Project: Portfolio – Jamie (Ziying Wang)

Link: https://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~zw1745/week3/hw1.html

For this project, I decided to separate the header from the body with a different background color. Originally, I only adjusted the orange box size and set the page background into the color clan, then I discovered that other websites draw clearer boundaries between the header and the body, therefore, I inserted a white solid border to the bottom of the orange box, the arrangement makes the header stand out better. In addition, I moved the original links to below the white line, and the display became clearer.

I also insert an email input box into my home page because I find it interesting, especially the interactive function and the phrases I can put inside the email box. Unfortunately, I have no idea where the entered email address goes because I didn’t insert further functions for that and didn’t know what to put to achieve that goal. Another problem I ran into was still the emoji signs. I didn’t figure out why the ios emoji can’t be displayed on the net.

Compared to the original version, I made adjustments to the display and added some boxes and frames to construct the webpages.

Week 3: My Portfolio Revision – Madi Eberhardt

Link: http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~mne234/week-1/index.html 

Documentation:

While revisioning my portfolio page into a more colorful and styled page, I ran into some issues. One of the first issues I ran into was with the <body> and <head> aspect of the code. I accidentally had another random <body> in the code so it made the link for the language aspect (<meta charset=”utf-8″>)  of the page not included. After fixing this, it finally worked and the page didn’t have any odd characters or letters. Another part that I had trouble with was the headers and changing the color, font, etc. I realized that before I had the headers closed off wrong like this <h1/> when it should’ve been like this </h1>. This simple mistake made it so that my entire blog was being affected by the css style, so once I finally fixed it, it worked fine. Besides all this, I enjoyed using CSS to style the portfolio in a better way then before with just html even though it was a bit confusing learning it and having to apply it to atom.

Week 2: Response to “The Medium is the Message” by Mcluhan – Jannie Z

In  “The Medium is the Message” by Mcluhan, he discusses how the medium can possibly shape our understanding of the content. The medium itself becomes the message, but not the content. This phenomenon reminds me of how social media shortens people’s attention span. Just imagine there’s a book in front of you, which contains words and illustrations. At the meanwhile, there’s a post on Instagram which contains exactly the same content. Will you perceive the information exactly the same? No. Absolutely no. In the book, you will read the words and just skim the illustrations. The details in the words will make a great impression on you. While on Instagram you would examine the picture first. And if the picture doesn’t interest you, you won’t even look at the paragraphs that are written below this. You would just scroll over and won’t even swipe to the left to see the next pictures. 

Social media does make a difference in our attention spans. We are so likely to be distracted nowadays that it becomes a privilege to actually sit down and do some work without interruptions or mind-drifting. We will become anxious if we hear the notification sound but not be able to pick up our phone and look at the screen. We will feel uncomfortable if we cannot check our phone regularly. Our minds will drift away in a lecture without visual aids. The medium plays such a big role in delivering the content. Or, just as what Mcluhan says, the medium itself is the message.

HTML Website Week 3 Documentation – Justin C

Link: https://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~jc8017/website/index.html

For this iteration, I implemented CSS on my webpage. The layout that I wanted is a simply one where all the content are centralized towards the page rather than be on the left side. I achieved through by manipulating the padding such that I squeeze the content towards the center.

In addition, I added a navigation bar. I have some other pages that I want to link so I created a nav bar. At first, I had issues trying to separate the different links. The links were all clustered together. I was able to separate the different links by implementing the flex attribute in css. 

I also added a background for my website. Initially, I wanted to add a singular color. However, after finding out the gradient property attribute, I implemented it as my background. I hope that the gradient gives my website a fiery look and attracts the attention of those who visit it.

Response to McCloud – Justin C

            The most interesting element of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is the medium is in comic form. The narrator himself is a character and the information about comics are drawn in a frame by frame style. While the author presents a discourse in history of comics and the semantics of comics, he manages to incorporate it in a comic style fashion. This effect enables readers to feel drawn in the information presented. This style feels like the reader is in a room and a person is given a presentation on understanding comics. Therefore, the reader is not only getting informed about comics but also immersed in the feeling of a comic.

             Comics in the western world has been associated as a “nerd” or “geek” culture. Anyone who reads comics or writes them are wasting their time. Even the author himself has been berated and ridiculed before for pursing a “childish” passion. However, he hopes that by writing this comic, he will allow those who are not familiar with comics to understand them. What is interesting is that he discusses the semantics of word comics, comparing it to other medium such as cartoons. Then he continues to discuss the difference between the message and the messenger. For him, comics are the messenger or medium to carry the message.  What he is implying is that comics have the same legitimacy as say novels or art works. In relation to last week’s reading of The Medium is the Messenger, the stereotype of comics as intended for children is the perfect example of how the medium is the message. The fact that comic has certain stereotypes to it enables people to think a certain way. In this case, comics are associated with childish elements and anyone who reads or writes comics are also stereotyped to be of a certain way. But, by taking a step back, comics are simply just a medium to convey a message. Nevertheless, comics in the past has been part of “nerd” or geek” culture. McCloud hopes to change that mindset by writing this comic.