The Real Jamaica Plain Coyotes Web Site

I've made a few changes to my site over the last few days. The new and improved site can be found at its new, and shorter, URL: http://j0540.bu.edu/jbberk. I'm not quite vain enough to require a double typing of my name to get to my Web site.

The biggest changes are in my audio slideshow. The "audio" and the "slideshow" are now a little better in sync, and I've added and subtracted a few photos.

Over the rest of the site, I've added a few links of interest here and there, and I've changed some text ever-so-slightly. Although the entire site still is 800 x 600 pixels for the benefit of the smaller screens out there, it is now centered, which is a bit of an aesthetic improvement.

I'll do my best to improve and add to the site in the near future. For now, though, I think it will remain just about as you see it.

A Coyote Web Site

I put my Jamaica Plain Coyote Web site (aka http://jo540.bu.edu/jbberk/jberk) online this afternoon. There might be a few changes over the next couple of weeks, but the site is up in its initial version at least.

Looking through all of its seven pages this afternoon, I realized that it might not deliver in the content area to the extent I had hoped and planned. But, I think I have provided at least a short overview of the coyote situation in Jamaica Plain for those who might be interested.

A Few Megabytes Dilated, Almost Time.

Despite doing what I thought was pacing myself over the last two months, I have now worked on my site for 16 hours since yesterday afternoon. I hope the site turns out prettier than the process has been.

I've had many of the big tasks done for a while now -- traveling to Cape Cod for the interview with Jonathan Way, editing my audio, putting together the framework of each page -- there have just been these "little" things here at the end that have provided some major headaches.

Not least among them is the fact that, for one reason or another, I never spoke with the Boston park ranger whose first-hand information about sightings I had been so counting on. In its place, I've had to settle for blog entries, news articles and reports of reports -- not ideal sources of information for journalistic purposes.

I'll post more later or tomorrow when the coyote pup's all the way out.

Online in 33 Hours

Today (and yesterday) was a marathon day of technical stuff for the Web site. After hours of needless frustration in Photoshop and Dreamweaver, my pages are almost ready to go. I'll spend Tuesday on a few final little details, and the site should be up Wednesday afternoon.

I'll provide a more detailed account later of what I went through today.
Good night.

Audio Slideshow

I've made some good progress on my audio slideshow over the last few days. It took a little time to figure out Adobe Premiere, but now that I have, I realize how useful a program it is.

As I was putting together my slideshow -- choosing photos, editing audio, lining it all up together -- I realized how much time one could spend on all the little details of a Web site. I experienced the same thing last week working on my homepage in Photoshop. I could easily have spent a half hour choosing between two shades of gray for the background.

With the slideshow, my aesthetic hang up was over the level of background howling behind Jonathan Way's entrance. I had lined up two clips of howling next to each other, the second somewhat quieter than the first to simulate a fading effect. behind way's voice. I imagine there must be a simple fade button that would do a much better job. Now I just need to find it.

Map Success

I finally spent some time figuring out the map resource I'll use. It seems so perfect for my site that I almost feel guilty for having it. There is even a dog (coyote) paw option as the location marker.

I've entered three locations so far: The Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Pond and the address of David Sherris, the JP resident whose dog was killed by a coyote in 2005.

The map is a Google map, although the mapping resource is not run by Google. I'll be able to easily embed the map in my site within its own window. I'm not sure at this point if I will create individual pages for each locale as I originally had planned. That depends on how much information I end up with on each sighting. At the very least, I'll learn how to create a drop-down menu from my nav bar so I have the option for the extra pages.

Progress Resumes

Despite the fact that I last posted nearly a month ago, I have been moving along in my site construction.

I have page design well under way, and I'm in the process of editing my audio and video for the all-important multimedia element of my multimedia Web site. The most daunting task still ahead is the creation of my interactive 'sightings' map, which I still haven't figured out how to accomplish. I expect to use yourgmap.com, a mapping resource recommended by Karla Valance, but I haven't yet explored the site, so I don't know what's involved.

One way or another, my site should be up and running in 11 or 12 days. I'll surely have much more to post between now and then.