If you look at it closely

No one is normal

[willykoike]

DIGITAL CONNECTIVITY IN IRELAND

A few days ago I posted survey data on internet usage in Ireland. And today, I was browsing the news and I found a note from the Irish government regarding a new connectivity strategy in the country.

The news is directly from the government's website and says that, according to this strategy, Ireland must assume the leading position in Europe in terms of digital development, with a high-speed internet strategy and digital connectivity.

The Digital Connectivity Strategy sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that:

- all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028

- all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and

- digital connectivity will be delivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023

It aims to maximize the well-being of citizens, the efficiency of public services, as well as the productivity, competitiveness, innovation and sustainability of our economy. I was surprised by these bets in Ireland, since, apparently, the vast majority of the population is already very connected. However, it is understandable that this plan is to reach a population further away from large cities.

It is interesting to be living here and witnessing the beginning of this strategy. Apparently, it doesn't seem necessary for the lives of people who already have part of their tasks online, however, this will certainly show great advances for the country and for the population. Not to mention that it is part of a European plan for a fully digital transformation by the year 2030. The plan is structured around 4 pillars: infrastructure, education, digital transformation and business and public services. This Irish connectivity strategy already takes the first item off the list: infrastructure. The government is already starting plans to offer the population the initial tool and, over time, educate everyone on the best way to take advantage of this facility. In my opinion, this is the most complicated part. We know that a new generation, Gen Z, doesn't even need many classes about it, but there are many pros and cons that online and fully digital life brings us and protecting us from all the negative aspects must be one of the biggest challenges of the next decade.

Anyway, this news does not fail to bring a lot of enthusiasm, especially for future professionals in the digital media area, like me. May 2023 and the rest of this decade reserve the best for Ireland and Europe in terms of development, connectivity and challenges in the digital universe.

[willykoike]

2023 UX design trends

Since the beginning of this year I've been working on my WordPress and html website, for that, I was also looking for trends in UX design for the year 2023. And, in general, there aren't many changes compared to previous years, and as if the trends followed the same path only with more intensity. Among them can be mentioned:

1 – Product reveal hover effect – Widely used in advertising, as it offers the user an interactive, fun experience that stays in the consumer's memory. This is an animation generated when the cursor hovers over the main image or product. In this way, the animation will reveal something new and interactive, like opening the package, turning on equipment, playing a video or something like that. I particularly find this trend very interesting, however, I still think it is more valid for advertising actions, as I believe that this type of interactivity at all times when browsing a website can be tiring as well as heavy for the page.

2 – Sophisticated scrolling – I would say that this is one of my favourite designs and one of the most used by big brands and companies since 2021. It is about long pages where the user scrolls through the website in many ways. The most common is still vertical scrolling and having all the website's content on a single page with a very long scroll. This trend is my favourite and we see it present on many websites today, mainly from companies and companies with very modern service proposals and products. Apparently, for 2023, sophisticated scrolling should get even stronger and intensified.

3 – Nutty Navigation – Much like scrolling, nutty navigation provides the user with a lot of interactivity in menus, with animations, overlapping images, screens that change direction, boxes that open. Anyway, it is a reaction to the user's command with a lot of movement and dynamism. I find it very interesting, but I also find it exhausting. I think there are only a few websites or sections where this type of design is acceptable. For two reasons: it can make navigation slower and because it becomes tiring. These are details that bring credibility to the website but deliver little practicality. Exploring an entire website with interactive menus this way can make for a time-consuming and repetitive experience.

4 – Turning negatives into positives – This trend is about turning 404 error pages or loading pages into something more personalized. That is, instead of blank screens or error message patterns, companies can customize or even suggest images that generate an interesting interaction with the message, be it a 404 error or a page load. This UX design trend I find super effective. It shows not only care for the user, but also creativity and a desire to make the experience more personalized and relaxed.

5 – Overstimulation – This last trend that I am going to mention here is my least favourite for 2023. It is about the excess of information, colours, textures, images, fonts. It is a design loaded with various collages of elements that remind me of scrapbooking. I find it interesting on very isolated occasions for certain brands or products, but, in general, I think it's too exaggerated. It's a design trend that resonates very well with generation Z and maybe that's why for me, a millennial, it doesn't sound so good. However, I can appreciate beauty and good intention in this type of design as long as it is directed towards specific and limited purposes.

[willykoike]

Javascript and P5.js

In our last web authoring class, we learned resources with JavaScript. The mix of codes in JavaScript with html. I was already a little familiar with JavaScript due to my first semester with p5.js and I confess that I was vaguely traumatized. It was a difficult process learning through my mistakes. For a long time, I was wondering how I would use those codes, since we were always making drawings and basic shapes for games. I was anxious to understand when a JavaScript code application would be effective in the composition of a website.

 Here's an example of the artwork I was able to make in P5.js:

 But now I can see that P5.js is a JavaScript library and a good place to start regardless of how much coding experience you have because of its convenient developer environment. Now, talking about JavaScript, I also wondered about the future of this code and how much it was still worth using it. I was researching online and came to the conclusion that yes, there are still numerous reasons why JavaScript continues to be very popular among web development code. Primarily due to its popularity and the fact that it's compatible with any web browser, so no matter what platform or device you're using, you won't have any problems running JavaScript. Likewise, it is also very flexible, since it can be used in conjunction with other codes, as was the case in our last class, in which we used it in conjunction with html and CSS. It is also considered an easy-to-understand code that has a very large community of users and programmers, which facilitates learning through the exchange of information. It is a versatile resource that allows you to develop simple to complex websites. It can be used for front and back end and the job market for professionals who master JavaScript is huge. Therefore, after being convinced that JavaScript is still a good idea, I can only focus on studies and on the best possible understanding of this code so that I can consider myself a professional whistle for JavaScript programs.

[willykoike]

Happy new year!

Happy New Year! New year, new plans and goals. Also time to review 2022. And for this reason I was looking and researching internet usage in Ireland last year and I found some interesting numbers: According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), over 80% of the Irish population has used the internet for online shopping, baking, booking or ordering services.

In the image above we can see more interesting values ​​of internet use in the daily life of an Irish citizen. I would say that's a high number and probably matches the world's population. This made me stop to think about my own use of the internet, and I must confess that, in my particular case, I must use the internet for more functions in my day-to-day life than the 80% of the research. Absolutely everything I do online, just grocery shopping I still haven't adhered to this habit, for the simple fact that I never organise myself about what I need and want to buy. I go to the store and let my heart guide me, or hunger, which is still dangerous, as I always take unnecessary items for my diet for the simple fact of being hungry.

Apart from this grocery shopping segment, I use the internet for everything. From charging my cell phone credits, my leapcard, clothes shopping, items, accessories, payments, bank transfers, ticket purchase, booking flights, hotel, joining a gym, everything. And on the one hand it is wonderful to see the level to which our society has walked, having access to so many resources and items in the palm of our hands, on the other hand, I am concerned if this complacency does not make us stupid or incapable of doing something if this technology fall for some reason.

The internet not only makes us dependent on new habits, but teaches us to do activities in more practical ways, in such a way that it makes us forget how to do it without having the same resources. Sometimes I stop to think and try to remember how I used to work. It seems crazy, it hasn't been that long, but it's hard to remember due to the fast and daily use of new technologies. For example, I have always been a TV producer, and currently, there is nothing that is not requested, produced or negotiated that is not through emails. Also according to the CSO, 91% of survey participants have used emails in 2022, its the highest number among online facilities. And going back in time, before all deals were done via email, I can barely remember how we did it. As far as I remember, calls on the conventional phones were the first contact with the other interested part, followed by sending a fax with documents to be signed, for example. 

Emails, zoom calls, phone apps, online banking, so many facilities that have replaced the traditional ways of doing something. This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to see a young person who knows how to improvise and know what to do in unexpected situations. Generation Z hardly knows how to solve problems without internet and this is a big problem of modern times. But well, nothing that a good WIFI signal or shared 4G can't solve and doesn't return strength and skills to this generation. We can only wait and see where this technological path will take us. So, welcome 2023!

[willykoike]

Why Spam?

How many times have you already become annoyed by unwanted emails? The infamous spams! Spams are emails that are sent without any apparent intention of promoting any offers, businesses, or services. It's important to note the distinction between spam and email marketing. In the mail marketing scenario, you sent your contact information to a business or organization with the intention of staying up to date on promotions and news. And in the case of spam, no. You have never agreed with receiving such a disclosure. The majority of email applications have an automatic spam detection system that moves spam messages to a special folder for this purpose.

However, I have to ask you again: how many times have you lost a crucial message from someone because it accidentally ended up in spam folder? This is one of the evils of the modern era. I know it's nothing, but that might be enough to replenish a little of our daily supply of patience. But you have already asked where the spam comes from? Or how they were able to access my email considering that I almost never gave out my address to a particular company or business.

Unfortunately, when we provide our email addresses after signing up for any free application or website, we are frequently the ones to blame for receiving spam. When a service is free, we are the product. And in this instance, our information, such as our email addresses, are circulated on an electronic market in order to send unwanted advertisements.

Another way that spammers can find us is through robot-filtering. Some spammers employ software that scans website pages for the "@" symbol, which is necessary for an email address. They gather the addresses and set up a spammer that sends spam to everyone. Additionally, there is the tactic of error in which software sends out emails in an effort to identify the user by a combination of letters. The application sends emails with various name combinations and abbreviations in an effort to identify a known recipient. Unfortunately, we must deal with this kind of virtual trash in our day-to-day lives despite the fact that many of these attempts will never be successful. This is not the kind of issue that ends up affecting our lives. In reality, it’s just one more task in modern lives’ cleaning.

[willykoike]

World of Wordpress

Ever since I was introduced to wordpress in class, I've been very curious as to how an online tool can offer so many features to a user to make their lives easier. It's really amazing what the tools of modern times can do for us. There is so much code and specific knowledge that is hard to learn behind every move and change that we make in a simple and intuitive way on the wordpress platform.

So, I was curious to research this tool a little deeper and curiosities that I could find. There are so many design possibilities that we can create from themes, elements and plugins that it becomes almost impossible to decide and follow a path in the creation of a website. At least, it's a good difficulty, due to an excess of options and not a lack of them.

According to kinsta blog, since its launch in 2003, the WordPress has undoubtedly expanded significantly. The same is true of the WordPress statistics, which help us define this powerful piece of software.

Currently, 34% of websites utilize WordPress, the most commonly used and well-liked content management system in the world. However, relatively few people outside of the WordPress user group are aware of WordPress's origin story. More than 500 websites are created daily using the WordPress platform, compared to only 60–80 daily developments using platforms like Shopify and Squarespace. This all illustrates the platform's strength.

Among these well-known websites are The New York Times, Spotify, TechCrunch, the Casa Branca website, BBC America, and even the Facebook Newsroom! The fact that WordPress functions so well with these disparate entities is evidence of its adaptability. WordPress is able to function effectively as the back-end of many different types of websites, including personal blogs, news portals, portfolio pages, and e-commerce websites.

In spite of all of this success and confidence, however, we must note that even while Wordpress is generally regarded as secure, there have still been instances of data breaches. Because it is the biggest and most widely used CMS, it also becomes the most vulnerable to hackers.

Users must maintain WordPress' core, its plugins, and its themes in a constantly updated state to prevent data breaches. Well, I'm still exploring this tool and all of its functionalities. Despite being significant, security issues don't seem to have a huge influence on users' decisions to use Wordpress as a tool. I'm probably going in the same direction and can't wait to incorporate further discoveries about this new platform into my workflow for creating digital media.

[willykoike]

Web1, 2, 3... Go!

Recently, I was scrolling through fashion blog articles for inspiration for my viscom blog, when a specific show at Paris Fashion Week this year caught my eye. Nothing more, nothing less, it was the use of some famous brands like Dior in the metaverse, more precisely, the Chinese visual space Meta ZiWu in the Xi Rang app and was seen live by a new record of 155.5 million views across 15 platforms.

I confess that I was surprised by these new opportunities for the virtual to converge with the real. From immersing brands and events into virtual reality to unifying marketing and business with the use of Web3. But what exactly is Web3? I confess that even I was not familiar with the term. As much as I am online every day, practically everything I do depends on the WEB, and I study development web tools, not always do we know all the terms and details about it.

I come from a generation that welcomed Web1, which was nothing more than the most basic form of the website. A static interface, where the user didn't have much to interact with or assign any kind of customization. It was an unaltered website. We can say in a simplified way: read-only. However, at that moment, it was already a great evolution for someone who was used to getting information only on paper.

The web2 is the one we live in today and that allowed this boom and advancement of social media. It is, for example, the possibility for a user to log in to a website and make that experience personalized. Web2 is the era where the user started to share information and the internet became a two-way road where users' data started to be collected to make the user experience more interesting, personified and efficient. Nothing more than the internet we have today.

With the promising arrival of Web3, a lot must change. In basic concepts, Web3 IS a remodeling of the internet, which unites current precepts to new pillars with tokenization, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, in this way, it should provide a decentralization of power for large companies and the government, and more security for the user. This process consists of digitally recording data on a blockchain network. In other words, the information is encrypted and stored in a database that can be publicly verified but cannot be changed without a new record. In this new internet format, the user has more autonomy in his data, being able to have more data privacy with the use of blockchain technology.  It is possible to have a more visual idea from this image on the post. 

The exchange of information is less bilateral and becomes multiple and autonomous, providing more privacy, agility and security. Linked to this, we would have a greater influence of artificial intelligence and the metaverse that offers an immense possibility of Market. The creation of this virtual world becomes more possible and safer, enabling a better interface and interaction with the user. And it is in this universe that we already had brands like Dior carrying out the first tests with its new collection show immersive in the metaverse. The commercial possibilities offered by a safe, interactive and virtual environment are innumerable in this new web3 scenario.

The possibilities are immense, and much is yet to come and take hold in terms of web3. It is very difficult to know when and how we will be completely immersed in this new reality. It may take a few more years for all people to understand and realize what is happening. The cryptocurrency market is part of a large public, however, a very specific and not generalized one. But this is a worldwide trend. Who knows, in a short time, all trading will be virtual, which could be via cryptocurrency and in a digital universe offered by the metaverse? If blockchains deliver the security and privacy they promise, that reality shouldn't be too far off. Many things I never thought I would see alive, or I thought I would only see on film, however, it is already happening, but in such an organic way that, many times, we do not even notice. However, in the blink of an eye, we can already be on Web3, without even realizing it, and talking about a Web4, 5, 6... In other words, wherever God and technology want.

[willykoike]

Website Sale

I'm just a web designer aspirant. I know I’m not ready in a professional way to develop websites in a way to get some profits from that. But, like any other person who looks to the future, I’m already thinking how much my wages would be. Lastly, how much does an entire website cost? I guess that's the time of the job that demands a time and it depends on its complexity that we can answer this question, right? It's not like tagging a chocolate bar price. Unfortunately. 

Having that in mind, another day, commuting from college, to work, to home, I just passed by a shop in Harolds Cross, written “same day website 990 euros”. Then, I thought WOW, a mix of thoughts came to my mind. If I think of a single day of work, it's actually a pretty good amount of money to get in one day. If I divide for 24 hours of the day, it's more than 40 euros per hour, and, probably, this one day deal wouldn't make me work the whole 24 hours. So, it's a good amount of money to get in one day. In another point of view, for an entire website, this is way too low, I mean, I always thought a website project would take me much more than a day, probably weeks, then, definitely, 990 euros is way too low. 

Well, after this advertisement from the website shop, I had to look for more information about web designers wages. According to what I found on CSS TRICKS, Web designers typically charge about $75 per hour. A business website could potentially cost between $5,000 and $10,000, with $6,760 being the average cost to set up, design, build and create content for a basic website. And according to website builder expert  the cost to develop it is $100 to $180 per hour.

But then, there are so many other questions before setting up a price. First of all, who would be doing that, just me, a poor and inexperienced freelancer or an agency? What exactly means developing a website? Doing the design or developing, coding, making it live? There are so many people that can be involved in this function. I'm not even able to distinguish how, exactly, it works. Am I planning to be a designer? So, basically, I'm just thinking of appearances. Am I going to be coding? Front end, back end? Maintenance? Yeah, definitely it's so much more than 990 euros can afford in 24 hours. I guess website shop might have some standard layouts and they might sell similar projects to their daily customers. But still, as they provide support for their clients for around 6 months. Probably they might not need a lot of maintenance, but still, we will never know the type of clients and what they are looking for. 

It's still very vague to me what the right wages are to develop a website. But, for a while, I don't even know in which area I'm going to, I guess I still have some time to figure it out and be following more information and analyzing the marketing. I guess, all beginners, if they end up being a freelancer, tend to charge less, even because it's still building confidence in your own work. I guess, being able to be part of an agency, at least, in the initial years in marketing is a good idea, because we can watch the marketing being included in it. Then, we can make our own decisions and be able to evaluate our own job. Probably those prices per hour seems to be fair enough. If, one day, I'm able to get that, working on my own or in a team, I will be pretty satisfied. But, let's see what the future brings to us, and wait for the best achievement possible. 

[willykoike]

Welcome to the future

For my first post here, I would like to remember one of my first experiences on the internet. Back to 2000-2002  (Yes, I'm old, ok? You can find grey hairs on my beard), when the internet was dialed, I remember surfing on loads of bloggers, most of the time, about my idols, in an international reference, we can say, Westlife. Hmmm, no judgments here, ok? Everybody has their own guilty pleasures. Leave me alone with mine. LOL And also, at that time, all bloggers used to have personalized backgrounds. The heads and footers used to be covered by their favorite artist, or tv series, films, or Japanese animes. Anyway, all the layout was thematic. And I wanted the very same thing. Why not? That's how I learned photoshop that time. I wanted to have a banner, a signature personalized with my idol's images. So, then I did it. Was it good? Definitely not, but it was my first contact with layers, with transparency, fonts, cutting imagens and backgrounds. The introduction of how to do everything by yourself in life, also known as Youtube, still didn't exist to help me out. I had to figure it out on my own. But then, even though my terrible design was ready, I didn't know how to apply it on my page. How? How could I make a Jpeg image show up on an online page? No idea. So, loads of other bloggers, made by designers, used to put available some free templates and sell others more complex. I used to download them and read a lot of information on how to change the html in order to use my pictures or add a bit of my style. Did I succeed? No… unfortunately, not. So, I've never been the 15 years old blogger that I intended to be. Probably the Internet didn't miss that much though. 

Now, here I’m, almost 20 years later, and learning html, the code that, basically, started with the internet and it's still used in most websites on the Internet. It's kind of ironic and interesting at the same time. But one thing I say, I'm already able to edit  templates and set up with my Westlife design. Can I get an Amen over here?! Hehe =D

All this introduction is to say that I was reading a post from Adactio blog, saying that today, 2022 is the distant future. That's all because back to 2008, even some years after my failed experience with blogspot, an editor of the HTML5 at the WHATWG at the time, Ian Hickson, in an interview with Hixie, mentioned the date 2022 as the milestone for having two completely interoperable implementations.

And now, we can see that nothing has changed much in this aspect. And I’m having the opportunity to understand the same technology that I tried 20 years ago in my life. It's kind of funny to think how some things change drastically and others no so much, probably, because useful and functional things should come to stay and just get improved, as it seems to be html. According to the Adactio post many specialists made some predictions based on this 13-14 years ahead, which would be now, 2022. Some of them didn't even believe that the web would still exist. Others were quite accurate when they visualized most people accessing everything on a smartphone, but the most relevant observation might be from a random reader of the blog in 2009, Jonny Axelsoon, who said: “The world in 2022 will be pretty much like the world in 2009.” Well, in terms of web, and html he was right. In other aspects, like people's minds, he was a bit wrong, hopefully, I guess. But, 2022 ideas, morals, concepts, will have to be for another post. It's way too wide to approach here and I might not have psychological enough for that. As I just said on the title of this blog “If you look at it too closely, no one is actually normal”.