Technical Writing

So this course is supposed to be on Technical Writing but seems more like writing for marketing.  It includes creating research reports, financing proposals, application tutorials, app mockups, a few videos, writing tweets, status updates, blogs and press releases.  Really was hoping for something a bit more technical.

Project 1: Research Report

Okay this week was very intense.  Tasked to write a marketing research report on an application idea that we would like to build.  It consisted of primary and secondary research.  I conducted an online survey for my primary research.  Secondary research was mostly google and our online library at Full Sail.  My report ended up at 20 pages.

Project 2: Proposal

Tasked to create a financing proposal for our application we conducted research on and wrote our marketing research report for.  Will post in a few more weeks.  Just waiting for grades.

Project 3: Tutorial

We had to create a tutorial on our app that we are working on.  It was based on our key features and how a user would complete a specific task.

I did a quick mockup with SwordSoft Layout, very similar to Balsamic but 1/10 of the price.

The third part of the assignment was to create a demo video on a prototype of the app.

Project 4: Spread the News

Final project of the month consisted of completing two separate documents, a press release and a pitch email.

Initially I was hoping the class would be a bit more technical but at the end of the day I ended up with some really good marketing templates that I can use for any app launch.

Advanced Scalable Data Infrastructures

ASD is an advanced course on the skills we have acquired from previous courses.  You will need to have a good understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, LocalStorage, JSON, JQuery Mobile (Interface Design Frameworks) and Revision Control (Git and Github).

We are going to learn about JQuery, CouchDB, Data Serialization, Remote Data Access and RESTful Web Services, Data import/export, CRUD: Data Management and Cross-Platform Testing.

The goal is to build a Data-Driven App with Mobile-Oriented Web Services.


Project 1: Project Architecture

In the first assignment we were tasked to build the scaffolding of our app starting from pre-production.  The deliverables included a mind map with the application information architecture roughed out, develop our initial wireframes.  The last deliverable was to create a project template to utilize throughout the month this was built with the jQuery Mobile framework.

For this project I used mindmeister for mind mapping and Balsamiq for wire-framing.  Both are very easy online tools to use.

Mind Map

Wireframe

Project Template

Project 2: Use jQuery to Future-Proof Your App

Ready to recode?  Well this was an interesting assignment take the functioning JavaScript localStorage CRUD that we had developed in the previous class and recode the functionality using jQuery calls and selectors and create static JSON and XML files to pull back into the app with AJAX calls.

I spent more time on this assignment than any other one so far.  It really took some deep digging trying to figure out how to get everything to work.  I fell into the rabbit hole and spent a ton of time on trying to get my dynamic pages to work right.  It payed off in the end even though this was not one of the main requirements (make sure you get all of the requirements done before you go on a tangent).  Have a few issues with getting all of my CRUD to work perfectly.

Project 3: Build a Self-Hosting App

Hello CouchDB!  Installed CouchDB locally to get familiar with the administration interface Futon.  Learned about non-relational databases with key-value storage.  Installed the CouchApp plugin for Eclipse.

Our goal was to breakup our app into individual documents and migrate it into a CouchDB database.  Refactor our CouchApp to pull its data from the CouchDB documents we create using the CouchDB REST API.

After creating our CouchApp locally making sure it was fetching data with AJAX propertly we created an account on Cloudant and replicated the app to the cloud.  Fairly easy week for me I was able to get the app functioning properly locally and on Cloudant.

Week 4

Ugh this week kicked my ass!  I thought this one was going to be a breeze based on last week but I was sadly mistaken.  The easy part for me was getting the dynamic listviews and dynamic pages to work.  I had a heck of a time with all of my CRUD functions.  Create and Read we working good, my Update and Delete single records was giving me a challenge.  When you keep hitting a wall over and over after extensive research on Google, stackoverflow, the Couch, Cloudant and jQuery Mobile docs, limited interaction with the teacher and then you find out the plugin that was provided in the class does not work!!!!  arghhhhh, at least I didn't need a haircut this week because I pulled all of it out.

This week made me question my decision on a degree that is 100% online.  I mean if it was a business degree no problem but coding and development is an entirely different situation.  There are times you need immediate help, a little interaction to try and figure out what you are missing and when you have a teacher who is MIA for most of the course it is a bit disconcerting.  If I was not paying for school and just learning online by myself then no complaining and just figure it out.  I have been looking at a lot of the different coding bootcamps out there and thinking this might be a good way to go, do a 9-12 week immersive coding bootcamp....not sure yet, maybe.

Okay my rant is over, this was the most frustrating week of my degree so far....everyone has to have a few right?  Onward to the next class!

Mobile Interfaces and Usability

MIU is entry into jQuery Mobile.


Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Visual Frameworks

VFW is our journey into mobile web application development.  Relying on the skills we learned from SDI (Javascript) we will be combining HTML, CSS, and Javascript to create a mobile localStorage CRUD application.


Project 1: Web App Part 1

We needed to select a topic for our mobile app.  I decided to create a real estate lead tracking app.  Three deliverables were required; HTML5 Document: Launch Page, HTML5 Document: Add Item Page, and submit our progress during the week to GitHub.  Overall easy week.

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Scalable Data Infrastructures

SDI is our introduction into coding.  The goal is to teach us basic programming skills.  We will be using a text editor for our assignments (I am using Sublime Text).  Utilize different data types, variables and output.  Control program flow with conditionals, logic and loops.  Build Javascript functions and learn some object oriented programming.  We will start using Git and Github (version control).

This is the first real coding class and the beginning of our development journey at Full Sail. I have been waiting for this since I enrolled for the program and it is finally here!

Project 1:

We had to create a Javascript version of a flowchart that we were provided.  Our code was to be based on a story.  Mine was about skiing.  The flowchart started with setting some variables that included a string, string with escapes, number and boolean. The chart also had a boolean conditional, a number conditional, a string conditional, a string concatenation and a math function that all needed to be output.  This was interesting since it was my first time writing Javascript with a story.  The story actually helped.  My code.

Project 2:

Well same thing again this week.  We were given a flowchart and supposed to come up with a story or process and code it to fit the flowchart.  Instead of explaining the chart I have included it below.  I stuck with my same story and just expanded it.  My Code.

Week 3

Github

Week 4

Github

Mobile Media Design II

MMD2 is an advanced course designed to teach how to create assets and graphics with Adobe Illustrator.

Project 1: Branding and App Icons

The objective of this project was to design a branding logo and app icon for iOS and Android utilizing Illustrator.  It was necessary to utilize the Android HIG and iOS HIG for an understanding of market requirements from both companies.  I definitely like using Illustrator better than Photoshop.  I am somewhat slow with it right now but this is my first time using it.  Working with it over the next month will help.  Not to shabby for a newbie!

Android Icons

iOS Icons

Project 2: Toolkit

We were tasked to create a toolkit of the interface components needed for our mobile application, such as buttons, background color, keyboard, etc.  Components were both custom and standard.  Android has a bunch of their standard components that you can download to help you out if you are mocking up an app.  Grab them from the Android Developer Site.

Custom Colors

Custom Interface

Standard Toolkit

Project 3: Mobile Interfaces Part 1 Screens 1-5

The goal is to implement our custom and standard interface components from the toolkit we created last week into a user-friendly interface design.  We will only be creating a single navigational workflow of the "My Trips" path.

This was a great week!  Pulling the last 2 weeks of work together to create the design and flow of the app.  Next week we will be finishing up screens 6-10.

Project 4: Mobile Interfaces Part 2 Screens 6-10

Continuation from last week.  Just needed to finish up the remaining screens.  This week was a bit more challenging with aligning everything and working out all of the small details.  I enjoyed this class.  It was a great experience creating a logo from the start and ending up with a very polished design.  Well on to the next one!