Create a sketch that includes the following jQuery methods: Effects, Events, Manipulation.
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by J.R Carpenter
Read Here!1. What is the thesis of this article?
Handmade Web is about a past that was not long ago. It’s about the earlier forms of using the web vs how today’s internet is experienced by the user. J.R. Carpenter argues that internet has evolved into a place where the users no longer aware of how to input and own their individual self on the web. In relation to that, how we position the internet in the physical world has also shifted. We no longer connect our physical being with the realm of the internet and treat it as a separate environment. An environment that is forbidden from our unlimited input and the user is trapped inside user interfaces. A user never knows how apps, the iPad, nor the social networks work. This creates a distance between the tool and the user. Handmade web was amateur and therefore the ability for the user to code their own site was the main determinant in putting yourself out there in the net. The internet was still a working draft, which brought in an unparalleled treatment from the user, one that is fun and unserious. Today, the social networks have occupied every corner of the net, so much so that a regular person cannot realize that they are browsing the net while using them. The user is aware that they don’t own anything from the hosting website, therefore the feeling of owning something from the internet has diminished. Back in the day, blogging and coding your own site was a form of self expression. Today, we don’t treat it as one. The acknowledgment that nothing ever is erased from the internet has doubled this. There is so much at stake, therefore this can’t be a playful experience. The innocence of using the “handmade web” was lost in time. As we experience nostalgia while looking at these archaic moments in the web, we can’t help but miss those times.
2. Carpenter describes the handmade web as a form of resistance. In your own words, what is being resisted?
It’s a resistance to the distance high tech has put between the user and the web. It’s a resistance to corporate web, to big tech and losing the personal connection the user develops between the content and itself. It’s a resistance to commodifying the tools we use, the iPhone per se, and treat them as only the only form of way to access the web. It’s a resistance to losing the DIY mindset, and only staying as the user. Because handmade web requires input. An input that is generated by the user and characterizes the user in a unique and transparent way. It’s a resistance to forgetting about owning your work on the web and display a work for the first place. It’s a resistance to being just like any other user on the web and staying inside the UI. Handmade web is a collage. Therefore there are no limits. The whole idea behind user interfaces is limiting clicks in the name of ensuring functionalities. Which is super practical and rational, but since Handmade web is a self expression tool, the user doesn’t need limits.
3. Reflecting on your own experiences, what are other examples of drawing attention the "physicality" of the web?
Narrative games and first person role playing games because playing them the user has to spend a certain amount of time. Which results with a decreased speed while using the web, and syncing with real time. Thus the experience itself becomes more humane and individual to the user’s liking. Another example could be dating apps because the ultimate goal of most of them is to meet people in person. The dating app acts as a mediator to find and have an idea about people. Although there are aspects that are alienating, such as people who act like other people and fake their identity or people who use these apps just to have a conversation through message, there is still a strong motivation to tae things physical. Another example could be professional portfolios and how we use the web to find jobs and networking. These use cases tend to keep things as real as possible to suggest a clear connection between the real world and the web.
by Frank Chimero
Read Here!1. What is the thesis of this article?
The thesis of this essay is that screens are in constant flux, and so do we. Its not about what screens want, but what we want them to be. As we change, the screen holds the potential to change as well. Responsiveness, animation, motion and overall graphic design contributes to the nature of user interfaces and level of interaction we experience using screens. The designer here is the mediator of such interactivity. Screen is the enabler.
2. Where do you stand with the two ideological camps: flat and skeuo?
Although I am well aware that both is necessary for a truly functional site, I am a big skeuo advocator. I just can't help it. I have always been amazed by a 3d world possible inside the screen. Maybe its because of my interior design background, or maybe my interior design background was even a product of such amazement. I am pretty sure it was triggered when I started playing sims when I was a kid. After that, a door has been opened and never closed since. As I became better at 3d modelling during my bachelors and start developing spatial designs using screen-based tools, I couldn't help myself and found myself choosing all the digital tools and avoid doing physical stuff. This is why I am also amazed by the idea of "skeuo" shapes.
3. What is a zoopraxiscope and how does it relate to web and interaction design? Find another example from filmmaking or another medium that has inspired digital design.
A zoopraxiscope is an animation device invented in the 1870s that uses a series of still images on a rotating disc to create the illusion of motion. The zoopraxiscope is related to web and interaction design in a few ways. First, it demonstrates the power of using multiple images to create the illusion of movement, which is a fundamental concept in animation and video. Second, it highlights the importance of considering how viewers perceive and interact with visual information. It also suggests that web and interaction designers can learn from the history of other media, such as filmmaking, to create more engaging experiences. Another example of how filmmaking has inspired digital design is the use of storyboarding. Storyboarding is essentially wireframing in UI and UX design. Storyboards are a series of sketches or illustrations that visually represent the key scenes of a film or video. Wireframes are the building blocks of a user-interface design. Storyboards are used by filmmakers to plan and communicate their ideas, and wireframes have also been adopted by web and interaction designers for similar purposes. Storyboards and wireframes can help designers to visualize the flow of a user experience, identify potential problems, and communicate their ideas to stakeholders.
by Laurel Schwulst
My website is a doll's house. Read Here!1. Why does Laurel Schwulst advocate for individual websites over social media? Do you agree with her? Please explain your answer.
Laurel Schwulst says individual websites allow the "content creator" to be also the designer for the "architecture/structure" of the website, meaning how the website works or displays stuff. So its very different level of control we have. Social media platforms have limitations and comes with social responsibility and concern. Individual websites give us the highest level of control and freedom to display whatever we like. I totally agree with her. I was just a kid when I first learned how to use Wordpress, Blogspot and Tumblr. As time passed, Blogspot disappeared, Tumblr evolved to a level that you no longer have control over anything, and Wordpress has become a website host (still with a high level of freedom, but its not used by individuals to express themselves anymore). I always had a blog of my own, and as I didn't know any html + css, I was always searching for free themes that would accuratly represent myself, or cool cursor effects. I still feel the same way about individual websites. Up to this point, I couldn't find a proper time slot to concentrate on my own web project, which is the very reason I took this course—to create that time and space and develop the skill set needed to do so. I think everyone should have a website, regardless if they are designers/artists or not. Because, just like Laurel Schwulst mentions, this is the only way the culture of web can transform back its roots. A state which is more innocent, slower, less crowded, more of an open space rather a commodity bought by large enterprises. For the culture to change (even a slightest change), a large adoption is a must. A slight change might even be the recognition of the possibility of such a practice, for everyday people. I think people have forgot that making a website is not that hard. People assume only big corporations or people who are computer engineers are allowed to make websites. For this adoption to happen, there has to be a need to do so. I think if there weren't a big company like Wix to promote individual websites, this trend would eventually emerge as social media proves to be very harmful to psychology. However, tools like Wix are accelerating this process. Their ads should focus more on promoting individual websites rather than e-commerce tools. Another accelerator could be a hype around making personal websites. I bet if the Kardashians or Bella Hadid had a slow/ mindful/ alternative personal website, the adoption would happen over-night.
2. In this article, Schwulst outlines several metaphors defining the behaviour of websites. Write a paragraph describing your own metaphor for a website. Put that text into its own simple website designed to extend that comparison. Upload it to your Github server and post the link here.
My website is a doll's house, waiting to be decorated. Remember doll's houses? They are mostly like actual houses but sliced from the middle. We can zoom-in to each room, but we can also see the whole house. We see what every doll is doing, and move them around. A website is where we are giants looking over little people, there is an ecosystem in it. We are outside the ecosystem and interacting with whats in it freely. We are the host of this game, the one who decides what is put where. And we get to watch our art piece at the end. A website is an independent being from its creator, but at the same time its created by its creator- so it can't be that independent. If someone else sees the doll's house, they might not immediately recognize it to be yours. There are building blocks after all. Its the little details.