HTML: Deprecated HTML5 Tags

A deprecated tag is a tag that is no longer in standard HTML use. Although deprecated tags may still be recognized by certain browsers, newer browsers will probably not accept such tags and will display them incorrectly, so it's better to avoid using them if you can.

These tags are deprecated in HTML5 only, as far as I know. You may want to do your own research if you are looking for XHTML or HTML4 tags.

All of these tags' functions are better handled with CSS:

• <acronym>
• <applet>
• <b> (Replaced by <strong>)
• <basefont>
• <big>
• <center>
• <dir>
• <font>
• <frame>
• <frameset>
• <i> (Replaced by <em>)
• <isindex>
• <noframes>
• <tt>

As stated earlier, some of these tags, such as <b> or <i>, will still be recognized in modern browsers. Others, like <frameset> <noframes> and <frame> are totally deprecated and, as far as I know, do not work in any modern browsers.

Regardless of the state of the tag, totally deprecated or still being phased out, it's best to avoid using inferior tags and use their modern counterparts instead, which are often CSS attributes.

Software Review: Microsoft Expression Web 4

I've been reading up on web design and programming lately. One of the books that my mom checked out of the library for me (thanks, Mom) was a fairly old book (written in 2007, to be precise) that talked about creating web pages.

The book was written for complete beginners with no coding experience, so instead of teaching the reader how to code with HTML, the book recommended one of two popular WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get", a type of webpage creating software) editors, Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web.

I'd already looked into Adobe Dreamweaver, and, well... let's just say that its price was way too expensive for my limited teenage budget. I expected that Microsoft Expression Web would be similarly priced, but I decided to check it out anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Microsoft stopped producing updates for the Expression software in 2010, and they now release Expression Web 4 to anyone -- for free!

So I went and downloaded the software, and spent some time playing around with it.

Sadly, it's not very good.

On one hand, it will save you a lot of hand-coding time by creating the elements for you. On the other hand, it's really difficult to use.

Trying to move around the elements on the screen is difficult. At first, they refuse to move, then they zip to the other side of the page. Dropping an element in the wrong place will cause it to disappear. Worse, the CSS seems to be faulty. Fixed elements move around in the preview webpage.

I'll give it this, the interface is simple enough, and it has the capacity to create a lot of different elements. But, what with the glitches and problems, I can see why it was discontinued.

It's possible that I just didn't spend enough time trying to learn this software, and I might mess around with it some more. But unless I find out otherwise, I'll have to give this software a mediocre rating.

If you wish to download the software anyway, you can download it for free here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36179

Disclaimer: I am not being paid to write this review.

3D Modeling: An Introduction

3D Modeling is the process of modeling three-dimensional models for use in animation. (It can also include, but usually doesn't include, the process of rendering, which is posing and taking a picture or video of 3D models.)

There are three ways to "make" a 3D model of your own, but only one of them involves actually making it. Just so that I cover all the bases, I'll talk briefly about the other two ways, but most of my posts about 3D modeling will focus on actual modeling.

(Please note that my area of expertise is in MikuMikuDance models. Although I'm sure it's possible to recolor and/or piece-together other kinds of models, I have no experience in the subject.)

A Honey the Cat recolor...

1. Recolor an existing model. Not recommended. This often produces less-than-satisfactory results (unless your character is a recolor of a character in the first place, which is also not recommended.) Also, unless you have the permission of the modeler to recolor his or her model, then recoloring their model is generally considered the same as stealing, especially if you don't credit the modeler. The only good thing about recoloring models is that it's easy. It can be a good way to learn about changing the colors and reflections of models, and is suitable for beginners, but it is not a good long-term solution for modeling. 
1. I used to recolor models myself, when I was just a beginner. To the right, you can see one of my first recolors, a recolor of the Honey the Cat model (by dec0rum on deviantART) into my Sonic FC, Wildcat. It looks terrible to me now, lol.
2. Piece together a model from parts. Recommended for those who don't have the skills/budget to create models from scratch. The way it works is that you download parts made for modeling from the internet, or rip them off of existing characters, then piece together and color the parts to match your character. If you're good at this, you can make really nice models using the piece-together method. The only downsides are that, since you're using other people's material, you need to get permission from all the people who made those parts before you post anything involving your model online. You also cannot ethically sell models using such parts without the permission of the part-makers.



Elizabeth the Hedgehog is (C) PrincessElizabeth013

1. I also used the piece-together method to make models for a long time. Here is a model I made for a (now infamous) deviantART user, using the piece-together method. (In order to make selling this model ethical, I only used parts from a user who gave permission for people to do anything with them. I made the rest of the parts myself.)

 The final way, and (in my opinion) the best way to make a model, is to model it from scratch in a modeling program.

I use Metasequoia to model with, but some other modeling programs to check out are:

1. Blender (and it's free!)
2. Maya 3D

If you are more interested in MMD modeling with the first or second methods, I recommend looking around for tutorials. http://learnmmd.com/ has some tutorials for recoloring models, and http://mmd-mall.deviantart.com/ is a good place to find free, high-quality MMD parts.

If you want to make other types of models, I'm afraid I can't help you there, at least not right now. However, I'm sure there are good tutorials out there, take a look around the internet!

But, if you want to create MMD models from scratch, like me, stick around! I'll be writing more blog posts in the future that talk about how to create a model in Metasequoia, then rig it in PMDE so it can be used for animation and posing.

(Author's Note: It should be noted that Metasequoia can export models into a variety of formats, so it may be possible to create models in Meta for use in Blender, Maya 3D, or other software. However, I don't know which programs will or won't accept those formats, and rigging such formats is beyond my abilities.)

Website Design: Creating A Visitor Profile

When you're making a website, you generally aren't advertising towards every person on the planet. My blog, for example, is geared towards younger people who like technology. (Making content designed for such people isn't really a problem for me, since I happen to be a younger person who likes technology. xD)

So, when you're making a website, you don't want a mish-mash of every design and content concept out there in the hopes of attracting some of every group of people. You should identify what type of people you're looking to attract, then shape your website accordingly.

That's where a visitor profile comes in. A visitor profile is a profile that describes the ideal visitor to your site -- the kind of person you're aiming to attract and the kind of person that you think would benefit most from your website.

Since I don't know about your website, I can't tell you how you should make your visitor profile. Certainly, the profile of each website will vary a lot. Some may be more specific than others. (e.g. a site selling backpacks for preschool girls vs. a site about all kinds of internet stuff)

However, I can give you some things to think about when creating a visitor profile.

• The age of the visitor. It can be a range or an actual age.
• The gender of the visitor.
• The country or place that the visitor lives in. Language is an important factor.
• Their interests, likes and dislikes.
• Their personality.

Good luck with your visitor profiles! And remember, I love comments!