It had been quite a long break from web design before I entered the course, and I had nearly forgotted everything. However, the course helped me to revise and strengthen my HTML/CSS knowledge and introduced me to Bootstrap structure. An exciting aspect of web design I got to explore this year was programming with JavaScript, which I frequently messed around with. Besides, I also involved in building web contents through various projects, which I believe will be an essential skill in the future. I had a lot of satisfactory moments with web designs this year, and definitely I will continue explore this technology in the future!
ROCK BAND WEBSITE
In Term 2, I had a team project on creating a website for a fictional band. I took the responsibility in the discography section of the page. I designed 2/3 music album covers (also mentioned in the Photoshop section), which can be seen below. Besides, I could satisfy my imagination of being a rock star by making up achievements of my fictional rock band. There were not many technical aspects of the page, but I learned how to use the carousel functions to present the music albums and apply margins to organize my content neatly.
In term 3, Mr. Watson challenged me and two fellow peers to propose some improvements to the school website! It was mainly an exploratory project that did not expect a final product, but we enjoyed ourselves and accumulated some valuable experiences in practical web design!
Developing Content
I found that the school website lacked a section about school life, which might be really interesting and attractive to prospective students, so I proposed some contents that should be added in this section.
Running Numbers!
0
Students
0
AP Courses
0
SUPA Courses
0
:1
Student to Teacher Ratio
0
%
University Acceptance Rate
0
%
Faculty with Advanced Degree
I messed around with some codes, too. I was intrigued by some "running" statistics that appeared in many US school websites, so I thought it would be really cool to have it in my website. It took me around a week to come up with a solution, and it did look really cool! Mr. Watson also liked the idea and applied some of my code in his website! Now you know where my inspiration in the Home Page At A Glance section came from!
HADDAD ACADEMY
In term 4, I came up with an idea about a website that helped Grade 10 Algebra 2 students to revise their learning through "tutor" videos and multiple-choice quizzes, primarily inspired by the mighty Khan Academy. So I invited Mike - my trusted "partner in crime" - to transform this idea into a reality! While he focused on the technical areas of the website, I took responsibility on developing the contents: creating the videos and making the quizzes. I also designed the website logo in Illustrator.
Making Math tutor videos were not easy at all. Using the Wacom drawing tablet seemed to be a simple task, but it took me a week to get used to it. Explaining confusing maths concept in an easy-to-understand way was an "art" that required time to master. It took me three weeks just to film and refilm 5 videos over and over again. But after all those struggles, I understood what it felt like to be Sal Khan and Mr. Michael Haddad, my Algebra 2 teacher (hence the title)!
POSITIVE EDUCATION PROJECT - FLOW
I was assigned a final project in the Positive Education class. My teacher, Mrs. Suim Shin, emphasized, "Don't give me a normal presentation slides, be CREATIVE!" I also wanted to do something different for my final work, so I decided to create a website. I further explored coding in the process and created some very fun interactive elements on the website that Mrs. Shin really loved!
