advice for new cs1300 students

I recommend new students to read the instructions on the quizzes and tests very carefully. That is what I learned from the midterm test, which I did not read the directions at all. If I did, I would not have so many valuable points taken off. Lesson learned the hard way.

website

My three favorite websites from our class section are Jeanna's, Danika's, and Ashley's. Jeanna's website is simple, yet creative. I love the homepage, and from browsing through her website I can tell that she put in a lot of time into it. Danika's website is well-organized and easy to navigate. Ashley's website is has a simple design, yet it is super easy to navigate. I loved looking at the pictures in her gallery.

I had a good time creating my own website. It was a challenging, yet fun experience. Although, I did have trouble with my pictures showing up, I figured out that my website does completely function on Firefox [yay!]. So, here is my website: http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~lchen (**best viewed in Firefox)

HTML codes

Knowing HTML codes is very important in web design. Even though nowadays we have Microsoft Expression Web or Dreamweaver to do the job for us, knowing how to write your own HTML codes is quite useful. Web designers should be able to know how to use and write HTML codes to make complicated websites. In addition, they use HTML codes to manually change the font style, text color, background, insert images and sounds, etc. Web designers can go directly to their website domain and manually enter the HTML codes to further customize their website. They would not need to open a program to have it do everything for them.

powerpoint presentations

I was quite impressed by Jeanna's powerpoint presentation on the USPS. Not only was she very enthusiastic about her subject matter, but the powerpoint was well-designed and colorful. I especially liked the animation at the end of the presentation--very creative and adds flair to the powerpoint. Her presentation was also quite convincing. If I didn't have a clue to what I wanted for my future career, I might have just considered working for the USPS!

I also liked Kate's powerpoint presentation. She presented about paleontology. I used to want to be a paleontologist so the subject interested me. The powerpoint was innovative with a background that complemented the text.

bad powerpoints - guidelines to making a not-so-annoying powerpoint

The articles that we were assigned to read all cut to the chase on bad powerpoints. Each article was informing and definitely helpful. In high school, I always got annoyed by the powerpoints, presented by fellow classmates, that had those loud squeaky sound effects and animations that made my head spin. I think every student, beginning from middle school, should take a look at those articles. They are the guidelines for making and presenting powerpoints. One thing about presenting powerpoints that I think is extremely important is that presenters should NOT read from the slides directly. They should either post pictures on the slide and talk about the images or write a few bullet points rather than an essay. This makes the presentation much more interesting and keeps the audience awake.
The following are guidelines students, or general powerpoint presenters, should follow to avoid making a disasterous powerpoint:
1. No loud, annoying sound effects. The effects included in Powerpoint are not as quite pleasing to the ear. Instead, if at all possible, take clips of music from your own music library.
2. The colors should balance each other--no clashing colors like hot pink text on a bright neon green background [it truly hurts my eyes!]. Also, each background slide color in the entire presentation should be the same. Don't make the first slide a yellow color background, the 2nd purple, the 3rd a green, and so on.
3. No clip art. Sure, clip art may be cute and funny sometimes...but we're in college [or work environment aka real life] now. I know when I was in middle school my fellow group members and I chose random clip art for our projects. That was then. Now, JPEG images should be used in powerpoints. Use your own photos or find images through Google Images--but make sure to cite them.
4. Use bullet points instead of whole paragraphs. This makes your presentation run much more smoothly. And, it will keep your audience interested and not doze off. Even better than bullet points is a short phrase that summarizes what you are going to discuss.
5. Keep transitions and animations at a minimum. They can get pretty annoying sometimes, especially if they are the kinds that spin all throughout the page and if there is an overflow of them. I think the fade transition is the least annoying out of all the others.
Follow these guidelines and your powerpoint presentation should go well.

searching the internet

Chris Nolan's presentation regarding searching for info on the internet was quite helpful. I learned a few search techniques I never knew about. I never used Google's advanced search before, and now I most likely will in the future. I learned that with advanced search, I can search for phrases without a certain word using the minus sign next to the word I don't want to include. With advanced search I can also search for just .gov or .edu websites.

free music downloads may lead to a high price to pay

I have always been aware of copyright issues and the works of it. In middle school, they told us to always cite our sources and not take a work and just re-word it. The consequences were not as harsh as they are in college, but all in all it is, nevertheless, a serious issue. From the copyright presentation I learned that the copyright law was established in the 18th century. I didn't know it dated all the way back to the 1700s! I also learned that the copyright law covers the creator's life, plus an additional 20 years. I think it's great there's a law that exists to protect artists alike. I, myself, am a photographer and post my pictures online on Flickr. On Flickr there's an option that you can choose to prevent others from stealing your pictures. I checked that option because I find it completely unfair that someone can take my picture and manipulate it or use it in their projects and whatnot.

Illegal music downloading and peer to peer file sharing have been a problem of our society for awhile. However, recently many universities and colleges throughout the nation are taking the issue seriously and spreading the word of the high price students may have to pay sooner or later. The music industry loses up to $10 million a year to piracy. In 2004, the FBI gave Hollywood movie studios, music companies, and software makers the permission to afflix an FBI warning label on their production. The warning label was created in hopes of detering consumers to making illegal copies. The label states: "FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: Unauthorized copying is punishable under federal law." In other words, the FBI will track down those who illegally copy and share the files. Since then, I don't find much change in illegal downloading and file sharing. I mean a couple thousand people have already been sued by the music or film industry, but the label is not stopping them. There are still millions of people who continue to download and share music and dvds. The FBI warning label is only a label. When buying a new CD or DVD, most just glance at the label and move on with their lives. I don't think illegal downloading will ever stop unless the music and film industry decide to drop down the prices a couple dollars. The main reason why people download music is because CDs can be so pricey nowadays. Why buy something when you can find it for free? Personally, I don't download music from peer to peer programs. I did in the past 4 years ago, however. It's what caused my computer to breakdown. I had to get a new computer because of it. I get my music from itunes or I just buy CDs from the store. I believe it's unfair to download because each song you download from a certain artist, that artist's music label is losing money. Also, Trinity seems pretty serious about turning students in. I would not want to pay $13,000+ just for downloading a single song!

excel

I most definitely learned a lot about Excel through this course. I never used Excel in the past for school...or really for anything. So everything was completely new to me. I'm glad I learned how to input formulas and data in an Excel spreadsheet because I think it would be quite useful in the future. Excel would be useful to maintain one's checkbook, a business's progress of sales, create charts for science data, and to keep track of certain scores. Personally, I can use Excel spreadsheets to keep track of my spending (which I am desperately in need of!), create charts for science class, make an itinerary for travel details, and to organize my grades for each class.

manipulation of photos - pictures that lie

I think it's amazing how technology has evolved over the years. Nowadays, photographers can manipulate their photos to where the edited picture is completely different from the original. Advertisers and fashion magazine editors, especially, use Photoshop to manipulate their pictures to "trick" the readers. In fashion magazines, celebrities and models are made to look slimmer, prettier, and more flawless than they are in real life. This has caused many girls in our society to have a desperate desire to be skinnier and beautiful. And I believe that it is somewhat a major factor why eating disorders are becoming more and more prevalent in our society today.

I chose to analyze the picture of Oprah on the cover of TV Guide (page 11 of website). On the cover photo, Oprah's body was obviously photoshopped because in real life, her body is full-figured and not as slim as it is depicted in the picture. As it mentions in the description, Oprah's head was actually spliced onto the body of Ann-Margret, an actress. The manipulation is harmful because first of all, Oprah's body does not look like how it is portrayed in the picture. The picture truly does 'lie'. Secondly, the overall photo was manipulated without Ann-Margret's permission. I would imagine this makes TV Guide lose a lot of credibilty. I am shocked TV Guide would even do this sort of thing without permission because they do have a high reputation as an entertainment magazine.

wireless network - the most convenient thing ever invented

Wireless network at college campuses is a manifestation of a larger shift. Whoever thought of wireless networks is a clever one. It is so incredibly convenient to set up my laptop in my dorm or at a coffee shop without having the need to pack extra cables or worrying about all the cables getting tangled. In other words, having wireless network at college campuses, home, hotels, coffee shops, etc., make our lives ten times easier. I use Trinity's wireless network for both social and academic purposes. I use it to check and send emails, talk to my friends at home on Skype and AIM, shop online and order various things, and upload pictures onto my photography website. For academic purposes, the Trinity network allows me to research on matters regarding projects and papers, look up notes from class, and communicate with my teachers through email.

the new and terribly confusing Word 2007

It took me awhile to adapt to the new features of Word 2007. It's just not as simple as it was in the earlier series of Word. And it really should be simple- a piece of cake. It should not take five minutes to figure out how to crop a picture or how to do 'word count'...true story. However, I have been using Word 2007 since last August, so I am pretty much familiar with it now. There are just a few kinks here and there that I have yet to learn. Now with this class, I am taking in all the information I learn and applying the skills to good use.

the blue screen of death

Well, my computer just had a breakdown. I have an assignment due tomorrow for my computer skills class. I can't use my roommate's computer because she has a MAC. Nor can I use my suitemate's computer because she also has a MAC. I definitely wish I could have started this homework earlier. I guess my only option now is to walk outside in the freezing 30 degree fahrenheit weather to Murchison's computer lab. Next time, I am not going to procrastinate and wait til the last minute.

me.

My name is Lin. I'm from Irvine, which is a suburb in Orange County, California. It's a completely different place from here in San Antonio, or really anywhere in Texas. I definitely miss it...especially being able to go to the beach just about anytime since it is only a 10 minute drive away. Take a look through at my hometown through Google Earth: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.645456,-117.83658&z=14&t=h&hl=en

To pass time, I like to read, go to art museums and festivals, take daytrips up to LA (home) and Austin, eat, spend time with friends, play with my dogs, travel to other countries during the summer, and capture pictures with my Canon Rebel. I also love music- I played piano for 12 years. Unfortunately, I don't play anymore. I decided to quit last summer because I didn't plan to continue it in college. And I haven't touched the piano since. I plan to major in Art History, with a minor in Chinese. Some of my campus activities include PAWS--the organization that visits the local animal shelter where you can play and walk the dogs, working out at the gym, and now working at CLT.

I am pretty familiar with computers since my brother is a technology expert. He has always helped me with computer problems and explained them afterwards. However, with the new Vista program, most things I learned about computer programs are a blur now- especially with Word 2007...it's so confusing! Hopefully by the end of this semester I will be very familiar with it and not take forever to find 'word count' or figure out how to change the margins. I am also looking forward to working with photoshop. I took Digital Art during my senior year of high school, and I really enjoyed it.