Ruminations on Web Page Design

I enjoyed the experience of creating a useful website. I took an HTML course 6 years ago, but never had the need to use it after that class. So I was basically starting from scratch.

As with many of my LIS assignments, the most difficult part of the project is coming up with the idea. Useful content is always a challenge for me. I hate the idea of reinventing something that is already on the Web, but once I developed a practical reason for the website, a staff page for shelving aides, it was much easier to plan the storyboard and develop links that were useful.

As a potential add-on to the existing Oak Park Public Library, I maintained the look of the official website by recreating the heading and format from the original home page. The logo is not as clear as it could be as it was copied from the website, not the original file.

One of the most useful things I learned during this experience is the ability to create PDF files for free. This utility is useful for anyone outside of the HTML experience. I also appreciated the wealth of information available on the web that provided handy details to be used on-the-fly.

I also learned about list elements. List tags are similar to table tags, with <ol> being an ordered (numbered) list and <ul> being an unordered (bulleted) list. Each list item is tagged with <li> </li> list item within the <ul> or <ol> command.

Much of my frustration came from the idiosyncrasies between Firefox and IE. Links, styles and images all were a challenge when viewing in the different browswers.

I also appreciated the dedicated lab time for the entire course. It allowed me to have an uninterrupted block of time to work on the coding, something that would have been difficult in my home situation.

Finally, I am glad that I took this course as I am finishing the program, as I have noticed that the job openings that I am interested in are requesting more web related skills.