information on how to make blogging more enjoyable when doing it. At times it can be enjoyable when you have something on your mind and want to share it with others. When you are stuck and don't have anything to write, then it can become a challenge. Here is a link to an article on five essential tools to make blogging fun and easy.

Blog Counter

Last week in class there was a lot of concern questions about the blog post grades. I have not figured out how to count the comments an easy way, but I have figured out an easy way to count your blogs.

All you need to do is have a keyword that is the same in all your blog posts. As you can see with the picture to the left, I have used my name Steven as my keyword. Leading up to this blog post you can see that I have done 12 blog posts.

In case you were not aware, the image is posts by tag area of our blog. I wish it would be this easy for our comments, but it won't be. The only way this wouldn't work out if other people in the blog decided to tag your blog counter in their post. So, please don't ruin my counting system and put Steven in any of your tags. I hope this helps people who are wanting to know how many blog posts they have currently.

This is the blog and comment counter that was discussed last week from a student from last semester. Here is what he created last semester

problems

I am going to blog about some of my problems that I have run into. I am going to start with the end and work my way back. I had my site working almost exactly how I wanted it to work last night. I then showed my site to someone today and my wunderground.com api decided to not work.

I started to freak out and still am a little. I have come to the conclusion that I have tried to send too many requests and weather is making me take a break. The reason I am more confident now is because I was able to get it to work again before I started blogging.

Another problem that I ran into but was able to work around is the fanfeedr api. I went into my profile on fanfeedr and was able to say I wanted to use xml instead of json. With a little more experience in xml I made the switch and had great success.

iPad is reshaping the Internet

The iPad doesn't run flash. So, think of all the times you needed to update your flash or make sure you even have flash to run a program. Now think of all those programs that uses flash. If your site is shown on the iPad, according to the source I am using, your site won't look pretty.

It turns out people want their site to look "pretty" instead of the opposite. A lot of sites are being changed, this is changing the Internet. Now, all you flash users, don't worry it is still sticking around.

The reason the iPad could have a more pronounced effect on the internet than the iPhone actually really is simply because it’s bigger. The challenge of best displaying your content on the iPhone wasn’t simply making sure you had a Flash-less site — it was fitting it all into a 3.5-inch screen, reducing it to the utter essentials to fit the way people use their phones, a task that might’ve gone beyond a mobile-optimized site in many cases. With the iPad, two of the biggest restrictions — the tighter screen, those smaller windows of time — aren’t there, so content producers very well might not need an app to fit their content onto the iPad. In other words, they really can just build a site instead of an app, which is why the iPad might have a more profound effect on the internet than the iPhone.
Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/03/how-the-ipad-is-already-reshaping-the-internet-without-flash/

First reaction to the iPad are mixed opinions. I did read something about a 10 hour battery life and wow that caught my eye when I have to always keep charging my laptop. It will be interesting to see what happens in the near future and see how this will reshape things we are used to seeing.

My code... looking for some help

I have posted my code and hoping to see if anyone notices where my error or errors are. The first bit of code is my php file.

$url = "http://api.fanfeedr.com/basic/all_scores?appid=735sdkx8cqvh8jbwyfzmr3x7"
$ch = curl_init($url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
$response_body = curl_exec($ch);
$status = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
if (intval($status) != 200) die("Error: $response_body");
var_dump(json_decode($response));
?>

This piece of code is my javascript. I am sorry I don't know how to post code like Adam did, where it was more organized. I used the blockquote which seemed to help the spacing.

function checkRival() {
fanfeedr();

}

function createRequest() {
try {
request = new XMLHttpRequest();
} catch (tryMS) {
try {
request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
} catch (otherMS) {
try {
request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
} catch (failed) {
request = null;
}
}
}
return request;
}



function fanfeedr() {
createRequest();

if (request == null) {
alert("Unable to create request");
return;
}
var url= "getFeedr.php";
request.open("GET", url, true);
request.onreadystatechange = displayFeedr;
request.send(null);
}
function displayFeedr() {
if (request.readyState == 4) {

if (request.status == 200) {
alert("here");
//var myObject = eval('(' + myJSONtext + ')');
detailDiv = document.getElementById("fanfeedr");
detailDiv.innerHTML = request.responseXML;

}
}
}

I think I need to fix how this is being displayed. I wrote in a previous blog comment that I was going to look at what Adam wrote and try and incorporate some of that. I am not sure that will work or not but is always worth a try. Does anyone else have any more suggestions for me?

What is Google Labs?

I wanted to know what exactly Google Labs does for users like me. I decided this is a great opportunity to explore something I don’t know and share it with others.

According to a google site they tried to answer the basic question what is Google Labs?

Google Labs is a playground where our more adventurous users can play around with prototypes of some of our wild and crazy ideas and offer feedback directly to the engineers who developed them. Please note that Labs is the first phase in a lengthy product development process and none of this stuff is guaranteed to make it onto Google.com. While some of our crazy ideas might grow into the next Gmail or iGoogle, others might turn out to be, well, just plain crazy.

This is fun for the lab can actually grow into something we use daily. Based on everyone’s comments and concern with a project it grows to be something successful or another failed experiment.

Engineers and researchers build Google Labs. This is a way for Google’s Engineers and researchers to be able to show off what they have been working on. I just really like how they use our suggestions as guides to how to improve what they already have accomplished.

Work on iteration 2

Iteration 2 has been more of a challenge for me then iteration 1. The reason it is more challenging is because I am making it more challenging. The only problem is now I am the frustrating period and not getting past it.

The first thing I attacked was including the api fanfeedr to my iteration 1. I started coding and then decided to learn more about css and format instead of staying on topic with the project. After getting back to fanfeedr, I registered for my api key. The good news was the key was free and didn’t take very long for the key to be sent to my e-mail. After looking at more code and trying to incorporate fanfeedr, I have realized that fanfeedr code is in the form of JSON and not XML.

So, this marks my first problem. I looked around and could not find how to parse the format JSON. I am going to try and do a search on the blog and maybe someone from last semester had a similar situation. I then ran into the problem that my original iteration decided not to work. So, I then proceeded to create a test folder for the fanfeedr. So, I just about started over but was not too hard with copying most of my code. I then didn’t have to worry about ruining something that already works. Once I get it to work then I can just slide it into my working original iteration.

For Wednesday, I am going to just try and use an easier API that I will hopefully be able to produce. I am going to keep holding onto the fanfeedr information and try and incorporate it into my project for possibly iteration 3.

Does anyone have any experience with Google Maps and getting it to work? My question is how do you the maps that you have in your my maps folder?

Knowledge is power....

Knowledge is power is the title of this blog and I think it is perfect. I have transferred schools three times due to following a dream. It just so happens that each time I transfer, I get a fresh start. My first school was University of North Texas and I didn’t go to class consistently and did as little as possible to get by. I then moved to Colorado and went to the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. My attitude towards school was a lot better, but I was still not attacking the learning part like I should. My last transfer was to Eastern and again I was given a fresh start.

I was very lucky with my fresh start, for I finally decided what major I wanted to go after. I also met my business partner John Hanna in my first class. I was grouped up with John and we both showed how we can really spend time on an assignment and turn it into something helpful for others. We then were asked to help create the second course for Google AdWords for Eastern Michigan. During this time we decided to create a company and there was a lot of excitement.

We then ran into some problems. We are very good with Google AdWords, which was shown if you saw our certification test score. We are not good at getting customers and sharing our knowledge with other companies to help them succeed. So, we put our company on hold and continued working on school projects and learning more information.

It is time to get our company going again for we both need money. After a conversation, we are about to take what we have learned in the classroom and apply it to our business. We are using what we are learning in our project management class to help us with our progress. We are going to meet every week now and just focus on our company. This Thursday we are spending quality time on content so we will be able to launch our new site that looks more professional and try and lower the risk concerns with potential clients. Ajax could be a feature that could also be used with our new site, but I think we should try and finish the semester before we incorporate something we don’t have a full understanding of.

Once our site is up, I know John and I will both welcome any help with getting our name out there and helping us help other companies.

Help getting it to work on both browsers

I am struggling with getting my individual project to work properly on internet explorer. It will work on firefox. I have gone over the code and can't figure it out. Has anyone else come to similar problems and figured it out?

I started this blog a couple weeks back and had some feed back. I then worked on the material and tried to see if I could figure it out. I talked with the professor and he said he figured out my problem. He said it had to do with my labeling.

I thought about this and realized if I don't have something correctly labeled then it is not going to show. That only makes sense to have it correctly labeled.

I then did a search on the internet for other reasons if any, why this could be a problem. I read on another blog to uninstall internet explorer and re-install it helps. Internet explorer runs into problems. Whatever the case may be this turned into a problem and glad it is fixed now.

Milestone 1

Today is the day of Milestone 1. Its a day where I worry did I do it correctly? Do I have enough information? I keep going back to the phrase that professor used in class that this milestone should be light. Light is not the correct word, but I can't remember the correct phrasing right now.

Did I run into problems? That is the "joy" of programming. You run into a problem and then you try and fix it. One thing that I tried to do this time was have an idea in my head exactly what I want to do. A lot of times i just jump into what I am doing and then I sink because I don't know what to do.

I finished chapter 1 and 2 before I started my individual application. I was reading a lot of the blogs and it seemed like everyone was trying to jump into their individual project. I agree because of deadlines you have have to make adjustments to your schedule. So, if you are running out of time, then you need to work on what is due. I just can't stress enough, that going through the application in the text book will help.

Problem that has come up with me doing a lot of testing of my individual project. I have gotten my application to work correctly and do exactly what I pictured in my head. The one thing I have noticed and having a hard time fixing is getting my application to work on internet explorer. It works just as planned on firefox. I know you need to have some different code for each browser. This is something I would like to fix hopefully before it is time to turn it in.

Chapter 1

I want to start by saying that getting my feet wet with something new has been exciting but not short of fear I will struggle. I can see how the blog is going to really help when we get further along in the class. The chances of helping each other with places we have gotten stuck and passing along the message of how the fixed it will really help.

Chapter 1 Rob’s Rock ‘N’ Roll was fun I went through and was able to accomplish the finished thing at the end of the chapter. I do believe I need to go back over it and read it more in depth to fully understand everything I did so I don’t struggle later on.

The first thing I learned was when I coded the JavaScript file, you need to double check that you have it coded correctly. It is not as user friendly with telling you where your error is. If you don’t have it coded correctly then it won’t work. I also labeled my file name incorrectly, which is a dumb error that shouldn’t happen.

The last thing I learned was trying to figure out why the description wouldn’t display when I made sure I had all the code correct. I then realized you need to go through a server for a function to work. When I put the file on people. Emich.edu it then worked correctly for me. I hope I help anyone who ran into similar problems.

Questions about Blogging

I have been playing with my new toy of blogging for the last hour. I have made some comments to other posts as well as I made two blog posts. I then have come across a couple of questions about blogging that may be easily answered and will help me from here on out.

I noticed that when I make a comment back to a post, I could not find an area where I could also include a link. Is this possible and I just have slipped the spot where that is easily done? Or is this something that blogging could add in the future?

I also was curious about my blog posts. Is there an easy way to access your blog posts quickly with what you have only written? Also the thought process of this, how do I find out quickly who responds to my posts? Is an e-mail sent to me if I set it up that tells me when a comment was posted. Or do I just have to search for it and keep looking around.

I found a link of common questions about blogs. It looks like the trackback is what would answer my last question. I just need more information so this could be as smooth as possible.

Previous Experience with Head First Book

I didn’t know anything about web development and then I was introduced to Head First HTML with CSS and XHTML. The book not only helped me learn HTML and CSS, but the way the book was written it made it very interesting. It was by far one of my favorite books and the interesting part was that it made me learn the material in a fun way. It made me WANT to learn how to write HTML so I can create the web pages that I wanted to. Then once I finished the book, something happened. I wanted to learn more.

I then ordered more books about web development. I ordered some books that just had pictures of different web sites so I could see some different sites with their color schemes. I think this is actually the hardest thing is trying to get a color scheme that will connect with your information that you are trying to give to a specific audience. You don’t want it to be too bright and you also don’t want it to be too dark. I then went to borders and read some books or to be completely honest, lets just say that I scanned through them and just came to the conclusion that I knew how to do everything it was saying. I ended up not buying any books and I just couldn’t find another book that was similar and helpful like the one Head First HTML with CSS.

I tried a little bit with the program Dreamweaver. I was introduced to a helpful guide by my business partner John Hanna, who showed me the basics of how to create a web site using Dreamweaver. I felt like a little kid again, I just couldn’t wait to get home and continue working on my web site and continue learning the steps on how to create a successful website. When I finished all the steps I then was at a similar spot that I was just a short time ago. I wanted to learn more. I am now being introduced to the book Head First AJAX and really hope it is similar to my Head First HTML. Based on looking at the pages by scanning the book it looks like it will again teach me more about web development in a fun and exciting way.

I am going to end this blog with me posting that I am excited to learn AJAX and hope I continue my path of learning how to be a successful web page creator.

Blogging

I have the worst attitude about writing and a lot of times it frustrates me. I admit to everyone that I am a terrible writer and so most of the time I just give up. I have tried a couple of times and I have noticed that my biggest thing is the way I phrase things. I also have learned that I write what I think instead of trying to make something smooth. With blogging in this class, it could be another huge opportunity for me to increase my writing skills.

I want to first start with doing a little research about blogging so I have a complete understanding what is expected. I read the syllabus and then read about blogging online on the emuonline.edu website. Blogging quantity seemed like an important item that should be highlighted and made sure everyone in the class realizes what is expected. We are expected to make at least 1 post a week and make 3 posts comments on other classmates.

With researching about blogs, I found out that there are many different types of blogs. Blogs are different based on the type of content. Also blogs are different in the way that content is delivered or written. I looked up the different types of blogs and this is what I came across:

· Personal Blogs

· Corporate and Organizational Blogs

· By Genre

· By media type

· By device

My goal is to have a positive attitude with blogging and really learn how to improve my writing. Thanks for reading my first blog.