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Friday June 15, 2007 7:20 am Lethbridge Sunrise 5:23 Sunset 21:40 Hours of daylight: 16:17
A. Morning Musings
7:20 am It is +6 C with a high forecast of +18 C.
Here are the news.
CBC Headline: Palestinians face new divide between Gaza, West Bank
Palestinians awoke to a new and divided reality Friday in the first full day of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip after five days of intense fighting for control of the region. Hamas announced it would release senior leaders of the rival Fatah movement under an amnesty as an uneasy calm settled over Gaza. More than 100 people have been killed in the factional fighting since Saturday. It is too soon to know what this latest round of fighting will mean.
Canadian Headline: Report due on RCMP pension scandal
A report into allegations senior RCMP officers covered up abuse of the force's pension and insurance fund is to be delivered today, but opposition MPs also probing the issue doubt the document will be of much value. Earlier this spring, RCMP officers and staff told a parliamentary committee they unearthed abuse of the pension fund. They claimed that senior managers responded to their concerns either by punishing whistleblowers, or blocking investigations into the accounting irregularities. Several of those interviewed by Brown told the CBC his line of questioning focused on behaviour within the force such as demoting or transferring officers for speaking out. Sources have told the CBC the report is not expected to call for a public inquiry into the pension fund controversy. The public wants a clear statement on this situation.
Australian Headline: (from The Australian): Children given inadequate protection from sex abuse
Efforts to clamp down on child sex abuse in Aboriginal communities had been insufficient, Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin admitted today. A report resulting from a high-level inquiry into Aboriginal paedophilia said abuse occurs in every Aboriginal community visited by the inquiry, affecting children as young as three. Ms Anderson said a lack of education and rampant alcoholism were the two major causes of the disturbing problem. We have similar problems in Canada.
B. Actual/Notes
Technology 22
June 15
7:30 am I plan to carefully read and make notes for chapter 9 of "Dreamweaver 8" by Short & Green. This is the chapter most relevant to my hopes of recreating the structure of these web pages using XHTML and CSS.
Here is a mind map of the overall book (with expansion of the subtopics for chapter 9):
Chapter 9 Layout
"Unfortunately, standard XHTML doesn't contain any tags that let you position elements easily. ... This problem has caused considerable frustration among Web page designers." [p. 248]
"Fortunately, Dreamweaver 8 has built in functions to help you work in a visual mode to create precise alignment for your text and images. You'll learn how to align your images using tracing images and layers, which you can then convert into tables that can be viewed on nearly any browser." [p. 248]
Exercise 1 Applying a Tracing Image
Done. Easy.
Exercise 2 Adding Layers
Done. Easy.
"Rather than simply placing artwork and text on a page, as you have been doing so far, you can put your content into layers and move it anywhere you want, even using the new guides in Dreamwaver 8 to make sure they're lined up nice and neat." [p. 253]
Exercise 3 Using Layout Tables and Layout Cells
Done. Easy.
"You may have heard that Dreamweaver can convert layers to tables, and tables to layers. Although this is true, we highly discourage it. This conversion process can create some difficult-to-maintain code, and as a general rule does more harm than good." [p. 259]
"Dreamweaver 8 contains an alternate way to create the layout for your Web pages called Layout view. The Layout view feature lets you create layout cells and tables by drawing them exactly where you need them, at exactly the size you want. ... Layout cells and tables ... produce far better code." [p. 259]
Exercise 4 Working with Layout Table Widths
Done. Easy.
SUMMARY of the session:
9:00 am This also turned out to be much easier and more familiar than I expected. But I am not yet sure I am ready to try redesigning this web page.
C. Plan
Immediate Technology Read & make notes for chap. 9 from "Macromedia Dreamweaver 8" Science Read & make notes for "The Canon" by Natalie Angier Later Technology Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac" Learn how to attach a digital camera to my spotting scope Burn backup of images onto DVD Mathematics Read & make notes on The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems Write a paper on mathematics education Continue reading "Algebra: Abstract and Concrete" by Frederick Goodman Read "Symmetry" by David Wade Make notes for "Mathematics: A Human Endeavor" ch 1 Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves Model Trains Add ground cover to oil refinery diorama Follow tutorial for version 8 of 3rd PlanIt Continue assembly of coaling tower Purchase DCC system History Begin reading "Maya" Read Watson "Ideas" Philosophy Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell" Begin reading "How Are We To Live?" by Peter Singer Literature New York Times easy crossword puzzles GO Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" Puzzles The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #10
Major Goals Learning Review week's pages each Sunday Review all pages for the month at the end of each month Technology Review & edit iPhoto files for 2006 Model Trains Become proficient with 3rd PlanIt software Install DCC on model train layout GO Learn to play GO at something better than a beginner level Drawing Learn to draw!! (I keep saying this, yet I have yet to put a pencil to paper). Mathematics Continue to play with mathematics. Literature Continue to read Literature Bird Watching Continue to engage in bird watching activities.
D. Reflection