STARS Web Development Proj

Ones and Zeros

2008-11-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

By the way, the title carries absolutely no meaning at all, just something that came to my mind. Perhaps because I have my assembly notebook next to my laptop.) So I mentioned to my STARS mentor, that one of the subliminal benefits of being apart of this organization, is that most of the graduate students apart of it are Teaching Assistant (TA) for our computer science courses. When I mentioned to my mentor that it made it much easier to bother a TA that I knew for help compared to one that I didn't know, she thought it was news worthy to mention in a blog. So here it is :) ... I am not sure why it's easier to feel dumb around a friend/associate compared to someone you only know because they grade your assignment.

Latest on the STARS webpage

2008-11-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

So what is the latest on the STARS web page, unfortunately not much at all between the part time internship and school, the web page has been getting little to no attention from me. I haven't been able to figure out where the strange border line for the new banner comes from (When editing the image it is not there, but once the image is placed on the webpage, an obnoxious black line appears around it). Other than that, I have yet to update the projects page with what's going on now or create the archive page for the old projects. And finally, I have been asked to join with the other part time internship students to create a single poster profiling what we are doing with our company. So we will be meeting this evening at 8:30 (0_0), to discuss the design and layout of the poster.

I am back

2008-11-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I wrote my last blog (Oct. 5), mainly due to enjoying Fall Break and returning back to school to have 2 programs due days apart from each other. In order to be successful in college I need to get better with my time management instead of expecting school to be as easy as it was freshman year. I will give an update on all the things I need to do for the web page in another blog. But now that I have a weekend without programs due, I believe that is time that I start to attack all my upcoming assignments with a head start and catch up with any obligations that may have been forgotten (this being one).

10/5: Further Update to Members Page

2008-10-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

This time around I updated the members page by VCL into a computer with DreamWeaver, making the task so much easier to spot mistakes and format errors. This time the update included not only new members but moving the old members from the current page to a new page,
"former" page. Next update (which may occur after Fall Break) will include a new projects page that keeps up with archived projects and an updated project page to include current projects for this year.

Update: Members page

2008-10-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

Updating a members page came with some unexpected problems:
First off, since I don't have Dreamweaver (or any other kind Web design software) on my computer I decided I could still update the web page with the same speed just using Notepad. To say the least, this came with many fromating mistakes and some information being left out. The only time I would find these mistake was after uploading the site with the editted webpage. The next problem comes in getting the new members to reply back to the emails responding back but with frequent emails over a period of 2 weeks this has been solved.

Late Blog: Why did I join STARS

2008-09-29T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well after hearing STARS goals of wanting to increase the numbers of women and minority into Computer Science. I decided to read more into how they wish to do this and learned the group had made plans in exposing students at an elementary level into some of the exciting things that can be done with a little programming. Seeing college students use their leisure time to actually help the community encourage me to want to do the same.

Sept. 26: New Beginnings

2008-09-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have accepted a part time position as a System Development Intern with Cisco Systems, Network Software and Systems Technology Group. The internship opportunity will provide a technical basis for marketing activities related to video applications and the networks that support them. Giving me a chance to participate in new product development and proof of concept testing. With this I do plan on continuing to work alongside STARS with the website development project, I just need to find a new time meet with my mentor, Lauren. As of now these are the updates that have been made to arches website.

Events page has been updated to show NCSU STARS calendar.
Included new sponsors on welcome page: BlueCross BlueShields of North Carolina, Cisco Systems, and Duke Energy
There was some issue with images sizes, so I will need to do some editing later this week.

Fall 2008 STARS

2008-08-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Goals to complete by the end of Fall 2008

Level 1 -

Update members page with new members
Update projects page with 2008 projects
Create an archive page for projects that are discontinued
Update Banner with the new name

Level 2 -

Check whether scrolling marquee is Section 508 compliant
Create a page for Alumni STARS members to detail life after graduating
Make the STARS application an online application
Make a link pointer to other STARS group
Include a Goggle Calender to the Events page

Level 3 -

Verify that the entire website is 508 compliant
Develop a log in process for Alumni to enter their information

Summer Time

2008-05-12T17:41:00.000-07:00

Web site is now posted up at www.stars.ncsu.edu
Future Updates to arrive in the semester ...

March 10: Latest Update

2008-03-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

It s been a good month since my last entry, I blame several school assignments that difficulty caught me off guard and required more time then expected.

After talking to my STARS mentor, I realized that the updates that I had made were being process on the testing site: http://arches.csc.ncsu.edu/stars/index.php instead of the actual Raleigh STARS site . This mistake might be for the best, this way I can rest assure if anything doesn't fit our design plans, it can be quickly fixed.

Changes Made:

Addition of STARS blog links to member's badge
Sponsors are now added to Home Page
Stars Related News Marquee is also added on Home Page

My next job will be checking whether my marquee does not go against the Web Accessibility - Section 508. My STARS mentor has advise me to look at http://ncsu.edu/it/access/webaccess/ to gather more information about Accessibility information.

Feb. 8 Ran into some difficulties

2008-02-08T20:07:00.001-08:00

While updating the website, I ran into an issue of seeing my update in action on the website. So I guess I'll wait until my STARS mentor gets a chance to give it a look.

Changes planned this month:
Company Sponsors
Scrolling News (Currently giving me the problem)
Possibly populate the site with blogger entries of members

Feb. 2 Planning Stages

2008-02-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

Personal Tasks

Complete Java Project due Thursday of this week
Use all Leisure time effectively (most likely on Java Project)

STARS Tasks

Begin daily meetings with STARS Mentor next week
Draft up ideas to put on the Web Site to make more appealing

Announcement Box at the home page
Possible Microsoft SilverLight Application
Find a nice location to post Company Sponsors logo
Post links of members blogspots

Jan. 26 First Blogging Experience

2008-01-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

Personal Objectives for this semester

Complete 17 Credit Course work I have this semester
I hate B's of any nature and will make it another semester without them
Attend all scheduled groups meeting
Learn to love Programming
Complete Java Projects in advance of their due date

STARS Objective

Complete my weekly 4 hours on my STARS Project
Find more online tools to integrate into STARS website
Brainstorm on what present ideas can be implemented on the website
Put a real picture of myself on the site
Find availability to meet Lucas and work on the website
Maintain the schedule
Turn in STARS stipend paperwork
Keep up with STARS related email
Write STARS related Blog every week