PPD 3 – My Learning Plan Summary

One hundred and fifty hours of my self learning are coming to and end. Now it is time for me to reflect, evaluate and process not just the technical skills I learnt but the way in which I learnt them.

This process has been somewhat of a whirlwind, although its been running for just  over 2 months, my plan has definitely kept me truly on my toes. For me the learning plan doesn’t end here, this process of analysing myself will help fine tune my planning, researching and organisational skills for the future.

Weaknesses

To understand my strengths first is must understand and identify my weaknesses in which to build upon.

The main area of weakness throughout my plan was the recording of my time, although I stated in my learning plan that I would keep time sheets it is something that I was unable to fulfil. It essential that I find a better method of recording time spent on work, because in the industry time does equal money and to identify an appropriate pricing, recording time is a key benefactor.

In my plan I also stated that I would read two books, SitePoints The PHP Anthology which I completed and Manning’s PHP in Action. I underestimated the sheer volume of the books, and was never really able to delve far into Manning’s PHP in Action.

Not only was it the volume of the books but the complexity, I felt that PHP in Action was written for a greater level of experience in PHP than I was at. I struggled to come to terms with the knowledge presented and the time to be able to gain this knowledge, would have thrown my plan out of the window.

Further investigation into material within the resources will be needed next time. Although I did sift through lots of different options in my research, more depth is key.

I also feel that I didn’t utilise some of the resources as good as I could have. PHP.net is full of great tuition and a reference point that should not be overlooked when learning this language. Through the early stages of my learning I did not adhere to the reference point as much as I should have, as it became a great place to read up on how functions are defined.

Stregnths

After outlining the weaknesses within my plan its time to try and reflect on my strengths, things that went to plan and that I will continue to use and build upon.

Although I stated that time-keeping was an issue within a way of recording the time spent, I was still able to be organised and create a sufficient time to utilise my plan. I had dedicated time within the my day in which PPD3 was at the forefront of my golas.

I managed to adapt the way in which I worked, making an office environment within my household keeping me and my work separate to my everyday life. This is something I had never done before, I had always just studied as and when needed and the results had been apparent in my marks from last year.

I feel understanding my own progress is one of my main strengths, being able to range the work I produce and keeping my goals realistic is key to this. My plan did not set deadlines and was not to specific, although it may sound like a downfall, I understood that my knowledge of PHP going in to this was zero. This plan was to lay down the foundations with this scripting language.

Summary

All in all I felt my plan was a success, I am happy with the level of knowledge I have come out of with and can see it how it will effect my future within the industry.

The process has taught me that I can adapt when things go wrong and how to do so. There were tough times during my learning where it did feel like mission impossible, at these times I had to analyse the work I had already put in. Ask myself, What had I missed? Which areas do I need to recap on to continue?

I must take out as much as possible from this experience, the opportunities and avenue’s that learning new features within the industry are there for all to see. I can’t just limit myself to one aspect of the web design/development area, having a basic understanding of PHP, has alone opened my eyes wider on to how I design for the web.

If I could do this plan again I would try to script my learning process better, clearer stages for my learning development and precise organisational skills with accurate recoding of time. This is exactly what I must be doing if I am to continue progress not just through the course but beyond.

My PHP in Action – Part Three

The third and final part of my creative brief, to create a script that watermarks images using a png file. This is something that I found would be really valuable within future work, with the ever growing online presence of social media and image sharing. It would be of great commercial and marketing value for business’s to watermark their images.

This seemed a simple task as I was originally only going to write the script that produced the watermarked image, but finding a suitable simple online uploader was proving harder than expected.

After scouring the internet and testing multiple uploader’s, the best answer was for me to write a script for both the uploader and the watermarker. This was a bit more challenging than the previous two task’s, and taking a step back and planning was the first step.

The upload script

Taking a step back and understanding what needed to be achieved was exactly what I needed, after seeing all the complicated and what seemed to me, unnecessary code within the scripts online. Examining them to find out what was really going on within the scripts was the way to move forward.

To create the uploader the code simply identifies the file type and allows the file submitted to be uploaded. An if and esleif statement are then used during the watermarking process to narrow down the array four possible files uploaded ( jpg, jpeg, png, gif). This filter process allows the script to use the right function in which to create the watermarked image, i.e a jpeg would prompt the function, $image = imagecreatefromjpeg($file) – the file being the end product.

From then on its simply telling the script where to place the image, in mine I used the top left hand corner. So co-ordinates of 10, 10, 0, 0, would place the png watermark 10px from the top and 10px from the left of any image uploaded.

Code that dictates the watermark

I think in its diversity this is a very useful script that is overlook by most companies that host events such as bars and nightclubs where images are shared constantly. By simply watermarking their images they are spreading there brand through the free resources of social media. Using this type of skill I will be looking to utilise when pitching for work myself.

My PHP Action – Part Two

Continuing with my PPD3 self learning plan, after the successful completion of the first phase of the creative brief came phase 2. Creating a simple login script using an HTML form linking to a MySQL database.

This technically was much easier to create. The fields within the database had already been pre-defined and populated using the register form created in Part one.  The technical side behind the PHP script was to successfully link the username and md5 encrypted password from the login form, to the data registered within the MySQL database.

Snippet of the login.php code querying the database.

Once again I used the same technique from Part one, constantly checking my code by ‘echoing’ out a paragraph after each statement. I found this task very easy through the way I had wrote the code for my registration form. The only value’s I had to use were two that where exact to the ones created in part one, the username and password.

The user by clicking ‘login’ posts the information to the script. The script then starts a session within the server, query’s the rows within the database table and pulls the information requested. If the username and password match then the PHP will echo-out a statement in HTML letting the user know that they have successfully logged in.

To complete the process the user must have the option to log out, this is by far the simplest script I’ve had to write so far. By clicking logout the user is basically ending the session which began with logging in.

Simplicity of a logout script.

After creation the process taught me not to be scared of what looks sometimes like a daunting task. Looking at examples of other peoples complicated login scripts at first looks daunting, but like anything they can be simplified. With my Login script I took out the basics, connecting and querying the database. Then questioned the information was correct, and plotted how to navigate the user through the various outcomes of human error that could possibly arise, such as an invalid username.

I think all in all part two was a success, although I did have a little scare when I put the login live onto my server. It was producing a warning error upon loggin, but because I understood all the arguments within the code I new where the possible problems were. It was simple enough that the start_session() function was not placed above the HTML doctype tag. I feel I have learned a good way in which I can understand my code, not just through commenting but within my testing process.

The third and final part of my Creative Brief is to create a script that automatically Watermarks an image upon upload.

My PHP in action – Part One

After 80 hours of researching, analysing and evaluating its time to put my new found skills into practise. My aim was to keep the scripts as simple as possible, so that when I return to it in the future I fully understand and able to adapt and re-use the scripts.

In accordance with the creative brief section of my learning plan, I have created a PHP script that works, in relation to a basic HTML Post form registering data in to a MySQL database. This is a very common use of the scripting language within the web design/development world, the first point of information sharing on the users behalf. My example will be a Registration Form in which users can create a username and password.

The first thing was to plan the desired function of the registration, what data would I need to collect in order to set up a table within a MySQL database. As my form is for showcase purposes only and not collecting any data for business purposes, I decided on 4 fields. An id field that would be auto-incremented within the table, assigning each user a unique number, a full name field, a username field and a password field.

It all begins with a basic HTML "post" form

I decided to leave the usual e-mail field out of the equation as it would serve no purpose. From these four fields inside my database table, three are to be populated by the user. Their name, username and password.

During the creation of this script I found the best method of test my code was to ‘echo’ out a result, after each if statement. By doing this I cut out the margin for errors to occur. Also giving me the ability to see the various different avenues that may display on the user end, i.e entering an invalid username.

After testing my form on a server for the first time and seeing the information updated in the table of my MySQL database was a feeling of success. Finally giving meaning to the learning I have been doing over the past few months, as PHP scripts I have been writing and testing throughout served no real purpose other than an educational one. Being able to read through my code understand it fully, add and change functionality as I please is a real accomplishment for me, and displays the progress I have made through this learning plan so far.

Success! The MySQL database populated via the Registration Form

The next step in my learning contract and the second phase of my  creative brief goes hand in hand with register form and database table I have created. I am creating a login script that will enable to the registered user to connect to the database.

Learning to Build with PHP

In the next phase of my learning I moved on to a book from SitePoint called - The PHP Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks, 2nd Edition - as directed in my learning plan. The aims outlined in this book were to teach me techniques to save effort and produce my own more focused driven goals when working with PHP. 

The book gave me the chance to create a greater understanding of how PHP is implemented, the functions used within the industry and to understand the parameters regarding security, de-bugging and the ability to write re-usable code, each highlighted in the Skillset’s Standards.

At first most of the code was a blur and it became apparent the book was aimed at users with a more advanced level of PHP skills than where I was currently at. To counter this I tried not to understand the code, but the principles behind it. Asking myself questions like, how easy is it to add new features into my code? Ways of making my code understandable to me after a period of time? How will the code I write be adapted to future sites?

By questioning myself about how the book and code snippets will help me in my future practise, I helped myself delve further into what the book was offering.  Playing with the various functions, testing different outcomes enabled me have a greater outlook on the planning behind it. Overseeing and manipulating the multiple possibilities available to the user.

The book does offer what it says in the title, essential tips. The key for me was not just to re-write what was in the excerpts, test then move on. But to try simplifying the code taking each argument into careful consideration for its use within a script. By using techniques from one excerpt and trying to implement them within another helped enable me to fully understand the language I was writing and the way in which it works, not only within a webpage but when connecting with a MySQL database.

A snippet of code from my PHP calander

I would recommend this book for anybody who works with PHP, I think it is essential to view as much PHP script examples as possible, after all it is open source and there is an abundance of different scripts providing similar outcomes. By finding areas in which you yourself can improve, simplify and learn new techniques from others can will only help to advance your capabilities while working with this language.

Although I would recommend this book,  I think that as a beginner diving into this and reading it page to page will not make you a master of PHP, teaching you all there is to know. It was extremely difficult for me to get to grips with what the book was all about, I feel the essential tips are nothing to do with the simply reproducing example scripts – although they will be a very handy reference point for the future – but taking on board the authors advice on how the code is wrote, the uses of each line of PHP within the script must be individually accounted for in order to progress with learning.

After revising, learning and practising with this book its now time to try and produce my own code. In the next phase of my learning contract I will be producing three fully functional online examples of PHP, each relavant to the ever changing industry and my future employment as a front-developer.

My Introduction to PHP Syntax

To start learning PHP, I started from the very basics. After researching suitable books, tutorials and reference guides to the language my first point of call was www.webmonkey.com. Their PHP Tutorial for Beginners is short simple and to the point. It advances through and gives you a good insight of whats to come, contains valuable resources and also basic information on its possibilites and practises used in Web Development.

I found the tutorial very enjoyable, it breaks away from the traditional ‘Hello World!’ (boring) way to learn. This way gives you more interaction, more of a pull to write and learn your own code rather than simply copy, paste – move on. Writing and re-writing basic syntax helped me to understand elements of the language, the essential building blocks and how they are defined.

The language used in the tutorial is less formal and helped me to level with processes and the author. I have found some tutorials and books rather intimidating while reading, and for a beginner rather scary. This tutorial helped me to enter and progress straight away, everything is well explained both technically and in ‘laymens terms’. While progressing through the tutorial the purpose and advantages behind using PHP become clearer and more relevant, from starting with basic syntax to associating this with variables within an array, the whole process is very fluid.

This tutorials contains everything a beginner will need to start learning PHP, building on these examples provided within the tutorial and building upon them is the way I will try to push my skills. At this stage in my learning it is not essential that I memorise and can produce PHP from the top of my head, but understanding the mechanisms while writing it is my main aim.

PPD 3 – Learning PHP

Throughout the first semester of my second year on the FdA Web Design course I will be conducting my own learning, I already had a taster of this during the Mini-Learning Contract for PPD2. This learning will be on a much larger scale and requires me to organise and execute a learning plan thus independently learning and developing a new skill that will enhance my employability as a web designer.

The skill I have chosen to learn is PHP – a HyperText PreProcessor scripting language that is suited for web development. Starting from a knowledge level of zero, I will be working towards gaining a full understanding in accordance to how it is used in the industry, and gain the skills to implement PHP into commercial web design projects. Firstly I researched what PHP is, what it can do, and how it is used within our industry sector.

To do this I started with the PHP homepage itself, giving me an overall perspective of what it is all about. Although the site and its information feel a little cryptic for me as a beginner it will be a great referencing tool for me as I progress in learning PHP. Next was linking this to Skillset’s National Occupational Standards understanding the principles I need to adhere by while applying PHP.

http://uk.php.net/manual/en/intro-whatcando.php

One of the key words that I took out of this research was dynamic. PHP gives the ability to creates dynamic websites, the ability to be able to change aspects of the context of a site – depending on the user – creating a live user experience. It gives another dimension to designing for the Web, a way of enhancing the way in which a user can interact.

The standards in which the code must be wrote correlates with the level of skill a person has with PHP, producing semantic mark-up in accordance with Skillset’s standards. Skillset’s states that to use PHP you should “be able to write efficient, re-usable code that is easy to debug and maintain” and of course to gain these kind of skills I must understand “functions and syntax of the scripting language you are using” which in this case is PHP.

Code Scripts To Provide Functionality For Interactive Media Product

This is just the first understanding that I have of the language and a very basic one at that, but I also realise the potential uses of this language within web development. It has become beneficial for me to fully understand, and proceed to build upon my skills using this language for my future within the industry. My learning plan is designed to aid me in taking the first steps to completing this goal, giving me knowledge and experience of working with this programming language.

Now I will be moving on to the next stage in my learning, to try and understand and produce PHP – at an industry standard level – then applying it into my own work, designs and development. By learning this programming language I hope it will enable me not only to design, but to create complex interfaces to help the user interact further with web applications.

PPD2 Summary

When Steve first told us that our time on the course would fly past he certainly was not joking. From arriving in September its been a whirlwind of information, deadline and above all real learning.

Having come onto the course not really not knowing to expect neither from the course or myself. Keeping an open mind, listening and recording as much information presented to us verbal or written. I felt this would be vital for me to succeed or even survive on the course.

WRL was the module that helped introduce me to the industry, helping me understand process’s and giving a great insight into what was to come. Listening and transcribing for hours on end to the interviews had I conducted with industry professionals, didn’t feel like too much of a chore. It was all new to me and certainly made sure that everything would sink in.

Typography and PPD1 helped introduce me to language again, and at that point became a great interest of mine. I have always struggled with writing English language and after speaking, reading and thinking in Spanish for four years it was time to, reintroduce myself to proper English language. I found the Typography module the most interesting, the way I could use this knowledge to manipulate how a user would not only read and be guided through content, but how it can change the emotion, feeling within it.

I found the use of Typography to be very powerful within design and although my research of techniques has slowed down due to the other modules on the course, it is an area of design that I find myself analysing daily with every poster, flyer, business card, web page even its use on television.

The interface design module became a personal project of mine and became very close to me, my subject was not just a local hero but my personal hero who’s legacy had been passed down to me by my close family. I felt this was an opportunity to thanks them for the help and support they had given to me, by giving them something back something that they could read and relate to while not even knowing what the internet is.

Throughout the year I suffered personal setbacks that have hindered my progress on the course, but I have tried my utmost to not let them derail me or give me any excuse. In my personal statement when coming on to the course I said I was determined to achieve and that is still a true statement today, I wish to repay the faith and effort Steve has put in by accepting me onto the course in the first place.

The second half of the year has been a rather frustrating time for me, as maybe reality was hitting that I was not at the point I wished to be at and a feeling of under achievement. Although I felt competent with Web Development and had no real difficulty while doing I felt the design I had made was rather basic and consciously I knew that I had held myself back. Wanting to test my abilities with computers coding before taking on complex designs.

Most of the frustration was fuelled threw Photoshop, I found myself sitting for hours looking at a screen progressing little by little, although I know what I want my design to be displayed like, not being able to produce that exact precision digitally is very infuriating, but mainly this is also brought on by the high standards I set myself when striving for perfection in every aspect. I know that this will only be a matter of time as I am constantly practising with every project but I’m I know that the better I get I will also raise the bar on my standards.

My goals after the course are still not clear but I do know that next year will be a bigger year for me, an opportunity to push myself and take my abilities to the next level which will in turn create exciting opportunities. This year has been more of a transitional period, reintegration into a different surrounding, different culture, language and reintegration to education. I have spent a lot of the year analysing and trying to absorb as much as possible but my plan for next year is to start asserting myself, my character and to pursue the goals that I believe myself to be capable of.

PPD-presentation

Word Count; 749

Building Our Foundations

The ability to work as a team is an extremely valuable skill to have and like any skill it has to be mastered. The most important part of working as a team is constant communication, it is essential. The only way for a team to progress is if all the members understand what their roles are, the roles of their team members and the goal in which they are all working towards.

This was the most difficult area in which I believed our team struggled, in our first meeting although at first I felt we were working well towards assigning roles, clarifying what our plan was and how we were going to execute it. After the meeting it was clear that we were still thinking individually and not 100% behind each other, as contact was lost and there was never a real sense of everybody understanding what was happening and having an involvement.

Although its hard when starting out as a team trust is a key factor, you have to believe in you’re team members to get the best out of them. Sometimes there maybe setbacks as we experienced ourselves, but when one individual makes an error or losses track of their role its the teams responsibility to try and help that individual out as much as possible.

Failing to do this cost our team time and also caused a few problems between ourselves, simple communication between each other could have prevented this. Giving support to and showing that where in it together would have helped unite the team in working towards one direction.

I think our main failure may be that our campaign has not had the impact as of yet that we would have wished, some areas have lost direction and its hard to see their purpose as in what is going to be achieved. Although we have made ourselves an online identity we are not very well organised in how we are using the identity. Its hard for me to understand whether we are here to make ourselves heard or just to be involved and run alongside the course.

Timing has also been an issue, we have been going live bit by bit rather than hitting social media, e-marketting and getting out there all as one. This was our plan to make an instant impact and be all over but it turned into a slow progression with each area of the campaign going out separately. I think it would have benefited us if all aspects would have been published together making a sudden impact, inter-linking each marketing area.

This experience in context of my future in the web industry has told me that information shared within the group is vital, and that for the team to function properly it objectives have to be clear to everybody. The only way for this to happen a team to implement an efficient communication system enabling each member to have access to each other and any information that is needed.

I felt personally I took a backseat in this task but not in terms of laziness I just played the assigned role that I was given, I think in the future I will have to make myself more involved. Although I wasn’t really in the forefront of the team I kept efficient notes and timetables of who was doing what, when, and how. If I am going to succeed in this industry I need to start pushing myself and my opinions forward to try and make sure that I don’t end up with a backseat role.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visit

This is a rather hard journal entry to write, my thoughts and feelings based on instinct. The sculpture is by Babara Hepworth and titled The Family of Man, it consists of nine individual sculptures with no evident correlation of alignment based within a close proximity of each and other.

The structures looked strong and rigid, all consisted of block elements vertically attached together. I got the feeling they belong together although some were based further apart, it was like a path. It was almost as is if the sculptures had moved onwards grown apart but they would always belong.

Each piece was individual, from the bottom of the sculpture path there was the smallest sculpture more basic consisting of only two blocks. The shapes were very rigid with basic cuboid features, with both blocks at the same angle. You could clearly tell that this was the beginning, the start of which all the others had evolved from. Although it was solid, it felt hollow with no real feeling. The only feeling was that the others were watching over it, their shapes were more complex with varied shapes, sizes placed at different angles.

As I looked up I was drawn to the holes in each of the sculptures this is where I got most of the feeling from them, they had very different characteristics within there blocks but the defining feature for me was where I could see through them. Maybe this is their eye, there window, I think if they were solid throughout then they would almost seem more empty and less meaningful.

The holes that the sculptures had were more fluid, rounded each showed progression to the next, looking over the previous sculptures like they had left a lasting legacy. At the top of the small mount at the back of the pack was the tallest, more circular and finely balanced piece. It seemed like the most powerful piece, the furthest developed. Its hole was inside a semi-circle structure based at the top, it was looked up to by the rest and looked over them in turn. I saw it more as the leader of the group, the most prominent piece.

The closeness and feeling between the group of sculptures is what I picked up when first walking towards them, but as individuals it was how I could see through them. Its hard to explain the experience in words although I enjoyed it, putting down what I felt and the thoughts generated is quite a hard task. If I could take anything away and put it towards the course in a design sense is that there has to be a structure behind everything, then a steady progression towards the final, greater piece. They will all take elements of design from one to another this is what links them to and from each other distinct features that are recognisable creating a togetherness even when far apart.

Next time doing a project like this I would like to spread more time around the art to get a greater feeling, understanding and detailed thoughts.