Finally, I’ve reached the end of my 315CMC multimedia journey…and what a journey its been!!! 182 tags, 84 Posts, 49 Screen Shots, 7 Categories, 3 Yahoo Pipe RSS Feeds, 3 Videos, 2 Google Maps, 2 Essays, 1 PHP Random Quote Page and a fully stocked NextGen Flash Gallery, not to mention countless hours downloading, installing, uploading, troubleshooting, blogging, editing, photoshopping…I could go on and on!

But the end has finally arrived, and I have to confess that I am actually feeling rather emotional, as without sounding like an absolute drama queen, I feel like I’ve really grown as the module reaches its dramatic conclusion. Even I cannot believe that I have managed to learn, understand and get working some of the widgets, plugins, theme changes I’ve managed to get working on my site, which has really given me a massive sense of achievement and in all honestly this module is been the biggest learning curve I’ve been on in my entire 3 years at uni - I feel like I’ve progressed massively from the computer illiterate fool I was at the start, which is something that I’m really chuffed with.

Just to recap I’ve categorised all my posts and blogging activity in the following way, so that whoever is marking my work will know instantly what sort of things I’ve been blogging about, if they don’t fancy trawlling through the masses of posts I’ve written. The Categories are as follows:

• Dreamweaver CSS and PHP: All blog post activity regarding changes to Dreamweaver, CSS and PHP.
• General: Any posts, changes and additions that doesn’t fall into the other categories
• Google Map: All posts regarding my encounters with the Google Maps Application - Including the working maps
• Pocket Wellies: A cheeky couple of posts about final project
• Themes, Widgets and Plugins: Self Explanitry Posts about new themes, plugins, widgets I’ve added/deactivated
• Uncategorized: I put every post in this category so that my blog displays as a full running  commentary
• Videos and Stuff: This category contains all of the videos, links other multimedia I’ve embedded in my site

These categories can be found in my sidebar. In addition to this There is a navigation bar at the top of my site which allows the user to easily browse my site. Below is a brief description of what the viewer will find by browsing through the site:

• Welcome To My World: Static Home Page
• About Me: Profile/Bio about my work, career ambitions, interests etc
• My Blog: All of my blog posts are displayed here in chronological order, with the most recent being displayed at the top
• Gallery: NextGen Flash Gallery which displays many examples of my photography, graphic Design etc.
• Essay 1: Response to essay question 2, complete with interactive bibliography
• Essay 2: Response to essay question 4, complete with interactive bibliography
• Random Quote PHP: A page which displays a random quote everytime its reloaded (to evidence PHP skills)

I know what I’ve just written is probably stating the obvious but I just thought I’d spell out exactly how my site works/functions etc so that it makes life easier for whoever is marking it. I think that there isn’t much left to say now except I’ve found this module of great benefit, a huge learning experience, and also one which I can take a great deal of knowledge and a massive sense of achievement from. I’ve learned the full extent of the power of Web 2.0 and social media and networking, which will no doubt stand me in good stead upon graduation. I believe that my site is proof that through sheer hard work and persisatance there is no limit as to what can be achieved. I personally speak from experience on that - if you had told me 10 weeks ago that I would have created a site that included my own edited PHP code, large amounts of amended CSS, extensive use of an FTP file manager, not to mention the installation of some very complicated plugins and widgets on my own remote site - I would probably have hyperventilated from laughing so much.

Its time for me to sign off now. This may be the end of this module but by no means is this an end to my new found interest in all things multimedia. I’m sure I will be able to take some of my newly gained knowledge and apply it to whatever it is I end up doing after graduation, whether this be advertising, marketing or pr. Web 2.0 and the doors it opens through social media and networking is big businees and extremely powerful, and the knowledge I have gained from this module will set me up nicely for what is out there when I leave sunny Coventry next month.

Thats all folks…

My oh My, I’ve actually managed to edit and embed some PHP code which generates a random quote onto my site, an absolute miracle, and something I would never have thought possible a few weeks ago! The tic tac toe game did not work as for some reason wordpress automatically edited and rewrote parts of the correct code, which made it display incorrectly. Therefore I found some PHP code which, if it works correctly will display a random quote on a seperate page within my site, with a new quote displaying everytime the page is refreshed.

 First of all I pasted the code into a dreamweaver document, and placed the document into the wordpress root site. I then opened the newly created document in dreamwaver and copied the relevent generated code on my new page I’ve created on my site (titled Random Quote PHP). I then went back into the PHP document and edited the defaulted code so it displays the quotes I wanted. There was originally only room for 6 quotes so I extended it so that my site will display any one from 15 random quotes. Here is a screenshot of the edited PHP code in the dreamweaver document I’ve created:

Once I had finished editing the PHP document so it contains the content I want I then uploaded it to my site using the FTP file manager. Then I went into the dashboard and pasted the code onto my newly created page entitled “Random Quote PHP”, after I turned on the html text editor. I then added a brief intro on the page, explaining what the PHP does, and also added some simple html so the quote displays exactly as I want it to - in bold and centrally alligned.

Finally I hit the save button and finally I now have successfully written and added some fully working PHP to my site - an amazing achievement considering I even found writing posts a challenge at the start of the module. Result!!!

Harrahhh! I’ve managed to get my flash tag cloud working absolutely perfectly, exactly how I want it. Of course the required action was blindingly simple. All I needed to do is install the Exec PHP plugin on m site using the FTP filemanager in dreamweaver.

Once I did that, the code that the WP Cumulus instructions tells you in insert then becomes fully active PHP (providing it is typed when the profile is set to html text editor). After the Exec PHP plugin had been activated and the code copied, I then went into presentation, then widgets, then I dragged another text widget into the sidebar where I wanted my spectacular new tag cloud to display. Then I went into the configuration and pasted the required PHP code into the relevant box. Finally all that was required was to go into the options and adjust the dimensions of the tag cloud so that it fits perfectly in the side bar.

Then Bob’s your uncle and I now have this amazing looking new flash tag cloud. I removed the old, static tag cloud as this is definately a poor relation of my stylish new WP Cumulous. Cheers Yiannis!

I’ve been busy adding a few new bits and pieces to my site, in order to not only prove my FTP capabilities but I also thought my site needed beefing up as it looked a little bare. 

Firstly I have added an SMS Text message widget to my sidebar which I downloaded from the wordpress.org plugin directory. The SMS Text Message is a plugin for WordPress to allow blog owners to update their readership via SMS.

A user comes to a site and wishes to be updated (daily, weekly, monthly, etc) via SMS Text Messaging. The user enters their 10 digit phone number on a sidebar widget. The number is then added to a database.  Then every so often, the site admin can send an update via text about what is new on the site etc.

 I then thought it would be fun to add a youtube video widget to my sidebar which I could use to show my favourite music videos, goals and other stuff I find interesting. I therefore installed a Youtube video plugin so that I can display a small YouTube video in my sidebar. Once it was installed I went to the configure options in presentation/widgets and just entered the URL of the video (not the embed code), and it’ll show in the sidebar. I have the option to change the width and height, and make it autoplay or not. The video I am currently showing is Fight Music by D12 - an absolute Hip Hop classic!

I also installed another youtube video plugin which apparently shows different random videos that I’ve selected everytime you load a different page, which sounds much better than the one that I am currently using. However this proved rather complicated and I am going to ask Mez how to get this working, along with my cumulus rotating tag cloud, in Friday’s final surgery session. Keep watching this space…

Last night I was searching the wordpress.org site for new plugins and widgets to add to my site. I found and uploaded several new plugins using the FTP file manager in dreamweaver. However, after a good 2 hour session diong this, upon uploading and activating a widget which displays the latest products available on amazon, my whole site crashed and stopped working, which with the deadline fast approaching would have been and absolute nightmare.

Fear not though people, with my vastly/marginally improved multimedia skills I managed to avert a crisis. I firstly tried contacting my server administrators Ridgeon-net as my initial thought was that it was a problem their end. However the next morning I received an email saying their server was running fine, which really panicked me as I thought I really had somehow managed to break my site.

However I had a brainwaive and thought if I had uploaded a plugin which was causing a problem, then it had to be one of the most recent ones I have added. I then thought if my site worked before I uploaded the broken plugin then possibly all I needed to do was remove it from the remote server part of the FTP file manager in dreamweaver, which in effect would put my site back as it was before the plugin was installed.

 I went back into dreamweaver and removed the Amazon plugin, along with the previous weather plugin I installed just before, which also didn’t work properly. I went back online to check if my site was displaying properly again, and to my delight I was working good as new. This goes to show that I am actually starting to learn and understand how the FTP file manager works and how what you install and remove affects your site, which is pleasing. Although the whole ordeal gave me a major headache and a sleepless night, I suppose these sort of problems are all part of the learning curve and probably helps multimedia idiots like me build up and improve my knowledge and skills

I tried installing the wp cumulus Flash tag gloud onto my site. Unfortunately I could not get it to display correctly but I will talk you through what I did anyway just in case anyone can point out what it is that I have done wrong.

 Firstly I downloaded and unpacked the wp cumulus plugin from the site recommended by Yiannis. I then uploaded to my site by placing the Cloud into wp content/plugins folder using the ftp file manager in dreamweaver. I then activated and configured the plugin using the various options in the dashboard. In accordance with the instructions I then copied and pasted the code <?php wp_cumulus_insert (); ?> into various parts of the sidebar.php as this is where I wanted it to display:

Code Pasted at the Top:

Code Pasted at the Bottom:

When I pasted the code near the top it displayed the original static tag cloud over the top of my site banner and everything else disappeared apart from my background image which was very strange. I then tried pasting the code at the bottom of the sidebar.php. Although it displayed the new flash tag cloud the side bar was now missing the meta and search sections. Below is a screen shot of the flash tag cloud working incorrectly:

I could not afford to leave it like this as its vital that the meta section displays correctly so that I can access my blog in order to configure it, write posts etc. The instructions say that I should past the code anywhere on the site and it should work so I then tried pasting the code in varoius places throughout the sidebar.php but none of these worked at all, it did absolutely nothing. I am at a loss as to why this did not work and thought I had better call it a day as I did not want to completely mess up my entire site. If anyone knows why I am having these problems please can they let me know as I really like this plugin and want to get it working correctly.

I still was not happy with the background image I had previously designed - I thought it could be better, look slicker. I therefore spent some time designing a new background image to upload to my site. After much deliberation I decided to design a binary code theme, in keeping with the ultra modern, new media feel I have be trying incorporate throughout my site. An inverted image of a piece of work I had previously worked on looked amiturish and does not fit with the look I have been trying to create. After I had designed and produced my new background image I uploaded it to my site using my ftp file manager in dreamweaver, and added it to my site by going into the stylesheet on the dashboard and writing the relevant code. I think this background image design looks alot slicker than the old image. Please find below screen shots of both my old and new background image designs so you can make your own mind up:

Old Background Design:

New Background Design:

Haraaahh!! I just thought I’d have another sneaky look at my blog, just to see if there was the minutest change that my favicon would display. I wasn’t expecting anything, but low and behold my beautiful shiney favicon is now displaying in all its glory. Proof that miracles do happen.

Here is a screen shot of the favicon. I thought I had better include this as proof that it works, just in case it decides to disappear for some reason:

I have left it well over a day and my favicon stil isn’t displaying, although I seem to have said this repeatedly during this module, this time I mean it -  quite frankly I am baffled!! Tom said that the code is correct and in the right place in header.php so there should be no problems there. I tried reloading the favicon to the server in the mushblue theme folder using the ftp file manager in dreamweaver, which again I have been assured is correct. But no!!! No sign of the damn things.

Its really frustraiting as I’m sure I’m missing something blindingly obvious and I hate it that Friday’s lecture is so far away as I really want to get this blooming favicon to display now…if it’s the last thing I do.

I decided to to see how my website would look when in several different theme templates I’ve previously downloaded, just to spice things up a little. I downloaded each of the below themes and uploaded them to the server using the ftp manager in dreamweaver. I then activated each of them using the dashboard. However I didn’t like these themes, I much preferred the mushblue theme, which I downloaded and then dramatically edited to give it a personal touch. Here are screen shots of all the themes I downloaded and used, just to prove my ftp and theme installation capabillities:

Wordpress Default Theme:

Wordpress Classic Theme:

 Box Blue Theme:

Cutline 3 Theme: