Delivery Systems 2 week 4

This week we focused on our last project. Project 3 was a group project to create a 12 page site on Keiser Graphics Department. Let me start out by saying I DESPISE GROUP PROJECTS! I cannot stand that I have to rely on someone else to get the job completed. Yes, I have control issues. I have accepted that and am ok with it. I just didn't have the time or ability to under take the stress of group leader. So I took a step back with this project...kinda...not really.  I agreed to do one of the pages of the group member that did the css and put the site together. Well of course said group member didn't show to the last day of class. So I ended up doing the extra page and still working on putting the site together. I worked with the other member of night class to put our portion of the site up. Everyone else... well everyone else is on their own. I cant allow myself to take on the stress of whether or not they rest of the class will actually do their work. Mine is done.

Delivery Systems 2 week 3

This week I finished up project 1 than began project 2. Project 2 is a 3 page site on anything. I chose to create a Biography site on myself. I had great ideas to include some of my genealogy pedigree charts. Of course this didn't work out as planed. I never transfered my genealogy research to my Macbook Pro when I bought it. Which tells you I haven't worked on genealogy in a year. I intend to transfer everything from my little pink laptop to my Macbook Pro over Christmas break.

Delivery Systems 2 week 2

     This week I began research on my first project. The first project is to create a 5 page website taking a stand on a hot topic. I chose to do the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin murder case. This was a big mistake. There is so much info and I wanted to go really in depth and show how he was guilty. I just didn't have the time to create the site that I really wanted to create. That would have taken MONTHS to put together. Instead of a supper detailed site I ended up creating a site that basically is just a overview of the case. No real details just the basics. Although I really liked the design of the site its self, I am extremely disappointed in how it turned out. Once you in vision awesomeness anything other than that is really just crap in your eyes.

Delivery Systems 2 week 1

During week one I didn't get allot accomplished. I had pneumonia, which caused me to miss the entire first week of class and fall slightly behind. But I will catch back up and get back on top of my game!

image courtesy of kidshealth.org

Copyright, Trademark, & Patents

     A trademark generally protects brand names and logos used on goods or services. Where as a copyright protects an original work. A patent protects a invention. For example, lets say you invent a new computer, let's call it Computer Z. You would apply for a agent to protect the computer itself. You register a trademark to protect your brand name, in this case it would be Computer Z. Then you many register a copyright for your marketing ads.

     Copyright is the exclusive legal right, that is given to the to a creator to use as he/she deems appropriate, and to authorize others to use. Copyright exists from the second the work is created in a fixed form, whether published or not.  The copyright immediately becomes the property of the person whom created the work. Mere ownership of a work does not give the possessor the copyright.
     Copyrightable works fall into categories, these categories are meant to be viewed broadly. Per www.copyright.gov,  the categories are as follows:

• Literary works
• Musical works (including any accompanying words)
• Dramatic works (including any accompanying music)
• Pantomimes and choreographic works
• Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
• Motion pictures and other audiovisual works
• Sound recordings, architectural works

     There are several categories that are not eligible for copyright. Per www.copyright.gov, these categories are as follows:

• Works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression (for example, choreographic works that have not been notated or recorded, or improvisational speeches  or performances that have not been written or recorded)
• Titles, names, short phrases, and slogans; familiar symbols or designs; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring; mere listings of ingredients or contents
• Ideas, procedures, methods, systems, processes, concepts, principles, discoveries, or devices, as distinguished from a description, explanation, or illustration
• Works consisting entirely of information that is common property and containing no original authorship (for example: standard calendars, height and weight charts, tape measures and rulers, and lists or tables taken from public documents or other common sources)

     Copyright is secured automatically upon the creation of a work in a fixed medium. No registration or any other action is necessary to secure copyright. However, with registration there are advantages. Per www.copyright.gov those advantages are as follows:

• Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
• Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin.
• If made before or within five years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.
• If registration is made within three months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
• Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U.S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies. For additional information, go to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website at www.cbp.gov/

     Any work that is created on or after 1 Jan 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of creation for the rest of the creator’s lifetime plus an additional 70 years after the creator’s death. In the even that a work is created by more than one creator, the copyright will last 70 years from the last surviving creator’s death.    

     A patent is a property right that is granted to a inventor to prevent others from making, using, selling, or offering for sale a invention inside the United States or importing into the United States. There are three types of patents.

• Utility patents: these patents may be granted to one why invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, or any new or useful improvement of those.
• Design patents: these patents may be granted to one who invents a new, original, and ornamental design from something to be manufactured. 
• Plant patents: these patents may be granted to one who invents or discovers any new and distinct variety of plant. This patents also requires that one asexually reproduces the said plant.

     A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, or design, or any combination of those, that identifies and/or distinguishes the source of a product from one party from than those from another. A service mark is very similar the only difference is for services rather than goods.
     The first step to trademarking is to decide on a mark. Not every mark is eligible for trademark registration, or even legally protectable. So one must do the necessary research to ensure the mark you select is eligible for protection. You should take car to choose a mark that is not likely to be confused with any marks that are already in existence.
     Marks generally fall into one of four categories. These categories are fanciful or arbitrary, suggestive, descriptive, or generic. The mark category that your mark falls into will greatly impact its registrability and the ability to enforce your rights.

• Fanciful and Arbitrary marks are more likely tot be registered than any other mark. A fanciful mark is a invented word that has not dictionary or other known meaning. Arbitrary marks are actual works that have a known meaning, however, the known meaning has not relationship with the goods that are protected.
• A suggestive mark is suggests, but does not describe, the qualities for a connection to the goods/services.
• A descriptive mark is a word or design that describes the goods/services. These marks are generally considered a weaker mark. Thus making it harder to protect or possibly even not registrable.
• Generic marks are the weakest of all the types of marks. A generic mark is a word that is a common name for a good/service. These words are not registrable or protectable.

     The next step is to do a trademark search. Before filling out a trademark application you should do a complete search of your mark to identify any possible problems, such as the likelihood of confusion or a prior registered mark. A free search can be done at www.uspto.gov/trademarks.
     Now, it's time to file a trademark application. This can be done at www.uspto.gov/teas.

Web Site Accessiblity

What is accessibility?
When a website can not be used by a person with a disability, than the site is inaccessible. When your site can be used by a person with a disability, than your site is accessible. So basically, accessibility is the undertaking of making a site the is use able by people with disabilities. Web site accessibility generally deals with the visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities. As well as the elderly, whose abilities are declining due to age. Since the US Census Bureau has 19.6% of the US population categorized as havens some sort of a disability, accessibility is imperative to the success of a site. Accessible sites not only benefit the disabled, but also those users without disabilities. Accessible sites tend to be easier to navigate, download faster, and more user friendly.

Visually Impaired Browsing.
The first disability you will probably think about when designing a web site is the visually impaired, or the blind. These have a enormous effect on how your site is perceived. You visuals essentially become insignificant. The site becomes less about how it looks, and more about how it sounds. The bulk of people who have a visual disability use a screen reader to navigate the web. A screen reader is software that ready the text of a website out loud. Screen readers cannot figure out what a image really represents. it will simply read the image's name per what is written in the HTML. For example a human can look at a image of a cat and describe it easily as "a cute white kitten with big eyes". Where as a computer will describe the image as "1234abc.jpg" if there is not ALT attribute written into the HTML. This makes it imperative to include a ALT attribute. The ALT attribute with change how the computer reads the image from "1234abc.jpg" to "cute white kitten".

Web Without A Mouse.
Those who cannot use a mouse, use the tab key. The tab key should take the user throughout the site in the same order that your eyes would, left to right and top to bottom. To do this the creator of the site would need to add what is called a tab index attributes to the elements on the page and number them in order that they should be viewed. Without the tab index, when a user tabs though a site it will take them in throughout the cite in order of how it is marked up. Which is not necessarily the order it should be viewed, though it should be. 

Color-Blind Site Viewing.
Web safe colors are not really "web safe". The colors that are thought of as "safe", look completely different to someone who is color-blind. for this reason color should not be a site's only form of communication. For example if you are showing a rating of something through stars. Someone who is color- blind might not even see the star rating. So it would be best to also have that rating in a text form. Now that does not mean to completely get rid of visual indicators, simply add a text description as well.

Language of Design: File Formatting

• .jpg- .jpg is short for JPEG, which stands for Joint Photography Expert Group. A .jpg is a type of compressed file. It is the most universal image file.
• .tiff- TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. TIFF is a high quality format the supports colors from 1- 24 bit. TIFF is made to be a standard image format for storing high quality color images on multiple platforms. TIFF allows layering and transparency.
• .raw- Raw doesn't stand for anything, it refers to being unaltered. .raw indicted that the file was read directly from a camera.
• .gif- GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. GIF was one of the first two image formats for the Internet. It allows transparency but only 100% or 0%.
• .png- PNG stands for Portable Network Graphics. This is another file format that allows transparency like GIF, but you can pick what percent of transparency you would like. PNG is a compressed format.
• File Compression- File compression is basically making a file smaller, it is commonly used when sending a file from one computer to another. The compression makes the file smaller there for sends quicker.
• File Optimization- File optimization is the reduction of the file's size to improve compatibility with the Internet.
• Meta File- A meta file is a file that can store multiple types of data. These files can contain raster, vector and type data. 
• svg- SVG stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. A SVG  is an XML-based vector image format for two-dimensional objects.
• .mp4- mp4 stands for  MPEG-4 Part 14. A mp4 is a digital multimedia format that is most commonly used to store video and audio. however, it can also be used to store other data such as subtitles and still images.
• .swf- SWF is a Adobe Flash fil format that is used for multimedia, vector images, and Actionscript.
• .mov- MOV is a file format that is often used to save movie files and video clips.