Web Standards and Accessibility

When I think of standards on the web, myself being a business student I automatically think of the W3C. The W3C is an international industry consortium dedicated to leading the web to its fullest potential. Tim Berners-Lee the inventor of the web is in charge of the consortium, it has more than 330 member organizations, including Microsoft and Apple Computers. The W3C develops open specifications to enhance the interoperability of Web-related products.

There are many advantages of using web standards; firstly for people it provides accessibility. This doesn't just mean allowing the web to be available to those who have disabilities, but allowing all web pages to be understood by people who use different browsers. This browser may be voice related which read web pages out loud for people with sight impairments or even browsers that translate text into Braille.

Web Standards also create a sense of stability, as they are designed with forward and backward compatibility in mind so that data using old versions of the standards will continue to work in new browsers. Also the data using new versions of the standards will work in the old browsers. Web standards make it easier for those who work designing websites, as web standards offer a set of rules that every web developer can follow and understand.

In terms of software, web standards gives web pages greater visibility in web searches. Standards make it easier for both the server-side and the client side of software to understand the structure of the document. These standards are written to ensure that old browsers can understand the basics structure of the user's documents, even if there have been changes and additions made, the content will be visible in its simplest form.

The adoption of web standards is becoming more and more important; the number of people that use the web is increasing on a daily basis. Therefore people are constantly trying to make the web a better place for, web developers and of course the end user.

Below is a link about a person who suffered because of the lack of web standards.

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/decisions/comdec/2000/DD000200.htm

Enjoy Reading J

 

 

 

Digital Marketing

Technology is forever evolving which means that businesses must follow suit. Over the years there has been many advances in technology, this has resulted in industries changing dramatically too. For instance let's take the area of marketing; the way in which companies reach out to their customers is very different today than it was say ten years ago. Companies are now promoting their brands through various digital advertising channels to reach their customer, this now includes, television, radio, the internet and mobile phones. There has been a rapid migration of advertising budgets to digital channels; every working professional needs a deep knowledge of digital media, as having a good understanding of this area allows companies to reach their customers anytime and anywhere all over the world.







Consumers are now experiencing marketing in a multichannel way, they can research products online, receive emails from their favourite brands and use text message and twitter more often then they talk on their phone. With the level of data on each of the communication channels, it provides marketers the opportunity to step up to the plate and find new and better ways of interacting with their customers. With digital marketing it provides customers with a more meaningful and useful way of interacting with their favourite brands and in turn makes the life of the marketer a lot easier. Digital marketing uses the data that previous marketers have already gathered; they are able to combine data from multiple channels into one marketing data mart. A great example of this is how nightclubs which have previously took their customers details for their membership cards are now texting and even facebooking their customers about drink promotions etc.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dublin-Ireland/The-Wright-Venue/96019897504
On the above link you will find the Venues facebook page, which has details on the latest acts to perform there, drink promotions and theme nights. It also offers all facebook members a discount into the night club. This shows how digital marketing is so effective and is reinventing the relationships that businesses have with their customers.


 

 

Fashion

Evolution of Fashion 

Like most young women I am obsessed with fashion. Whether its buying the weekly glossy magazines to see the latest trends, or watching fashion shows I’m definitely hooked. The power of fashion is unbelievable, if women goes shopping for an interview and buys a new suit, she instantly feels more confident, because she knows she looks the part. It has to be said, that there is a sense of self gratification with fashion for women, wearing new clothes and makeup boosts confidence and enthusiasm in everyday life. What you choose to wear and how you present yourself, says a lot about who you are as a person. As the designer Yves Saint Laurent says, "Fashions fade, style is eternal".

Fashion through the years

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  In the 1960's fashion became more elegant thanks to the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. Women wore suits, usually in pastel colours, with box jackets with over sized buttons. The 1960’s were the decade for the shift dress and the mini skirt which was worn by nearly every stylish young woman in the western world.
• The 1970's saw a continuation of the miniskirts, bell bottoms and the hippie look from the late 1960's. Wide legged flared jeans and platform shoes became staple items for both men and women. Fashion was influenced majorly by movies out at the time such as Saturday Night Fever.
• The clothes worn in the 80s depicted people who were trying to find themselves. They looked for ways to express their creativity and individuality. Men wore heavy makeup and grew long hair. Women wore short hair and layers of clothing. Both sexes were looking for an identity.

• Most  of the fashion trends in the 1990s are based around blue jeans and the t-shirt. Hairstyles were often, but not exclusively, straight.

• As we advance in fashion we have to appreciate the fact that what we wear today is excessively inspired by what we wore in the past. Most of the fashion in the 2000's was from previous decades mainly the 70's and 80's.People are becoming more and more dating with their fashion choices.

A noticeable trend in the fashion industry is the power celebrities have over our fashion choices, celebs have become fashion icons to which young girls and women look up to for fashion advice. In the olden days girls looked to their mother for fashion advice, as well as famous movie stars such a Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. Today girls look up to Sienna Miller, Lady Gaga, Kate Moss,Cheryl Cole and the girls from the hit TV show Gossip Girl. Also models such as Alexa Chung are starting influence people also. 

With so many new and up and coming fashion icons, there is no surprise to me that so many girls are getting into fashion. It is a fascinating and ever evolving industry, where you are given the opportunity to express how you are feeling by what you wear. As the famous Coco Channel once said, "Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening" This shows that no matter what, fashion will live on  forever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI

 Had to include Madonna's Vogue, I thought it was very appropriate :)

Enjoy reading my fellow fashion lovers!xoxo

Are we addicted to technology??

Facebook, Twitter, MSN are just the names of the social networking sites that I am slightly addicted to. But I have noticed that there are millions of fellow technology devotees out there. There seems to be a need to share information with others such as "whats on our mind" and waiting in anticipation to see what our "friends" and followers have got to say about it. It is getting to the stage, where the first thing we do in the morning is to reach over grab the laptop and see whats going on in the "news"!! 


It not just the social networking, its a rare site to see people without their mobile phones stuck to their hand. Which really does pose the question, are we addicted to technology?


In my E-business class, I was asked to do a forty eight hour technology fast, I was very excited to see if I could actually even do it. Shockingly enough, no I couldn't, I lasted a mere few hours, due to the fact I lost my phone, so I did pretty well in terms of the internet, but had to give in eventually. I personally think we are dependent so much on technology, for work, college and of course updating our Facebook, blogs etc. 

I found this picture and I thought it was funny and scary at the same time, because it it a fact that the age of getting your first phones is getting younger and younger. This shows again how much we are dependent on technology if we are providing youngsters with mobile phones. Not only are children using mobile phones, they too are on social networking sites, which is making them very vulnerable to predators out there. 


Although there are downsides to technology, at the end of the day technology is the way forward, we all use some form of technology every day. For example my daily routine would include the use of my phone, ipod, laptop.

Aerosmith - Crazy

Got to Love this song :)

NAMA?!?

When I got asked to blog about NAMA, I'm not going to lie to you all I have heard of it but never knew what it was all about? So after looking it up this is what I got, the letters stand for the National Assets Management Agency.  Its an agency set up by the Government to buy assets such as loans, from banks. Apparently its supposed to take the riskier loan classes away from the balance sheets of the banks and make the banks safer and more secure for depositors and investors. Oh and its supposed to ensure stability in our financial system and free up the banks to lend businesses and households.


Our Taoiseach has also expressed recently in the news that the National Assets Management Agency is vital if the country is to avoid years of stagnation or worse. What I can gather is NAMA is becoming responsible for sorting out the mess with the banks at the minute, NAMA will say how much of a discount it will put on the property, land and development portfolios at the five participating institutions. The original estimate was for a 30% discount on loans transferred to NAMA, but the latest percentage to be released is 60%  for Nationwide.  Also the Financial Regulator has to decide how much money the banks will need to set aside for bad loans, which will shine a light on how much capital the lenders will need. 


There is also a lot of speculation that 40% of Bank of Ireland and over 70% of AIB will end up in State ownership. These rumors have made people nervous and has hit the bank share hard, which is understandable as confidence in the country's banking system has diminished. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX4xK8N04yQ




I personally think this link expresses the worried opinions of the Nation. 

Great News

WOW.... just found out I passed my exam, thank God for that!! I have literally been stressing for weeks about it, but suppose it shows once you put the work in, you will get the results you want. I have to say the whole experience has thought me a lesson, not to take things for granted! I thought I would be grand doing my first repeat for Technology Information Systems, but I didn't take into account the difficulty of the subject. But thank God finished with that!! I can officially start fourth year with a bang now, because I didn't want to organize my notes or that to tempt fate. But as lame as it sounds Ive sorted all my notes and plan to start as organized as I can, a first here I come LOL!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu7i0fnmW64

Now all I need is to get myself one of these ha ha!!