Record any difficulties you encountered with these exercises. Record your thoughts about html - do you feel a sense of achievement? What are the differences between html and blogging? what do you like best?
To be honest I find coding html difficult. It doesn't come naturally. I know many people find it really easy, but I don't. I LOVE designing-I just LOVE Dreamweaver! I love Photoshop, Illustrator, & all those other visual programs. I am very visual-I like to see a concept/page/layout evolve before my eyes. HTML is all..words-and squiggles! Don't get me wrong-I also love words-I'm a writer, and enjoy words, they too seem to unfold upon the page in a way that can be sometimes surprising, magical even. HTML is dry. It's not art!
Well I guess that's not true-it is an art of it's own. And I want to be a web designer as well as a print designer-so I need to know html; and css, and XHTML and all those other coding languages. But I don't find it in any way intuitive-it's hard work, and boring. I prefer blogging any day! In fact, I prefer doing just about anything else! However, I have to say, after a fair bit of practice I can now hand code a basic site without looking (too much) up the various codes. Yay. :-D
My HTML exercise page is here
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Email Lists
- What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
- Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?
I am also a forum owner http://www.alternativebaby.netand am a participant on about 5 or 6 other forums, so this is an area I'm pretty well experienced in :) I believe the pros and cons of each are as follows:
Email lists
pros:
Email delivered straight to your inbox
Easy to use-anyone who knows how to send email can participate
A great starting point for web based discussion. When I first got on the net, I joined yahoo and msn groups first, before venturing over to discussion boards/forums
Quick and easy-to reply to emails rather than actively going out searching out discussion boards.
cons:
Email from these lists can quickly clog up your inbox
It can be harder to read the topics you are interested in and ignore those you aren't
A very busy email list as well as clogging up your inbox can be very confusing, and hard to follow.
Discussion boards/forums
pros:
Topics are clearly laid out
Most modern form software has many great features in addition to straight forum posting, such as blogs, private messaging, live chat rooms, and some even have interactive social networking features similar to Facebook.
It's easy to click on the topics which interest you and ignore the ones which don't
For business owners it can be a great way to network and promote your business
cons:
Can be confusing for people who are new to the internet or don't understand it very well
Is more public, therefore users need to be aware of what information they put out there, and everything on a forum can be googled, including any information about a user's identity, address, children etc
I personally think email lists and forums both have their place. In my opinion, forums are more suited to groups/special interests/businesses etc etc which have the potential to attract a large amount of members. Also for those who are actively seeking new memberships, for either social or business networking purposes. Forums if well designed are way less cluttered and confusing to follow. They don't present the problem experienced by many users of email lists of email clogging up your inbox. This isn't a problem if you opt to read all your list email on the group page, however the whole process of getting into a yahoo/msn etc group can be a bit tedious, and they aren't as easy to read.
However, email lists are very well suited to smaller groups, as it creates a more intimate, and safe space in which to discuss topics, especially where medium-strict membership moderation is practiced (for example, I don't let anyone into the groups I mod unless they've submitted a fair bit of information about themselves)This protects the group from unscrupulous and dangerous people being able to read and glean information-such as spammers, or worse those with grudges and vendettas against group members. Lists are especially good for small groups who don't have the budget for a forum setup (although there are plenty of free forum available these days which take only minutes and limited technical ability to set up).
Forums can of course be private, or have private sections and I have learned over the years as a forum Administrator, to encourage people to post sensitive stuff in the private sections (memberships to which are heavily controlled and moderated). I have encountered a few cases of needing to delete all a member's posts due to vindictive ex partners, friends or family members using the information posted to stalk and harass the member, or even to use it against them in court (ie for child custody cases.)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Module Two Tasks-Email
Email
1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
In Microsoft outlook, if you right click on an email, and choose "message options" you can see relavant data, such as the sender's email address, their web hosting provider or server name, the time and date of transfer,
the path the email has taken, via various servers, and the MIME encoding used.
ie this is an email I received, (with user's email address removed for their privacy)
Return-path:
Envelope-to: jayne@alternativebaby.net
Delivery-date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:50:49 -0400
Received: from mi0.bluebottle.com ([206.188.25.15])
by lithium.webserversystems.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256)
(Exim 4.68)
(envelope-from)
id 1JlEmO-0003yC-T3
for jayne@alternativebaby.net; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:50:49 -0400
Received: from fe0.bluebottle.com (internal.bluebottle.com [206.188.24.43])
by mi0.bluebottle.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m3E2okv4007428
(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO)
for; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; s=mail; d=bluebottle.com; c=nofws; q=dns;
h=received:to:message-id:date:from:subject:mime-version:
content-type:content-transfer-encoding:user-agent:x-trusted-delivery;
b=0tuLZ6zQ7lMNtvje6vuQeyTPaoJIEgjzEEI0iM9CdKp5rRA2bH+tuudE/Cb8MrMSV
xDxnrxvR+FuJlwlU4ENn4y9G7Tu7e2eABZNtWJnvu3InpRa6F3BlVayT+3quvpZ
Received: from localhost (internal.bluebottle.com [206.188.24.43])
(authenticated bits=0)
by fe0.bluebottle.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m3E2okSY027460
for; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
Received: from d58-108-78-244.dsl.nsw.optusnet.com.au (d58-108-78-244.dsl.nsw.optusnet.com.au [58.108.78.244])
by mail.bluebottle.com (IMP) with HTTP
for; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
To: jayne@alternativebaby.net
Message-ID: <1208141446.4802c6861e996@mail.bluebottle.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
From: User's Display Name
Subject: Catalogue :)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.2
X-Trusted-Delivery: <3e570d8e7e2453cbaa3cca9410d8b3b7>
2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
"cc" -stands for "Carbon Copy
"bcc"-Blind Carbon Copy
This seems to be taken from the old pre-computer days of carbon paper placed in a typewriter to copy a letter or printed document. You would use both the above functions to send the same email to multiple recipients. Applications for the feature include memos sent around workplaces, invitations for parties/events, advertising (sometimes spam!), newsletters, or 3+ way email conversations between friends or work colleagues.
The "bcc" function is very useful to ensure recipient privacy. ie the recipient cannot see who else was sent email other than themselves. This is especially important in the case of business related mail outs, where recipients may not want their email addresses to appear visible to other recipients, thus exposing them to the danger of unwanted email solicitation (spam).
The "reply all" function is useful for group email discussions, either work related, or social (ie "where should we meet on Friday night?") However, care should be taken in it's use-it's bad "netiquette" to respond to a CC'd/bcc'd email with the "reply to all" function when your response is only of interest to the actual sender.
3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
1. Check to see if the recipient has the program in which the document was created. Most PC and mac users these days have Microsoft Word, which is cross compatible across Mac and PC platforms. If you have the latest version, it does sometimes pay to backward save, to ensure users of older versions can open the document.
2. If users do not have the software, it can be a good idea to ensure the attachment is in a form readable by anyone-such as pdf format which is readable by anyone who's downloaded the free Adobe pdf reader software.
3. Saving the email file as a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) file.
4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
Through the Cpanel on my website's web server, I have enabled "Spam Assassin" which labels any suspected incoming spam, thus sending it to the spam folder of my email program, which is set to high. I have included some screenshots below.
In addition my virus scanner is set to scan incoming email, and there is an additional virus scanner on the server.
5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I have organised mail from yahoo groups and various other forums and organisations into their own folders using the "email rules and alerts" function in Outlook (see below)
The purpose of this for me is twofold; 1-it helps organise emails into the right place so I know to what it relates and I don't lose emails in the general clutter of my inbox, and 2-it means they are neatly sorted for referral to at a later time.
1. What information about a user's email, the origin of a message, and the path it took, can you glean from an email message?
In Microsoft outlook, if you right click on an email, and choose "message options" you can see relavant data, such as the sender's email address, their web hosting provider or server name, the time and date of transfer,
the path the email has taken, via various servers, and the MIME encoding used.
ie this is an email I received, (with user's email address removed for their privacy)
Return-path:
Envelope-to: jayne@alternativebaby.net
Delivery-date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:50:49 -0400
Received: from mi0.bluebottle.com ([206.188.25.15])
by lithium.webserversystems.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256)
(Exim 4.68)
(envelope-from
id 1JlEmO-0003yC-T3
for jayne@alternativebaby.net; Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:50:49 -0400
Received: from fe0.bluebottle.com (internal.bluebottle.com [206.188.24.43])
by mi0.bluebottle.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m3E2okv4007428
(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO)
for
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; s=mail; d=bluebottle.com; c=nofws; q=dns;
h=received:to:message-id:date:from:subject:mime-version:
content-type:content-transfer-encoding:user-agent:x-trusted-delivery;
b=0tuLZ6zQ7lMNtvje6vuQeyTPaoJIEgjzEEI0iM9CdKp5rRA2bH+tuudE/Cb8MrMSV
xDxnrxvR+FuJlwlU4ENn4y9G7Tu7e2eABZNtWJnvu3InpRa6F3BlVayT+3quvpZ
Received: from localhost (internal.bluebottle.com [206.188.24.43])
(authenticated bits=0)
by fe0.bluebottle.com (8.13.1/8.13.1) with ESMTP id m3E2okSY027460
for
Received: from d58-108-78-244.dsl.nsw.optusnet.com.au (d58-108-78-244.dsl.nsw.optusnet.com.au [58.108.78.244])
by mail.bluebottle.com (IMP) with HTTP
for
To: jayne@alternativebaby.net
Message-ID: <1208141446.4802c6861e996@mail.bluebottle.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:50:46 -0700
From: User's Display Name
Subject: Catalogue :)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.2
X-Trusted-Delivery: <3e570d8e7e2453cbaa3cca9410d8b3b7>
2. In what cases would you find it useful to use the 'cc', 'bcc' and 'reply all functions of email?
"cc" -stands for "Carbon Copy
"bcc"-Blind Carbon Copy
This seems to be taken from the old pre-computer days of carbon paper placed in a typewriter to copy a letter or printed document. You would use both the above functions to send the same email to multiple recipients. Applications for the feature include memos sent around workplaces, invitations for parties/events, advertising (sometimes spam!), newsletters, or 3+ way email conversations between friends or work colleagues.
The "bcc" function is very useful to ensure recipient privacy. ie the recipient cannot see who else was sent email other than themselves. This is especially important in the case of business related mail outs, where recipients may not want their email addresses to appear visible to other recipients, thus exposing them to the danger of unwanted email solicitation (spam).
The "reply all" function is useful for group email discussions, either work related, or social (ie "where should we meet on Friday night?") However, care should be taken in it's use-it's bad "netiquette" to respond to a CC'd/bcc'd email with the "reply to all" function when your response is only of interest to the actual sender.
3. In what ways can you ensure that an attachment you send will be easily opened by the receiver?
1. Check to see if the recipient has the program in which the document was created. Most PC and mac users these days have Microsoft Word, which is cross compatible across Mac and PC platforms. If you have the latest version, it does sometimes pay to backward save, to ensure users of older versions can open the document.
2. If users do not have the software, it can be a good idea to ensure the attachment is in a form readable by anyone-such as pdf format which is readable by anyone who's downloaded the free Adobe pdf reader software.
3. Saving the email file as a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) file.
4. What sorts of filters or rules do you have set up, and for what purpose?
Through the Cpanel on my website's web server, I have enabled "Spam Assassin" which labels any suspected incoming spam, thus sending it to the spam folder of my email program, which is set to high. I have included some screenshots below.
In addition my virus scanner is set to scan incoming email, and there is an additional virus scanner on the server.5. How have you organised the folder structure of your email and why?
I have organised mail from yahoo groups and various other forums and organisations into their own folders using the "email rules and alerts" function in Outlook (see below)
The purpose of this for me is twofold; 1-it helps organise emails into the right place so I know to what it relates and I don't lose emails in the general clutter of my inbox, and 2-it means they are neatly sorted for referral to at a later time.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Traceroute
TraceRoute to curtin.edu.au from http://network-tools.com/
There were 16 hops
Average time 250 ms
Curtin ip address is 134.7.179.53
134.7.179.53 is from Australia(AU) in region Oceana
TraceRoute to 134.7.179.53 [curtin.edu.au]
| Hop | (ms) | (ms) | (ms) | IP Address | Host name |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.98.244.1 | gphou-66-98-244-1.ev1servers.net |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.98.241.12 | gphou-66-98-241-12.ev1servers.net |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 129.250.11.129 | ge-1-11.r03.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 129.250.4.237 | xe-1-1-0.r21.hstntx01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 5 | 43 | 46 | 51 | 129.250.3.121 | as-1.r21.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 6 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 129.250.5.90 | xe-0-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.bb.gin.ntt.net |
| 7 | 206 | 202 | 203 | 198.172.90.102 | p4-1-1-0.r03.lsanca03.us.ce.gin.ntt.net |
| 8 | 197 | 202 | 201 | 202.158.194.153 | so-3-2-0.bb1.b.syd.aarnet.net.au |
| 9 | 213 | 214 | 209 | 202.158.194.33 | so-2-0-0.bb1.a.mel.aarnet.net.au |
| 10 | 222 | 223 | 223 | 202.158.194.17 | so-2-0-0.bb1.a.adl.aarnet.net.au |
| 11 | 249 | 246 | 251 | 202.158.194.5 | so-0-1-0.bb1.a.per.aarnet.net.au |
| 12 | 249 | 246 | 249 | 202.158.198.178 | gigabitethernet0.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au |
| 13 | 246 | 246 | 249 | 202.158.198.186 | gw1.er1.curtin.cpe.aarnet.net.au |
| 14 | 246 | 251 | 251 | 134.7.16.46 | - |
| 15 | 246 | 252 | 249 | 134.7.248.65 | te1-1.b309-sr.net.curtin.edu.au |
| 16 | 250 | 250 | 246 | 134.7.179.53 | - |
Trace complete
FTP TASK
Record your outcome and reflections of your experiences and thoughts on this task in your learning log
This one was a piece of cake as I've FTP'd numerous times to my own websites. It was interesting trying out a different FTP client for the purposes of this exercise however, being Ipswitch WS_FTP. I found this a very good FTP client, the interface is simple and uncluttered, and less confusing than other ftp clients I have tried.
In answer to the question, "according to the readme file, 'CAPITALIZATION MATTERS'
This one was a piece of cake as I've FTP'd numerous times to my own websites. It was interesting trying out a different FTP client for the purposes of this exercise however, being Ipswitch WS_FTP. I found this a very good FTP client, the interface is simple and uncluttered, and less confusing than other ftp clients I have tried.
In answer to the question, "according to the readme file, 'CAPITALIZATION MATTERS'
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