Journals - Week 12

This week I tidied up a few of the loose ends and CSS errors that I had left until later. I collected a few more images, to flesh out the site more. I have gathered around 250 images yet only ended up using a few more than twenty.

I decided to put up the links for the stalls that aren't represented as yet, so that it is as simple as just dropping the image into the images folder and upload.

I intend to add some text referring to Milltown Markets 10 year anniversary which occurs in July this year.I am looking forward to continuing the development of the Milltown Market website. I called in on Saturday and showed Mary how we had been getting on over the last while. I have got to know all of the people quite well and it is an added bonus of my applied practice that I also got to meet a group of especially friendly and welcoming people. I hope that the website can provide some extra interest, as places like Milltown Organic Store & Saturday Market has got to keep going. It is absolutely essential for the village and for County Kerry.

Journals - Week 11

The Madhatter Charity Tea Party. Relax for five minutes with a lovely cuppa, soak up the atmosphere and chat in order to help charity. This has solved the problem of deciding which image to have when the page opens. It is also great to have that at the top and visible whenever someone enters the page, as it's for charity and many people wouldn't be aware it was there.

1. Local Organic Vegetables (in Season).
2. Fish - Large selection of fresh fish.
3. Meats - Beef, Lamb, Pork, Chicken, Turkey.
4. Home-baked Scones & Jams. (x2)
5. Nadura Bread - Food from the Fields.
   

These are the other main stall-holders that have not yet made up a proper entry, due partially to the time of year and the particular weeks that I attended the Saturday Market as well.

Journals - Week 10

I made an attempt at adding a second image to each stall. I found problem after problem. Initially I hoped to have two images within the single CSS frame. I tried three or four different methods and had little or no success with any . I nearly managed to get two separate boxes to work but it kept forcing the list on the left to jump down. I gave this up as couldn't find a solution, and I will be continuing to maintain the site following on from the applied practice so with more time I can work it out properly.

I visited the Market on Saturday again, and got a couple of other images that are lacking. There are still a few stalls that haven't been included in the site. These are five stalls that I have met and discussed with, yet haven't received any content. Hopefully seeing those of the ones that have may encouare them to send me their information. These are them:

1. Cheeses. Local & Irish. Wilma Silvius. Variety of Cheeses.
2. Middle Eastern Foods. Sheila Hami. Wheat, dairy or glueten free, Spelt cakes, Sambusak, Brownies, Biscuits & Humous.
3. Green Goddess Foods. Breeda Greene. Wheat and/or Glueten Free breads, scones & cakes.
4. Specialist cakes and baking. Maureen & Sam. Variety of cakes and sweet treats.
5. Organic Vegetables (in Season). James McCarthy. (IOFGA - 3545) Locally grown organic vegetables.

Journals - Week 9

There are a few of the stall-owners I have only seen once at this stage, so it is difficult to manage to get hold of the remaining content. There are a couple who also come later in the year, so will need to be updated in June. I have the gallery working but there are a few problems and it looks a bit unbalanced as there are both images missing and content not yet available.
I met with Mary again this week to go over the progress, she seemed very pleased with the work to this point and showed many of the stall-holders. I am pleased she did this as they will see the gaps in relation to the ones that haven't done up their parts! It did seem to have that effect. I managed to iron out a couple of the niggles in the gallery before showing it and added some more into the base of the home page, and spent a good while trying to get the footer to align properly with the bottom of the text, for some reason it just wouldn't do it. I decided to have an image of the Madhatter Charity Tea Party as the default image when the Stalls Page is opened as opposed to having one of the actual stalls, this was causing problems as I was sure people wouldn't appreciate one stall being there over the others. So I am pleased to not have to make that choice as to which one.
The site definitely began to look far more complete this week.

Journals - Week 8

I have found it rather more difficult gathering the required information from the stall-holders than I imagined. A few have provided communications via e-mail, some don't have e-mail though so I am dependent on seeing them in person, yet in the main, they are very busy and tend to forget during the week or weeks between markets.

I began to research different ways of creating a gallery for the stalls page. I drew up a basic design on paper which is basically an unordered list, of the products / services offered, on click the link opens with Javascript ($Jquery) within the same page. I will do up the HTML for each image and then use the onclick="changeImg" Script function including fades. It is very useful the way that JQuery works so closely with the CSS selectors. this is very simple level Javascript but nevertheless is both effective and efficient. Requiring only minimal amounts of extra code. At first I thought I would never get it but really it's the same with all code, familiarity always helps a huge amount!

I feel much more comfortable with HTML & CSS, now that I have been working on an actual site, in a real work situation. I am looking forward to delving into Java Script much more as it seems to be an incredible language.

Journals - Week 7

I received two more chunks of content for the stalls this week and added the edited text to my word file, where I am holding all the text before putting it up live. I am waiting before uploading rather than do little bits I will up them when I have a few more all at once. I am trying to make them balanced, ensuring that one stall doesn't have a page and another 2 or 3 words, yet it is difficult if I don't have anything other than what I have found out myself during conversation. It demands the knowledge and passion of the creator to describe their product or service adequately. These are the extra stalls this week:

1. Beeswax Candles. Kay Wren. 100% Beeswax candles. Parafin Free. Rolled & Dipped. Cleanest & brightest candles. Natures vaccuum-cleaner! Beneficial for people with asthma or sinus problems.
2. Tibetan Singing Bowls. Rina Janssen. Feel the soothing, healing, vibrational energy cleanse every atom in the room with these beautifully unique sounding, musical / meditational instruments.
3. Bluebell Eco Candles. Fleur. Inspired by nature. Made by hand. Let a hand poured, scented Candle soothe your senses through beautifully crafted, all-natural soy products. Discover the benefits of natural, long lasting, non-toxic Soy Candles.

Journals - Week 6

The home page looks more complete now. I added the large window image as a watermark, finished off the second map and placed both maps upon the 'About Us' page, then added some descriptive text.
Another of my tasks this week was to e-mail the stall-holders with the hope of getting some information to put up on the 'Stalls' page as at present it is just an empty shell.
I visited the market again this saturday, it has taken this long to meet all of the people involved in it's running as some only come on a monthly basis.
Here are the few pieces of info on the stalls that I have edited down thus far:

1. The Breadcrumb. Manuela Goeb. Freshly baked daily in stone-hearth oven by highly experienced bakers. Genuinely use traditional German baking techniques, actual ingredients and dough leavening processes. www.thebreadcrumb.com
2. Real Chocolate. Kathleen de Villiers. Handmade Easter eggs, Christmas biscuits, St. Patricks Day edibles, Valentine's & Mother's/Father's day chocolates. Edible party novelties (for childrens' parties), meringues, cheese scones, buttermilk scones, cakes and sugar/coconut biscuits.
3. Medical Herbalist. Christine Best. Any health concerns, everyday cough or cold or a more chronic, long term condition, you are welcome to ask her advice on herbs that may help. 7 years practicing experience in Tralee.

I worked more on learning neccessary elements of Java Script and in particular JQuery. I like the idea of the intra-page link. #Anchors change within the page reducing the need for the whole page to reload each time a link is pressed.

Journals - Week 5

Mary provided the details for the home page, I set to editing it (with her consent.) We also viewed the progress made to date and discussed what could be done to improve the site. The majority of my time this week was spent working with and becoming more familiar with HTML & developing a greater understanding of the way style-sheets function. I finished the first map and began the second one.

I found a piece of free software which enables you to point at colours anywhere on screen and automatically ascertain the Hexadecimal and the RGB numbers. This is extremely useful indeed. This made it easier to pick out particular hues and shades within the images, to build up the structure of the page, such as the greens for text and the menu bar.

I worked on some more images for the footer. A Bridgestone Best in Ireland 2010 Award and one of the signs from outside the front of the church. I used the numerous tools in Photoshop here to separate the Award panel from it's background and hide the screws and brackets on the sign.

I started to compile a list in order to remain on top of all the stall-owners. I collected e-mails where available. It was my hope that each of the stall-holders would contribute a small paragraph each and either e-mail it to me or write it on paper and give it to me next time I see them.

Journals - Week 4

After looking at it for a few days I decided there was something not quite right, about the header, so I swapped it for a different image, one which I took on Saturday. I believe that image has really brought it to life. It was this open and friendly energy of the country market, that the spring sun emphasises, in the image I have used, which I think will be a permanent fixture of the site for the time-being.
I am finding that div's are making a lot more sense now. It is hard to understand the dimensions sometimes. Taking into consideration both the size of the page, size of div's and then the size of text all complicate matters within the style sheet.
I started the second page including the list of stall owners, products that each offers, as well as drawing up the plans (on paper) for the gallery that I intend to input here. I began looking at ways in which I can create a gallery, such as using Java Script. Looked also into the functions of J-Query. At first it seems quite complicated, I will come back to this when I get closer to doing the
gallery.
The third page will be the 'About Us' page which initially will be location and directions. I started to draw out a map in adobe Illustrator of the Milltown area indicating the absolute location of the Old Church. I will do a second more general map for the area of Kerry showing the other local towns and roads.

Journals - Week 3

I researched websites within a similar field both here in Ireland and further afield. Here is a selection of links:

• http://www.corkenglishmarket.ie/
• http://www.irishfarmersmarkets.ie/
• http://www.irishvillagemarkets.com/
• http://www.limerickgeorgianmarket.com/index.html
  

I decided to transfer my work onto a different platform. I have been researching recent practices of website construction and have come to the conclusion that the standard practice is the usage of divs. I worked through a number of tutorials about the practice of working with divs.

I found Dream-weaver to be repeatedly aggravating! Mainly in relation to how it places a div. I considered using Notepad ++. I prefer to be able to control what coding is entered. Instead I am now working with HTML Kit. Again I researched which packages users recommended as being the most effective, have the best interfaces, most intuitive learning curve and also not too expensive. I found it surprising how few professional people seem to like or even use Dreamweaver. HTML Kit had many excellent reviews. I downloaded Notepad++ also and tried to use it but felt out of my depth without an interface designed to support the developer, as is the case with Dreamweaver and HTML Kit.

I decided to have four pages in the site, to start off with at least. I have started to build the Home page. On this, welcoming page, will be information about the services provided by Milltown Market, but not the actual products. Broader categories rather than specific items. The other pages will be Stalls, About Us and Contact.

Of significant importance, I have begun to appreciate, is the social aspect of Milltown Market. The Organic Store is also open during the week, but it is the communal spirit which is the true hidden function behind it all. It is this wonderful atmosphere that has to be captured, somehow within the site. I changed the header from the church window to a landscape shot of a social scene in the market. The church window was too difficult to reduce to a thin horizontal banner. It just looked too dark. I may use the church window as a transparent background for all pages.

Mary is putting together the content that she would like to have on the home page for me. I took down a list of all the stall-holders. We discussed having a page which has all of the stall-holders, information about each of them and images of them and/or their products (I will discuss this with each of them next week), links to their websites (if they have them) and their email contact details.

Journals - Week 2

I began to build the site using Adobe Dream-weaver. I selected a few images to create a header which captured a 'slice' of the market. This was a fairly challenging task. The church has a stunning old window at the rear, which I considered may be eye-catching.
I looked into viable options for hosting. This is an area I had no experience, so I am pleased to get the opportunity to learn this vital and essential aspect of putting up a website. I found a great range of options, and informed Mary that it would be better to pay for a service than have some unknown advertisements associated with your site. I found a London based server, operating from Kerry with reasonable rates. I found this to be especially useful as I was able to discuss our needs and requirements from the server, face to face with the person offering the server space.
I had also discussed with Mary the relevance of choosing the correct, or best domain name. She decided upon www.milltownmarket.com. I took a few alternatives, in case that one wasn't available. Fortunately it was free.

It was my plan to get a basic single-page advertisement site up and running by the end of this week. I also designed a poster this week. There had been a poster done previously, yet it didn't really paint it in the best light. It was dark and blurred. The poster turned out well, due to using a simple image of the old church on a blue-skied and sunny day. The poster is to be distributed in local towns and villages.
I decided to use a digital image of the poster to use as the site advertisement (informing any would be visitors of the upcoming site-construction). Mary required the advertisement of Potato seeds to be included, due to them coming into season at this time.
I visited the Saturday market again this week, to meet some more of the stall-holders, as they differ week by week. I collected many more images.

Journals - Week 1

The first step on this interesting and exciting applied practice, in which I am to build a website for local community co-operative enterprise - Milltown Market & Organic Store, was to meet with proprietor Mary O'Riordan to discuss the elements of the content to be included.

The main points we discussed surrounded the process involved on my part, for instance the need to source a hosting service for the site. We discussed the point that there would be (the only) costs involved in this part of designing and putting up the site. Mary was happy with this. We also talked about the set up of the market and the ways in which the pages of the site could be representative of the particular style of market.

I have begun to collect images. I was unlucky with the weather on both days that I visited this week. Indoor shots in the church really demand bright sunlight. It is important to gather many images to help in deciding angles and distances for the images that get used on the site.

I thought about which software program to use for the project. Abode Dreamweaver was the obvious first possibility. The site is to be welcoming and fun, not too businesslike. There will be no need for a database as Mary has no interest in doing online sales. Advertisement is the prime direction for the site, so the aesthetic element will be key.

The church exterior is very attractive & an important feature of Milltown and I hope to use an image of it on the main/home page.

I visited the Saturday market and introduced myself to all the stall-holders that were there this week. It was a lovely sunny day perfect to capture the goings-on internal and external. Sadly at this time of year it is particularly quiet so it doesn't really look bustling or even busy at any point, which would be better in order to portray a vibrant atmosphere in order to attract new customers.