-Julie

Julie Margulies
About Me I work for a large pharmaceutical company as a process improvement specialist, but before that I was a technical writer. I started in this program as a way to get back what I loved about my old profession.

Goals for Course

I've wanted to learn CSS for awhile now, but never took the time to pick it up. I also would like to learn more code and am definitely interested in getting an overview of Flash!

Design Statement

Good design is clean, clear, and concise. The user should be able to find what they need quickly and efficiently. Use limited font selections and ensure they are easily readable on computer. Don't use blinking things (i.e. "new") that distract the reader; instead find a more intuitive way of displaying new items. The use of color is very important to ensure easy readability. A red font on a black backround (which I've seen numerous times) is nearly impossible to read, so the content gets skipped.

Ten Favorite Web Sites
 * 1) **BBC World News** (http://www.bbc.co.uk/?ok)Has tons of content, but it's easy to locate. Since it is called world news, it also includes a list of news by country.
 * 2) **Martha Stewart** (MarthaStewartLiving.com). Okay, don't laugh, but I've always been incredibly impressed by the clean graphic design and judicious use of white space. All this, in an easy navigable, content-packed site.
 * 3) **Organic Gardening** (http://www.organicgardening.com/) Contains information about planting and growing vegetables organically. The navigation scheme makes it quite easy to find out what you need. Even the advertisements are good --Dagoba Chocolate!
 * 4) **Drawn and Quarterly** (http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/)Web site for crazy comics. If you're interested in unusual graphic novels or comics, here's the place to start.
 * 5) **Salon Magazine** (salon.com)This early internet magazine includes literature and current events -- like an on-line New Yorker Magazine. Their index is amazing -- there is a section on stories or articles about hair, in all shapes and sizes, and that's one category out of thousands.
 * 6) **Amazon** (amazon.com). Who hasn't used this web site to order books, DVDs, CDs, and more. This company pioneered web shopping, but also has done a lot of research on buyer habits and usability. Have you ever had trouble figure out how to find something on Amazon? Probably not. They also evaluate your purchases and tell you what other items you might be interested in purchasing.
 * 7) **Wikipedia** (wikipedia.com) Is this a web site, really? It is definitely the most-used wiki on the internet. Its search capability is fantastic and the wealth of content amazing.
 * 8) **National Public Radio** (npr.com) - I like the news, but also appreciate the ability to download podcasts of my favorite programs. The site is extremely navigable.
 * 9) **National Gallery of Art** (nga.gov) - Simple, well designed. My favorite are the on-line gallery tours. I always thought galleries and web sites had a lot in common . . . That said, the navigation is strange in places -- where's home?
 * 10) **Video Jug** (videojug.com) - this is a site with downloadable "how to" movies that are contributed by users. They have a distinctive style. I used this site as a model when creating my own instructional video. It's really quite wonderful because there are video instructions for doing absolutely everything and videos are simple to locate.

How to do cascading menus in css: Tutorial: http://www.htmldog.com/articles/suckerfish/dropdowns/

What is a wrapper? http://archivist.incutio.com/viewlist/css-discuss/51606

Using classes http://www.tizag.com/cssT/class.php