Dreamweaver Lesson 3

LVS Online Classes
Instructor: Althea Fox

May 31, 2007

Lesson One | Lesson Two | Lesson Three | Lesson Four | Lesson Five | Lesson Six

Blueberries, Backgrounds and CSS

The Backgrounds

Because of the possibilities of being able to add images as background, I spent some time in Photoshop creating some seamless tiles. Finally! Something to spark up the look of the page! However, with that exciting prospect came also the responsibility to constrain the design to a small rectangle or square. As if that were not constraining enough, I then needed to concentrate on design that would not conflict for attention with whatever text I might use on that background. My delight quickly turned to determination to come up with something that would be colorful ...exciting and bland at the very same time.

After trying photos of flowers skies leaves grass and then paintings of flowers, stars and grasses I developed something which might be usable on a one page site...blueberries photo, AHB and Liquefy then made seamless with the offset filter. Next, for a second background, the Filter>Render>Clouds with background of white and foreground of sky blue to create a seamless clouds background! Ideas then began to develop for the content of the page! Blueberries facts, the sky for background and the blueberries for a Block quote background!

The Blueberries

ORAC

-Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity developed by the USDA*. ORAC has become the definitive measurement of antioxidant capacity.
*Source - Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 44:701-705; 3343-3426, 1996; 46:2686-2693, 1998

Antioxidants are the "natural zappers" of free radicals-unstable oxygen molecules associated with cancer, heart disease and the effects of aging. Recent USDA studies measured the antioxidant activity of more than 40 commercially available fruits and vegetables and ranked blueberries #1. You can read more about the healthful benefits of blueberries at Maine Munchies (this link will open in a new window)

Did you know.....

• That early American colonists made grey paint by boiling blueberries in milk.
• The blue paint used to paint woodwork in Shaker houses was made from sage blossoms, indigo and blueberry skins, mixed in milk.
• If all the blueberries grown in North America in one year were spread out in a single layer, they would cover a four-lane highway that stretched from New York to Chicago. (The Great Food Almanac)
• Blueberries and huckleberries although related, are not the same. One obvious difference is that the blueberry has many soft, tiny almost unnoticeable seeds, while the huckleberry has ten larger, hard seeds. Blueberries are also more blue, while huckleberries are blackish blue or reddish black. This red/black variety is also called southern cranberry.
• Blueberries have been commercially cultivated only since the early 20th century, when the USDA helped develop new improved varieties.
• The blueberry is the second most popular berry in the U.S., the strawberry is number one. Over 200 million pounds of blueberries are grown commercially each year.
• Blueberries contain significant quantities of both antibacterial and antiviral compounds, and have a reputation in northern Europe of fighting infections.They may also help protect against heart disease.
• The blueberry muffin is the official muffin of Minnesota.
• The blueberry is the official berry of Nova Scotia.
• The blueberry is the official state fruit of New Jersey
• The North American Blueberry industry ships more than 100 metric tons of fresh blueberries each year to Iceland, and more than 500 metric tons to Japan. (2005)
• North America produces nearly 90% of world blueberry production (2005).
• Maine produces about 25% of all the blueberries grown in North America (1998, wild and cultivated combined) and is the largest producer of wild blueberries in the world.
• Wild blueberries are grown on 60,000 acres in Maine, and 99% of this wild blueberry crop is frozen. (Although some of these are later canned).

The book, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey published in 1978, has long been a favorite with me. I have enjoyed it with both my own children and children at school.

Blueberries for Sal

... The story concerns a little girl, named Sal who goes out blueberry picking with her mother. At the same time Sal and her mother are blueberry picking, a mother bear and her cub are out hunting for blueberries to eat and fill themselves up for the winter. As the story continues, little Sal, and the bear cub, both lose track of their mothers as they stop and eat blueberries. Sal finds herself following the mother bear and the bear cub follows little Sal's mother. When the mother bear and Sal's mother realize who is really behind them, they run away in search of their own children. The end of the story finds the bear and bear cub, and little Sal and her mother, safely back together again. Blueberries For Sal is the heartwarming story of the love between a parent and child-- be that parent and child human or animal!

CSS

Now I will go back and create a style sheet which will allow me to change the font, font color and size, horizontal rules, background colors and images both in the text of the Body and Block quote. I am surprised to see how easy it seems to be! In looking at the blueberry background, I needed to have it muted a bit more because it is a bit too busy for a background for text.

I think that I could could have carried this blueberry theme a bit further by creating little blueberry bullets and saving them into the images folder and then, with the styles sheet, applied the blueberries as the bullets. In reality it may be just a bit much, but I can see the possibilities.

I really like the power of CSS! One application of the style and it can take care of the whole page. It will prove even more powerful when it can be applied (with my increased understanding of it) to a whole site.

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