SZ Dream Place

Check today’s (Friday) Fairbanks News Miner Page A3.

xzhan98 — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 05:55:42 +0000

See our instructor, Chris’s happy face and how he answered the question: “Do you prefer a fresh-cut tree to decorate for the holidays or an artificial tree? Why?

I personally like fresh cut tree as you can smell the fresh flavor. You also can use it after it dry up.

I just do not know how Chris was picked up for this discussion. He may be able to share this with us in next class.

Fireworks vs. Photoshop

xzhan98 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 23:30:34 +0000

Fireworks a very cool application and I like it as it is easier to understand and easier to use. For a graphic or image publish to web site. This is a very handy tool. I have used it to edit bitmap and create vector graphic. I think every one quickly use it effectively. I also use it to remove red eye for some of the photos I shoot this weekend. Works well. However, I have taken Photoshop class before. I frequently try to use some skills learned in Photoshop with Fireworks. The fireworks has button in different location and also has much less choice compare with Photoshop. So my conclusion is if you want to edit image and graphics for web site. You should use Fireworks first. If you want to edit some photos for printing or paper publication, you should use Photoshop. You also should know. None of applications can replace human imagination. If use has no idea how you want to edit the image and what is final goal, you may create some very ugly images. A good design is the first step before you start editing with either tool.

Happy Thanksgiving – Dream Weaver Team!

xzhan98 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:58:18 +0000

I hope the warm weather do not stay too long!

Copyrights and Fair Use

xzhan98 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:42:19 +0000

I have read all five scenarios in the blog post. And I think that those scenarios are unfair. Those scenarios should be in the category of Fair use and Fair dealing as copyright does not prohibit all copying or replication. I think the following factors should be under considerations:

1. the purpose and character of your use

2. the nature of the copyrighted work

3. what amount and proportion of the whole work was taken, and

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

I also realized that the copyright law is different in different countries. For example, in Canada, private copying for personal use has been expressly permitted by statute since 1999. In the US, making one complete copy of a work or in many cases using a portion of it, for commercial purposes will not be considered fair use. What is commercial use? If you make 10 copies or more is construed to be commercial, but there is no general rule permitting such copying. Make long story short, there are too many confusions in current copyright law.

I think it is not fair in the scenarios mentioned in the article. Because those scenarios are fair use based on above mentioned factories. Because we are in the information age, our communication language is not limited in A-Z characters any more. All the sounds, images become part of elements in current communication language. It is fair to use part of these language elements in the communication as long as the copy are within the consideration of the factories mentioned above. Otherwise, we have no way to communicate effectively.

I think we should have things like “intellectual property”. In law, intellectual property (IP) is an umbrella term for various legal entitlements which attach to certain names, written and recorded media, and inventions. The holders of these legal entitlements may exercise various exclusive rights in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The adjective “intellectual” reflects the fact that this term concerns a process of the mind. The noun “property” implies that ideation is analogous to the construction of tangible objects. Consequently, this term is controversial. We need these laws to limit the abuses of people’s creation, for example, the copyright which subsists in relation to a Mickey Mouse cartoon prohibits unauthorized parties from distributing copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works which copy or mimic Disney’s particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of artistic works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are sufficiently different to not be deemed imitative of the original. I think this is needed!

I think that I have used materials in a way that was against copyright. For example, I have downloaded many articles and images and shared with my friends over internet. Although, I pointed out those are not my works, I did not sent links with the original works. I also did not know what the proper ways to handle these issues are. I truly expect that there is a clear way to guide user doing these properly.

I have not created any web site purely for the commercial purpose. However, I am going to create one for my friends soon. After taking these copyright courses, I realize that I cannot use something in my previous design because copyright law prevented it. For example, there are many very well designed wedding cake pictures in the web. I can download these pictures and put them in my web. However, I should not do that way as my web site is for the commercial purpose this time. I have to get permission from the creators or I have to create my own one.

Everything needs a balance and limit. Copyright need a balance and limits as well. These will make true fair use possible.

E-mail Allforms, you should get an account created by their staffs

xzhan98 — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:45:25 +0000

I e-mailed request to AllForms and asked for free Allforms account 2 days ago.

I received e-mail from Allfroms today with password attahced in the e-mail. Now I can access my Allforms account without any problem!

Just for your information!!

My Opinion about Dreamweaver So Far

xzhan98 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:59:17 +0000

· I have learned a lot from Dreamweaver Class. I truly like this application. In regards to frustrating / difficult things about Dreamweaver, I think that sometimes, the Dreamweaver is “too smart” and it can automatically make a lot changes you have not expected or not know well. Especially, CSS can automatically overwrite some setting above or apply changes on all pages. Another difficult things is try to figure out what is the best approach to do same thing as Dreamweaver have many ways to do the same thing.

· Regarding the things I like best about Dreamweaver. I think that “Dreamweaver simplify the maintenance of multiple pages web site. For example, you can use CSS to apply the setting to all pages in seconds. ”Although I can write HTML or XHTML programs if I have to, Dreamweaver 8 saves me a lot time in creating the sophisticated Web Page quickly.

· I did not have any experience coding pages yet. But I can tell the best combination is that if I know the codes and Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver can speed up design and management of web sites, coding can help debugging and handle complicated web site.Ironically, the difficult things are also best things I like. So the answer is if you truly know how to handle the difficult thing, it can be a very powerful tool.

Dreamweaver Community

xzhan98 — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:40:03 +0000

The following link will bring you to the Macromedia Dreamweaver Exchange, you will find numerous ways to get more out of Dreamweaver 8 and you also can get a lot cool free downloads.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?from=1&o=desc&event=productHome&s=3&exc=3

Who is using CSS styles sheet? Select from Shawn’s Previous Web List

xzhan98 — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:23:34 +0000

http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/schedules.htm
This site also use styles.css

Merchant Services

Print Preview closer to Web View, except the background of Print Preview is white
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http://www.goatsonline.com/funny-goats/latest/other-animals.html
Using CSS.