SMLP update 27/02/08

I am now entering the final stages of the self managed learning plan project. Over the past week I have been creating the final image gallery website which was the basis of my SMLP project. In my original plan I stated that I would use the knowledge I had gained from the second stage of the project (which was the learning stage) to create my website in the building stage of the project. However, as the project went on I found that I underestimated the amount I would have to learn. This meant that I would have to create my site with tutorials from books, which I would then apply my own design to.

After building the skeleton of the website, I tested the function of the site online. This took a while to get working, as I had to change the MySQL connect setting in my code, and set up the appropriate tables in my online database. I used the export feature of phpMyAdmin so that I could quickly set up the databases on my online server. After uploading my site, I checked the functionality of the code which I had put into the offline version, to make sure that it all worked online.

This is where I met a problem. My online server only used PHP4.4.4, and my site had been created offline in PHP5. The 'black and white' option I had enabled to manipulate my image would not work online. I found that this was frustrating as it was a substantial feature of my website. I decided that I would comment out the code, so that my website will still work. I have also added comments explaining the situation, so that when my work is marked it shows that I had the intention to support other features.

Once I knew that my site worked online, I set about converting the skeleton code to the full working design. Converting the table and cells code into valid XHTML and CSS took up a substantial amount of time, and required a lot of persistence and patience to get it working correctly. I found that this process made me understand how the code worked, as I had to modify parts to get the page to display as I wanted. Applying my website to a real project has helped me understand what the PHP code does to my site, and I created my design I added in some other features. I altered the code so that the images would open using Lightbox, and that the thumbnails would use the caption as an alt tag. This automation is exactly what PHP is created for, and I found it very satisfying that I was able to get this to work.

The project is now entering its final stages. For this project, I decided that I would use this blog to record my progress as the plan came together, rather than creating a new blog to display the SMLP project. This would make it easier for potential employees to find, and for colleagues to comment on as they would not have to search round for my other blog. I will be creating a front page to my online image gallery with links to all the necessary blog posts, resources and my finished website. This will give potential employers a 'one stop' location to find all the information about the project, without having to look through an entire blog. I will also be writing my evaluation for this project, to asses how my learning plan unfolded in practice.