Before I went to college websites were starting to really take off. While I worked as a secretary I learned the basic HTML and thought it was fun. By the time I got to take a web design class in college, CSS style sheets and HTML5 was all new. I was way in over my head. I really struggled with that class. I kept thinking, “as a designer I should get it!” Because it wasn’t part of my major—as much as I feel it should have been—the one class was all I got and I went on my way.
Here I am a few years later and my website needed to be redone. I have more design work to showcase and I no longer felt that I should be presenting my work with a “powered by…” at the bottom. Due to circumstances I decided to tackle this whole web design thing myself.
Wow. It certainly has been an experience. Luckily, I had some help from Clyde Lovett of Crestone Creations, he is amazing and knowledgable. I was able to hire him to do some work but he also gave me the confidence I needed to get as a far as I did. I would walk away at times and exclaim “I am not a web designer” or “I just can’t see beyond print!” To get my print graphic designer mind to see things as an infinite canvas was almost impossible. But I kept molding my brain to see it differently and soon most things started to make some sense. (Yay for tutorials!)
Is my website perfect? No, not at all. But it does look good, easy to navigate, presents my design and photography work very nicely. I spent hours learning, researching and applying and as a result I have gained a new technology skill. I learned by trail and error and searching through Google. Yay, for Google!
I have a lot more to learn. There will be an updated website here in the near future but for now I feel like I have accomplished a major feat and climbed over a huge career boulder. I may get to understand this web design world after all.