A DIGITAL MEDIA VENTURE TAKEN BY JUSTIN WILSON

HOTGLUE:

What is hotglue?

Hot glue is a web design system where the user has complete control over the content design and layout. The approach the program uses, is to have no structured layout to the pages meaning the user can move and control the text or media on the page in any way they like. The tools used by the program make manipulating text, video and images as simple and visual as possible in order to make it appealing to beginners or those with little web design experience. The following video taken from the official hot glue website delivers a good concept of what the program is about.

PRO'S AND CON'S:

My first encounter with hot glue involved a task where I had to create a webpage that was as wild and unstructured as possible. The idea was to use as many fonts, colours, and images as possible so that I became familiarized with hot glues tools. This was an interesting experience as it allowed me to play with the program and try and test some of its capabilities as well as exploring the limits of certain aspects such as setting backgrounds. The site I created was a tribute to Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars therefore I used a bold title with the quote 'IT'S A TRAP' for this I was able to explore the available fonts along with the different text options such as letter spacing and font size. I then looked at adding media such as images or videos and settled for scattering the same GIF file across the page. Once this was complete I finished by looking at how to link pages through elements such as text which is where the home button takes you. Overall I thought this exercise was effective at introducing hot glue and its abilities but it also let me see the features I would like to use or some of the issues I may encounter with using the program.

MY HOTGLUE EXPERIENCE:

PROS:

Visual Layout

Simple yet Effective Tools

Room for added functionality

Ability to easily re arrange content

Support for videos, images and iframes

Can be used with little web design experience

Free to sign up

CONS:

Alignment of content has to be done by eye

Limited number of fonts

Targeting Divs is a hassle

Browser compatibility issues

Inability to add shapes unless they are images

Text sizes must be applied to all text within a text box

No further paragraph options such as creating bulleted lists

HOTGLUE TOOLS:

Hotglue Tools

When using hotglue the user has a variety of tools at their disposal to create the website they desire. These tools are shown in the form of visual icons.

The first set of tools can be opened by clicking once on the background of the site. The tools allow the user to add a content box similar to a div. Upload any media of their choice such as video, audio or images. They can also from this first menu embed other web pages or YouTube and Vimeo videos.

Via double clicking the user then opens up a more advanced menu with further capabilities. These include:
Changing the page title and URL
Make the page the 'Start' Page
Creating or deleting a page
Changing the page background color or image
Setting a fixed background image or adjusting the image selection
Adjusting the sites page structure
Accessing the Pages Code
Comparing revisions of the page based on backups
Showing or hiding rulers that can be used on the page

First Options Set

Second Options Set

Content Options

Content Tools

Once the user has added content such as text and images, once this has been clicked or selected they can access the last set of visual options that appear as two bars.

The first is a top horizontal bar that covers text and color based options such as: background color and transparency, text size, font, style, color, letter spacing, and alignment.

Also a vertical side bar that has other options such as cloning the object, setting its transparency,locking it on the page, its arrangement in relation to other content, targeting the object or making it a link, or deleting it.