Computer Hardware

GCSE ICT

COMPUTER HARDWARE MY REPORT

Unit 3

Assignment 5

Computer Hardware

Christopher Perkins

User needs

The users are anyone interested in purchasing computer hardware.

The users need a series of web pages to allow them to explore further which computer hardware they may want to buy. These pages need to be set in out in simple easy to understand language so as not to confuse a new user with too much technical information.

My plan

I will create seven pages using text and graphics. I will use hypertext links and image hyperlinks to link the pages.

My six pages will be:

Main Menu – this will contain the contents of the other pages and links to them.
Input Devices
Output Devices
Storage Devices
Main Processing Unit
Health & Safety – This will contain information on how to use your computer safely.

Each Device page will have details of:

The item
The description
An image
An estimated cost

Each page will link back to the main menu so that the user can then select the next page to view.

I will use the Internet and catalogues to research current prices and find images of each device on my web pages. I will save the images into a folder called “Hardware Pictures” to store the different pictures I need. To save the pictures I will have to right click on the image I want and select save picture as, and name it with a sensible reference, before saving it to my folder.

I will use the program Front Page Express to create my pages in HTML format; this is HyperText Markup Language and is the code used for producing Web pages. I will be able to design each page visually, by inputting text, background colours, images and links and then save the file in HTML format. I will use the Internet Explorer as my browser to view them as web pages.

I will set up each of my pages and then insert the links.

My Links

Putting My Plan Into Action

I first loaded Front page Express and saved the page as Buyers.

Then I started to enter the basic text that I wanted. I then formatted the font, text size and the colour.

I saved my work then opened a new blank page.

I set up this page in the exact same way as the main menu and saved it as ‘Input Devices’.

On this page I needed to insert a table to display the items on the page in an ordered way. I did this by selecting table, insert table from the toolbar and deciding how many rows and columns I required. I clicked OK to insert the table.

I formatted the table using table properties menu and changed the alignment to centre.

I entered the column headings for the item, how does it work, image and estimated price.

I formatted the text and table colours as before and entered the item name and its description. Then I inserted an image; using Insert pop up menu, image, and located my saved images that I got off the Internet and selected the one I wanted.

Some of the images I decided to use were animated files (ani.gif) eg. mouse_ani.gif, which I wanted to use in my Input Devices page. These aren't animated on Front Page Express but are when you view the pages on the Internet Explorer.

I followed my plan for the Input Devices page by giving a description of each item and an estimated price. I found this information from a variety of places including websites, such as www.pcworld.co.uk, on the Internet, and files and programs on the school’s Intranet.

To complete my Input Devices page, I decided to insert an animated GIF which when clicked, would enable the user to return to the main menu.

I decided on an easily understandable animated GIF, which said BACK on a revolving disc.

I found this on an animated GIF Website, in the button category and copied and pasted this onto the bottom of the page in my Input Devices page. I then inserted a hyperlink to link it to the Main Menu page. The address for the link is Buyers.htm.

I carried on and created my other pages, following my plan and formatting the background colour etc as before.

I named my other pages: Output Devices, Storage Devices, Main Processing Unit, Health & Safety and Help.

When I had finished setting up all my pages I could go back to the Buyers Guide page to insert the hyperlinks to the other pages.

I opened the Buyers Guide page in FrontPage Express. I highlighted the first menu option which was Main Processing Unit, and then clicked on Insert, Hyperlink from the toolbar.

I entered “buyersMPU.htm” as the URL address of my file for the hyperlink to link to, making sure that my spelling was correct and that I used the same upper or lowercase letters that I had used to save my file. I gave the file extension of .htm to ensure that it linked to the correct file. I clicked OK and my hyperlink was created.

I could see that the hyperlink had been created because the menu item had become underlined. I saved my Buyers Guide page and was ready to confirm that the hyperlink had worked.

I opened my Buyers Guide file in Internet Explorer. I moved the mouse over the Input Devices link and the arrow changed to a hand. I clicked on the link and was hyperlinked to my Input Devices page. I scrolled down to the bottom of the page where my “Back” button was located and clicked on that. This returned you to the Buyers Guide page.

I went back to FrontPage Express to complete the hyperlinks for all the other pages, making sure that all the URL addresses were spelt correctly and had the .htm file extension needed to link them properly.

Once all the hyperlinks had been created I loaded Internet Explorer and check each of them. I had successfully linked all of my pages from the Main Menu page and back again.

HTML

Safeguarding My Work

To keep my work safe I made a back up of my work onto my user area on the school network and transferred my files from home to school and back on a floppy disk. I used the spelling and grammar checker and proof read my work for errors.

Health and Safety

I worked safely with the computer equipment both at home and at school, following my own advice on Health and Safety. I took regular breaks of fifteen minutes and sat comfortably at all times. I did not have food or drink near my computer.

Evaluation

My finished web pages followed my plan mostly but I did make a few changes whilst making the pages. The hyperlinks are easy to use so you can easily access what information you want.

In all I think I had met my user needs and produced an easy to use and understand set of web pages.

I will continue to try different techniques, like adding different sounds and backgrounds and changing the look of my pages.

I enjoyed this project and was pleased that my own plan was easy to follow and improve as I worked.

HTML

I decided to investigate the HTML code of my documents. I opened the documents in FrontPage Express and selected view, and HTML.

To try to understand what some of these codes mean, I decided to test whether I would be able to edit the HTML code, and what changes this would make.

I opened the page Main Menu and viewed the HTML code.

I returned to the normal page view and found this had changed the font size on screen.

I could make changes to the background colour and alignment of the text in the same way.

A printout of the HTML codes for each of my pages is included at the end of this report.

<html>

<head>

content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

<title>The Buyers Guide:</title>

</head>

<font color="#0000FF" size="6"

face="Comic Sans MS">The Buyers Guide: Computer Hardware

<img src="../../compspin_e0.gif" width="100"

height="80">

<font color="#0000FF" size="5"

face="Comic Sans MS">Main Menu

<a href="buyersMPU.htm"><font color="#0000FF"

size="5" face="Comic Sans MS">Main Processing Unit</a>

<a href="buyersMPU.htm"><img

src="../../circuit2_e0.gif" border="0" width="137" height="103"></a>

<a href="buyersSD.htm"><font color="#0000FF"

size="5" face="Comic Sans MS">Storage Devices</a>

<img src="floppy_disk_walking_md_wht.gif"

width="100" height="100">

<marquee

height="22" width="20%">Floppy Disk, CD-Rom, Ram, DVD-Rom, Hard Disk</marquee>

<a href="buyersID.htm"><font color="#0000FF"

size="5" face="Comic Sans MS">Input Devices</a>

<a href="buyersID.htm"><font color="#0000FF"

size="5" face="Comic Sans MS"><img src="../../gda_e0.gif"

border="0" width="96" height="58"></a>

<marquee

height="22" width="20%">Mouse, Tracker Ball, Microphone, Keyboard, Scanner</marquee>

<a ...

Computer Hardware

This is a preview of the whole essay

Document Details

Related Essays

Computer Hardware, uses, advantages and disadvantages.

A computer system consists of hardware and software.

Proposed Hardware and Software For a Computer Aided Design Company

Hardware analysis.