Google Sites

My Georgetown website compiles various information about the school of arts across several pages, including an overview of the school, class descriptions, and enrollment information.
Starting your website couldn't be simpler with Google Sites: Select a name, URL, theme, and you're ready to go. Adding new pages come with ease thanks to Sites working in collaboration with the other Google apps. Inserting documents, presentations, calendars, and etc. is only a click away.
With Google Sites, anyone can create a website of their own in a matter of minutes.

Sumo Paint: Photo Enhancement

Sumo is very efficient in photo editing. The tools used for creating entirely new images can also be used for editing existing ones. Adding new filters to images or using a certain brush can change it drastically. An old, worn birth certificate can be restored to a pristine copy totally legible. What I enjoyed most about editing in Sumo was how many options you can find if you're intuitive enough. For instance, making certain parts of a photo black and white or in color by working with two different layers is a creative approach to making a task easier. I can't really think of any real complaints I had with Sumo. It's a great program to work with.

Sumo Basics

There wasn't much I learned from this class, since I already took Intro to Microcomputers which included a Sumo segment as well. Overall, Sumo Paint is a great free, online image editing and creating program. Simple paint strokes are enhanced with various filters and adjustments. The image gallery show that in the right hands, Sumo creations are limited only by the imagination.
What I enjoy the most about Sumo is exploring all of the different combinations of tools to see what will come out. Any time an effect is added, I always think "This can be done better." On the other hand, it's somewhat frustrating when you're adding an effect but you're not entirely sure what it does, such as the different paint brush options.

Zoho Reports

Zoho Reports is similar to Access in its database functionality. In Reports, you can store various amounts of data for record keeping. You can make the data link to each other various ways for efficient information reporting. The data is stored in tables. Tables are broken into columns and rows that tell all sorts of information on the table's subject. Different tables can work together. Reports take the information of a table and organizes it into a more visual manner. There are four types of reports: Charts, tabular views, summaries, and pivot tables.

 Chart views covers a range of graphs, including pie, line, bar, and area charts.

 Tabular views let you group the data by a specific record, and also finds group totals.

Summaries displays only the totals of a group, not the individual records.

Pivot tables offer ways to summarize and analyze the data in a table.

Zoho and Google

After working with both Zoho and Google Docs, I've noticed subtle differences between the two. Zoho makes certain customization options easier, such as changing the font color. Zoho also allows you to change the fonts in a spreadsheet, an option I couldn't find in Google's. One issue I had with Zoho was trying to merge the cells in a table in the Writer app. I couldn't find the option, and user interface issues like these are more prominent in Zoho than Google Docs, which is arguably much more user friendly. Because of this, I would choose Google Docs for my business. I feel like it's easier to pick up and learn and would be more efficient.

Google Forms

I was impressed by the Google Forms app. It really made creating online forms a simple process. The interface was easy to navigate and insert your questions. I was also surprised to see the corresponding spreadsheet that allows you to keep track of who's filled out your form. Overall, I feel like this app is another great example for how google apps makes web tools that are easy for everyone to use.

Google Spreadsheet

Having experience with Excel, there really wasn't much that surprised me with Google Spreadsheet. In fact, the transfer of skills between the two is what I appreciated most. I'd have to say the most outstanding feature I learned of was how you could directly import an Excel document into Google Docs and it translates into a Spreadsheet. Overall, I really like working with Excel/Spreadhseet. I like working with numbers, and the "Only Once" rule makes filling in tables a breeze.

Google Presentations

Google presentations is a very neat tool that works as a substitute for PowerPoint. In fact, for any basic presentation need there's virtually no difference besides the fact that google's is free! It was really easy to use after just using Google Drawings. My presentations seemed to make themselves. PowerPoint isn't a very difficult program either, but I feel like there was a little less clunking around in Google. My only real complaint is the lack of animations. There wasn't much variety if you wanted to spice up your transitions, but that sort of drawback is to be expected.

Google Docs Word Processor

I've learned that most of what I'd expect from a word processor can be found in Google's. You can change colors, fonts, size, and etc. There are some unexpected features, like being able to add a table. What I least liked about the google word processor was adding images to a document. It was very frustrating trying to put the image where you wanted it without changing the position of the words. I didn't really understand the difference between "Fixed Position" and "In Line With Text", and in some cases it wouldn't move at all when I clicked the image and tried dragging. Stubborn issues like this can also be found in Microsoft Word, but in general I prefer Word because its interface is easier to navigate.

Calendar

I learned how handy Google Calendar can be for tracking different schedules. It's very informative and a good way to stay organized. I like how I can integrate it into my iGoogle. I didn't like how some of the labs were limited. The flares didn't have much variety so I didn't use them. I wanted to add some spice to each calendar with the Background gadget, but I really couldn't figure out how to work that one. I don't use other calendars, but I do rely on the sticky notes feature on my laptop. I think I may stick to them (no pun intended) because they're more visually distinctive and grab my attention, but we'll see what the future holds.

Google Doodles

Whenever you see someone on facebook telling you to check out google, they're probably referring to the latest google doodle. Doodles are when the google logo changes for special occasions, such as a holiday or a famous artist or inventor's birthday. The idea started before the company itself did when the founders played around with an idea for a stick person behind the second O to signify to users that they were out of office. After they asked an intern to make a doodle for Bastille Day, the idea took off and more and more doodles started sprouting up. The Doodle 4 Google competition asks students from around the United States to submit artistic depictions of a certain theme to appear on the google page.

My iGoogle

iGoogle is a one-stop page for various multimedia needs. Its your own personal homepage where you can include your email and several other "gadgets" such as news, entertainment, a calendar, and etc. Gadgets are somewhat like apps on an iPod or iPhone (hence the name iGoogle), and you can even create your own, so iGoogle is a custom experience for everyone. Among the gadgets necessary for the course, I've added a hamster on my page so I have a furry companion while working, and I tried adding a Pandora gadget but it didn't work. So far I really like how much tinkering can be done with iGoogle, but it seems like the gadgets may slow down the page a bit. It will be useful for me because you can integrate your gmail account, which was an irreplaceable tool in my last computer class.

My Gmail

I've learned that gmail offers several useful resources besides email. I was able to complete my entire graphics course through it by using the documents feature. It also offers the poor man's word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and etc. My main email is MSN. It offers your standard mailing features but also brings you news and other entertainment. I think I prefer gmail, but that may be because my MSN mailbox is cluttered with thousands of unread emails!

Cloud Computing Introduction

• At first I took this course because I was scrambling to find the last three credit hours I needed to graduate, but now that I've been working with it I think I'm going to learn a lot. 
• I found out about it through Dr. Stevens. I didn't know I was going to be taking a course about Cloud Computing when I sought her our for an independent study, but this was the option I was given and I accepted it undoubtedly. 
• So far I've learned of iGoogle's existence and how it's a streamlined approach to various media sources across the internet. 
• The main advantage of cloud computing is being able to save data without it being lost. 
• As far as disadvantages, I haven't discovered any yet.
•  My final thoughts are that I'm pretty excited about this course honestly, and it's already blown the other two online classes I'm taking out of the water.