Reflection on Fields

This week helped open up my eyes to the extensive possibilities available with the Access software. I didn't find any field type to be difficult to create or even understand. Several might have had me blinking at the screen for a few minutes until their purpose clicked in my brain, but this momentary confusion lasted mere milliseconds. The book is very straight forward and explains things really well. Also, the pictures in it really help to help me make sure I'm on the right track because they correspond with the steps listed. It's actually the most easily understood text book I've ever used. Gone are the days of "boring", 2D spreadsheets. Access offers a multidimensional way to for the user to record information.

More on my Final Project Idea

I have decided to make the purpose of my final project to organize my bills and hash out a budget. The two tables I created for this week's assignment (bills and due dates & amounts) I'm going to use for the project, but I'm also going to create several others. I want a tables for total debt amounts, which will have some bills that are not on the previous two tables since these two are only for bills I am paying at the moment and not ones that are in deferment, such as student loans.

I want this table to show the total amounts due on debts and the companies I owe. The first two tables I created a one-to-one relationship for with the "company name" being the relating field. I'd also relate the third table to these two with the company names that they share. I haven't decided yet what I could use a fourth table for, but I would like it to relate somehow to the debts table. Maybe a table that shows how long it would take to pay off each debt.

My Initial Database Concept

My initial instinct is to create a database with a professional goal in mind. I work in the parts department of a car dealership in town and I'm seeing how Access would be very beneficial towards my job. It would be useful for storing inventory, tracking sales, storing shipping and receiving information. So I might integrate this into my final project as it would benefit not only my class experience but also my work (and might impress my bosses too). While creating a database on my CD/DVD collection or address book would be fun, I don't believe it would really help me realize the real potential that Access has in my professional life.

I could also create a database based on me and my wife's finances. I could document our income every month with everything we have going out in bills, expenses, and savings and create a budget. That's another idea that would be highly beneficial. I could set up a table for income, one for bills, one for savings, one for food, one for gasoline...there are many possibilities. Then I could create reports based on this information to compare our money in with our money out. I could also create a report that shows how much we save each month, and in what avenues we save in, and project what our savings could be like in years to come. Ultimately, my goal with the final project would be to create a database that connects Access to either my professional life or my personal finances. Either way, it will prove to be really helpful.

Why Use a Database

The key difference between Access and Excel is that Excel is used for a single table or a single data entry list. Where Access becomes useful is when you need more than one list or more than one table. Excel information is flat or nonrelational. Think of Excel as being a flat 2-d cartoon while Access being a 3D animation.

Access is also more useful with larger amounts of data and categories, and data that is relational. Access is designed to handle much more complex information than Excel.

CIOS 256 Course Reflection

This was the first distance education course I’ve taken in years, but definitely not the first distance education course I’ve ever taken. I was home-schooled up until my junior year of high school. This was, however, a little different than college-level distance education since my mom was basically my teacher and handled all of the responsibilities of that, such as organizing classes and keeping touch with instructors. I also took a few distance education classes in my first few years of college, one being college level algebra which I had the hardest time with in a regular classroom environment. I flunked it twice, but when I took it through distance education I came out with a solid “B”. I attribute this to my years of being home schooled which made me accustomed to being dependant on myself more than an instructor. I had trouble adjusting when I eventually went to a public high school and also when I started college and the classes were much bigger. Even now, I have trouble sitting in a class for an hour and a half, which is one reason I decided to pursue my academic goals through distance education once again.

The one downfall of distance education that I have noticed is the lack of one-on-one or group learning time. Sure, when I have a question or comment I can email my instructor or a fellow student, but it’s a little different when I can walk down to my instructor’s office with the question rather than emailing and waiting days for a reply. If I am working on an assignment and encounter a hang-up, I have to put it on hold until I get a response. But this is one of the few disadvantages of distance education. Overall it is much more convenient for me and allows me to challenge myself in ways that wouldn’t be possible in a classroom environment.

CIOS 256 has been one of my favorite college classes thus far. It was informative and a great learning experience while also giving me freedom to be creative and discover how these programs can work for me. I am looking forward to taking more in-depth classes into Dreamweaver and Fireworks that will greatly benefit my career as an IT professional and web/graphic designer.

Come Cabo Quickly

I going to Cabo San Lucas for me and my fiance's honeymoon in 22 days! I'm really excited, about the wedding OF COURSE but also about getting away from this frigid state for a week or so. We've heard really good things about Cabo so I am definitely looking forward to it. Nothing sounds better to me now than sitting on the beach with the love of my life, drinking a margarita, soaking in the hot sun, and watching the tide roll in. It will be like paradise after the craziness of the past few months.

Here's a link to the resort we're staying at: http://www.pueblobonitosunsetbeach.com/.

I've been to Mexico before and it's great. Anyone that hasn't been there yet should definitely check it out.

Exporting, Hotspots, & Slices

I just finished learning how to create hotspots and slices and how to export and optimize Fireworks’ graphics and web pages. This was by far the newest section of the course for me and the most time consuming, but I think I came out with a pretty good grasp on how to ready my Fireworks’ creations for posting on the web. I wouldn’t say that any part was either obvious or too difficult to understand.

I took my time going through the lessons and assignments and doubled over sections that didn’t make much sense at first. I like the fact that you can see right on the screen how the changes you make when optimizing affect the quality and size of an image. This helps a web developer visualize exactly what viewers will see when surfing to his/her website and how quickly their site will load.

It’s a good idea to consider people with lower speed internet connections when optimizing. You have to find a healthy balance between quality and performance. Overall, the last few lessons were very informative and interesting for me.