Week 3 Reflections

I'm fairly familiar with using Google blogger, or so I thought, until I discovered all the advanced settings you can control in the layout. I am really intrigued how you can transform the blogger into a fully functional website, which I had no idea it was capable of being.  I was really impressed with the ability to customize a banner but was having some trouble with the sizing. I was trying to have the banner stretch across the entire page but seems to stop one the left size.  I really enjoy having the feature of the color picker at the top of the Google chrome screen.  As these apps fill up is there a way to create a more organized pallet of tools?  The biggest challenge for me was the customization of the banner and I would assume that customizing other features with images along around the site based on pixels and what type of screen you're working with would be the most complicated.

The various resources for acquiring images for creative use is incredible. I love the refine search on some of the sites, and the high resolution images that you are able to download for free.  I do try to use my own images as often as I can, but for quick examples that students can work with, this is a great resource set of resources. I'm curious how I can get my photography on to some of the sites, and is it a decent source of income for the artists that submit their work for the world to use?

When it comes to the creative Commons I think it's a genius way to have digital artists and presenters know that they're getting and using images or other work legally.  This creates a worry free environment that can be more gratifying in the end knowing you couldn’t have pissed of the artist by not having their consent to use their work.

Reflecting on David wicks summary of the benefits of using a blog he touches on all the points of why I use a blog in my current classes.  He also shows me how utilizing a blog personally could benefit my own business or voice as an artist.

As far as choosing a blogger template or site to start your blog I think that comes down to personal choice. How much time do you want to invest in the creation and customizing of what your viewers are seeing clicking on. This will range from creator to creator. Educationally I think it's important to keep things fairly simple but not too dull. if things are visually loud and busy, the site could be distracting in it being hard for students to stay focused or even understand how to navigate through.