I am so glad to have had the opportunity to learn the basics of HTML and put it to use in the design of a simple website. I chose to design the site about the Literature and Lunch Book Clubs I offer at my school for 4th and 5th grade students. I wanted something simple enough for kids to look at and be able to read.
As for design elements, the “Look & Feel” is consistent on each HTML page. I have green swirls as the background on each page. The navigation bar also ties each page together. Under each main heading, I have 3 links to the other pages that are flanked by a simple book design. On each page the navigation bar is right under the heading.
I understand the mechanics and detail involved in adding colors, italics, etc. much better now. However, don’t ask me to add anything more than a simple table! That one gave me fits! The first day I worked on the website I was frustrated. I ended up asking a lot of questions of my tablemates and Michael. Everyone was very supportive. If they hadn’t been, I might have thrown in the towel right then and there. Slowly, after each session, I felt more confident with the basics.
The exercises we did in class were good introductions to the formats we needed to do the project. The storyboard was a valuable exercise to do before starting the coding. Even if I changed the design in the middle (which I did), I was able to always refer back to my storyboard and see what I needed to include. Like many things on the web, it is very easy to get caught up with trying different formats and colors and graphics, and… I just needed to say “Stop!”, “Enough!”, this looks good. Because of all the practice, I learned to troubleshoot for that one missing quotation mark or slash. I found it very helpful to have book resources available at my fingertips. I purchased The Web Wizard’s Guide to HTML which was very useful. I know this sounds goofy, but one of my proudest moments was making the pdf all on my own!
I hope to work to make my own little website for my school library. Whether I do it on my own or use a design program, I feel more educated on the nuts and bolts of HTML. I am pleased to have tried my hand at another new technology that may come in handy in my position as school librarian.
