The Year So Far

On returning to college this year I was a bit nervous having had my first encounter with CSS. Not only this, but over the summer we had been given a project to where we had no guidance in the form of class lectures.

This was a real test and in some areas of the project I was pleased with the work that I produced, however in others there were a few issues that needed ironing out afterwards. This did have a knock on effect on the following few weeks in which I had to combine my current work load with amending some errors in previous work.

I feel I coped with this well; one benefit I felt from this was that I feel it strengthened my knowledge of CSS going back and reworking the page I had already produced. However in the future I do not intend to have this happen again and I have strived very hard in the A9 Box Clever project to make sure that I get this correct first time round.

What I worked on this semester was to make a time plan each week and even if I didn’t stick to it rigorously I made a concerted effort to complete the tasks I had set myself for that particular week.

This has been something that has previously affected my work greatly and something I have never managed to get quite right. However in the project A9 Box Clever I feel I have achieved my goal and have never had so much sleep the night before deadline.

On this project I feel that I have not only made leaps of progression with my time planning but also with my written work. This is the first time I have sat in class with a different group of people; it has really helped sharing methods of working. I have made an effort to note in my written work all my references at the time of writing so it is not such an effort to do at a later date. This is a time saving method and probably something you might do naturally, unfortunately it is something that has only just become apparent to me but is definitely the way in which I will work in the future. In addition to this the learning journal exercise in which we had to produce condensed written work helped me to produce a more concise essay helping me identify terms such as ‘I think’ in written work as unnecessary.

The area in which I am most proud of myself is the knowledge I have picked up on the subject of CSS. Combined with the research into its history and its future my practical ability has been enhanced.

Although I have learnt so much I know I still have much more to learn. The page I completed for this assignment can be seen at –

www.drewellis.co.uk/shuffle_page.html

I am very pleased with the look of the page and I like the design, I did want to include some more design elements but unfortunately an image I added was causing layout problems. This is hopefully something I will come to understand at a later time.

The reason I left it out was that I had got my design work finished earlier than expected and so I wanted to see if I could improve on the design and tried to add it in after. This is something that obviously isn’t as simple as drag and drop and it didn’t work out.

My knowledge on CSS became apparent when I was asked to produce a site in CSS as part of a job interview I had. I was given two evenings in which to make the site and ended up spending about seven hours on it as to get it handed in on time. I had to sacrifice time which I would usually spend on design to ensure I got the technical side of things correct.

I have uploaded it to www.drewellis.co.uk/yorkshire_water.html

Please take a look and feel free to offer comments. My ability to produce this in such a short period of time has given me a confidence boost and, though at this point in time I have not heard whether I have got this position, I feel that I gained something by going for it even if it doesn’t work out.

The thing to learn from this semester so far would be; my time planning is more important than I give it credit for and has an effect on the quality of the work I produce. What helped me with my time planning was being provided with a schedule the college sessions, in being given this information I was able to see more clearly what I should have finished and by when.

Also I need to make sure that the way in which I complete tasks is the most efficient way of doing things by comparing with peers.

Overall I feel that this has been a fast paced and informative half semester and I look forward to getting back and developing further. In addition the next project looks to be a very interesting one which should test all of us and our creative abilities.