The Final Screen Shots
Evaluation:
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
I have thoroughly enjoyed diving into a new area of design, especially one with such large range of technical information to learn. Before this project, I had never looked at a website and considered what grid, or size a column may be, however now it’s all I do!
I have learned more on this project than any other so far and feel that it has paid off with the website that I have produced that considers both the technical side with code and the design aesthetics.
Rather than completely building from scratch, I decided to include a content management system that speeds up the process of uploading and changing content on the website. This also is considering future usage of the website, because I want to continue to update and improve the site as my skills develop as a designer. Using this management allowed for more time to consider the aesthetics of the site considering all the important elements of design. From the usability of navigating around the website to the consistency of design through the whole web pages. I also made it a priority to consider text clarity, information placement, colour pallet use and coherence.The colour usage though my website really effects the feel and message of a website. I have used a bright and fresh colour scheme that creates a modern inviting website with fresh ideas.
Having the use of internet tutorials and the XHTML, HTML and CSS for Dummies book really made building this site possible. It also became really handy that I have a fairly good understanding of Joomla as a content management system. However before reaching that stage, I spent days and weeks building my knowledge through the steps of building a website. I followed video tutorials online from lynda.com and written technical information from books and collected all of it to build a successfully working website.
The only change I would make would possibly consider placement of my welcome message at the bottom of each page. I possibly would consider not including this information on the pages other than the front page because on the about page it then becomes duplicate information. However on the front page it helps to deliver the reason for my site quickly and frames the main six boxes.
My Blog
This blog is my only blog and the one that I regularly update with interests, current projects and other design work. Because of this, I wanted to be able to integrate my blog into the website so that people are not detered away from the website. However using Joomla made this task difficult. Joomla does have it’s own blog that I could post to however it meant that posting the same content in two different places and it also then becomes duplicate content which is not good for search engines. Instead I opted to link through to my Tumblr blog when the button is clicked. So that this didn’t deter people away from my website, I made sure it opened up into a new tab so that the website is still open and they can return easily enough to look further through the site. If i had more time I would consider searching more for a script for integrating my blog, or make use of a WordPress blog that would have exactly the same layout as my website.
