Everything that was covered was valuable and none of it was too hard.  All of the assignments I didn’t do or had trouble with was my fault.  Either it was falling behind in other courses and playing catch-up that would cause me to not have time for this course or when I felt overwhelmed for soccer or a project in another class during a specific week and wouldn’t have the time to give to this course.  The javascript file was pretty tough on it’s own but it was during a week where I gave a presentation in a class so I let it slide knowing I could still make an A in the class.  Everything we learned, whether people liked it or not, was important and valuable for our websites and better understanding how the web works as a whole.  The book was perfect because it tied in with his podcast which was entertaining and helped me read the book more because it was personalized after listening to him.  Also through his podcasts and the ones we’ve had to listen to I have run across many sites and bits of software that I know listen to or use which help me with this class and my interests outside of class.  This class has made me more interested in the web and broadened my horizon for what I could see myself doing down the line.  I amazed myself with some of the work I did and realized that web design and development isn’t as scary as I thought.  I am in no way a pro, or ever plan on being one, but I know that I can do more than I thought I would be able to going in to this semester.  The idea of html and css doesn’t scare me anymore and I can now say I know how to make a website, albeit a simple one.

The power of WordPress seems to be limitless after seeing what some of us and other people on the web have been able to do with it.  I wasn’t looking forward to coding my WordPress but the more we learned the more gratification I found in personalizing my site and making the tweaks exactly as I wanted.  Just putting your own touch on things, even if no one ever notices, is something that is incredibly rewarding.  Along the way I had some trouble, as I’m sure most everyone did, but by talking about things in class and using the ever-valuable discussion board most of them were easily dealt with.  One more time, “THE DISCUSSION BOARD WAS GREAT, USE IT AGAIN.”  The classroom and vibe was very laid back and made it comfortable for anyone, regardless of their skill level, to talk or ask questions.

The class format and grading was interesting at first and a bit confusing to wrap my head around but once I figured it out I loved it.  Knowing what had to be done ahead of time made scheduling much easier and you could calculate whether an assignment was worth doing or not.  This helped when I ran into big projects or assignments for other classes that carried a lot of grading weight.  Having the ability to look forward two weeks (or more if you would punch in the right url) was really helpful and I’m sure that everyone appreciated it.  As far as what I would change, you wouldn’t have to touch a thing and this course would still be excellent.  If you wanted to personalize it more, and I know this would take a lot more time and planning and coordinating and grading on your part, but you could make it so that there could be alternate assignments.  For example you could have the core assignment be the same for everybody but for some of the external ones you could have the sames ones you used this semester and some alternate ones for anyone who wants to get more into the technical and code-heavy part of the web.  This way anyone who would want to get into the more technical stuff that makes some of us (like me) cringe.  But again that’s not necessary and I loved the course the exact way it was set up.  Thanks for a great semester Randy, hope to have you in other class later on.

The first one was “The” David Petty’s webiste, theorganicstudent.com.  I mean right off the bat, how isn’t that name already taken?  Especially in our society and it’s obsession with wanting to eat healthy?  Great url and I’m sure that it will soon catch on and get him traffic by the name alone.  But what really separate his from anyone else was his story behind the website.  I mean that was a really touching story behind the making of the website and what makes him eat the way he does.  It lets you into his world and gives you another reason to eat healthy when you think of someone or yourself getting sick because of an unhealthy diet.  His site, as he stated, isn’t fully operational but it has the makings of a good site.  And what it offers, trying out all the stuff you wish you had the guts to, is a valuable service to me at least.  I will be checking back on his site in the future and asking him a few questions on it.

Then there was Neil’s site, exquisiteleisure.com and his presentation.  I would have never, in a million years, thought that a website like this would be necessary for clients like that but boy was I wrong.  The storytelling he gave as an example for what he could provide transported you to the remote locations with the buyer.  For a few minutes you were the wealthy elite and you knew what it was like to book through Neil’s agency and have him there every step of the way.  The site looks very refined as well but the pitch he gave really sealed the deal for me.

Finally I loved kenlandefeld.com and his presentation.  He was really funny and was able to make everyone laugh which is great for any presentation no matter how professional or informal (as long as it’s appropriate of course).  He gives you a sneak-peek behind the artist which is rare.  And also the visuals he can provide given his background help with the site tremendously and make it one of the most pleasing sites to the eye.  He merges his artistic skills seamlessly with the website to make a great portfolio and an idea of what kind of person he is.

http://www.creativityisalive.com/fitc-the-last-advertising-agency-on-earth/

http://www.creativityisalive.com/

Everything I’ve learned has shaped how I made this site, I steered clear of some things where I knew I would get in over my head and stuck with the concept of clean visuals, a wide range of usability/accessibility and good web standards.  I wanted to include blogging to show my opinions and get the ball rolling.  Further down the line I could see other people posting a lot more content than me, and that’s fine with me.  The site is centered around building a community and site that creates awesome content and discussions helping to fuel the fire and imagination of everyone who visits and interacts.

WordPress has made these dreams and ideas of mine into reality fairly easily.  I have found a theme that serves it’s purpose quite well and have been going through plugins and widgets that are rounding my site into form.  I have made a few adjustments here and there but my template has been able to make a lot of the changes without me going into the code which is a good and a bad thing I suppose.  I am going to go in and edit a few of the pages myself to make them stand out a little more and add my own flavor to it.  As the semester comes to a close and the coursework for all my classes starts to dwindle I plan on putting more time into this website to make it even better.  I realize that I only had limited time to actually do what I had in mind but I don’t want to stop now.

I want this site to harbor a community and I know that just building it won’t do the trick.  I need to keep re-vamping the site to be a perfect area for people to come and use it before I go out there and find them.  I have already linked to multiple site that share interests with mine and even a few online communities that are dedicated to “creatives” and artists and web developers and everything in between.  I plan on joining their sites and forums before contacting them to come and visit my site once I am complete.  I hope that my site will provide for them something they’ve never had and would want to use.  I don’t think there’s a demand for my kind of site but I truly believe it’s the kind of site that nobody knew they needed before it existed.  I really don’t want to mess this up and I think this could be a huge idea for me and the advertising/marketing community.  But the only real problem I see would be the legal issues with me uploading images/video/audio of actual advertisements and then putting my own twist on them, along with the other people on the site hopefully.  I could: A) Get in trouble for posting their content without their consent and B) get in trouble for putting my own twist on their creations and thus violating copyright twice.  But I feel those won’t be problems until my site starts gaining a lot of popularity and I’ll just worry about that when it comes.

http://www.creativityisalive.com/burger-king/

http://www.creativityisalive.com/red-baloon-ad/