Reflection

Reflection

During my DIGIT 100 class at Penn State Behrend, I have begun designing websites. The first site, Wordpress, was actually quite simple to become acquainted with. I was able to pick a theme and apply it to my site and make it look rather professional in a matter of minutes. The second site I’ve worked on has been much harder. Being a GitHub site, I basically have a blank canvas and can apply whatever I want, as long as I know how to do it. With some research and troubleshooting, I can accomplish what the Wordpress site does, and it feels more satisfying.

From the two experiences creating sites, I enjoyed the GitHub page more. It provided a challenge that I felt I could overcome, and could also control every aspect of the site. Even though the GitHub site is not as complex and is simpler, it holds a more original feel and that matches my aspirations. Going forward, I want to continue developing the GitHub site to expand my knowledge of HTML and CSS. The wordpress site looks nicer, but I feel disconnected from it and it seems like I cannot truly control it.

GitHub is much harder for developing a website. I have to design and code every part of my site, and implement it in a way that actually looks like a website and integration of my interests. My most important section is my Gallery, as it showcases what I’ve been up to in my classes and outside of school in my personal projects. In this case, I need to properly format them so that they look nicer and more professional. My biggest issues so far include mistakes in my HTML and CSS codes that conflict with other elements that prevent me from altering what I want to. My solution to this has been simply looking up what elements to use to format my content differently, along with troubleshooting my issue. This can be difficult as I attempt to learn a new element of style for every different thing that I want to add or change, but I have found that it is very helpful to try whatever I can and see what unique additions I can make!

Overall, I enjoyed learning how to build a site from scratch. This will be very useful to me, so I will definitely be working on expanding the site and making it more advanced as I go forward. My wordpress site will remain available, but GitHub will be the primary location for information about me and my creative endeavors.

My Wordpress site is available here!

My GitHub Repo is visible here!