I decided to go for a clean cut, very basic theme.
The site is currently live on http://dinnermate.net
The site is up as well as the test page. I put the example queries up on the about_us page aswell as showing a test page on the ideal_site page to show what option i'd like to have as well as a login page.
The login page would take them to their own site with links to their friends, their own recipes, as well as being able to rate other recipes and a live forum.
I now have to create the advert for this site, now that it exists!
Sunday, 14 November 2010
BUilding the design of the site
I'm building the site with a retro theme, and although i love the wallpaper, it looks really dated and i'm having trouble making it look good.
I'm using stock photos for the moment whilst i get the look of it sorted out.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
website: basic functionality. no design.
i've set up all the main pages that i'm going to use in my website, but they currently don't look very good.
http://dinnermate.net/ is set up with a note at the bottom of the home screen showing the currently active search times that with turn up a result. i'm wondering whether or not i should put this info in a 'website testing' page on the site as it does look a little crude!
ive been looking at other websites, and i originally pictured a retro website with glamourised home-makers gracing the pages, but now i realise that it is perhaps a little dated, and that maybe no amount of creative tweaking will prevent that.
I have to think more about site design, and get started on my stylised advert very soon!
I've decided that i will do a 'example website' page where i can show how the site WOULD work if i had more time and know-how.
http://dinnermate.net/ is set up with a note at the bottom of the home screen showing the currently active search times that with turn up a result. i'm wondering whether or not i should put this info in a 'website testing' page on the site as it does look a little crude!
ive been looking at other websites, and i originally pictured a retro website with glamourised home-makers gracing the pages, but now i realise that it is perhaps a little dated, and that maybe no amount of creative tweaking will prevent that.
I have to think more about site design, and get started on my stylised advert very soon!
I've decided that i will do a 'example website' page where i can show how the site WOULD work if i had more time and know-how.
Hardcoding the website
I decided to hard-code the results of the website rather than trying to get it to 'talk' to a MySQL database so that i could have a working finished product by the deadline.
This means that i have to type in all the possible entries i could get for my example, and then link it to an output page so that it looks as if it's working. I would have loved to have better integrated my databasing knowledge (ive created a database in mysql etc), but it just doesn't work properly, so i've taught myself some basic php language. It did help that i've been learning flash as i could apply my knowledge of code structure to it.
I am going to restrict the function of the website to ingredients only, not including the desired time or any other functions at this point in time.
This is my first page at the moment: It is white on black at the moment, but i want a 60's or retro type theme and i've got it a bit wrong.
This means that i have to type in all the possible entries i could get for my example, and then link it to an output page so that it looks as if it's working. I would have loved to have better integrated my databasing knowledge (ive created a database in mysql etc), but it just doesn't work properly, so i've taught myself some basic php language. It did help that i've been learning flash as i could apply my knowledge of code structure to it.
I am going to restrict the function of the website to ingredients only, not including the desired time or any other functions at this point in time.
This is my first page at the moment: It is white on black at the moment, but i want a 60's or retro type theme and i've got it a bit wrong.
Working on the design
I've got the basic function of the site working farly well locally:
I'm having trouble fixing the database source fields, and i've had a look at the code and it's hard-coding the results from the sausages section.
When i go to try and fix it, it ends up with no results at all, so i am going to try to focus on the appearance of the site, as i've been trying to fic it for ages via online tutorials which isn't working.
For my final submission, i think that i'm going to hard-code the search queries to various pages, and do them seperately with a few examples as i can't connect to my remote database at all, and need the help of a tutor. What i was doing was too ambitious, and the last week of working through online tutorials has been unsuccessul, although i now understand MySQL much better as well as being ale to use web development tool i'd never heard of until this project.
I am now going to focus o the design: I want it to have a 1920's black and white theme: is a bit kitch, but the era conveyed domestic bliss and a time where cooking was shown as a pleasure (something i want cooking to be again by making it less of a hassle). I will use images, and will have a page on my website which shows the advert i've made for it too as sort of an instructional. I want the advert to be a spoof, and my idea is to chop it up out of old adverts and have charlie chaplin type titles and make it in black and white. I will storyboard these initially, and then get some feedbac before going forward.
I'm having trouble fixing the database source fields, and i've had a look at the code and it's hard-coding the results from the sausages section.
When i go to try and fix it, it ends up with no results at all, so i am going to try to focus on the appearance of the site, as i've been trying to fic it for ages via online tutorials which isn't working.
For my final submission, i think that i'm going to hard-code the search queries to various pages, and do them seperately with a few examples as i can't connect to my remote database at all, and need the help of a tutor. What i was doing was too ambitious, and the last week of working through online tutorials has been unsuccessul, although i now understand MySQL much better as well as being ale to use web development tool i'd never heard of until this project.
I am now going to focus o the design: I want it to have a 1920's black and white theme: is a bit kitch, but the era conveyed domestic bliss and a time where cooking was shown as a pleasure (something i want cooking to be again by making it less of a hassle). I will use images, and will have a page on my website which shows the advert i've made for it too as sort of an instructional. I want the advert to be a spoof, and my idea is to chop it up out of old adverts and have charlie chaplin type titles and make it in black and white. I will storyboard these initially, and then get some feedbac before going forward.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Learning PHP/MySQL & SITE BUILDING
The hosting company that i bought my website from had dbadmin pre-installed which according to the tutorial on http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql/2 will make the whole system much simpler.
I am going through the tutorial, but i realised that i don't actually know what i want in my fields, or how to structure it. I realise that i need to create an example in excel to work out how to structure it, and find a few recipes to populate it.
I wasnt sure if i should include include the original web address of the recipe in the database in the first test database to save space, but i will do as it allows me to keep a good record. In my first database i am going to include: an index of the recipe (an 'R' followed by a 3 digit number), the main ingredients, and the cooking time.
I realised that i have no idea what the most commonly thrown away foodstuffs are, so i decided to look it up. If i am designing an app to save ofen discarded food, i have to know what food is often discarded. I found this article by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7389351.stm which states that 60% of food waste is salad, fruit or bread, resulting in 9bn of avoidable waste, most of which went untouched. The study looked at over 2,00 households. Potatoes and bread made up almost 40%. Meat and fish made up around 18%
I think that i'll focus on these, but in the future I'll undertake my own survey to find out what is most often thrown away in a more detailed way. I want to include food costs too.
I found a link on the website which states 20 recipes for under £1 per head, which assumes that you have the basics: oil, butter, flour, stock cubes and dried herbs. I'll do the same, as my idea does kind of rely on the fact that you have very basic things as otherwise it might be too complicated (you'd have to input absolutely everything you have in the cupboard, and assuming means that youd save time). I will aso assume that you have milk, onions and garlic.
this is my database test layout, which i will use to build my first online database
this is my first online database, which i made using dbadmin, and populated using information taken from my excel spreadsheet.
I'm watching this video tutorial to learn how to link it up with dreamweaver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuy4cvL2zqs
I am going through the tutorial, but i realised that i don't actually know what i want in my fields, or how to structure it. I realise that i need to create an example in excel to work out how to structure it, and find a few recipes to populate it.
I wasnt sure if i should include include the original web address of the recipe in the database in the first test database to save space, but i will do as it allows me to keep a good record. In my first database i am going to include: an index of the recipe (an 'R' followed by a 3 digit number), the main ingredients, and the cooking time.
I realised that i have no idea what the most commonly thrown away foodstuffs are, so i decided to look it up. If i am designing an app to save ofen discarded food, i have to know what food is often discarded. I found this article by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7389351.stm which states that 60% of food waste is salad, fruit or bread, resulting in 9bn of avoidable waste, most of which went untouched. The study looked at over 2,00 households. Potatoes and bread made up almost 40%. Meat and fish made up around 18%
I think that i'll focus on these, but in the future I'll undertake my own survey to find out what is most often thrown away in a more detailed way. I want to include food costs too.
I found a link on the website which states 20 recipes for under £1 per head, which assumes that you have the basics: oil, butter, flour, stock cubes and dried herbs. I'll do the same, as my idea does kind of rely on the fact that you have very basic things as otherwise it might be too complicated (you'd have to input absolutely everything you have in the cupboard, and assuming means that youd save time). I will aso assume that you have milk, onions and garlic.
this is my database test layout, which i will use to build my first online database
this is my first online database, which i made using dbadmin, and populated using information taken from my excel spreadsheet.
I'm watching this video tutorial to learn how to link it up with dreamweaver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuy4cvL2zqs
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Learning PHP/MySQL and FTP
As my website building knowledge is limited, i am teaching myself how to integrate MySQL
I am using these two tutorials
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/php
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql
i am also going ahead in the databasing lecture tutorials on my university course to learn extra MySQL programming.
I have paid for and registered my own domain called dinnermate.net
Whilst it is getting set up, i'm using a free website called web.com to host it for free so i can get ahead and practise what i've learnt.
I realised that to work through the PHP tutorials, i had to learn FTP and downloaded Filezilla which is a FTP client
edit: 1am
Now understanding FTP, realised that my freehosting service doesnt support php so willhave to wait til tomorrow when my paid domain goes live.
I am using these two tutorials
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/php
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql
i am also going ahead in the databasing lecture tutorials on my university course to learn extra MySQL programming.
I have paid for and registered my own domain called dinnermate.net
Whilst it is getting set up, i'm using a free website called web.com to host it for free so i can get ahead and practise what i've learnt.
I realised that to work through the PHP tutorials, i had to learn FTP and downloaded Filezilla which is a FTP client
edit: 1am
Now understanding FTP, realised that my freehosting service doesnt support php so willhave to wait til tomorrow when my paid domain goes live.
Building the site. part 2
I have purchased a domain name from one.com as i've used them before, and they set up very quickly, and have good technical support.
I had a look at other hosting poviders who requested monthly payments, and as i planned to keep my site up and work on it for another few months past the deadline, this was the best value for money at £11 inc. VAT
I had a look at other hosting poviders who requested monthly payments, and as i planned to keep my site up and work on it for another few months past the deadline, this was the best value for money at £11 inc. VAT
Monday, 8 November 2010
Building the site
I have to decide
-Where to get content from
-Which platform to use as a user interface, and how to build it
-The look and functionality of the site
I decided to get content initially from http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes which is a database of thousands of free to use recipes as i will not be infringing any copyright laws. The recipes themselves are family orientated, and the site is full of ads which funds it. There is already a community built around it with membership and chat functions.
I am going to make it into a website, considering the audience of single mothers who are less likely than other social groups to have smartphones. If i do widen my audience (and i believe it woud be relevant to other groups), i could make it into an app.
I am going to build this website using dreamweaver and MySQL which we are learning on the computing part of my course. Currently i don't have the know-how to integrate a database into a website, so i am looking online for tutorials. For the minute i am going to use a very short list of perhaps 3 recipes to test out the technical side of the website, and make it very simple, having only the functionality for a user to input a single ingredient; no time information or other constraint, and have the program output a recipe. I know how to ask a database to search for a word within a block of text so far.
The look and functionality of the site will be extremly basic in the prototype which i will use a function test, and will also do a focus group with it to see if it is actually relevant.
Branding: I have so far called it 'dinnermate' and designed a basic logo, and will probably stick with the name as it's very simple and self-explanatory.
-Where to get content from
-Which platform to use as a user interface, and how to build it
-The look and functionality of the site
I decided to get content initially from http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes which is a database of thousands of free to use recipes as i will not be infringing any copyright laws. The recipes themselves are family orientated, and the site is full of ads which funds it. There is already a community built around it with membership and chat functions.
I am going to make it into a website, considering the audience of single mothers who are less likely than other social groups to have smartphones. If i do widen my audience (and i believe it woud be relevant to other groups), i could make it into an app.
I am going to build this website using dreamweaver and MySQL which we are learning on the computing part of my course. Currently i don't have the know-how to integrate a database into a website, so i am looking online for tutorials. For the minute i am going to use a very short list of perhaps 3 recipes to test out the technical side of the website, and make it very simple, having only the functionality for a user to input a single ingredient; no time information or other constraint, and have the program output a recipe. I know how to ask a database to search for a word within a block of text so far.
The look and functionality of the site will be extremly basic in the prototype which i will use a function test, and will also do a focus group with it to see if it is actually relevant.
Branding: I have so far called it 'dinnermate' and designed a basic logo, and will probably stick with the name as it's very simple and self-explanatory.
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