Project Reflection

Initially I found this project a bit overwhelming as it had been two decades since I've "hand-coded" a website. At that time, CSS wasn't as dominate of a language as it currently is and I had never taken advantage of it. If I recall correctly, my index page featured and I-frame with a simple navigation menu that would load each page into the frame.

Thankfully, I quickly learned that a list of simple links along with CSS styling can easily be assigned as a navigation menu in HTML5. I have to admit, I found that a bit mind-blowing!

Once I had my navigation and CSS style sheet uploaded, most things began to fall into place. In fact, I was surprised by how quick my website developed from a content prospective. Along the way I learned to use target links, create alt text for images, take advantage of google fonts (this was especially thrilling), display images, makes hidden comments in the code, justify paragraphs to my desire, and use the hover action to highlight active links. I'm possibily more proud of creating a favicon than I should be. I actually created a symbol for it with my initials, which can be seen in all its glory here.

From a logicial and structural perspective I gained a much better understanding of CSS sheets and how they intergrate with the entirty of a website. I learned to use new tags I've never used such as style and div. I managed to display videos stored on a dropbox folder although I didn't managed to figure out how to display a keyframe from the video - this requires some additional thought and creativity.

I thought briefly about re-creating my CV in HTML when I realized I could highlight that document by placing a PDF in an I-frame.

While my code is by no means elegant I'm thrilled by the results. Getting comoforthable with file storage, backup, and uploading via ftp was key to my learning experience. There were only few occasions when I "broke" a piece of code and couldn't figure out how to reapir it.

I still feel a little uneasy about div tags and my css styling skills have a long way to go. Needliss to say, "command R" has become a dear friend when running into errors and searching out typos. Coming across one wrong character has been both vidicating and frustrating.

In all honesty, what I've grappled with the most the lack of creative design given the time constraints. I've had to accept that this is the first building block of my education regarding HTML and that further developing my skills with CSS and Bootstrap will help me develop far more creative and robust designs in the furture. I'm excited for the next steps and expanding my grasp on HTML.