Online Portfolio Project Evaluation

FRIDAY 23RD JANUARY 2009

This project was a big challenge for me. I was expecting it to be, I knew I would be okay, but I was expecting a challenge, mainly based on my Flash Statistics project last year. There is so much to learn, but once you have put the time in to learn it and understand it, it starts to become easier. I put a lot of work into it, and succeeded in the end. Flash and Dreamweaver are different in terms of the type of project, without stating the obvious. The time spent on the computer is longer and the things you actually have to do take longer too. You can also spend such a long time trying to fix something and it turns out to be a tiny thing - such as my border not working in Safari because Safari only recognises whole numbers (i.e. 1px instead of 0.5px) - this is something that you just have to know, which is why forums are really helpful. By the end of this project I was really up to speed with what I was doing and really started to understand things.

Because I used a non websafe font, I had to make images for all my buttons and text instead of creating the text in Dreamweaver. This worked fine, but, it did mean spending a lot more time creating the images, and their hover states. It also limited me in terms of my gallery - the navigation buttons worked as images, but it had some glitches, so I decided to use websafe font Geneva for those because you couldn't really tell the difference in Dreamweaver, however, once previewed in safari the font didn't look the same as in Dreamweaver. It was the nearest one so I had to make use it.

For my menu buttons I used Existence Unicase in Upper Case size 13.5pt (the unicase upper caps version made the font smaller and more solid in colour). For the brief descriptions and the text on my about me and contact me pages, I used Existence Light 12pt Lower case. I asked a few people what they thought, as I felt that I should use the upper case unicase version. I know that CAPS aren't a good idea in blocks of text, but I felt it was clearer, but the general response was that the lower case worked better, which I could see. Now, in hindsight and after looking at it more, I feel that it doesn't work so well and doesn't look right. I think this is something I will re-visit at a later date and amend, or try something else.

I borrowed the kit from Photography to take some photos of my packaging, bookbinding and greetings cards - I thought they would come out well as there was a lighting kit, but they didn't come out that well really. The lighting kit and white background didn't provide enough light. When I looked at them on the computer, they had a dark tinge to them. If I am honest, the photos I took a couple of weeks ago using natural light worked so much better, but they weren't against a white background so I didn't want to put them on my site. I edited the pictures in Photoshop, but there is still a rose coloured glow to a couple of them. I will re-take these images using natural light against a white background.

Overall I am happy with my website - especially as it is my first attempt at building one! I feel I have learnt so many things and can take what I have learnt and the mistakes I have made and go on to make other websites. I will be much quicker now I know what I am doing and I really feel I have learnt a lot. I think when you don't know a piece of software, you work hard and put a lot into it. There is so much pressure to learn it, and to build the site by the deadline.

The Dreamweaver course we did last year taught us the basics. I revisited the work I did and the notes I made. I also did some tutorials (www.willgoldstone.com) which were really helpful. You can learn Dreamweaver, but the only real way to learn it properly is to build a site and learn from your mistakes and the problems you come up against and have to solve. These are things you can't really be taught and so are very valuable!