Over the past seven weeks I have expanded my knowledge on how web pages work and the basics of creating my own. While there is so much more to learn in every aspect of the web, what I learned and practiced will serve as a basis for my own journey in exploring digital communications and media.

I began the course with a little knowledge of coding and expected to expand on that, but instead I learned about things that will be much more useful to me for my future. The reality is that I do not need to know how to code in-depth; what is more practical for me as a filmmaker and storyteller is to know the fundamentals of web design, how to use a CMS, and understanding how to get my site to be seen.

However, the hand-coding that I did experiment with was fun and useful – creating my portfolio page form a template made me understand how challenging, yet rewarding it can be to make something that is yours. I am genuinely proud of what I have made and while I will probably end up using templates from a CMS to re-create it once my business goes live, I know what I am looking for in my design since I spent so much time working on it in depth.

Along with hand-coding is understanding servers, browsers, and hosts. By downloading an FTP and using it every week I became familiar with the basics of what hosting means – something that is behind every single web page on the internet.

Another very useful element of this class for me was learning about image optimization. Not only will it help me for my own websites, but I will be able to explain to clients how to optimize the photos (which are very high resolution) for their own web pages. It will also help me as I dive into visual design for my future courses.

In the future I plan to learn more about basic Javascript and PHP so that I can understand templates further and create working forms. While the workaround in my final portfolio is fine, it would be mice to make use of the well-designed and integrated forms. After all, one less call to action only makes the user more likely to stay on your site.

In this last week of class I have already begun to look into creating my own website for my photography and videography business. After learning about SEO, web design, Google Analytics, and more I feel confident that I can create a website that is not only functional, but is actually seen by people. I feel even better knowing that I was able to create my own website from a template almost exactly to my liking.

Overall, this course has solidified my understanding of how website building works and I am excited to continue learning on my own now that I know the basics. What I have learned has given me a stronger understanding of what is possible in creating sites either using a CMS or coding with templates.