Hello everyone!

But let me update you on my website.

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I immediately changed the theme. The one I selected is called ‘Personal Blogily’ by Theme Everest.

I landed on this theme because it reminds me visually of the simplicity of a black and white newspaper. This was after trying other themes such as Twenty Twenty, Twenty Twenty-One, and Twenty Twenty-Two. 

I also changed my header to my name and a simple title, ‘NYC Journalist.’ In my opinion, this gets who I am across clearly and effectively. 

On my website, there are five pages so far. 

The first is a bio page. I’ve added a photo along with a short biography of myself. Next, I couldn’t leave out a social media/contact page. These have links to my Twitter and Instagram and two email addresses.

The other pages are mostly for displaying my work. But for now, they are still empty. 

Lastly, I have a placeholder welcome blog post with an Adele gif. I plan on deleting this post as I add content to my website.

That’s it for this update! Until next time, this has been Niko Balkaran. 

P.S. I’m trying a new sign-off. 

Creating this was a bit stressful considering my domain website was giving me issues but I still managed to get it to activate.

This video was extremely helpful throughout the process of creating my domain and wordpress.

onlygiphy.com   

If I am being honest, I am very relieved that this is the last assignment I am submitting for this semester. And when I say this I don’t mean specifically for this class but, the semester as a whole. However, CT101 has been the best class of spring 22’ and I am so grateful for Professor Seaslow’s teaching style.

I had no idea what the basis for this class was going to be when I first registered to take it but, it turned out to be a really great learning experience. I was able to develop new skills in design and blogging. Iw as introduced to websites such as Giphy, Pixabay, Photopea, etc.  I learned the art of gifs and how to embed memes, images, and hyperlinks into our class discussion posts. In comparison to discussion board on Blackboard, the style of this class really trumps all of Blackboard

From learning how to use all these tools and incorporate them into our posts, I was able to build my own website. While it wasn’t the most strenuous of assignments, it was challenging. However, I cannot complain because in the end, it was the most rewarding. It allows for such much creative freedom and the fact that we weren’t restricted to following an exact layout was what made it so personal, and that more fun.

The creative challenge presented from this class was the most engaged you will find me in academic work. As I am almost near graduation, I am glad I was bale to take this class and have fun. Creative expression is something that never stops, and Im grateful with the fact that I was able to utilize that through this class.

My website is a creative space and the idea behind it is something I have always been wanting to do. I hope that I will have the time to keep up with posts and content, as I have a lot of ideas I want to touch on. 

Walking through my assignments, we can see how much more my skills have advanced as we progressed through the semester. Assignment 1 and 2 were the initial, getting our feet wet. We were beginning familiarized with each other as we introduced ourselves, familiarized with gifs and embedding. 

Assignment 3 at first was intimidating but, learning to make a gif was actually really fun. It was enjoyable going through my classmates gifs as well. 

Assignment 4 was also really fun. After creating a meme, I was like I could do anything. I chose the mashup assignment because I really wanted to express the Flash and The Office idea. I had a great time creating that post. 

With assignment 5, it’s really fun how, I was able to complete the task so efficiently because I took inspiration from the song I was listening to at the moment. It just goes to show how our creative outlooks can never be limited. 

Assignment 6 was the mid-semester assessment post, and while it wasn’t meant to show anything creative, we took as a time to reflect back on how much we have come so far. At the point in the semester I was hoping for a B but I wasn’t the most confident. I was having fun and learning a lot about gifs and hyperlinks, but my activity in participation made me worry. 

Assignment 7 was getting out feet wet with developing a website. I was really stressed in general at this point of the semester so the idea of developing a website made me worried. However, we took it one step at a time (Thank God) and I think overall, everyones websites really came together in the end, including mine. 

Assignments 8, 9 , and 10 are all an extension from assignment 7 as we continue to develop ideas for our websites/posts and find new ways to navigate around word press. 

And finally, we have assignment 12, where we were able to explore our classmates websites. It was great way to adopt new ideas and also just appreciate everybody creative freedom. 

In all, other than my yoga class 3 semesters ago, CT101 was a great experience in all my years at York. If I was to grade myself, I would give myself a B or B-. As I’ve mentioned on my mid-semester reflection, I felt that I could participate more in class. But now, as we come to the end, I have decided to go back to my classmates posts and leave comments to show that I am engaged in everybody’s wok, and really do enjoy reading through them all. 

Final Website Tour and Description:

Fateema’s Website

My homepage is titled “TheDays I live.” I titled it this in the hopes of it explaining the flow of my website. I want my audience to take inspiration and enjoy the little things in life, as well as, find ways to make their life a little easier.

I have hyper-linked my first blog post on my homepage. I wanted to start off with talking about how I like to stay  and plan out my schedule. And from that I want to move on to my various routines and the activities I like to participate in and how I like to stay organized.

I got rid of my contact page for now and instead I have displayed photos that I find fit my aesthetic. I also included a quote that I feel best represents the way I want to express my lifestyle through this website. 

I am having a lot of fun, challenging myself with the creative side of the designing my website. I have not gone too deep into my post just yet, but it is coming. For now, I see my website as a draft, and knowing mw it will never be perfect because I will always find a new idea on design, but I think it is safe to say, it is at a great point right now. I plan to further develop this in the summer, and with new travels, I want to include writing about my future trips. 

Thank you Professor Seaslow, and thank you class <3

As I visited my classmates’ websites, I was able to look through different creative styles. It was nice to really see how different everyone likes to express themselves creatively, and I was able to find a lot of inspiration through their own ideas.

I looked at Paola’s website as well as, Fatema’s website

I really love the minimal, clean, and pink aesthetic Paola has going on for her website. From read her introduction and her first blog post, it is clear that she wants to keep her content very clear and concise. Her “Book of Thoughts” post really inspired me. I definitely found I can take some of her ideas and incorporate them into my own website. She mentions writing about the current shows she’s watching or podcasts she’s listening to at the moment. II find that my website follows the same theme as hers , and these ideas would be good addition to add onto mine.

Fatema’s website was really cool, and very different that Paolas or mine. It just goes to show how creative my classmates are with and how they want express their chosen idea. Fatema’s website is like going through a travel brochure almost, and it really makes you feel you’re out in nature. I like her concept of  traveling and it inspired to include writing about my won travels in my future blogs posts.

In all, I feel that the class is having a lot fun with their websites. From day one we all knew this would be a fun and expressive class. It is nice having this outlet, especially through stressful final exams.

Names! That must be fun

When choosing a good domain name, I wanted something that is unique and able to stand out. I am excited and nervous at the same time with having my own website since it’s something new to me and I will have to be aware of different version that is out on word press and updating my content.

The Domain names I have come up with so far will be below:

1. Tatyaan.com
2. Tattyp.com
3. Anaytat.com
4. Philltatyana.com
5. TatPhillips.com

My new website will definitely be food related; I love when people can get together and sit down, eat, laugh and just have fun. My website will dive into Real Authentic Jamaican Cuisines. I will share popular foods that most people know or may not know. I strongly believe we should explore and try new things. Feel free to visit my website and try cooking any one of the meals, leave a comment if you did cook one of the meals or you tired it before. I will be putting more content even when I no longer have ct101 class.

Don’t have to think twice its definitely YouTube, when I want a laugh YouTube, when I’m feeling fabulous YouTube. I really appreciate the great and creative content that YouTube have to offer. The contents on YouTube have made me gain independents in many ways, it helps me gain creativity when redecorating my room, when doing my hair and also setting up the furniture’s in my house. YouTube made me come up with the idea of talking about Jamaican cuisines since I’m always watching how other Jamaicans being creative when preparing their meals which inspires me a lot to try also. YouTube really plays a vital role in my life.

I always see gif on my phone and never use or pay attention to it, but I must say since learning about it in this class has made it one of my most go to website when I want to send a reaction to someone. You can get any and every reaction from this website even creating your own. I use GIPHY in all my assignments and I will be adding some to my website.

This was my first time creating my own personal domain. The experience was very easy and I am looking forward to adding more details into the web. Best part about it was the free price. I titled it onlygiphy.com because it sounded creative to me.

During this semester I’ve learned to use digital tools and develop a wide variety of digital narratives. Using these tools I was able to design and build an online identity and narrate that process throughout the semester. Well it wasn’t an easy process but it was definitely a fun one if I do say so myself. I was able to create amazing projects with a greater range of creativity without being a stellar artist or wordsmith with the skill I was able to pick up in ct101 I can tell stories or impart information in my own way and on my own terms. I needed  a vehicle for self-expression, to show what I have learned, to see new found knowledge and skills in a practical light, to take risks, and to take learning into my own hands. 

What did you enjoy about your class.

What I enjoyed the most about ct 101 was being able to publish your post and get feedback/ comments from classmates and also the fact that you don’t need to be an expert to do it. One of the greatest strengths of Ct101 digital storytelling is the ability to share it with others instantly. Sharing might consist of showcasing student creations, or sending a message out to the world. Students can also work together on projects remotely or get feedback from their peers. Ct101 Digital storytelling usually involves different things like video, audio, and pictures to share your story in a unique way. The format of digital stories and the way they can be shared creates an emotional connection to the topic, inviting people to engage with a story and take action as a result of seeing it.

how will you apply your new skills to the world?

I will apply my new skills to the world by Sharing stories because i find Sharing stories is a great way to connect with people. In hearing a story, you may relate to another person and identify with their situation. digital Digital storytelling adds to regular storytelling by allowing the storyteller to include images, pictures, music, and other things to their story.

Will you maintain and keep up your new website?

 Yes, I will continue maintaining my website (Fivesenseart.com)because it will definitely help me put the skills I’ve learned from ct 101 to the test. It is an opportunity to make a great first impression and give people comfort that you’re a real business. Having a website makes it very easy for people to find you, read up about your work, discover what you do, and answer a bunch of questions they have on your website. By having a website people will be able to find your website when they search for your company on a search engine like Google, and probably the fact that I’m having so much fun customizing it.

(Sorry I’m Having a bit of technical difficulty with my website so I won’t be able to give you guys a tour.)  🙁

                          Farewell, it’s been a pleasure.

As I continue to work on my website, I have made a lot of progress, and changed somethings that I was unable to figure out when I first started.

If you look at the left side of the picture, I have finally figured how to get rid of the red block that I had mentioned on last weeks post.

I kept using the customize button and ignored the edit button up until now. And let me tell, it has solved so many issues for me.

I added a quote that from the movie “Sabrina” that really resonates with me. I felt this quote was good way to express my website.

I also hyperlinked my first blog post. Please check it out on my website : 333-Days.com <3

<3<3<3<3<3

I dont know why WordPress is set up this way. But when I click my post it takes me to this edit screen:

I do not how to find the text view from this set up. 🙁

Beginning My Website

Starting

So as I thought, the hardest part of this process will be learning how to use the WordPress website. Right off the bat I can already tell that this is an incredibly powerful tool to use. The varying templates allow for an insane amount of customization that the really allows you to create whatever comes from the imagination. Thanks to the power of YouTube, I was able to find plenty of tutorials that really show what the site is capable of. I definitely have taken a lot of inspiration from two video tutorials out of the bunch that I saw:

Tutorial 1

Tutorial 2

Tutorial 2 was especially helpful and is where I’ve taken most of my inspiration from as the man in the video clearly explains in great detail what each tool does, as well as how columns and sections work. I was actually even able to utilize themes that weren’t initially presented in the library. The theme I downloaded is called Astra, and the plug-in I downloaded alone with it is one called Elementor. Personally, I find both these tool incredibly helpful/intuitive. Along with all the tutorials I watched, I also looked up how to create my own custom logo. What I found was a website called logomakr.com which was incredibly easy and straight forward to use. Using all this new information together I was able to create the basis of my homepage!

Thoughts So Far…

At the moment, I’m currently working on the other linked pages (about, contacts, blog, etc.). I really like how well it’s coming out so far. At the time of typing this, my plan is to keep my homepage as the “welcome” page, while the about page will be my reasoning for creating this website and the blog page the actual content of the website where all my code will go. The blog page is what’s going to consist of all the corrections, examples, errors, etc. After learning everything that I have I’m feeling a lot more confident in what it is I’m creating and look forward to what the finished product will look like. Down below will be the website url as well as my “about” page that I am currently working on.

Website Link: programmersblock.com

For the website review, I chose Zia Because from reading the website description I found that we have been to share some of the same interests in gaming and sports I’m very interested in sports having a wrestling driven website myself so I thought that the website seemed interesting and creative from the moment I got onto the site I was introduced to very interesting  historical facts regarding sports as well as the layout itself is just really inviting especially I feel like to someone who may be a casual fan of gaming or Sports a website such as this one really helps to introduce them into a topic without being overwhelmed which I feel like is a key feature whenever constructing a website and I feel as though this one does that particularly well as well as the integration of media into the website word very is visual representations of art to go along with articles that help make the post more interesting interactive and relatable

 I feel like is a key feature whenever constructing a website and I feel as though this one does that particularly well as well as the integration of media into the website word very is visual representations of art to go along with articles that help make the post more interesting interactive and relatable and with the field of video games and Esports only getting as  stated on the website I feel like this fits into very important demographic of consumers who may just be getting into gaming it may not be familiar or the opposite where they may be veteran gamers who are still interested in the unique commentary in perspective that is given on the website overall the website is awesome and has limitless potential and I can’t wait to see it in the future 

https://zsports2022.com/ 

For the panorama storytelling assignment, I along with my friend Andrew went to Washington Square Park and well there we have been sick pictures of a path along with some water and really captured the view This has been my first ever time doing something like this so I really took this assignment as an opportunity to explore Uncharted Territory and I found it to be extremely informative and overall I’m just an interesting process having to work with someone else to capture photos and pictures as I had not had a steady hand and could not maintain New Balance for the actual shots so my friend was very helpful in this aspect of the activity Following the steps from the tutorial As well as some advice from my friend I had a panoramic shot that although it wasn’t necessarily perfect I was proud of it because it was something that I had I’ve been a part of after finishing it was really happy with the way. the picture came out in the and it was a very interactive assignment that allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and explored and be exposed to the environment and be able to take that and make it into something unique I thought was fun and cool and overall enjoy the assignment.

My website chockholdpodcastpodcast.com is based on my podcast of the same name that started in 2016 a long way my co-host Derrick and I brought a unique and interesting content The world of pro wrestling on a weekly basis covering weekly shows pay per views and Live Events while also working closely with independent wrestlers and various promotions to help gain an Insider perspective on the business and presented to fans at large we mainly broadcasted on Facebook and podbean.com which is another podcasting website and while I am currently working on new content for my website I also have archived episodes from the past that I have on the shows the Facebook page hours of contents from over the past 5 years As I look forward to growing the podcast and reaching new audiences and using this website as a new vehicle to help me better connect with my audience and vice versa I also hope that my website can be a place where people can interact and converse about the topic of professional wrestling In an interesting safe and interactive manner 

https://m.facebook.com/Chokeholdpodcast-197944860745651/videos/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0 

http://chokeholdpodcast.com/ 

ASSIGNMENT #13- THE FINALE

The time has come it is time to stay goodbye and hand in our final blog post. I have really enjoyed my time here because it allowed me to be more creative and also to participate more with my fellow classmates. This class has improved me and set me on track to become a better student.

I went from being a novice student to being able to create and operate my own website JUANCAR1OS.NET. I am so proud of how far I have come. I was a little nervous I was not going to be able to keep up but I have. I have a giphy account which is where I find some of the best gifs I use in my blog post. If you want to check out some of the memes I made you can look at my account called @juanc4rlos.

I really enjoyed being able to explore my creativity and being able to let loose on the blog posts. I learned how to create a site which was so cool because it was an easy process. If I ever need to create or help someone I know how to register a domain. I also know how to put more creativity into my work and find ways to make it interesting.

I hate to say it but I will be shutting my website down for a while. Only because I am going to be crazy busy this summer working. However, I will keep it going when school restarts. I feel I need to focus on working to save up money for buying anything I might need. BEFORE I leave I did spruce up my site into the last unexpected theme I could choose. I made it medieval because this is the last post and want to leave with exploring a cool theme. So the class could see my work before we all go our separate ways after this semester. I like the old and feel that I am going to add a few things before I shut it down for a few days. I like the theme because it reminds  me of the old and it reminds me of old video games.

I really like the look it is different so it is going to stand out when people visit the site. I also changed the look of the logo because it was time to spruce it up for the last blog post. The old logo was not good enough for this new theme. If you ever need to create a logo I recommend the website brandcrowd they are not the best but they give a lot of options to choose from.

If you want to check my website it is juancar1os.net.

THE NEW LOGO-

I thought the warrior continued the theme of the medieval. I also thought to change the color because most of the color palate is brown and there is no need to be bright and poppy. I like to let the work speak for itself and then add color if it is absolutely necessary.

My past posts have been:

1. What on the Internet brings me JOY

2. How a GIF/JIF can show my opinions with no spoken words!

3. MEME’ING THE WORLD!

4. The Flexibility Project- Assignment 4

5. ASSIGNMENT #5- CREATIVITY

6. Assignment #6 – The Mid-Semester Assessment Post

7. ASSIGNMENT #7: The name of the game- MY FIRST DOMAIN

8. ASSIGNMENT #8- Time to put my DUKES UP and REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME

9. ASSIGNMENT #9- CONQUERING WORDPRESS

10. ASSIGNMENT #10- The PREMIER of my WEBSITE

11. Assignment #11- Pano Storytelling

12. Assignment #12- WEBSITE ANALYSIS TIME 😄

13. AND LASTLY The End of an ERA!

The next thing I thought to talk about was some of my best blog posts. I say all of them are great but some of them I feel I went above and beyond because I was struck with inspiration. So I thought to mention my top 3 works because I do not need to bombard you with so many of my great works. JK…😂.

The first one has to be ASSIGNMENT #3:

My second great assignment is #5:

ASSIGNMENT #5- CREATIVITY

Before this class I had never heard of mmm.page. A pretty cool website to be creative on any type of thing you like. I created the page juancarlos. Which showcased some of my favorite things such as marvel, bob’s burgers and avatar the last air bender. This blog post showed how I truly saw intuition, creativity and immediacy because you need the trust to make something. You need the imagination to make it better and the speed to have it demonstrated to the world.

NOW LETS TALK ABOUT GRADES

Hello, welcome to my final blog post. Below are links to all my blog posts that I have done throughout the semester. I will be reflecting on everything I’ve done over the course and I will be giving a tour of the website I’ve been working on.

Assignment 1

This assignment was very simple all I had to do was put links/ pictures of things that I like to watch/ do that make me happy on the internet.

Assignment 2

I learned how to make some of my own GIFs, which was really fun to do. Probably one of my favorite assignments this semester.

Assignment 3

I had to find some of my favorite memes on the internet. Additionally, I had to make my own memes it was pretty easy and I enjoyed it a lot.

Assignment 4

I had fun looking at the different assignments and it all seemed interesting to do, some of the assignments I have never seen or heard of before.

Assignment 5

We had to make our own websites, I had difficulty deciding what I wanted to do with mine but ultimately decided to show things that I appreciate/ enjoy in life.

Assignment 6

This was the mid-semester recap where we had to reflect on all our past work. It was nice seeing how much my blogs have improved.

Assignment 7

We had to brainstorm different domain name ideas that we wanted to use for our website and discuss what our website would be about.

Assignment 8

It was time to register our domain names, it was difficult to find a domain name because some of the ones I wanted to use were already taken but I decided to stick with aquicklaugh.com. This was how my website looked when I first started.

Assignment 9

For this assignment, we had begun to start customizing our websites. I was struggling to get started but then I changed my website theme to make things much easier.

I started off making different pages for my website so people would have an easier time navigating through it. My first two pages were of GIFs and Memes and some backstory on how they’re used and examples of them.

Assignment 10

For this assignment, we had to make a blog post announcing our new post on our website. The new post I made was including some of my favorite memes that are relatively new. 

Assignment 11

For this assignment, we had to take panoramic photos. This was my favorite assignment because when we were in class learning how to take the photo, I already had some ideas in mind on what story the photo would convey. I took the horror/ thriller route where I show a long narrow dark hallway and at the end, a door is open with the lights on.

Assignment 12

First, we had to comment on our websites under the post so that our classmates can visit them. Then, we had to visit other websites and comment on the website and what we liked about them. I discussed Liz’s website, which was a website with recipes and talking about the benefits of eating healthier foods.

How many points have I earned so far and what grade do I think I deserve? What did you enjoy about our class and how you will apply your new skills to the world? 

I believe I have earned at least an 85 in the class because I have done every assignment, as well as I see how much I’ve developed since the beginning. I try to use all the skills I’ve learned in CT101 in my weekly blog posts. On top of that, I comment on at least two of my classmate’s posts every week.

The thing that I enjoyed the most about our class was how different it is to other classes, like in other classes we have exams, papers, etc. but for this class, we get to make fun memes and gifs. This class was extremely fun and I learned many new skills such as making memes, and gifs, taking panoramic photos and telling a story from them. I could apply these skills to the world by taking panoramic pictures and trying to tell a story from just one picture. As well as if I’m writing a blog or something I know how to hyperlink and I can incorporate memes/ GIFs so that people stay engaged with the post.

Now I’m going to give a quick tour of the website that I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks.

When you go to my website, you can see 4 different categories you can click on and go to.
When you’re on the home page, it shows the recent posts I have uploaded on the website, and it’s organized from newest to oldest posts. When you click on the about page, it gives you a brief synopsis of what this website would be used for and its purpose for it.

The contact page has my email where you can contact me if you have any questions or suggestions on what you want to see on the website.

If you’re interested in looking at GIFs, you can click the category and I have made two posts for the GIFs category. One post explains the purpose of GIFs and how people have used them.

The second post I made was showcasing all the popular GIFs people use. I showcased a different range of emotions using GIFs,  I included a GIF of someone being angry, one of someone crying, someone celebrating, etc. I did this to show examples of how people can use GIFs to express how they feel.

If you want to look at memes, you can click on the memes category and it takes you to all the posts I made. I have created a post explaining the lore of some of the memes that are popular.

On top of that, I have made a post showcasing some of the iconic memes that people use like Kermit the frog.

In addition, I have a post sharing some of my favorite memes that have come out this year like I shared some squid games memes and a Will Smith meme.

These are all the posts/ categories that are on my website. It was a struggle getting started but I already had an idea of what I wanted to do with my website. My goal with this website was to create a site where people can visit have a nice laugh, learn some new info, and find new memes. Some of the success I had was being able to learn how to make posts and new categories. It was a struggle trying to get started because I just had so many ideas and it was hard to find a good starting point.

Will you maintain and keep up your new website? If so, how? If not, Why not?

I don’t think I will be able to keep up and maintain my new website because I will be too busy working and trying to get my master’s since I’m graduating and I don’t think I will be dedicated enough to update consistently.

Well, this post is coming to an end. I’ve had a great time in CT101, probably one of my favorite classes that I’ve taken in college. I’ve learned so many different skills and I’m excited to use them.

For my assignment in building my website for my podcast,I initially went into it thinking that it had to be something high level but after working on it for a while I realized that a minimalist mentality was best because I didn’t want the website to be too flashy I just wanted it to be something that fit the wrestling theme and delivered quality from a visual perspective while still maintaining its own unique identity and also  understanding the demographic that I hope to reach within the wrestling community as when I did my research looking at current wrestling websites such as PW Insider I had noticed that they had stuck to and almost 90s style layout with just the information and links to articles and this is one of the leading Pro Wrestling journalist websites out there so I drew some inspiration from them as I believe If it isn’t broke don’t fix it and if that’s what the fans want then less is more while also keeping in mind that as the audience grows the website will grow as well I feel as though the initial design captures Exactly what I want my podcast  and the viewers of it to feel when they watch which is that this is a humble website with a great product that’s still manages to capture the attention of the consumer without being  overwhelming which is especially important in the case of people with visual impairment and as someone who struggles with visual impairment and overstimulation as a disabled person I did my best to keep them in mind while constructing this website

https://www.pwinsider.com/  

http://chokeholdpodcast.com/