Monday 27 April 2015

Future plans to do my head in...

I’m now starting to learn how to use Dreamweaver to be able to build websites from scratch using HTML, hopefully by September I’ll be getting somewhere with it. Fingers crossed : )

Them pesky parameters...

Thought this might be of interest to anyone using embedded Youtube content

To disable related videos: 

Add    ?rel=0   to the end of the URL


To force videos to play in HD  or a specific quality level:

Add     ?version=3&vq=hd1080

Eg. . https://youtu.be/0pajUiPYjrI     becomes .


And if you want it do both:

Inbetween the two additional parameters, remove the “?” and replace with a “&”



Moving on...


Going forward with this the VLE I have created is just the start, there is scope to keep adding more content and developing it. It could easily be expand to incorporate different year groups, classes and additional courses. And even private one to one courses. It seems it is possible to arrange it with different password for different page allowing my to provide a bespoke experience to different users through one platform. I’m thoroughly convinced that this is the future and hope to be a part of that.

Perseverance seems to have paid off : )


It has been hard learning to use Squarespace, It’s straightforward getting something close to what you want but the fine tuning has taken an amount of research which fortunately has been possible through it’s own forums etc.. and now having stuck with it I am very happy with the results. I feel it is a clear and concise VLE that is just as I want it with no compromises: ) It is certainly tailored to my students and the subject matter concerned  in our classes. I spoke to my students about things they would like and dislike and as such I have kept it very simple in design, everything the need is there with no extraneous visual clutter. They didn’t want it to be connected to Facebook and Twiter and I also made the decision to not have images on the pages outside of the content. I think in a different situation with different student s maybe you would need to have images all over it to keep them engaged and interested but with the students I work with there stock trade is the image and as such they are constantly engaging with very high quality imagery and as such I wanted this VLE space to on some levels be a gap from that. As visual artists I think they appreciate having a space that is muted in that way as a contrast to what they have in front of them all the rest of the time. They seem to like it anyway.

To Squarespace or not to Squarespace?


I’m trying Squarespace and if I can get my head around how it works I think it just might do. It seems to allow you to create the sort of website I want to. I will keep you posted : )

Another dead end : (


I’ve engaged with word press and had felt it could hold the answers of what I am looking for but alas it to isn’t quite able to do what I want. I want to be able to have multiple pages that can be navigated from a home screen, downloadable content, video tutorials, and interactive spaces where a range of topics can be engaged with by students and lectures alike. Unfortunately it seems Wordpress is much better suited to blogging though I admit my limited knowledge of how to use it. I didn’t like how it seems to have a linear timeline, and just become cumbersome and messy.