Because I like graphic design and vector art, I am naturally also drawn to web design. Why? Because all three mediums combine my love of art and my love of computers.
My college degree is in technology and I remember that my favorite classes where the ones involving web design. Web design can be pretty complicated because it not only involves designing how the page looks, but how the page functions. Now, I am a fairly intelligent person, but coding web pages is pretty difficult for me. I have taken classes in HTML, CSS, Javascript, and old-school Visual Basic and Visual C++, but large websites often use several different programming languages that I have never used. A few years ago, I started working on my graphic design degree online. It is really difficult for me to have the self-discipline to work on a program basically by myself and get my assignments done. I finally finished the program this winter. Even though it was difficult to finish the program, I think I learned a lot more from that program than I did in a traditional college. What really helped me was that some of the classes were repeats. Learning HTML for the first time is a little difficult, but when you have to learn it again, even if you are adding new elements (like when a newer version comes out), I tend to have a much easier time retaining that information. Javascript, though, is just beyond me. I really considered getting a web design degree too, and might still in the future.
I have spent some time researching what a web designer needs to know in case that is something I wanted to do in life. It turns out, there were a lot of different coding languages that are used that I had never even heard of! PHP, Ajax, Ruby, Python, jQuery, and probably a million more. *sigh* I found this site called "Code Academy" that has lessons so you can learn new programming languages. I have spent hours on there retesting my skills with HTML and CSS and have picked up a few things. I tried to relearn Javascript, but between computer issues and just having a hard time understanding it, I gave up. Does it take a particular skill set to be a successful coder? Logic skills, obviously, but what else? All I can figure is that I either started learning these skills too late in life and my brain is rebelling or that I simply don't have the brain skills necessary to code. It's kindof depressing because I don't like to be bad at things. Who does, right?
A few years ago, I bought Adobe Creative Suite 2. It must have been the year that CS3 came out, because I got a good deal on it. It was the most I had ever spent on software before and boy did I get my money's worth. The suite came with Dreamweaver, which I had heard of, but never used before. I freaking love Dreamweaver. You don't need to code to make a good website. It helps to be able to look at the code and know what you are looking at, but the program creates the code for you. A few years ago, knowing that I am good with computers, my church asked me to create a website for them. It was so much work! I sketched, I played around with it, and I came up with a simple website that did the job. My church is small and has mostly older people, so the site didn't need to be flashy. With my classes, I did learn to create websites in Photoshop and even how to create some Flash elements (another really difficult program to use), but it wasn't necessary. I have remade the site a few times, hopefully improving it each time. It is still basic, but I am pretty proud of it.
Last year, I started to blog. I have several blogs, most of which I never write on and those that do get very few readers. That's okay though, because I am still learning. Strangely, the blog I created that gets the most views is about my favorite tv show. The thing I like about blogging is the customization. For the blogs I actively use, I create custom headers, which is a lot of fun. One of my blogs is about traveling in my home state of Ohio. I love my state and even though I don't travel too much, I have seen a lot of the state and decided to write about where to visit. That led me to start designing a web page to go along with the blog. I sketched out possible layouts for the page and started writing documents of the text that would be on the site. It has been so much work and I have barely begun! I haven't even registered the web address yet. But, I am having a lot of fun with it. The header has been created, the color scheme is picked out, the style sheets are being created. I have a lot more research to do and more pictures to take, but I have a good start. It is a good project that is getting me out of the house and excited about something again. No coding required! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment