The site is associated with google, so if you are logged into a google account you have access to the interface. Compared to traditional video note taking, this seems to be much more streamlined. I can recall handwriting time-stamps into my notebook when researching videos for a presentation. With that, it was rather time consuming to both find where something was in a video and to pull it up. With videonotes, both of these problems are eliminated.

This Friday (3/6), in lieu of class, I will do more extended research into the interface. I’ll probably scour the web to see what others have to say about Clyp.it. Additionally, I will complete the Writer/Designer analysis questions. Time permitting, I will begin brainstorming my web essay.

Realistically, I probably won’t accomplish much over break, so my next deadline will be the weekend I return to Blacksburg before class. Over that weekend, I wish to complete my outline and get all of the screenshots I’ll need for my presentation. For the beginning of that week, I’ll work on my presentation and begin rehearsing.

Given the scope of the project, this should give me plenty of time to complete everything.

The cold weather makes it even more acceptable to dance in public. When waiting for the bus stop and I’m trying to keep my toes warm I sometimes prance in place. Now I have the excuse to say “What? I’m trying to stay warm!” when in reality I just have a song stuck in my head and I can’t sit still. With the dance spirit in mind, I added a gallery page under my dancer bio page. This gallery includes photos of me from my high school dance team, dance studio, and most recently, the Dance Company of Virginia Tech (DCVT). I also included links to the show previews from my past dance performances. I deleted the gallery I created in the side bar because it wasn’t working.

Why I Did It

I’ve been meaning to jazz up my WordPress site for a while but didn’t know where to begin. Creating the gallery with pictures and videos adds a little more visual interest. I still want to focus on tying my online identity to my dance but I feel less restricted now to only including those things and what I work on in this class. I think I will add a passions page or connect to other writings I’ve done for added interest.

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Today I created a gallery with pictures of my dog and linked it to my About page. I also edited my menu to include the categories for each of our projects, as well as a miscellaneous category for anything that doesn’t relate to our projects.

Why I Did It:

This blog is due in two days, so it’s time to edit every small detail in order to make it as good as it can be. I added a gallery to personalize the site more; pictures of my dog can help people relate to me as they explore the rest of my site. I just figured out the categories process, which is why I did that today; it has taken some time for me to figure out how to edit my menu section, and today was the day to finish my edits.

My partner was really encouraging about the work I’ve done on this blog. There are some small improvements that I need to get done, but all of the big posts were reviewed well during class time.

What I Need to Do:

I need to read through each post and fix any grammatical errors. I also want to explore the categories option because they don’t currently show up on my blog posts. Other than some small improvements, my blog is close to being ready to turn in!

About Me: I changed my entire P1 description for my about me page. However, I kept the same badge, but added a new logo for it.

Site Info: I stated the theme, author of the theme, what widgets were already programmed on the blog, and what widgets I added to the blog. Also, for each widget, I gave a little description of it or information on how it would help the viewers.

Why I did it

About Me: I really didn’t want to present the about me section for P1 because I thought it was too serious. Therefore, I completely changed to it make it more casual and informative on who I actually am as a person. Also, I changed the logo for the badge because the original logo was made specifically for P1, and the new logo is a better pair with what I say in my about me page.

Site Info: I wanted to keep the site info page as blatant as possible. I didn’t want to add a bunch of fluffer words because I feel like whoever is reading it would not want to sort through a bunch of random information if they are just looking for one or two sentences.

Today I changed the theme to one that was simpler and more appealing on the eye. I also changed the background color from black to white so that the header image is the primary focus and there is no distraction from the background. I focused much less on the design of my blog however and more on the inner workings of it. I added my personal identity project to the about page and renamed it “Dancer Bio.” I aligned the image with the text so that it was seamlessly incorporated. I also created a “P2″ category for all of the posts that are tied to the second project. I’ll continue to add these for each project as they come up. I also collected some inspiring dance quotes that I want to incorporate into every blog post to make them more interesting. I went back in to edit my old blog posts and included a quote since I didn’t start doing this from the beginning. Finally, I created a gallery widget to display in a sidebar to add a little more personalization. I’m going to try and post a new picture everyday and connect it in some way to my tagline which describes my personal identity. For instance, I posted one to correspond with the first day I created my blog and it was a picture of a dancer stretching. The caption I included was “A great performance starts with the right preparation.”

Why I Did It

To incorporate more of the dancing aspect to my blog I changed the about tab name to dancer bio. I think this is a little more creative and quirky. I want to start making my blog more unique and less about just completing the assignments. The reason I added the P2 category was to make it easier to find specific posts when needed. My idea with the gallery and captions is that the picture will coincide with whatever I am working on at the time. This is just to have another element of interest. The first picture is about starting and prepping my blog. The dancer in the picture is warming her feet up and stretching in preparation for dance. I want to continue this until the completion of this course. I eventually want to have a lot of nooks and crannies for readers to explore in my blog.

“Dancers work and live from the inside. They drive themselves, constantly producing a glow that lights not only themselves but audience after audience.”

-Murray Louis

Well, for today’s class, I spent most of my time finding a new theme. Unfortunately, changing the font type is a premium option on many themes, so finding one is a lot of luck, honestly. Additionally, I set up new category types for my posts; now I can categorize them by subject. I also added a calendar widget in my sidebar to make the site more easily navigable (hopefully). I’ve added an “about me” page, however I’ve left it blank for now (to be developed later). I’m a bit hesitant to do too much on the site because my theme may yet change.

In the current iteration of the site (as of 2/9/15), I’ve toyed with the idea of using one of my images as the blog background. It definitely personalizes it, though I’m unsure if it’s too busy or perhaps an inappropriate choice. I’m going to try it out and see if it grows on me.

Why I did it

Ultimately, I focused more on style than substance today. That said, I think it’s important to establish the frameworks of organization early, so my choices in style were heavily influenced by how it would effect the “flow” of navigating the site. I’m starting to get comfortable using WordPress regularly, and I’m looking forward to seeing things fall into place shortly.

Today I moved my two posts into a category labeled P2, which stands for Project 2.

Why I did it

The reason I did this is because I think it will really help to keep my posts organized from the start. Even though I only have 2 posts right now, I think its important to stay organized so I’m not frantically trying to sort out all of my posts in the future.