In our final for web design, we designed our own website with virtually all creative freedom allowed. We chose a school accessible topic that we are individually interested in, making for some very esoteric websites. The general requirement was to create a website with multiple pages, each bearing similar CSS and different facts about your topic: this included successfully linking pages to the internet and linking the pages of our site together, creating original CSS, adding images and generally making everything look appealing.
I have always had troubles with web design and doing things successfully coding-wise, but allowing ourselves to do what we were comfortable with in creating our own limits really helped me. It allowed me to work my way about the mistakes I had kept making all year during my coding, as I was exploring them as I made everything from virtually scratch.
The pages are all unique in their content, but all feature links to the sites I obtained information from, titled as what they are, images that are contextually relevant and are sized appropriately and floating left or right, a sidebar (which works for all the pages, hooray!), a footer, divs and variance in appearance such as fonts and color schemes.
This semester, we worked on convergence journalism. This expanded greatly on two areas: first, my knowledge of video itself. It expanded my practice with shooting efficiently and correctly, and editing it succinctly and, once again, correctly. The other area this semester helped me with was learning the nature of convergence journalism itself: how interviews work, and how this field of video is unique from other kinds, such as entertainment.
Feature Story: Blaise Keasler
This is my personal favorite of the projects we did. This was a feature story about one person with an esoteric and interesting hobby. You had to make it informative, visually appealing, and have two interviews with quality information presented in both. Voiceovers were also necessary. This was a feature story as opposed to a news story, so it was less formal and the interviewer was allowed to be self referential.
This video took a week to create solely in class. It took a day or two to create the concept and write my 21 questions (something I learned this semester was the standard). Then I had to decide on a second interviewee and write another 21 questions specific to them and their interview. After that, I had to schedule and film both interviews, deciding on the dressing room as the main setting. I used my own camera. Once both interviews were filmed, editing did not take me long; perhaps a day and a half of class.
One of my main challenges was writing questions that would get in depth information, especially from the second interviewee, Jacob. Another challenge was the fact that I did not have a tripod at my disposal for the main interview, which taught me I definitely need one at all times of filming. That was one thing I learned: the imperative necessity of tripods. Other than that, I learned how quickly one needs to film and edit when making a film of this nature. I also learned that it is wise to have both interviews in a creative setting, not just one. That makes it more put together and visually interesting. Learning about the question-writing and the setting choosing essentially made me learn the bigger picture of "it is short, so it has to be full of detail work and information". The feedback I was given was mostly positive; the only feedback to fix something was that the voiceover introducing Jacob did not initially explain how he was actually related to Blaise. However, I fixed it before I submitted my video for full class feedback. That was one of the things I changed: my insufficiently informative voiceover. Otherwise, I changed my cuts to be more smooth and make more comprehensive sense. The visual aspects of this video were a large reason why I enjoy and appreciate this video. I also think my editing is, for the most part, effective. However I am skeptical of this video in that there wasn't an abundant amount of new information. This is when I could have afforded to improve my interview questions earlier.
ONW 1 in 2000: Addie Zoll
This was a news story as opposed to a feature story. Therefore, there is only one interview. It does not require a vast amount of B-roll. The interviewer does not 'exist' in news stories. This was to create a special in which a person from Northwest explains their summer break and what was interesting about it.
It took around a week, but did not go as quickly or efficiently as it was my first time doing anything of this nature. Everything was somewhat of a challenge as compared to now: it was extremely difficult to think of quality 21 questions, and predict what would be good to get information during the interview. It was also difficult to film somewhere with good lighting according to the camera. I learned that one should choose a place fitting for a news story, which I did not quite do. I also learned how to ask follow up questions during an interview to make sure when you combine it all in editing, it flows and makes sense. My feedback was mostly good; people appreciated my intro and smooth editing, which is only because I've been doing it for so long already. I believe part of it was to avoid jump cuts again, which I learned was hard when sometimes answers were too long. One thing I learned along those lines was also that you have a lot less time to have quality information than you think you do initially. Choosing and gauging what answers should and should not be kept was very hard. I could not change anything in that respect. I thought this video turned out alright, but lacked a lot of visual interest and engagement, and I do not know whether I chose wisely on the things I removed to cut the time down.
ONW Now
This project was to create a short feature story for our own 7th hour ONW Now episode. Me and my partner, Ashley Augustine, created a feature story about Winter Wishes by STUCO, since it had just recently gone on. It took in total three days, I believe? One of our challenges was not being able to find our interview files for a day, as her SD card was functioning oddly. However, it was overcome as our friend Ryan helped us find the files in a 'hidden' place on the SD card. Otherwise, we had trouble with people walking by and talking while we were filming. We learned that getting enough B-roll is difficult sometimes, but using images and getting creative with it really helps. It was difficult because we could not attain B-roll pertaining to actual winter wishes being granted as it was happening past the deadline for the feature story. However, I think we did alright as I got the images off of their twitter of past ones, and she got B-roll of a friend making one at lunch. Our feedback was positive, however it was suggested we get a second interview. It was not mandatory, however could have added more. I believe this video turned out alright, but under the time crunch prevented me from doing better.
How did I Use my Time?
I have typically used my time in class for projects as much as I can. Sometimes filming does not immediately line up, but I try to do everything as soon as it is possible. I don't stop editing until it is completely finished. Whenever I finished early, I remained productive by starting the blog post for whatever project I finished early. Sometimes I would rewatch it once I was done and fix things, such as the voiceover in Blaise's feature story. Outside of class, I occasionally filmed extra B-roll or thought about how best to go about my schedules. I don't consider myself to ever have been a person that did not work when it was appropriate and necessary, and all my videos have been on time.
Areas of Strength and Improvement?
Personally, I think my strengths are definitely my editing skills and technical filming skills and eye for visuals as I have been working on that since I was in elementary school. I maximize on them by learning new things still, and especially learning the things I did NOT know as easily, such as writing interview questions or recording voiceovers (which proves to be difficult). Since I don't have to divert all my attention to editing or filming, I can put it into things I did not know at the beginning of the semester. Those were a couple of the areas I could improve. The essentials of convergence journalism were not as easy to come to me, and I think I could improve on those. I tried to revise them and make them better every time we repeated them in doing a new project. I also could learn how to use the cameras at school we used, and definitely the tripods. I know how to fix whether the audio is working, but have trouble with white balance, and also getting it on and off of the tripod. Overall, I loved the learning of this semester. I never would have known otherwise the difference between a news and feature story, how to be an effective interviewer, or write a nut graph. I would change how much B-roll I got for all of my videos, however, to make them all more interesting and not just focused on the technical aspects. This was a very successful semester, not only for me, I've noticed, but for the entire class. We all learned and grew together, and I think caught on quickly to the unique way convergence works in itself.
For my feature story no. 2, I made my concept focused on debate, specifically Olathe Northwest's speech and debate team. I interviewed a student that has been in debate for two years, Nick Cornell, and the new head coach for our team, Eric Skoglund. My Narrative Lead My narrative lead impacts the work by introducing the contrast of what speech and debate provides for an individual as compared to sports or other extracurricular activities, which are usually discussed more. Occupations like policymaking and law are very specific, and it is typically thought that they cannot be kickstarted in high school- however this is not the case. My Two Interviews My first interview was Nick Cornell, a debate student. He explained debate from his perspective- what the students do, how you compete, and what is typical of being on the team. He mentions doing research and having intellectual and political discussions with peers. My alternate interview is Eric Skoglund, the head coach of our team. He explains the best part of debate for him, and witnessing how it affects students and their confidence. These two interviews cover all the bases of debate- what it is like for students and participants; and what it is like officially and outside of itself. They, together, tell a complete story of our debate team and the benefits of debate in general. Shooting My video was fairly simplistic to shoot; I used my own Canon T3i for B-Roll and Mr. Skoglund's interview, and couldn't for Nick, so I used the school camera for that portion. However, despite the simplicity of the shots, that is something I could have improved on. Filming 'action' B-Roll for debate is quite arduous considering I can't film a round at a tournament, but it would have been interesting to have shots from a practice round. The other adversity was the fact that my interview with Mr. Skolund was last minute, but the band was creating a bit of a din in the background. I probably should have moved him somewhere else.
Editing Editing it was easy enough; although balancing out the audio to be just right was a little difficult, considering it was two different cameras and two different mics. I additionally had to use the transform effect on Mr. Skoglund's footage, as it was filmed very crooked. Feedback The class didn't have much negative feedback, except mentioning what I had much dreaded as soon as I noticed it (That there was a person in the reflection behind Nick). The teacher mentioned my other concern in that it was hard to attain very eye-catching B-Roll. Otherwise, it was positive feedback. Conclusion Overall, I think it has been getting easier to create these convergence videos as I get acclimated to the usual procedures. Making them is a snowball effect of efficiency- each time I make another one, it takes less time and usually is better in at least one aspect.
What Makes A Good Feature Story? In our recently concluded project of creating a feature story, a winner was chosen to be shown on ONW Now. This video was by a girl named Lina, and the topic was a girl who plays golf. In her video, she used a wide variety of shots, edited correctly, and had a strong voiceover. Overall, it covered the bases a feature story needs to be successful. The components needed for a quality feature story are these: A Strong Concept To even begin making a feature story, you need a central idea; a concept you want to convey by interviewing someone over a certain subject personal to them. If there is no strong purpose, there is no drawing board and no purpose for the video. The viewer should clearly understand what is being communicated. Voiceovers Not every part of the context of the video will be expressed in the film of interview that you take- and that's where voiceovers come in. A voiceover introduces the topic separate from the interviewee talking about themselves, gives a little background and understanding of WHAT it is you're about to learn about. Balanced Audio and B-Roll Not only do the videos rely on concepts and communication, but they rely on the logistics of editing and visuals. For a video to be viewed without distraction and with ease, the audio needs to be balanced in DB, and without distractors in the background. Any faults can draw away from the effectiveness of the message. On the other hand, B-Roll compliments the message, showing aesthetically pleasing visuals to enhance the concept. A Strong Beginning, Middle and End Finally, the video needs to have a 'storyline'. First the topic is warmed up, the information gets to a greater depth, and then the message is concluded in the end by a strong statement or phrase- neatly finished with a bow on the top. Without this clarity, it is hard to distinguish the overall purpose and intent of the video's creator, and the impact of the video.
There are many variables that play a part in a good feature story, and these are just a mere few of them- in which the elected winners and honorable mentions of the ONW Now contest all possessed.
For our last project of a video feature story, we had to write an article in tandem to simulate the world of actual convergence journalism. For every video, a corresponding article is written with the same subject matter and material, but written in a narrative form.
Writing the Piece
Writing this piece was fairly easy due to my background of personally enjoying writing. However, that was also where the struggle lied. Switching to writing entailed a certain creativity, however writing journalism is quite different. I learned that even down to using a ';', journalism pieces are very specific and to be written a distinct way. I also wasn't aware that paragraphs work in a slightly different way in which each time a new quote is introduced, it is in a stand alone paragraph. It is very technical and tedious.
Writing it was also different because even though direct quotes were taken from the video and the subject matter remained the same, it had to be different and distinct. This provided more room to elaborate on what the quotes actually meant, however; which to me makes the story stronger in expanding on what the interview was truly about and what the interviewed meant by the things they said in front of the camera.
Video vs Article?
As compared to the video production, it was definitely easier, as all I had to do was watch my video and stay at my computer. But I think I learned a fair amount by doing it- learning about a style of writing I have not encountered. Even though I love writing, though, I think I preferred making the video a little more.
Waking up hours before she has to depart for school, she begins her day with her own personalized art. Flashes of color contrast skin; character being demonstrated and feeling brought to fruition. Sweeping a brush or unscrewing the top of a lipstick, she finally finishes-after an hour of concentration. Every day of expression is distinctly unique from the prior, yet equally aesthetically appealing.
Makeup is typically regarded as a mundane aspect of becoming presentable before a class or day job. However, Blaise Keasler sees it as anything but that. Blaise devotes her time and effort to exuding her appreciation for art, self-confidence and expression through the unconventional medium of cosmetics.
"I don't sing, I don't dance, I don't do those things," Blaise said, when asked why makeup is her chosen forte. "Makeup is kind of a way for me to express myself."
The answer rings true; the look of her face changes each day reliant on her mood- the shades, the vibrancy. She does not use makeup to alter other people's perception of her or hide herself, but to rather accentuate herself, drawing herself out further for people to see.
“I remember going to Mac one time, and I was really little, and the lady who was doing my makeup- she just put two different colors of eyeliner on me...and I just felt so cool and important, and I just want to give other people that feeling."
Makeup has always been a prevalent concept in Blaise's life, despite having only spent her high school experience so far mastering it. Her dual-faceted love for makeup also includes ‘giving other people that feeling’- not only using it to make herself happy, but other people as well.
Jacob Downing is a thespian, who was involved in the 2016 production of Almost, Maine at Olathe Northwest. He is an example of one of these people. Blaise Keasler happened to be on the small makeup crew for this production, and ended up having Jacob as one of the actors assigned to her.
"Blaise is very clearly passionate about makeup," Downing said. "I have heard many a time about Blaise's makeup collection and interest in pursuing makeup as a career." He smiles as he recalls Blaise's intense passion for her avocation. This connection with other people is the main joy she derives from her art.
Blaise reflects on her true intentions as she concludes, "The reason I do makeup is because I like to make other people feel pretty. I like to give them that feeling of, 'Oh my God, I look so good,'. I just want to recreate the feeling I had in the Mac store as, like, a ten year old girl, like, I feel like the princess every little girl wants to be. I really like that, and I want to give that to other people as much as I can."
Whether it be hurriedly amending her lip gloss, or spending hours on an intricate look, Blaise Keasler will be content. With a passion for makeup like no other, she will continue to stun with her absolute devotion to, and skill for, her idiosyncratic interest.
. . .
My Concept My concept for this feature story was focused on Blaise Keasler, a girl who does makeup for enjoyment and skill. Not only does she do makeup for herself and her own pleasure, but she primarily appreciates doing makeup on and for others. The attention was mostly on her views on her unique avocation, and briefly on someone who got to experience her love for doing makeup for others firsthand; Jacob Downing. My Narrative My narrative included the comparison of typical people viewing makeup as an insignificant or rushed aspect of getting ready in the morning, and Blaise- who invests lots of time and love into it. This demonstrated how unique her hobby was, and her love for something so unconventional. The Two Interviews I interviewed Blaise first, asking her about her past and how it arrived to doing makeup, and her general opinions in regards to it. She explained her past, present, and aspirations for the future. For her secondary interview I interviewed Jacob Downing; a prime example of someone she used to share her art. He complemented her and vice versa due to her focus on her love for doing makeup on other people- and him being one of those people. He clearly received his end of her love and energy for her craft. Writing the Script Writing the script and voice-over was easier after these past couple video projects: however it was easier to be creative and appeal to less news-reminiscent phrases. I could demonstrate the vibrant contrast between her devotion to makeup and a regular person's relationship with it, or expand on the emotions she feels for it. The Voiceover I recorded my voiceover several times, however, as it is difficult to become fond of one's own voice. I recorded the transition into Jacob, most importantly, as in my initial recording I did not actually mention how he correlated: I just said he was "A thespian involved in last year's production of Almost, Maine" without specifying that Blaise did his makeup for this play. Additionally, I rerecorded the intro and outro as listening to them more and more made me recognize how uncomfortable and mundane I sounded- so I amended that as well. The Shooting Shooting was smooth, as I used my own camera which saved me some hassle. I know my way around my DSLR best. The lighting was sufficient and the settings were appropriate- for Blaise, at least. I figure Jacob's could have been a little more creative had I thought of it then. Other than that, shooting was the easiest aspect of the project. What I Like I like this video because I got to utilize my technical skills more in editing. Most importantly, I had the chance to shoot more aesthetically pleasing video. I had the freedom of choice to shoot the B-Roll of Blaise how I wanted to; which I thought turned out very pretty. It was a good practice for skills across the board.
Process This project was to create a spooky scary website around the Halloween theme. First we created the header and background in photoshop. The gradient background was done by using the gradient tool on a very thin image, set to Halloween colors. The header was made by using a frame by frame animation, fading from purple to black, and embellished with effects like light and emboss. These were then brought into the Halloween website. The background image was the gradient one I made in photoshop, repeated. The header is imported as a gif. and changes colors. The rest of the website is typical coding, however we used an iframe for the first time. This allows other websites to be shown through a sort of 'web window'; seeing the page but not actually opening the page's link. I used the links of these websites for the links on the page, then targeted the links to the iframe below them, so it remains in my page. What I Learned First off, I actually learned what the iframe I just told you all about was. I learned how you actually code them, as I never would have put together that you target the links on the page to the iframe as opposed to the website's links themselves. Primarily, I knew how to do everything else; but I learned the basics and essentials of establishing and using an iframe, and more or less when it is appropriate or necessary to use them.
In such a large scale program as Adobe Premiere Pro, workloads quickly become hefty and huge. With such significant projects including mass amounts of video clips, audio and graphics it's imperative to remain organized for a clean and efficient work environment.
First Step to Organization: Bins
Bins are a feature that can be used in your project panel to organize your files by what they are, what relevance they have, or what parts they are to a storyline, for example. It's essentially like organizing papers into files. This is extremely beneficial to large scale projects, as files can be ambiguous and it quickly becomes a quest to find the specific file you need in a moment of editing.
In the project panel, all your files used in the project are stored in an ambiguous group; not organized by any specific means. Sometimes you find yourself having to guess where files are; or searching among a sea of them to find the specific type you need in that moment.
Click the button that resembles a manila folder in the lower right of your project panel- this is the New Bin button. You can create as many bins as you want to organize your clips.
The folder icon/bin will pop up among your files in your project panel. It will allow you to change its name, so as for you to name it in order to know what you are utilizing it to organize. Here, I am naming this initial bin 'Clips' as all my video format clips will reside in it.
Click and drag all the files you want to be put into this bin and drop them into it by dragging them onto the bin and un-clicking. Now these files are not roaming free but are kept inside this bin, and can be hidden under the name of the isolated bin if you close it by clicking the down arrow you see; that is representing that it is open.
Second Step to Organization: Color Labels Color labels serve relatively the same helpful purpose as bins- you can change the color of whatever files you desire. You can change them according to the bin they're in, what kind of file they are, whether or not you've already used it, or sequentially when you need it if you go far enough to create your own personal color code. The possibilities are boundless.
Here you can see my files are all organized into respective bins, however the colors do not correspond in any specific way or order. I want to color code my files by what they are- basically reinforcing the organization I implemented with the bins.
First, right-click on the file you want to change the label color of. Among the options, 'Label' will be a potential change. When you hover, it provides your color options. Click on the one you want to make the label that color.
Here you can see the files are separated by color as well, making them easier to glance at and identify or differentiate quickly and efficiently.
Third Step to Organization: Renaming
When browsing your files in the project panel, it can be hard to distinguish what the video's content are, or whether the audio you're looking at is the intro or the outro. This is due to the fact that when audio or video is imported, it only has its initial raw file name- which provides no specificity whatsoever. Renaming your files makes it so that you are using the correct content when it is necessary; and can find it easily.
First you right-click on your file that you want to rename. Here I am renaming my audio to 'Intro' and 'Outro' so I don't use the incorrect one- and don't have to listen before using it to make sure it's the correct one. Among the options, you will see 'Rename'.
Once you click on this, the name will be highlighted and you will be allowed to retype whatever you want to rename it.
Final Step: Be Organized
Here you can clearly see by comparing the before and after results side to side, organizing is not something that should be ignored when using Premiere Pro to create video projects. The renamed, relabelled and bin-using project panel clearly demonstrates what my files are, how I need to use them, and how to find them. Before, everything was a mere guess and hope for the best. Hopefully you will put these tips to good use!
In this project, we had to use dreamweaver for the first time since last year to create a basic website. The topic and information were all predetermined and copy-pasted, as that was not the focus. The focus was to regain our bearings with the program, due to our isolated use of Textmate for the past month. The program has massively changed in its update, and this was an initial assignment to learn these new settings.
What Did I Learn?
Primarily, I learned that I desperately missed design view. Other than that, I learned how to use Dreamweaver's new setting of CSS styles- creating classes and altering them in a sidebar that organizes them in a completely different way than before. Personally, I think it has made it simpler, and it has been easy to get a hold of. I learned how to double-task using design/live view with using pure code. Having design view makes it easier to learn the rules of raw coding, as I can assign things visually to the things I implant into the code. Overall I'm glad to be returned to the less arduous and more efficient Dreamweaver, and am anticipating better knowledge as I continue using it.
For this project of a practice interview, I interviewed Addie Zoll about her summer and her favorite parts of it. I haven't known her for a technically long period of time, so I got to know her better through the medium of this project. Not only did I discover what she was like as a person, but I gained knowledge in respect to her summer and how she spent it personally. She even attended the same music festival as I did.
Writing the voiceover was not too difficult, as I've heard plenty of examples of introductory statements from ONW Now. However, even if writing it went swimmingly, recording it was somewhat of a struggle. Finding somewhere to record in private is difficult, and the most arduous thing to traverse was merely how awkward it is to record yourself. So. . .I can definitely work on that.
Shooting the video was simple due to the fact multiple shots were not imperative; it was primarily one continuous shot. The lighting was good, and no one ever bothered us in the middle of it. There were never any real problems for me (despite the fact my parter had to re-record her correlating interview of me).
I like, first of all, the lighting of the video. Sometimes that can inadvertently turn out really terribly, so the fact that the colors are so close to reality is very pleasing. The other basic things like the focus and the lack of distracting noise are sufficient. My favorite aspect is the manner in which the questions flow into each other- as I found out that is not as easy as it sounds. I think overall it is fairly informative and effective in its purpose.
The first project was a website to use divs for the first time- but primarily to make a website demonstrating a rainbow of hexadecimal codes for web safe colors (as we had just learned that, too). This project taught me how to use those two things- divs and hexadecimal codes. I learned a lot about creating my own hexadecimal colors; while it may not be a quick task yet, it was a good initial starting point. I also learned how to use divs, which essentially are like CSS styles, but only apply to a small section of the html- so specific segments can have their own colors and fonts.
Web Fonts
This project was to act like a sampler of the basic web safe fonts, also using divs to make each section representing a certain font to be in the actual font it was mentioning. This expanded on my div knowledge, and I learned all the technical codes for each font inside of pure html. This was a sort of reiteration of the previous things we had been learning, which was very beneficial to me.
How Did I Do?
I think I did alright considering I don't have any prior knowledge of html, however I have definite room to improve. For example, all the blocks of color in my color sampler were intended to all be the same width, but they decided to do, well, not that, and I couldn't decipher how to amend it. I had to consult the person sitting next to me quite a few times for minuscule mistakes I couldn't find on my own, or didn't know what was making them incorrect. Despite this, I think even if I didn't do amazing, repeating everything will help me be much better in the future.
Our first video assignment was to create a succinct 30 second video, demonstrating an example of proper behavior at Olathe Northwest. Elements such as the Six Shot System and the 180 degree rule were to be executed in this assignment. This was a sort of initial warm up to practice the basics and start the year.
Pre-Production Firstly, me and my partner, Blaise, created a hand-drawn storyboard, outlining the shots we wanted to achieve to convey our message- which was cleaning up after yourself when using the girls dressing room. We made sure we used the Six Shot System and had a variety of shots planned out to film, shown by the fact that we made more than would have been a bare minimum. Filming Once we had our storyboard created and our ideas organized,we filmed our material. This was beneficial because we were learning how to use the new camera we have access to this year. We used a tripod, varying its height and position to gain a variety of differing angles. Editing Finally, we edited it together in a comprehensible order, adding music and color correction. Some of our files did not import, but due to our getting more than necessary, the amount leftover still sufficed. I tried to arrange all the shots we got into a beginning of entering the room, a middle of cleaning, and an end of victoriously gazing upon the cleanliness of the dressing room afterwards. There was one instance in which a shot did not follow the 180 degree rule; so I used a video effect of horizontal flip to amend it. What Did I Learn? During this project I learned how to use the film cameras we are using this year, which have proved to be slightly more intensive than the iPads of last year. I learned how to adjust the white balance manually, and zoom and focus. Additionally, this project reminded me that time has to be used wisely to get a project done within deadlines. What Would I Change? Upon hypothetically redoing this project, I would make sure I had an abundance of shots necessary to make the short interesting. I would also make sure I handled the SD card properly so it would therefore import all the clips correctly. However, I would maintain the variety of shots I got in relation to the Six Shot System. What Will I Use in the Future? Overall, I have learned to always gather a surplus of material in case some of them malfunction or new shots are needed to enhance the clarity of the message. Making sure I am utilizing the new camera correctly will be another side effect of my experiences from this project. Overall, this was an effective project to reintroduce myself to film after the summer break. It has reminded me of all the necessary rules I must remember so I can advance in newer areas as time goes by.
The Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a cleverly titled website comprised of 'internet archives': reminiscent of a digital Library of Alexandria, the purpose is to document website's history in order to preserve the past for future internet users. Even within the short and recent historical progression of the internet, the 'now' looks vastly different than the 'then'. They document everything- not merely websites. Videos, photographs, even software are all kept and preserved. Anything that has been released onto the internet for a certain purpose is present, to ensure that future generations will have a source of history- a more acute and intimate version of documenting history. Personally, one of the most intriguing inclusions is the preservation of radio programs- that is a very present thing that, though not as utilized in typical day to day life, is extremely important and explains moments literally as they are happening. Humans are documenting the exact present, and that is kept. However, the website is most recognized for documenting websites since their beginning. That being said, here are some websites that have drastically changed since their roots. Youtube
Then- Appearance
In it's complete initial stage, Youtube was, evidently, a dating site. It's design was simple; however not for stylistic effect, but lack of capability to make it any more complex. There are no videos to be seen on the home page, the tabs have "messages" which is not even present now.
Now- Appearance
As of now, Youtube is no longer a dating site, but the most prevalent platform for (innocent) video sharing. It takes up the entire web page, and has long abandoned its secondary blue color to the background theme. However, the search bars and nearly unchanged Youtube logo remain in relatively the same positions.
Then- Coding
The HTML similarly shows the difference of simplicity between the old and new Youtube. This code lacks a significant amount of style; primarily all this coding is for functional and necessary words. It was a bare minimum.
Now- Coding
The HTML in the more dated Youtube clearly demonstrates two things- the increase in functionality and options, and the increase in stylistic addition. There are far more tabs in this Youtube, as well as the visual aspect becoming much more focused on in the coding- including their staple font- Roboto. Barbie.com
Then- Appearance
In its initial upcoming, Barbie.com was extremely simple; not the gaming site it is today. Primarily it was for adult customers to browse. There are no real things to do, merely a few pictures and simplistic links- however maintaining the Barbie Pink in one.
Now- Appearance
In present Barbie days, it is evident that the site is geared towards not just buyer's convenience, but a variety of games for the children. The website is vibrant and colorful, with multiple pictures in slideshows and tabs for many other pages of the website. It even has a different URL now.
Then- Coding
In the first coding of Barbie, there was a lack of any color, large tag lines, and effectively placed graphics. It's largest section is devoted to the months and date, as opposed to tabs or other things to use.
Now- Coding
As of now, the coding in Barbie.com is very focused on the graphics, such as the transparent barbie in the top, or the tagline at the top of the page. At the bottom there are multiple options for different tabs and purposes. It is much more usable and interesting. The Drudge Report
Then- Appearance
The Drudge Report first was a simple, black and white website of merely the links to the articles it sought to provide. There were about two or three small images. All the information was aligned into mono-looking rows. It has it's initial recognizable logo as the only text that is distinguishable as different.
Now- Appearance
As of now, the website looks vastly similar- maintaining it's black and white colors, and simple mostly unchanged fonts, and analogous lists of links. It is simple and conventionally unattractive compared to other newer sites. However, there has been a large increase in photographs to serve visual appeal, and a bold headline to draw attention to at least one thing, to draw people in.
Then- Coding
As anticipated, the coding for the first model of the Drudge Report had a strong lack of anything stylistic- merely necessary components. No individual fonts, no headings, no colors. It is only functionality.
Now- Coding
Still the functionality persists as the coding here is virtually exactly as minimalistic. The hex codes of #000000 (black) and #FFFFFF (white) show that the lack of any affiliation with 'pretty' fonts or colors will most likely never change. This website is on a strict code-what-is-needed basis.
