IT SKILLS REPORT. Jeremy Yon g

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1 IT SKILLS REPORT Jeremy Yon g

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction... 2 Objective... 2 Wordpress... 3 Overview... 3 Wordpress in Pictures... 4 Advantages of WordPress... 4 Disadvantages of WordPress... 5 Short Summary... 5 Office Sway... 6 Overview... 6 Office Sway in Pictures... 7 Advantages of Sway... 7 Disadvantages of Sway... 8 Short Summary... 8 Dropbox... 9 Overview... 9 Dropbox in pictures Advantages of Dropbox Disadvantages of Dropbox Short summary Conclusion

3 INTRODUCTION This is report is documented by Jeremy Yon G This report is made part of an IT skills assignment weighing 50% of the IT skills module. The 3 programs that I will be reviewing is WordPress, Sway, and Dropbox. OBJECTIVE The objective of this report is: 1) To give a concise but informational review of 3 cloud software applications that I have used throughout the IT skills module. 2) To identify the pros and cons of each software 3) To familiarize with different cloud software 4) To give an unbiased conclusion to my thoughts on the 3 cloud software that I will be reviewing 2

4 WORDPRESS Overview Wordpress has been very useful throughout the course of this module. I used Wordpress to create my blog on creating websites through Visual Studio. Wordpress was created and released in 2003, and is one of the easiest and most popular website blogging tool found on the internet. It reportedly supports more than 60 million websites 1. Wordpress is written in PHP and MySQL. Wordpress allows the user to apply different themes to the webpage, enabling the user to customize the website however they want. The user may choose to use the default themes (of which some are free and some cost money), or the user can code their own custom CSS and HTML pages. Besides themes, wordpress also allows users to attach different plugins to the website. These plugins and widgets increase usability and functionality of the website

5 Wordpress in Pictures Advantages of WordPress - Wordpress is very easy to use. There is a short tutorial when you start and literally everything is there before you when you use it. - It is cost effective. A Wordpress blog is free to use if you use their domain name. Most themes and plugins are free of charge too. - WordPress is widely used and therefore developers are always updating the software in terms of usability, functionality and security. - E Commerce can be applied to the blog using several plugins. - Allows the programmers to design the website according to their own preferences through the use of updating the HTML. 4

6 Disadvantages of WordPress - Even though it s free, you would need to start paying to unlock new functionality. For example, premium users would be able to use their own domain name if they paid an annual fee. This might put off some developers who can code their own website for a fraction of that cost and host it on other hosting websites - Because WordPress is widely used, it is often targeted by viruses and hackers. 2 Thus, the website has to be updated frequently and cause the website to be under maintenance frequently. - Wordpress is coded in PHP, a language not many programmers are fond of. This might put of some programmers and switch to other websites such as Blogger. Short Summary I think that WordPress is the most versatile website Creating software on the market. Its versatility enables the user to take advantage of different forms of functionality and usability. I found adding blog posts and customizing themes without much difficulty. I would highly recommend anyone who is looking into creating a website to try WordPress

7 OFFICE SWAY Overview I used Sway as a presentation tool for my IT Skills group presentation assignment. I had mixed reviews while using this software. Office Sway is a fairly new creation, it was released in August 2015 by Microsoft. It is a cloud software that allows multiple users to access a presentation program and edit it through a web browser. Sway allows users to combine text and media to create a fairly fluid and transition-ny presentation. Sway stores its information on Microsoft servers, therefore users must log into their Microsoft account to use it. It is completely free of charge. 6

8 Office Sway in Pictures Advantages of Sway - Sway is incredibly intuitive. To Create a Presentation, all you have to do is add some text and some pictures, and you ll have a very professional looking presentation in a matter of minutes. - Totally free of charge! All you need is a Microsoft account and you re ready to go. - Sway app. You can download the Sway app on your phone or tablet and create presentations on the go. Everything is stored on the cloud so you can bring your work wherever you go. - Beautiful transition effects help make sway a cool presentation tool. 7

9 Disadvantages of Sway - Sway is quite limited in terms of functionality. It does not allow the user to format text, align text, format picture size etc., just to list a few. Sway is meant to be quick and easy, but if the user wants more customizability, I would recommend a different presentation tool. - Would seem unprofessional for business presentations. Along with its inability to create graphs, make charts and format tables, business presentations could do without the flashy transitions gimmicks. Short Summary I find Office Sway to be a good casual presentation tool, for class assignments or a presentation tool among fellow peers. It serves as a simple presentation tool if the user is not fussy on customization and functionality. However, I would recommend other tools such as Prezi or Powerpoint if the user wants more usability. 8

10 DROPBOX Overview Dropbox is a file hosting service that offers functionality such as cloud storage and file synchronization. I used Dropbox to organize all my files and for easy access. Dropbox allows users to create folders on their computers which synchronizes with the cloud. Users can easily access this cloud as long as they are connected to the internet. It was founded in 2007 by MIT students. Dropbox is a free service, but it also offers a premium service if users want to expand their memory size. 9

11 Dropbox in pictures Advantages of Dropbox - Dropbox is completely free. There are no charges if you want to use the service, all you need to do is to create an account and you get 2GBs of online storage space. - Dropbox is ubiquitous. This makes it convenient and extremely easy to use. The user can access their files anywhere in the world as long as they have an internet connection - You can share files using dropbox. This makes is extremely convenient when working on group projects, as users can download and edit the files, and then upload them again so that everyone who has access to the shared file can edit them. - Because it has a sync function, you can use Dropbox as a back-up tool in case your machine fails. 10

12 Disadvantages of Dropbox - Administrators who maintain the service has the right to access and delete information. This brings up issues such as privacy of the user. - Dropbox is widely used; therefore, it is targeted by viruses and hackers. This might be a disadvantage for people sharing sensitive information - If Dropbox decides to close down or goes under maintenance, the user has no way of retrieving their data stored on the cloud. Short summary Dropbox is a very useful tool to store your files on the web. Because it gives ample online memory space and serves as a back-up tool, I use it very often and highly recommend it as your online file storage space. 11

13 CONCLUSION All 3 programs that I have reviewed have their own pros and cons. I highly recommend Dropbox and WordPress as they both have good user functionality. For Office Sway, however, I would advise using other presentation tools such as PowerPoint is the user requires more customization. Office Sway should only be used if the presentation is a casual one and not a professional one. One good point is that all these cloud applications are free, and because they are cloud applications, they can be accessed from anywhere in the world as long as they have a good internet connection. This makes them easily accessible and convenient to use. I hope you found my report interesting and helpful in choosing your next cloud software. 12