Tier One My Ass - Part Two

or Why Are We Learning Wed Design on a Sub-Par Program?

Ok, I know some of you have heard me rant about my dislike lof Muse so far; how it will not allow me to do the things I can hand code or that even Dreamweaver will do when it comes to CSS and inserting accessibility code blah, blah, blah. So tonight when I got home I started over with a new and very simple design. Nothing with advanced CSS or that would require scripting. Telling myself, "Ok Theresa, this is still in beta they say and I just need to learn it even though I probably will never use it. Give it a fair chance". So I did and everything was moving along quite well till it came time to insert the content. Here is when the screaming and cussing started.

Muse can't do ordered or unordered lists! Seriously! A basic and very much used formatting and Muse can't do it! So I take a deep breath and go and pick the book back up, from across the room and re-read . . . nothing! Ok, ok, breath deep and time to go to my go to guy Google, surely he won't let me down and sure enough, YEAH, there it is on Adobe's web site; Create Bullets in Your Design for Muse! I am saved . . . NOT!

Adobe's answer for number and bullet lists, tighten the leading of the text that is to be our list. Then put some more space above and below it.  In insert a bullet in front of the first item (option 8 on a mac it seems). Then indent the lists and then, and this if so messed up, then invert the first line with a negative value! WHAT KIND OF MONKEY SH*T IS THIS ADOBE! There has been ordered and unordered lists since the mid-1993 publication of the first proposal for an HTML specification: "Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)" Internet-Draft by Berners-Lee and Dan Connolly! This was BEFORE there was HTML! Even Microsoft Frontpage 1.01 could do them!

Now why is this important? Well I am going to tell you, Accessibility, SEO and Useability! Screen readers for the blind read lists differently from paragraphs and other text. It is hard enough using a screen reader and being blind when all accessibility standards are in place, this will drive them crazy. Don't believe me? Google screen readers for the blind and download one for free then go to any page and close your eyes and listen and try to navigate and understand the site you are at, I dare you.

SEO, search engines and directories also deal with lists differently. Want to know why we use lists for navigation and give our navigation meaningful names? BECAUSE THE ARE GIVEN GREATER WEIGHT THAN NORMAL TEXT! That's right list get preferred treatment by Google and Yahoo and all other search engine and directories. That translates out to better ranking, more traffic and happier customers.

Useability, this one is simple.. go ahead to do what they suggest to make a bullet list and then print it. Now print it off another computer with a different printer. Yeah does not look the same does it. Now turn off CCS in your browser and look at it. Looks like a mess!

I am livid right now that we are being taught a beta program that already writes crap code with a lot of waste that can't even do a basic text formatting! There is no way to put in tabular data either (tables). The industry standard is Dreamweaver, why are we not learning that? Muse is a program made because a bunch of graphic artist and document layout people started crying that they did not want to learn any coding to make web pages! They are too lazy and too whiny and so some idiot decided to invest money to shut them up and Muse is what was vomited out!

Twenty years doing this and I would not hire anyone whose knowledge of web design came from this class. Nothing against the instructors but this is a rip off of our money. Our education should not be used to beta test anyone's product. The class is "Web Design" not web fail and by taking the time to learn this inferior product we all are going to fail.

Tier One.. My Ass!

There are a few things that chap my ass.
People that cut me off on the freeway.
 

One-balled cyclists.
 
People that still claim Dewey won.

Come on get over it already!

And this stupid blogger.com that insists on rewriting my code with the worst coding ever!

Which brings me to this gem that really sets my roids on fire. The University of Houston has another Web Development class that teaches "DHTML, CSS, CGI, JavaScript, server side programming paradigm, XML and transformation, Web services, Service Oriented Architecture". It is COSC 3319: Web Development and it a computer science course taught through the College of Natural Science and Mathematics.

Now for now lets put aside that DHTML (Dynamic Hyper Text Markup Language) was a term coined in the early 1990's and has not been used in the real world of web design/development for at least 10 years or that CGI (Common Gateway Interface) is a server process hog, slow and if not secured correctly a giant welcome sign for hackers. There are better and ways to do what used to be only done with CGI and they have been around for many years now as well.

No I want to look at what the college of natural science and mathematics say is required and necessary to be able to take this course. Well first, buckeroos, you need to have taken COSC 3380: Design of File and Database Systems, which is "Techniques for file organizations on secondary storage, performance, design, and management of large integrated databases, data models, query languages". But wait.. it gets better because to be able to take COSC 3380 you have to have taken . . . MATH 3336: Discrete Mathematics  and  COSC 2320: Data Structure and then it gets even better!

Those courses require that you have COSC 2320: Data Structure, which requires MATH 1432: Calculus I, which requires MATH 1431: Calculus, which requires MATH 1330: Precalculus! All that just for MATH 3336! On the other side to take COSC 2320 you must have,
COSC 1320: Introduction to Computer Science I, which requires COSC 1410: Introduction to Computer Science I, and that requires MATH 1431: Calculus. Finally you now have all your prerequisites so that you can take a class that will teach you "DHTML, CSS, CGI, JavaScript, server side programming paradigm, XML and transformation, Web services, Service Oriented Architecture".

Here is the rub, I have been doing professional web design and development for 20 years now and I can tell you for a fact none of those classes are needed. Let me reitterate . . . NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THOSE CLASSES ARE NEEDED TO LEARN ANY THING TAUGHT IN THAT COURSE! In fact the the database part of COSC 3338 should be taught AFTER someone has taken COSC 3319!

I know that the computer sciences started with the math department but it is time to get real and bring the both the College of Natural Science and Mathematics and the College of Technology to completely overhaul and redefine Digital Media and set up realistic and applicable degrees that will give graduates of said degrees the tools and abilities to walk into a digital media job and start work on day one with out having to be trained, THAT is what makes one marketable in today's, and the furture, economy.

Tier One? More like Tier Flintsone at the University of Houstone if you ask me!
 

Die Die Die!

or Why I Hate Google CAPTCHAS

Ok, I am 52... yeah 52, I know on Death's short list now, and a few years ago I had to get glasses to read after having perfect, eagle-eyed vision my whole life. I ranked expert in rifle and pistol in the military and was always known for keen aim. Now age has come along like that one cousin that picks his nose and wipes it on the underside of your favorite living room chair.

So anyway this rant comes courtesy of Google's blogger.com. I understand the reasoning for CAPTCHAs. Spammer bots sent out by assholes of the lowest order, also known as douche bags, dickheads and gobbed nosed pin heads, will over take over comments to hawk their latest penis enlargement, quick weight loss, or Viagra ad! Sidenote, have you noticed that 50% of the spam ads these days have something to do with penises? Guys, what the hell is that all about?

Back to point, so I am reading everyone's blog or at least trying to but as I leave a comment google wants me to prove I am not a bot. Fair enough, but damn I am not a.. well.. bot! How the hell am I supposed to be able to read a photo of an address number somewhere in the US taken from SPAIN! Seriously? A lot of those are so small that I not only need my glasses but a magnifying lens! Add to that the words that look like they were penned by Jerry Garcia after he took the brown acid and I now I am spending my time reading "Prove you are not a Bot. The characters you entered didn't match the word verification. Please try again." over and over till visions that would John Carpenter curl up in a corner and cry are spiraling through my head.

So if you don't get a comment from me on your blog it does not necessarily mean I did not read it or want to comment, it most probably mean that I am off screaming somewhere and kicking puppies telling children there is no Santa Clause because of the damn CAPTCHAS!

This rant has been brought to you be the letter F, for F**K Google CAPTCHAS!

By the way this is not my weekly blog this is just a rant.

Overhaul the Digital Media Program

Yep, I have been thinking long an hard on this and really think the digital media program here at U of H is about 7 years behind the times. I have been researching other University's offerings and find while they offer a rich diversity of degrees, see the article Princeton Reviews Top 50 Under Graduate Video Game Design Programs to see and then click the links to see what is offered in this one area of digital media that this college does not even offer. You can see the ranking of Princeton's list here.

I think the whole program need a radical overhaul and break up into several degree majors. The days of one-size-fits-all digital media are long over, dead, cremated and ashes flushed. Digital media is more than printing using computers, the gaming side alone has some of the highest paid employees in our field! Look at this 2011 survey of Game Industry Salary Survey. I can tell you that you sure won't get that kind of pay working at a web design company starting out.

Ok, but lets say you do want to be in Web Design and Development then are you being taught what you need to know to fill a Web Designer 1 position defined as "Produces graphic sketches, designs, and copy layouts for online content. Determines size and arrangement of illustrative material and copy, selects style and size of type, and arranges layout based upon available space, knowledge of layout principles, and aesthetic design concepts" (as defined by Salary.com and I can tell you that the wages they are quoting for that level are certainly not in Houston)! 

From what I have seen so far, and as I look a head at out requirements the answer seems to be "no". I do not think this is because of a short coming of the instructors or professors. Rather it is on the college of technology and its department heads in failing to realize that there is not a one-size-fits-all degree and that to be competitive and viable that digital; media must be treated as the widely varied and diverse field it is and degree plans created to those specified areas that digital media encompasses.

For freaks sake they don't even offer a single course in 3D programs! Come on!

An Essential Tool

I have been professionally doing web design/development for 20 years now and I want to share with you a tool that I have used for the last seven years to help me design sites that are compliant with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

One of elements is that text be readable to those with vision impairments such as color blindness or other color deficiencies. So how do we, as designers, know what does or does not fall into a "good" contrast range? Colour Contrast Check by Snook.ca to the rescue!

As I said I have used this tool and, in my time managing, I have required my staff to use it as well. It is simple and self-explanatory and should be used each and every time a web site is being designed. Though compliance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is not "law", yet, it is something that commercial web sites are demanding.

So bookmark it, use it and make it part of your design process. It will improve your marketability and it is just good standards.

Ok next time I will write something more controversial, promise.