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.