DKC Training Site

Tag: Spring 2024

  • Sleeping Beauty Edit

    Woohoo! I edited one of my favorite movies to one of my favorite bands! All of the sleeping beauty clips came from YouTube, as well as the featured song by Crystal Castles called Leni. I did NOT like using Canva for video editing, it was extremely limiting and was hard to use. I am used to editing on Adobe premiere or Sony Vegas Pro, so using a primitive software was quite the task. The video was not as tight as id like it to be.

    Video links are below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHHszLu2jhs&t=3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmM-XX8atlQ&t=62s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhpT7Klunl0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfw05rpFerI

    yahoo!

  • building my website struggles

    I did so much this week for my website! I customized my home page and added some fun gifs that summarize my process while working pretty well. I started building this website with a new theme that I hadn’t used before as well so that was a bit of a learning curve.

    I also learned a lot more about how to use widgets. I avoided them before because they looked intimidating, but I wanted to include some elements on my home page that needed widgets, so I played around with them a lot.

    I added a video compilation of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s cold opens because whenever I need a laugh I usually put on one of these so enjoy!

  • Site building continues…

    I would say I am successfully better at WordPress since my previous post. I changed my theme which opened up soooo many more customization options! I am definitely building more of a site identity. I changed the background of my site so that there are now little jellyfish that appear on the sidebars and I added a new header for my site that I created in Canva!

    Another change to my site is I added a plugin called “Fonts Plugin” which allows me to change the typography customization on my site, and give me wayyyyy more options to customize.

    Finally, when researching more appointment types at the Digital Knowledge Center I would say the appointment types I am looking forward to the most are 3-D design projects and Image Graphics projects. Firstly, this is because I am interested in making 3-D designs myself and would like to learn more about the process and how to teach other people about the process. Secondly, I would say the most experience I have regarding digital projects would be in Adobe applications like Photoshop and Illustrator. So I am excited to learn more about how to teach people how to make projects like these in consultant appointments.

  • Sidebars, Plugins, and Appointment Types!

    Sidebars!

    My theme doesn’t really have sidebars aside from the menu at the top of the screen. I customized that with my about, contact, blog, events, and welcome pages. I also added a button that takes you from my about page to my contact page.

    Plugins!

    I chose to install a few different plugins. I added Akismet and Jetpack, because I’ve seen a lot of consultants here using those (and they seem to know what they’re doing), and because they help with the security of the site. You can’t see them from the front end, but they’ve already come in use by showing me how to make my site more secure. I also added a plugin called The Events Calendar, which is pretty much what it sounds like. You can post upcoming events and related information, and visitors to the site can browse past and upcoming events. This feature can be found on my events page!

    Screenshot of events page

    Appointments!

    I think in general, I am most excited to train people on spaces, especially the 3D print lab and video production studio! I went through my first year at Mary Wash without any idea what cool resources I had access to, and I want to spread the word about all the things we have the ability to create through these spaces.

    Yarn Fact!

    “Yarn technology is old; evidence of twisted fibers has been found at many prehistoric sites, including one from 40,000 years ago.”

    Michael Schirber, How Cotton Fibers Become Yarn, Physics 15,27

  • Untitled

    ur dad

  • Second Post

    Hello world! (again). I unfortunately wasn’t able to customize much with this template, but I did give the website a logo and an icon, so I was able to customize the header.

    I looked through the plug-in options and was nervous about downloading something that would be detrimental to my website, I ended up finding a general performance booster plug-in. It is supposed increase the speed of my website. 🙂

    I am really excited to get more familiar with the Adobe suite and to use 3-D printing. I am so excited about this job and to be able to learn how to use these tools to further my art exploration.

  • Customization and learning about WordPress

    One thing I’ve customized on my site is the menu section. There you can find: Home (links back to the homepage), Angela’s Personal Blog (links to my main domain), and Blog Posts (a page containing all of my blog posts). I have learned a lot about WordPress! My favorite part about creating my website was learning how to pick a theme and making it my own. One video I have recently watched is this one below. It really helped me create my website!

  • Installing my first plugin

    I installed my first plugin, Weglot. The purpose of this plugin is to translate my website into different languages. I only know English, so before my website was only accessible to people who spoke English. Now, my website is accessible to people who speak other languages with Weglot. It’s also easy for people to find where they can translate the site (there is a little button at the bottom).

    As a DKC consultant, I am looking forward to learning more about the 3D printer. I’m excited to create something! Also, I have definitely improved my website making skills, so I am looking forward to teaching other students how to create and edit their website.

  • My chase to work at the DKC

    So, in order to work at the DKC or really anywhere you have to turn in your license and social security card to the financial aid office at the University of Mary Washington. You could turn in another form of identification, but those were the two forms of ID that I had. Anyway, I turned in my identification on the Friday before I started work hoping they would be processed by the time I needed to actually start my job. On Wednesday, I still hadn’t received an email from the financial aid office. Then, on Thursday, they emailed me saying they hadn’t gotten my identification at all! I got this email while I was walking up to my dorm, and I turned right around. I NEEDED my identification to be processed. I had my first day of work tomorrow! I made a mad dash to the office backpack and all bouncing up and down. If there was any time to be a Karen it was now. I’m just kidding, I would never. I made my way to the office window and spoke with a lady desperately explaining my situation. She then solved the problem in like five minutes. So really, there wasn’t much to worry about. After that, it was all smooth sailing. I happily went to work the next day. 🙂

    Forrest Gump Running GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY
    Me running to the financial aid office

  • The Founding of My Site

    About my site customization

    A screenshot of the home page of my website

    To the left is a screen capture of my home page. For this page, I experimented with the column and quote blocks, which I had never used before. I included a description of the site and its purpose.

    I also customized the background color and played around with some other features, like the buttons and social media icons. In the image below you can see the different pages I created. A button at the bottom of the about page takes you over to the contact page.

    A screenshot of the top menu of my website

    What have I learned?

    I learned a lot of new things! In my introductory digital studies course, I only really scratched the surface of Word Press features. I didn’t realize how much freedom I really had when it came to organizing my website with things like patterns and columns, and how many different things can be embedded using blocks. It’s so cool!

    YouTube!!

    Crochet Flower Coaster & Pot by Lacie Bloom on YouTube.

    This is the project I’m working on right now! This was a suggestion from my roommate. We already have two sets of coasters I’ve crocheted in the past, but she wanted something cuter I guess. This video tutorial is super clear and easy to follow! But I’m so sick of making all the little flowers. Ugh. They’re cute but time consuming.