QS4

Distracted last week. Ireland's game against Wales took my eye off Quark but back today. Managed an hour, another refresher but impetus is growing. Slowly, but surely.

QS3

I managed to do some Quark tonight, not easy when I get home from work but I worked well - I've got the hunger to succeed!

I put together a duplicate of page 2 of the journal I'll soon be devising at work. I went through the motions to a degree but familiarity is what I'm about at the moment.

I experimented with pictures, mid-blend gradient, colour and text. I've got to learn why the tracking tool does not work the way I want it to.

I also need to learn how to work with layers, how to place a faded pic beneath a big body of text.

Quark Session 2 (QS2)

Second day of my Quark odyssey. I could only do an hour because I felt rough (lingering cold) and I need to be refreshed for work tomorrow.

I experimented with pictures, headlines, text wrap around, page numbers, gradient blends, master pages, exporting as a PDF (note the problem with double page spreads!! Also look into compression and mastering that)

It's coming back to me, each time I work with the programme the more I recognise from my limited learning so far. I've got to keep the flow going. I can't wait to produce my first full document. I want to be able to produce PDFs fit for purpose soon.

Quark odyssey begins

I downloaded a trial version of QuarkXpress on Thursday, I made my home debut on it tonight.

My aim is simple, to learn all the things I need to know with reference to my job. That means being able to put together newsletters, a 16-page journal and an assortment of publications which follow certain workplace principles.

Although I was introduced to Quark last November I have not been able to gain any kind of momentum on it at work. That meant on Tuesday, when my boss suddenly gave me a Quark task to do, one he was over half way completing, I was rusty and daunted by the prospect to say the least.

I've got thirty days to get up to scratch.

Tonight I spent an hour playing with the tools. I put together a demo newsletter page, imported pix, played with text and experimented with colour and positioning. I tried to work things like adding extra pages and use of colour by myself, if I can avoid referring to the manuals I have I will learn faster. It was a good, relaxed introduction.

Tomorrow I will add purpose to my learning. I will be focussed on all the things I need to do.

Momentum

Beginning to get some momentum now. Tonight, thanks to my recent purchase of broadband, I watched a series of YouTube tutorials.

I built on my newfound knowledge of Windows MovieMaker, discovered while intoxicated on Friday night (long story).

The tutorial said this is for "the dummies" which made me laugh out loud, particularly as the guy narrating it sounded about 14! Anyway I'll soon be able to put up basic MP3s of my songs onto YouTube which will be gratifying.

I also learned how to covert a Fla flash file into a swf. How simple it is to do this...and how long I've been struggling. Always the way.

I spent about three hours learning new things about Dreamweaver and Flash tonight as well as learning about web traffic. Meanwhile last night I bought the name for my new journalism site so things are coming along now.

I may put my new site up on St David's Day. Just got to get it completley fit for purpose.

Working on a Dream

In one night, in less than hour, I've managed to do web tasks I've longed to accomplish. And how simple they were.

I've worked out how to embed a YouTube video on a Dreamweaver page, courtesy of this link: http://www.thesitewizard.com/faqs/youtube-video-dreamweaver.shtml

I've also learned how to embed a slideshow thanks to this site:
http://www.revver.com/video/652023/dreamweaver-tutorials-create-a-slideshow-using-dreamweaver/

I'm a little embarrassed at how easy these tasks were and how I put off doing them. They've become easier because I finally installed Broadband yesterday and I've clearly benefited from the visual tutorials I can now access swiftly.

It also helps that I've got consistent levels of heating in my house which means it's a pleasure instead of a chore to work in the winter nights!

I'm beginning to make big progress on my journalism site which I'm keeping under wraps until it's really something.

I've also returned to InDesign in the last few weeks while at work I've learnt how to upload PDFs from a remote server.

At long last I sense I'm getting somewhere after a few years of floundering. I need to learn basic design skills across the board to achieve some semblance of peace in my mind. After being made redundant a few years ago I know I have to keep my skill levels up.

Message to self: enjoy and keep on keeping on.

Good luck with your ventures kind blogvisiting friend of mine.

Return

At long last my humble design skills are moving from home into work.

Today I worked on Photoshop, Quark and InDesign. I was rusty on all three but with patience and exploration I managed to get somewhere.

I've got a journalism website I want to put on the web soon and I may design a poster which was supposed to be for my job but was struck off the my workload today.

With a bit of luck I'll get some momentum for my learning and put examples of my work on here for nobody's benefit buy my own, just evidence that I'm doing my best for the punishing workaholic and the gallant dreamer within.