The end is near

At least for this class, my project is done, with more bells and whistles than I thought possible. I'm shocked I was able to create a fully functioning stock image website complete with watermark on images and what not. It's really rewarding to see my work come alive!

At least I won't be repeating this class, and with any luck as of 6:00pm (depending on previous people) I won't be repeating portfolio-prep. It would be an understatement to say I'm nervous... I can remember last quarter dropping off my process book and Mike was there waiting to present.

I think it would've been better had I started the website at the end of last quarter, but I didn't even have a final design until the 9th week, so I guess that wouldn't have worked.

Adding to the list

If possible, allow users to view all images from one photographer, and if I have more free time allow users to search the images of a photographer...

Increase number of images from 3 rows to 4 (at least, possibly 5).

Add pagination to the user profiles.

Revamp the download link (add the graphic).

Revamp the admin page.

Notes for me for later since I have no paper

and don't feel like walking over to the printer to get some :)


1. Use the "view image" page to make the "view user" page for the admin.
2. Need both the delete image and delete user page (delete user will also wipe out all of their images from the database).
3. Create one user with two distinct images so the account can be removed during review and the results are obvious.
4. Add content to the contribute and FAQ page (sitting in word files in documents folder).
5. Add images
6. Add more images
7. Keep adding images

Tweaks

Make the credit change (as you'll see in class, or saw, no idea when you read this), and styled my next/previous buttons (they look quite nice if I do say so myself).

Need to throw in the "remove" page, which won't be difficult considering I have that code sitting here awaiting to be tossed in, and aside from adding in a little more content, I "think" it's pretty sweet! Need to add in more pictures, the goal is to hit 250, I'm pushing 100 now, so I think I'll get there. It's a time waster adding images :) Perhaps I will do that while I'm adding in the content I'm missing!

Uploading images from school is frustrating at best, thanks to the end of the quarter internet... grr...

Small list

Need to make a few reminders for class tonight....

Add in if statement to see if the logged in user is the one who uploaded the photograph, if so then don't display the download button.

Style the pagination buttons.

Advice for next quarter's students

Do a brief design over the break, then spend the majority of your next 5-6 weeks getting all the code working. Then tweak the design, add in all your content, and fix bugs. Really if you can do a lot over break you shouldn't have trouble, but, speaking from experience, shit will pop up at inconvenient times, and it helps to be ahead of the game if that happens.

Hopefully I will pass review.... that's kinda stressing me right now, unfortunately that stress won't disappear until December 14th around 6:00pm.

Behind on blog posts

This past week was a blur of rush, and obviously blog posting was not at the top of my list....

I need to bust my ass on the project this week, but will be done by week 11 at the absolute latest (obviously for review), but in general, I should be done by next week. I'm getting images in this week, tweaking the code, and a few design things, but in general, it's a functioning website. The process book has to be updated as well, but I've been taking notes about what I need to add, so that shouldn't take too long. That's what I'll do if I get frustrated with any of the code, it's always a nice little break and still being productive.

Pictures, images, and photos oh My!

Over Thanksgiving week I should be getting at least 3 people to signup and post images (at this point I'm willing to take photo CD's from them, with consent forms of course, and post them myself!). My goal is 250 images, but I might have to be happy with whatever I end up with. The profile page should be functioning a little better, maybe I can get some people to start with it now. Course the pagination doesn't exactly work right now so there will just be a flood of images on that page.... :)

Need to

go back through old posts and find links that I now need :)


Need to Do:

1. Remove image page
2. Remove user page (which should in turn remove all their images)
3. Request more credits form
4. Terms of use (find link)
5. Pagination for images
6. Contribute page content (including jquery light boxes for the information)

Once those are done then it's time to add the bells and whistles!

Profile working

Links to where it needs to link (minus the remove image page, which will be added when I do the full admin panel which removes image and people). Next on the list is adding content to the other pages (contribute, subscribe, and FAQ). All of that is literally just content, no bells or whistles, it's just a matter of motivation to do it :) Not as rewarding typing plain text onto a page as it is getting php to work!

A working website

almost! Working on the profile page, so it connects where it needs to connect. Trying not to spend too much time styling things right now (links and what not), just need to get all the important stuff online right now. Will add the bells and whistles week 9 (earlier I hope, but it's already week 7, so I'd rather plan accordingly). Making notes for what needs updating in the process book (and it's a lot), which should come together nicely. I'm doing many more pages than I originally thought, I just can't plan like that very well... I need to start coding it and working it out in my head to get a feel for what I need to do.

Limited Credits for users

Decided to start everyone with 10 credits to download images. There will be a link for them to "request more credits", which will display on the admin page. Not sure if the link for the admin to add more will be there for not, but I don't think that's detrimental to the workings of the site thus far.

Coming up with the basic content is proving to be a time waster. Obviously not completely wasted, but I feel like that since it's not php. Guess I have to have a completed website at the end, and that's just one more thing to check off the list!

Yes I'm behind on posts

I started out so well too... Then classes sneak up on you and before you know it you haven't posted in a while!

Everything image is working (yeh!!!!!!) just need to do the profile and the website is in perfect working order. Well not perfect, persay, but good php working order. As soon as I get a link to upload images from the profile page I will be able to have people register and start to upload more images.

Portfolio

Since I have a lot to do for the portfolio this week (which is good, I need to get everything online), I don't forsee making great strides in the senior project. I already see the tag cloud (and image tagging in general) being thrown off the list... too many other important site elements are ahead of it, just not enough time!

I'm sure I'll be crossing off other things, and a page or two might be not "as" pretty as the others, but the site will be complete and working! I hope :)

Behind in blog posts

What else is new :)

Alright I have the image uploader working for thumbnails (yeh!!!!!) and the preview image resizing on the fly working. Now I just have to get it all uploaded, upload some images, and I'm in business!

On a side note, as I'm working more with drupal, I'm realizing I probably could've used it in my project... if only I'd had a better working knowledge of it before this quarter!

Footer?

Right now don't have one planned, not sure if one is needed. I think I can put the site info on the contact page... unless I really need a site map, but I don't think I do... I don't have to link to the credits/process book from the site do I? There will be a link to it from my portal page (obviously).

This weekend the image uploader will be working.... This is the one class I really can't fall behind in... that or portfolio prep, which I'm feeling behind in. I'm much more productive Wednesday night's than Tuesday/Thursday... maybe because I have a class earlier in the day.

My admin page rocks

At least one page is functional! I forsee a lot of cleanup for me in the future... I'm sure I have at least 30 loose ends to clean up as of now, but hopefully they don't take very long to do!

The image uploader is still giving my a little trouble, so I'm considering rethinking it a bit... I can resize images on the fly pretty easily, but obviously if I have to do a large batch at a time that won't be efficient. However if I only have to show one image at a time, such as the image preview page, that wouldn't take very long at all to resize it on the fly....

I still have to resize the thumbnail on download, since I have to show a lot of them on one page, but maybe the php book will have some insight to a better method.

Dislike's php

Okay not really, but there are times when I want to shake the laptop and knock some sense into it! I've used this code before, no reason it shouldn't be working, except it isn't. It's passing through all the variable's, the image is uploading into the correct folder, however it won't insert ANY data into the database....

Not to mention my hands are freezing, I think I'm sitting under a vent. I could use Starbucks...

Process Book Edits

Navigation Map

Asset List

I've realized that no matter how much I plan for a site, I still end up adding in pages and working through how things will flow as I'm coding. Obviously it would be easier if that didn't happen, but thus far, such is my life :)

Images needed

It seems like I will be able to fit 7 images across, then scroll down for 7 rows, with pagination links at the bottom (right now just need the next/previous buttons, will work on page numbers at a later date if there's time). That means I'll need to import at least 100 images this weekend for testing.... Yikes! Hopefully my photography friends won't mind and that they upload at least 25 pictures each... This is why I'm not sure if I want to limit it to students (well, AI students, one just graduated last quarter, and I have a bunch of friends in other schools). I guess maybe just the .edu email account?

Gotta have content! And a lot of content at that if I want to have my word/tag cloud!

Image Uploader

So close to working!!!!!! It's uploading into the two correct folders, resizing... but not exactly correctly... But it works :) Just have to figure out what the heck is going wrong, and that will hopefully be working this week. If it is, I will be in business, and close to being ready for the beta launch next week (given I can reach a few of the photography students).

Right now I'm not verifying their emails are @stu.aii.edu, but I'm not sure if that's a big deal to me right now.... what do you think?

I have the admin account, rough coded the admin page, so that will be done on time. Everything else seems to be moving along just fine... Watch everything break tomorrow since I said that :)

Making up time

Being sick blows... At least it was now, hopefully no more the rest of the quarter!

I've been keeping track of the pages I'll need to do, and the total is up 19.... a bit higher than I thought. I do need to spend some time updating the process book, that has to be rocking by week 11 (obviously). The design might get tweaked a bit, and I want to find a printer who can print it to the edges of the paper (without me having to cut it).

More notes to self

I suppose I could edit previous posts, but then I wouldn't get credit for them!

Crappper.... well I guess not completely crapper, but poop at least. I'll need there to be a butter on the "image details" page that only the admin can see that will allow them to remove the image. I was going to have a menu for that on the admin page, but since they admin should view the image before deleting it, it makes more sense to have it on the page...

I'll also need to make sure I have a way to remove flags once they are dealt with!

Flagging system

Hopefully this won't drive the admin nuts, but the flagging system seems to be the easiest one (for now) for "moderating" the website. If there's time, I'll let the admin "create" moderators who could also respond to flagging comments, but that's really if I'm finished like 8 with nothing left to do :)

Image Uploader

The bane of my existence! I have the pieces, it's getting them to work together. I can resize my image into the correct sizes, but it outputs into the browser instead of saving in the folder... Crazy that my site could be working now if I could get this crap to work!

Grrrrr.............. If I leave early today it's b/c I've driven myself mad with this and have to step away.

Trying to think of what to post

I'm a little sidetracked, and used all my "good" stuff the previous post....


So far cross browser compatibility seems good, will have to test out on safari to verify the slide out div works. If it doesn't, no big deal, I'll re design that little part. I'm not thrilled with the login part as it is, but it functions, which is the main purpose right now.

I do have to remember to do the admin page, and it will include:
Number of Images
Number of Members
Number of Downloads
Flags
Dropdown of members incase someone should be removed from the site (which would inturn remove their images)
Image search to remove them from the database

There's a few other things I'd like for it to have, but I think that's the bare minimum. Thoughts?

This week's List

Image Uploader - I've been putting this off, it's new code, and it's intimidating... I have to upload the original image, then resize it twice. Once is just shrinking it by a percentage, the other is resizing then cropping into a square. Not the easiest of feats. Once it's working though, I "should" be golden, and will hit the 5 week beta release. I *really* hope the image uploader gets done Monday, but the dog always requires attention which makes working from home difficult.

Design wise I'll be tweaking a lot over the next week weeks, but that's second to the php. My theory has always been if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter how pretty it is.

Reminders

The first one needs to be that I check the blog to see what I'm reminding myself to do!


Add the terms of use to the site and a check box to the registration page for when users sing up.
Find the jquery I will be adding to the site to make it look pretty (implementing after week 5).


Need to do before week 5:
Finish all php (for the most part at least), including the image uploader (actual code to upload and resize the images, and the code to generate the folder dropdown), image downloader, image subscriptions working, correctly crediting photographers for images downloaded...


Need to do in weeks 6-8:
Image tagging, image, flagging, cleaning up the css and making everything look pretty...


Note to self:
Create an admin login to view the stats of the site (the number of images, users, photographers, the number of downloads, removing a user/photographer, image, etc).

A great list that I can't wait to edit

titled, the "Done List"


login
profile
folders
view image



The "In Progress" List:

image uploader
image display
subscribe

Update

Login is done, working on the image uploading code now. "Shouldn't" take long, just a lot of code to write to get it to do one little thing (okay maybe not little, just take an image, resize it, then crop it).

I'm trying to get all the php in asap, so I can get users to start uploading content. The sooner I have a bunch of images to work with, the better! There's also a few things dynamically created, so I'll need to have that content before I can have the user using it.

Time management

I really thought taking only 3 classes would give me a lot of time to do all my projects... why is it I already feel behind? I swear there isn't enough time in the day, but if there was more, I'm sure I'd still complain.

That being said, this weekend will be the image uploader, and it WILL work (come hell or high water). Once that's working, it's onto the profile page and image display. The search (obviously) will have to work, that's the point of the site, but by week 5? Week 5 I'll enlist my photography friends to create accounts and upload images, and once I have those to work with I'll have the search working by week 6. Can't search for stuff that isn't there. I suppose I can create an account and upload my own images, but we'll see how much time I have between the php and portfolio prep.

Code Checklist

Login - DONE (needs to be tested)

Check to see if logged in - DONE (needs to be tested)

Image Uploader - in progress, tutorial found (have code from previous project to upload a single image, need code to resize image into 2 sizes in addition to the original)

Image Display - working code from a previous project, with pagination, not yet implemented

Image Download - researched, tutorial found

Registration - DONE

Contact - researched, have working code not yet implemented

Download subtracting from user subscription - have ideas in my head, not sure if they will work, but have ideas

Downloaded images adding $$ to photographers accounts - ideas in my head, should work

For the whole image downloading, once a user clicks on the "download image" link/button, a separate window will open, and code on that page will be doing 3 things. The first part will be getting information passed through from the link, to see which image is being downloaded and credit the appropriate photographer. Secondly, which will actually be happening first, the user's info will be passed through to check to see if they have available credits to download the image. If not, they will receive an error message. If they have a credit available, one credit will be deleted from their account, and the image download link will appear.

On the users profile page it will display the credits they have available.

Possible addition

This is more so a reminder to me. On the image details page, once you've downloaded the image, most professors make you then site the image. There would be a button that once you click to "site this image" a line of text appears below the button which is the MLA citation with author and image info.

That should take all of 20 minutes to add, but since this website is for student use, I think it's necessary.

I also need to remember to write up the "Terms of Use".... I'm sure there's a generic once I can use as a base. Just need to make sure I can't get sued :)

Important Links

Image Preview: http://justinfarmer.com/?p=14

Word Cloud: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/building-a-jquery-powered-tag-cloud/

Image Download - http://www.goldcoastwebdesigns.com/13.shtml

TOS/TOU Generator: http://www.bennadel.com/coldfusion/privacy-policy-generator.htm

(the above is VERY general. the one below is more specific)

http://terms-of-service-generator.legalriver.com/

General Info I need to remember:

On the images/image search page, link to "view image details", have the download button that will open a page in a separate window that will add a tally to the database for both the photographer and the downloader (keeping track of the number of downloads they have left).

Updated Page List:

• Images
• Contribute
• Subscription
• FAQ
• Register
• View Image
• Profile
• Download

Mac labs....

Can't say I'm thrilled being in a mac lab for the class.... I'm going to do the majority of my coding at home on my nice pc at home :) The upside is that I can do a lot of the base work in class (setting up pages, links, basic content, etc). Once I have a lot of the php done and mostly working, I can do coding in class. I'm not fond of dreamweaver, I get that I "can" use it, I'm just so used to working in notepad++ all other coding software's seem strange and are not as easy to use.

How about I trade, on Tuesday's I'll do my senior project and Wednesday's I'll work on my portfolio? Any chance you'll agree to that?

Designed

With little issues, the site has been basically coded (a design that I can work with php wise). Still need to rethink the registration and login tags.... I don't like what I designed last quarter for it, had a few ideas over break that didn't work either, and I need to figure out something... I want the login and registration tags to slide out, but I want to keep with the hanging/drop shaddowed design. Any ideas? You're not going to see this probably until Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest, hopefully my problem is solved by then! I guess I can throw up generic tags for now, and get the code working, then redo the buttons later. That's not too difficult...

Back from Break

I love looking back at the long list I said I was going to do over break... it's nice when you try to plan! This quarter I am much better organized, have a weekly list of what needs accomplished, and reminders everywhere for me to blog! Hopefully this quarter will go relatively smoothly, and the crisis, when the happen, don't kill me!

Today: coding the html/css for the site, and possibly adding the login. I think the database is pretty well set up, I'll probably go in and add to that today as well.

Over Break

I will be:

• Coding the html/css of the site, and planning the general page layouts.
• Try out a few jquery plug in's I want to use.
• Finalize tables in database (all are in, just need to make sure they are correct).
• Start redesigning projects for portfolio.

Do we need to keep a blog for portfolio prep?

Approaching the End

If I keep writing on this thing during break, would it count towards next quarter? That would be nice. This quarter was really insane. Never tell any student to take this many classes, let alone the internship. The bonus is the quarter flew by, but I know I didn't put as much into the classes as I want, and normally would do. You know me, I rarely half ass anything, and that's why I want to turn this process book in next Tuesday, to make sure everything is inside and it's fabulous!

Hopefully the click through is sufficient, I can add to it if needed.

layouts

Who would've thought laying out the homepage would take so long? I "think" I want it to look similar to the comp, but I may tweak a bit over the break (or beginning of next quarter). It's just how I want the images laid out and such, no drastic changes (I'm not crazy). I think I need to revisit some of my "competitors" and see how they lay things out. I clearly want to showcase some images on the homepage, but I need text too, and a search box. Which reminds me, I don't think I had a search box on the page in general... maybe I should find some space to squeeze one in? I also think I'm having an "add to cart" button, and I don't have a cart. Something else to think of... clearly I have more pages than I originally though! Lots of work this weekend :)

Click Through

Do people really do something other than powerpoint? I suppose you could still make a bunch of images then use the button coordinates to use html... still seems like more work than ppt!

I'm really happy with this design (aside from the register/login tags), I think the site will look awesome when it's live! Hopefully the code doesn't give me too much trouble, I'd like to keep from turning gray this early in life!

Top Tags

Trying to figure out a good image/location/setup for the register and login tags. The current spot will be the location, I'm just not sure what image/graphic to use. I guess as long as I have a placeholder for the comps it'll be fine for now. I will look over break for the perfect image!

Design Comps

I'm realizing now how much is actually going onto these pages. It's really good, don't get me wrong, I'd rather figure it out now, I just didn't realize exactly how much I had going on these pages. It's insane!

That said I might not use the same exact images in my comps, but I know an image will go there.

To login, or not to login, that is the question

More so to have a separate page to login or to use a slideout div.... I suppose having a separate page I can collect more info from the user, but the div then can be on every page. Hmmm.....

Separate page it is, after doing a little browsing.

Another db table

Photographers might want to get paid.... so I should probably have a table to keep track of when their images are downloaded...

id
photographer
image_id
fee


I'm sure I'll be revising that one... I'm still in design mode and not fully into php/mySQL mode :)

Revised List

1. Design
2. Login
3. Image Uploader
4. Image Display
5. Image Watermark
   
6. Jquery Image Preview
7. Image Details
8. Add to Cart
9. User Profile
10. User Created Folders
    
11. Image Download
12. Image Tagging
13. Tag Cloud

Speaking of uploading....

I was browsing a stock website's contribution section and found they allow ftp uploading... They have the photographers upload the various sized images, and then approve them and add them to their account. I think this will be great long term (when my hubby and I do this after graduation), but for now, I think uploading single images will be my best bet to get content from student photographers.

Content

I'm realizing I'll need to have a working copy of the site up asap, so I can get a few people to login and start uploading their images. I'm pretty sure I can't batch upload (will take too long on my server), so I guess one image at a time will have to be fine. I did a little research on the batch uploading, and it seems more difficult than I thought.

Judith is yelling at me to finish my work (even though it's rendering). More later! I'm feeling better, although still coughing up a storm, so I'll be in class tonight!

Finishing List

I need to finish the comps (2 left), and throw together a power point for the workable copy. Then tweak the process book and I "should" be done. I wanted to try some coding things, but got sick at a VERY bad time. Either way, it'll be done next Wednesday! Over break I'm going to start coding, I don't want to wait until next quarter. I'll have a lot going on as it is!

Next quarter, not that I have any idea what goes on in Portfolio Prep, but assuming I'm just getting my porfolio ready for the review, I plan on working on one project per week. I'm undecided if I should start with the redo's or start with the smaller projects that need little changes. I'll probably start with the difficult redo's, incase they need more work than I think, and I'll need to spend extra time on them.

Ideas

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/46-sites-to-get-inspired-and-familiar-with-hand-drawing-style/

That website has a lot of great uses of paperclips, staples, post-its, etc. Hopefully I can add different things in and it'll work smoothly. The hanging logo looks fun right now (I'll find some "string" to add in and see how that looks). I'm very happy I'm going in this direction, I really want to love the design (or I'll hate working on it later and waste time redesigning when I don't have extra time).

Tweaking Design

Going to do the "fun" design, and add some realistic elements. The logo will hang, and I'm in search of a good "string" image and was a bit shocked on what I saw....

Moving on :) I want to use a paperclip somewhere, maybe some staples... I don't want to go into the cheezy realm, but I want to push it as far as I can (I'm fairly certain Judith doesn't think I push things far enough). I'd like a cleaver navigation, but again, don't want to go into the cheezy world.

Really nice this project is two quarters long... Paul Martin told me a year ago to take Sr. Design 1 as early as we can, and try to have a quarter inbetween 1 & 2 to allow you time to work on it. Wish I could've had that!

New Design

Design #4, waiting to get your opinion :) Probably need to do more work on the process book, but I want to get the design nailed down, as I'm having a more difficult time with that at the current moment. I'm much stronger at coding, and right now I'm not fearing the code list, mostly b/c it's not exactly a new technology, just new parts of the technology. Hopefully I can get to trying some of that out tonight!

Master List

1. Design
2. Login
3. Image Uploader
4. Image Display
5. Jquery Image Preview
6. Image Details
7. Add to Cart
8. User Profile
9. User Created Folders
   
10. Image Download
11. Image Tagging
12. Tag Cloud

Categories

I have 14 categories of images right now, I think that should be sufficient. Anyone will be able to tag images with whatever name they want. Hopefully there will be an image cloud :)

Oh that reminds me, I need create that master list of what needs to be done. That will come.

Database

Set up my database so I can get a few dummy images in and test out a few php and jquery scripts. I'm sure I'll end up needing more than this, but right now I only have 5 tables. The first script I'll be testing is one that resizes the images upon upload. I'll need them in 3 sizes:
1. Thumbnail (60px)
2. Original (1000+px)
3. Preview (600px max)

All this testing will take more time than I'm realizing... I'll need a page that has an image uploader, one that displays, not to mention the login.

technologies

Going to try out a few jquery plug's this week. Want to see how they work, how hard they are to style, and if it's really what I want to happen. Might throw together a quick designed html page then to see how it all looks together. Right now everything is either too light or too dark.... Grrr....

2 designs later

I'm trying the navigation down the side (fixed). I think I like it better, but I'm wondering if I'm going to end up creating 3 dummy websites to test each design and see what really works best. Not the best use of my time, but it'll be better in the long run to do it now.

Design

I've completed one design, but I'm not in love with it. I need to do some research (probably tonight during class) as to a better layout and different color plan. I like the colors, but not the way I'm using them. I want a cleaner, sharper design, which isn't quite where I'm at right now.

Marketing Plan

Wow, are they full of charts, graphs, and text. I need to simplify for this quarter, and I can go into more detail later on (only 3 classes next quarter, one being a gen-ed, so I'll have more time).

Marketing Plan:
Vision
Objective
Target Market
Needs/Requirements
Distribution Channels

Charts:
Monthly Expense Budget
Sales Forecast
Key Marketing Metrics

Research

Looking up different hosting plans, SSL license, transfers, etc. I'm hoping to make a huge marketing plan, I need to find an example of one online, but I fear it'll be 10+ pages. My hope is that after I graduate my husband and I can really launch this (probably a name change, but after creating 10+ companies the past 2 years I'm out of ideas :)

Assisting Technologies

I want to use jquery in a few places to enhance the users experience. First off, I will have 2 tabs on the top of the page with the pull out divs. Secondly will be the tag cloud, although I'm not sure which page that'll appear on, but I did want to have it on there somewhere since it's really relevant to the subject matter. Third will be a detailed image preview, when a user hovers over an image, a lightbox will appear with a larger image preview, and a few details about that image (photographer, title, etc).

I also want to use Ajax with the searches, although I'm not sure if that's possible. I like that ajax can refresh a portion of the page and not the entire page. I'm sure it's possible just do I have the time. That reminds me, I have to make my todo list for next quarter.

Image Display

After looking at 5 stock photography websites, I think I'm going to layout the image pages as follows:
Rows of images, 6 across, and small icons below. The icons will be to add to cart and download.
When clicked, the page will show detailed information on the image. This includes the photographer, the tags, associated with the image, a larger view of the image (up to 700px tall or wide), and buttons to add to cart or download. If an item is added to the cart, in theory, the user will be able to batch download all images in their cart (in the beginning up to 5 images).

Wireframes

In lieu of traditional frames I've decided to make a set of very detailed (almost comps) images showing what content will be on the pages. This will be incredibly helpful for me when I start designing the website this fall. I have found that I've gotten significantly better at constructing a website from an illustrator file. It's been fantastic drawing up a website in illustrator, and then less than an hour later have a functioning html/css site (well page with dummy links). It's funny, but when I first started at this school, and had Judith yelling at us about process books, it seemed like a pain in the ass. At this point, I can't imagine coding my senior project without it!

Users

Once I'm in production, anyone from AI can get an account. I have photography students on standby to create accounts and upload images when I'm ready for that. Users who would be downloading the images would have to go through the subscription page, and pay, however since this is a student project I'm going to allow them to sign up for a base subscription, which will allow for 5 downloads a week. I want to have users be able to batch download (which no other stock photo website I found would let me do), and (of course), download on the fly.

Designs

One design done, trying to make it more bright than dark, considering I chose a bit of a dark palette that's a challenge, but it's a fun challenge! I'm also trying to have it be it's own unique website (obviously), but taking elements from previous classes that worked well. I want to have 2 tabs at the top that will slide in (jquery) to either log the user in or register them to use the website. I'll have to make a more complicated registration page for submissions, but this should work for now.

Process Book

Sorry! It's been a crazy week!


Process Book

Marketing

Since the users are generating my content, I need ways to attract them. The first thing I plan on doing is emailing all my photography friends, and have them sign up and upload some images. If this were a real website, I would be researching what magazine's I should be putting ads in to attract users for content, and to attract users to purchase images. I'm guessing the main users who would be purchasing content are web designers, graphic designers, and journalists.

I do have options for expansion (stock vector images and stock content, written by freelance journalists), but there's always more to add!

Information Architecture

It doesn't seem like I have that many pages, just a lot of behind the scenes action taking place. The main pages are home, photos, register, pricing, and submission. I'd like users to be able to batch download, but I'm still researching that aspect (how I can bundle their images into a zip file). I need to make a list of all the php I'll be using on the site, and make sure they don't interact with each other (an issue I've had for past projects). I would like photography students to be able to customize their profile pages, but that will only happen if all my code is working... too much to do, too little time!

Content

One of the aspects I really like about this project is that it's user driven content. I don't have to generate something to sell, I just have to figure out good ways to market the site. Once it's in production it'll only be usable by AI students (need the .stu.aii.edu email address to register), but it would've been nice to have some sort of verification service... If only there were time!

Payment

I've been doing research into the paying aspect. Part of my marketing is going to be about having low prices, but paying photographers well. It'll have to be a nice balance. Most websites seem to pay photographers around $.33/image downloaded, which was equating to around 20%. Then users purchasing the images were paying anywhere from $4.10-$10/image. I think I'll be "charging" $2.00/image, and paying photographers $.40/image. Subscriptions will be offered at a rate of $20/15 images, and $50/50 images.

A SSL for one website is $400/year (or $33/month), hosting with payment processing will cost around $110/month (via Amazon, which is based on usage, that quote would be for a website just starting out). This means I'd have to sell 90 individual images (at $2.00/image) per month to break even.

Comparing websites

After looking at Getty, iStockphoto, and Shutterstock, I'm getting a better feel as to what the submission process will be like. Before I wasn't thinking of charging for downloads, but the more I think about it the more I realize that's what it's going to have to do (which doesn't thrill me :). Getty didn't have any of their info on submissions available unless you completed 2 of the 5 steps, which I wasn't going to do. iStockphoto requires the image to be at least 1600x1200px, RGB, and only accepts jpegs. Shutterstock accepts jpegs, and has a ratio to determine if it's large enough. Basically at least a 2400x1800px image. My requirements will probably be at least 1600x1200px, only jpegs, and I'm debating over a review process. Obviously there will be terms of use, and if a user (photographer) uploads an image that violates it their images will be removed and their account suspended. I'm thinking with a button that allows for users to flag inappropriate content would be sufficient enough, since this site is really about the community atmosphere.

Process Book

Plugging away at that, knew it was going to be big, but sheesh! 12 full pages in and I know I haven't even gotten to the design part! I started looking up information about the different parts of PHP code I'll need, and found a nice resizing article. Hopefully that code is pretty easy to incorporate! I've displayed images from galleries before, used pagination, profiles, etc. My hope is to make everything cleaner and more user friendly with specific sections and what not. Obviously that'll all get ironed out in 2-3 weeks.

Stock Images

I've had a falling out with my photographer "friend", but I'm hopeful I can still accumulate a large collection of images from students of the school. I know several of the web design students alone are avid photographers.

I'm going to shoot Shelly an email right now, hopefully I can meet with her tomorrow or Wednesday. If I don't hear from her I'm going to find the Assistant Photo Chair (since she told me to track Shelly down), and see what she can do for me.

Review

Unfortunately I haven't working on my senior design project nearly as much as I should be... it's a crazy hectic quarter (5 classes + internship + pushy friend wanting her website done now). I've set aside time Wednesday morning to work 100% on it (hopefully tomorrow evening too). I haven't heard back from Sally yet, I emailed her Wednesday during class. Maybe I'll shoot her another email this week if I don't hear back sooner. I'm hoping to have my nav map done this week, which will be a great next step. I wanted to have my color scheme finalized as well, but that would require me having more time (I'm really lucky I remembered I had to do this last post).

Yes I should have more done, but throwing that review in week 3 just wasn't good timing :) I'll get caught up (and hopefully can stay the entire class Wednesday).

Meetings

Spoke with the photography head, she loved the idea, and told me to contact Sally Ford. She has been collecting images from the photography students, and was trying to figure out some way in house to use them. I've emailed her, so we'll see what happens.

I'm figuring that I'll have 2 main sections, the stock image section, and the "community". In the community students can request projects (websites, galleries, etc), models, or images. The stock section is self explanatory, and people will be able to "tag" images into categories, and I'll have a "flag image" button to make sure we don't have anything offensive.

More to come!

Generating Interest

I've been talking to some web design students who think this site would definitely be beneficial to them. I think it'll take some more convincing for the photography students (aside from the bunch I know)...

I want to add a counter to the images, to calculate how many times it's been downloaded. I have zero clue that kind of code that takes, but I'm guessing it can be done :) I should check on what's due tomorrow and work on that stuff before planning out the pay layout and what not (unless that's due tomorrow). More to come!

No Meeting

The photography department head had to leave early, so hopefully I can talk to them Wednesday. I did talk to some photography students, who told me that their department had some sort of combining with the graphic design department. That apparently didn't go well (they mentioned the GD's were a tad immature and disorganized). I explained my website to them, and they just wanted to make sure if they shared their photo's, they would be able to get websites and projects to show off their pictures in return (they were especially excited with the possibility of getting flash projects). Now I'm left to ponder how to ensure the web design students will complete a project for the photography students....

Navigation and things

Definitely a splash page, register (I want to keep this for student use so I'm going to require them to use an aii email account to sign up), photo's, photographers, web designers, contact, about... For me that normally changes, but I'm hoping I'll remember to "kiss" this website (keep it simple stupid). I should start on the process book, since I have a good grasp on the audience, tone, etc. I started looking at some color palette's and textures, so I will probably start messing around with a mood board to get things organized.

Database Tables

Users (id, first name, last name, date, email, username, password)
Folder (id, username, name)
Photos (id, folder, username, caption, date)
Tags (photo, content)

That's what I'm thinking I'll need as of now... obviously if I'm going to do a blog style posting for websites the photography students need they will have their own table, but otherwise I think that's close to what is needed.

php research

I know I promised quite a bit in regards to image uploading, so I started looking at what it's going to require code wise. I think I need to just sit down and hand write what tables I will need and what their contents will include. I almost feel unprepared to handle a website of this caliber, but obviously this is why the class is two quarters long. I'm trying to divide time between all my classes and pre-assessment, and I fear until next Friday I won't have has much done on this project as I hope. We shall see!

Research

I am meeting with the Photography Department Head Monday, hopefully before her portfolio class, so she can ask the students what they think they need, and then meet after and discuss their needs and what she thinks as well. I've been playing with some color palette's, and I think I'm going with black, gray, white, and red (a play on the AI colors since it's an AI based website for now). More research to come!

Day One

My topic was approved, awaiting to hear from the Photography Department Head. Hoping to meet with her this week or early next week. I'm starting to think of the different pages that I'll need, as well as the tables in my database. Right now I will be a little more focused on pre-assessment, but hopefully I can sketch out a few ideas.