3 Sites for Learning to Make Web Pages

Code Cademy

Code Cademy is a great resource to learn HTML and CSS. I found it to be very user-friendly. The website is set up like a college course, starting with very basics and walking you through step by step. You can sign up for an account to keep track of your progress and see from the list how much you've completed. Everything is very simply laid out and easy to follow. I like that the graphics are simple and make for quick reference to see how far you are, what all the sections are and how much longer you have.

html.net

Html.net is a website that offers tutorials for HTML, HTML5, CSS, PHP, ASP, and JavaScript. It seems pretty easy to follow along. I like that you can pick by topic what part of each you want to learn. You can easily navigate between topics from the sidebar or from the top of the page. There are also forums that you can ask questions and get answers or look for others that may have asked similar questions to what you are having problems with. 

30 Day to Learn HTML and CSS

The 30 day to learn HTML and CSS is a youtube playlist that offers a 30 day lesson plan of videos. There is one video a day to watch that is only about 5-10 minutes each. I like that this is a visual way to see a step by step guide of how to write html. I like watching how they do stuff as I am more of a hands-on learner than reading and understanding it right away. 

Aroma 6-Cup (Cooked) Pot Style Rice Cooker and Food Steamer

I have owned the Aroma 6-Cup Pot Style Rice Cooker and Food Steamer for just over a year. I purchased this product May 2014 from Amazon and have loved it from day one. I have never owned a rice cooker before, and I am extremely happy this is the one I picked. I did a lot of research before selecting this particular model. I wanted something that was small since I have an abnormally small kitchen but also big enough to make what I needed for a full family dinner with leftovers. We like to make large enough meals that we can have leftovers for lunches. 

We have used the Aroma 6-Cup Pot Style Rice Cooker and Food Steamer about once to twice a week in some way or nothing. I love that this rice cooker gives you the option to steam veggies and even cook meat on the top try while you are cooking your rice. You can even use just the top steam basket by its self if you do not want to make rice with it. I have also used the Aroma 6-Cup Pot Style Rice Cooker and Food Steamer to make quinoa that it makes perfectly every time.  

3 Online Businesses I Visit Most Often

Amazon

Amazon is an online retailer that makes money selling anything from food, shoes, clothes, bikes and even now offers services in some locations. They are doing extremely well as they are one of the largest online retailers. I do business with them because most things I can get for the same or lower price that I can get them elsewhere. As well as, I  get free two-day shipping on most anything with my student membership. I like that the amazon prime membership is a yearly payment and not monthly. Having the student membership I also use the prime movie/tv service as well as prime music which is included in my annual payment and offers me access to watch movie through my tv and I have many playlists of music on my phone that I don't have to pay per song like I do with iTunes. 

DaySpring

DaySpring sells Christian goods. Anything from books, cards, gifts and bags. They make their money selling these items. From my knowledge and the limited information, I can find online they are doing good in their business. I do business with them because of the products they offer and their excellent customer service. I can not find the variety of what they offer in very limited places.

Old Navy

Old Navy is a clothing department store. They also have a brick and mortar locations, but I prefer to shop online because they often offer online discounts for 30-40% off that are not offered in the store. They also have a wider selection of clothing online verse the store. Another reason I chose this option is I enjoy online shopping. It saves me time, the ability to do it when stores are closed and to not have to drag my young child around from store to store. From the information, I can find Old Navy is doing very well. I know they outsource their clothing manufacturing to cut cost significantly.

3 Ways I'd Like to Make Money Online

DogVacay

DogVacay is an online service that allows you to find local people to watch your dog while you are on vacation or out of town. As a host I can make a profile about myself, any dogs I have, where I live and anything else that other dog owners would find useful in picking me to watch their pet. You are also able to set your own price.

Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant is a remote administrative assistant. They professional workers who have to be self-motivated and not need micromanage. Simply put they are generally given a list of tasks to complete and do all their work from a home office. Zirtual is an online service that matches entrepreneurs with virtual assistants to help them.

Google AdSense

Google AdSense is a free way to earn money online by displaying ads next to your online content. You can choose ads that relate to whatever is on your blog or online content. This seems like a very simple way to make money online. After signing up on Google AdSense you just make space for an ad to be on your page, advertisers bid to show in your ad space in a real-time auction, and then google handles all the billing process so you just wait to get paid. 

3 Examples of Businesses Using Social Media

Justin’s

Justin’s is a nut butter company that focus on high-quality product. They use Instagram social media to help promote their products. I think they use Instagram very well. They post frequently but not too frequently that it’s annoying. They are very intentional about the pictures or video they share making sure they are profession inviting but also fun. 

Full Throttle Java

Full Throttle is a local coffee drive through located in Redmond, Oregon. They use Facebook to help promote their product. I think they use Facebook well as they post specials and also a few days a week they will post a picture of their product with a tagline to help entice their customers when they are browsing their newsfeeds. Also, they are one of the few little local coffee shops that you can find their address, phone number useful basic info as well as good social media daily use. 

HydroFlask

Hydro flask uses Pinterest as one of their social media sources to help promote their products in a very unique way. This is a great way to reach a many different kind of people. They are 28 board they pin their products as well as things ways you might use their product, giving back, inspiration and more. I noticed they only have 751 followers and this is possibly a newer social media avenue for them, but I feel could help reach a wider spread of people with their different board types. 

3 Places I visit for Video and Image Media

YouTube

YouTube is a website devoted to video content. Anyone can create an account and add videos of any kind within the regulations of not being copy written, illegal content and other limited parameters. There is everything from how to videos, music videos, slide shows and much more.   

Shutterfly

Shutterfly is a website to allow people to upload their personal photos in order to make prints or many custom photo products. You can share your uploads with other Shutterfly customers and there is an endless way to use your photos on Shutterfly.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a social media collaboration site that allows you to save and categories ideas, photos, videos, and websites. You can share this ‘boards’ or categories or keep them private for your own personal use. The pages that you view give each item saved a picture to associate with it. So the main content-m  of this site is photos. 

3 Blogs I'm Interested in Reading Regularly

Following Simplicity

This is a blog I currently follow and read regularly. This blog is about how to live a similar life with an emphasis on living a Christian life. The authors Gina and Zac Detweiler are former youth pastors and have three children. They have turned their blog and small business into their careers in order to have a more simple life and have more flexibility. This is what their blog focuses on. You can find posts on anything from how to make to make homemade laundry soap, having an urban farm to financial and marriage advice.

Lysa Terkeurtst

This is a blog I have followed for a long time. The author Lysa Terkeurst is the president of Proverbs 31 Ministers a Christian minister for woman and book author. This minister offers books, bible studies, and many resources for women in their day life. I have read many of her books and really connect with her point of view. Her personal blog she writes about personal topics primarily targeted at married women with children. There are posts on anything from marriage, your relationship with God, and overcoming setbacks. I enjoy this blog because it is very positive and encourage as well as often times teaches me something about myself.

Bend Tech

Bend Tech is a new blog to me that I found searching for this post. This blog focused on sharing information about Central Oregon technology startups. The author is the organization Tech Alliance of Central Oregon which has a mission to bring together people and ideas to create startup companies locally. I think I will enjoy reading this blog as there is a potential for me to find opportunities I would be interested in. I also find more connection to this blog because it is a local blog which I enjoy so it isn’t so far out of my world. 

3 Safety Suggestions I Need to Follow

   1. Use separate passwords for different services.

This safety tip is simple to understand but can be hard to actually do. So many of us have many different online accounts and services we login to very frequently. It is hard to memorize many different passwords or have to write them all down and risk losing them. From this week’s reading I found out there are password managers that can store and help you come up with strong passwords so you aren't having to come up with them yourself or remember all of them. I currently have a handful of different passwords but defiantly have overlapping ones as I have so many different accounts for this or that. From the information I learned about password managers I think I will try one of these services to help protect myself online a little better. This will help prevent someone from easily accessing all my online accounts with just one or a few passwords. If someone does hack or find out a password it would only be for one service verse many of those I have online.

2.Don’t share personal information while connected to public Wi-Fi.

When you are out of your home with your computer and connect to any wi-fi whether it is at a coffee shop or at school it is important to not share any personal information. This is a safety tip I do not follow well. I hate to admit it but with a busy life and so much of day to day life being done online it’s hard to avoid sharing some sort of personal data while on a public network. I plan to be more aware of what information I am accessing or sharing while connecting to wi-fi that is not my home wi-fi. By doing this I am preventing hackers from getting my personal data. I also found in our reading that if you must access personal data while on public wi-fi you can use a virtual private network tool to encrypt your usage or to use your personal mobile hotspot. These tools can help prevent someone from accessing the same public wi-fi and hacking into your connect to steal your personal data. I found a great article about safty and public wi-fi that opened by eyes a lot called 'Think Twice Before Accessing Personal Info.'

3. Understanding the cloud

The cloud is a way to store your files, pictures, videos and most any data type in a virtual online storage database. It is a great way to be able to access your file when you are away from your computer. There are many different service providers that offer cloud storage. I personally use a cloud storage system but I am not a huge user of it. I can say reading more about it this week especially in the 'How to Avoid being Hacked' article, it has made me look more into the security of my current cloud provider and what all I actually have saved on it. Although most cloud storage services are secure you are still putting your information out there and for someone else to watch over opening up the possibility of being hacked. So you need to be aware of what you have stored on the cloud and what the security of your service provider is. 

3 Productivity Web Tools

Google Calendar

I use Google Calendar on a daily basic and have for some time. I love this productivity tool. This tool is easy to use and great for keeping track of everything from important dates to your ‘to do’ list. I like that I can add my Gmail Tasks to my calendar to make sure I am not missing anything that needs done. I also use this to collaborate. It can be used at work by sharing your calendar with co-works but also have privacy but allowing you to change the settings to show busy while withholding the detailed information from everyone’s view. I use this with my husband so we know when we aren't together and need to schedule something if either of us have a commitment already. All you have to do to use Google Calendar is sign up for a Gmail if you don’t already have one and go to Google Calendar. You can also download the calendar as an app on your mobile device.

Evernote

I have not personally used this application before but have read how helpful it is and would like to try it out myself. I just downloaded the mobile version to test it out. After reading the High Performance Lifestyle blog I thought it was interesting that many of the experts had Evernote in their list of favorite productivity tools. I went to Evernote's website where you can download and use this application.Reading about it there seems to be a lot of great tools, like the find feature being able to find words and images even within your handwritten notes.

Google Drive

This is an application I have used but not to the extent it can help one be productive. I’ve used it in college course to work on collaborating on documents. I love that you are able to see previous revisions of documents and who edited what, as well as real time collaboration being able to see exactly what someone is doing as they are doing it. I ability to share documents, files and more so easily and be able to access it wherever is great for how much I am on the go. I also found a lot of other great uses for Google Drive to help improve productivity in this Practical E-Commerce article. If you haven’t used this application before all your need is a Gmail account as I talked about for Google Calendar. In the top right hand corner of your screen click on the tile icon and then the drive icon as shown in the image below.  You can also go to https://www.google.com/drive/ for direct access.