The one and only

Paul's ARTDM171 Jump Page

Pictured: A very, very tired man.

Introduction to Web Design

What I know about the web and myself

Hi I'm Paul.

Professional amateur, amateur professional. Paul Edmiston is a student in Diablo Valley College that acknowledges that writing in the third person helps with professionalism, but is mildly uncomfortable to write in reference to himself, which is why he will stop with that nonsense.

My knowledge in web design has been rather elementary up to this point. The most experience I've had with putting some proper thought into my HTML and CSS has been in middle school, and since then I've only really dabbled a tiny bit with the coding. I've had some light experience with the design aspect of things, and in fact currently host my own site for portfolio reasons. But up until now I haven't had any web design experience in a college level, academic experience or otherwise beyond.

I hope to learn more about web design and the coding behind it to further my own skills in the trade. Establishing a formal foundation within web design will also solidify the knowledge I already have. Ultimately, what I learn in this class should make more more flexible and capable to meet the potential goals I have for my career.

My career goals

Honestly, I don't have a specified career path I am focusing on. I do, however, have an idea of the general way I'm going. Graphic design, web design, and similar fields greatly interest me. I would like to be going down a path that allows me to be flexible and have potential anywhere in the world of design. I am planning to transfer to SFSU and major in Visual Communications.


Projects

  1. Course Jump Page (You're right here champ,) due December 13th
  2. Design Assets for Project 3, due October 9th
  3. Mariana's Trench, due November 1st
  4. Website Design Documents for Project 5, due November 20th
  5. Brand Website, due December 13th

Practice and demos

(Material is ordered from earliest to latest, top to bottom. Dates are in ISO standard and are based on the date the root folder was created.)

The class in retrospect

Not to be outdone by Kyle's tear jerker, it's time to assert dominance and throw this in the mix.

I would be one to say that our sort of three musketeers set up was not the most mature of collectives. Between the potentially obnoxious banter and the occasional mention of moving deep into the wilderness to learn to live off the land in order to escape modern life because of the occasional roadblock, it is my understanding that, at times, were were a bit…rambunctious. That doesn't even address my occasional lack of punctuality, both with class and with assignments. To the professor, and all of the students who were affected by our antics, I offer my sincerest apologies for those times.

With that, I should get to another point. Before taking this class, drag-and-drop site builders were my only tool I had confidence in. I saw web design beyond such tools as a rather complex matter. The idea of tackling a front end and a back end (and in some cases, both) struck me as intimidating. That is not even beginning to address the logistics of a website, like with file transferring, server setups, and much else.

With the experiences in this class, however, those anxieties are eased. To actually go through the process and deal with the HTML and CSS illustrates, for me at least, just how achieveable a site with an aesthetic is. Through the direct lessons in class, the material I gathered, and the experience I gained, I know that I can make something that shines. Perhaps more importantly, I can make something that works.

But I've also learned, or rather had it reinforced, that I still have much to learn. I only had a taste of Javascript and PHP: two languages that, before this class even, struck me as powerful for their capabilities. There is also the aspects behind the scenes, like site security and the raw aspect of design itself, that I only got the slightest glimpse into with my experiences in this class. But with that same experience, I have a newfound confidence to take those challenges head on and learn more.

Perhaps it's that confidence that is the most important to me. To have concrete evidence of my abilities and potential—that evidence being practice, work, and words—is a powerful enabler. I may have offered this class my sincerest apologies. But most importantly, I offer this class my sincerest thanks.