Final Site

Well I am pleased with the basic website that I have created, it has definitely given me a foundation to continue working. I really want to purchase a copy of DreamWeaver and start designing with publishing software to get a realistic comparison to the ease of creation.

During this class I have learned so much. The class itself is outstanding for most of the key basics to creating a functional website. I am still a little lost on some of the javascript functions that we have implemented (being I couldn't get some of them to work properly), but I will strive to master them as I broaden my knowledge of web page design!

The only downside for me personally I think is that I didn't take the course through a traditional classroom setting. I really think I would have benefited more from taking the course in the classroom with direct instruction from our professor. Other than that I am very pleased with the course outline and what I have learned about designing a website.

Online Ordering!

I have chosen to incorporate PayPal into my personal website. During my time in the Marine Corps we participated annually with a program called Toys for Tots. The program's sole mission is to collect donations of gifts and also in the form or cash to give gifts to the less fortunate children of communities nationwide. My partner and I plan to continue our contribution to this program and accept donations to forward along for purchasing gifts for the less fortunate!

Website Interaction

I actually chose to hand code a form for sending a service request via email from a visitor at my website to my email address. I found a few "free forms" websites but they all had glitches in them for loading the form.

I am not sure if it may have been the code I was using or some setting under the yahoo small business hosting site which I have used to host my site. I tried both the PHP and the PERL version of the scripting. The PHP worked but I never received the emails that were being sent. The PERL worked but would not process either the error or thank you page after submitting the information.

I still have the codes saved, maybe someone could help me discifer where I went wrong?

My Website

Within the next two years I plan to be almost 100% self employed. So my plan for my website with this class is to create my Company's website and begin marketing the services I will provide. My hopes with this site will be to attract local business from my community, advertise specials, and to take orders for services via the web.

I plan to provide a variety of services from Lawn Care/Maintenance, Tax Preparation services, Minor Auto Repair (including Paint/Auto Body), Home Interior upgrades, and finally development of custom software for businesses to manage Human Resources, Budgets, Payroll, Inventory, etc.

HTML Coding vs. Publishing Software

Overall, I was really impressed with the ease of using a program such as Kompozer, not to mention that the program was available for downloading for free! That was a HUGE plus! The ability to cut and paste the website together and view the finished product as you do is definitely a perk for me.

Although I did in fact feel confident in building my Biography in this program I chose to use solely HTML codes for the assignment. With my end goals for programming, it's beneficial to me to be comfortable in both environments and function well.

While I was on lunch yesterday, actually while I was not busy with invoicing or dispatching :), I surfed a bit and researched the cost of the programs for Front Page and Dream Weaver. Neither were too expensive, well not in my opinion. After reading the assignment details I was expecting to see upwards of $1000 for a program such as these two. I did find that they both average around $300-$400 for purchasing the latest version of the software. Something that startled me a bit about Front Page is the fact that Microsoft has discontinued manufacturing on this software with the 2007 version. The review I read did not go into very good detail on the reasoning behind it or if the consumer should have concerns before purchasing. So I guess my question would be does anyone have any insight on why?

Coding with HTML

Up until this evening I have only used Microsoft Access and made data access pages. After using the reference for my assignment this evening it definitely made a few lights come on concerning the "Behind the Scenes" work that is involved with those sites that we all know and love to visit on a regular basis. I don't even know if I can fathom the amount of work that a designer puts into a page if they program from scratch and using nothing but HTML codes. I would have to say that using these codes just tonight for a very short period of time made me go cross-eyed! It's really interesting and can be time consuming once you get in depth with the site. I am very eager to learn some of the unique codes that make text have motion, change colors, fonts, etc. I am sure the possibilities are endless with creativity!

Different Types of Websites

I have never really placed any information on the web through the use of blogs, so this is a first for me. As a part of my Web Page Design class we were tasked with creating a blog and speaking briefly on the different types of websites from our assigned readings thus far...

I would have to say that the most beneficial from my view would be to take orders, provide technical assistance or to provide customer assistance/satisfaction. It's actually funny that the customer satisfaction website was one of the many choices listed in the reading. The company that I currently work with has had me create a Access Database to track and help resolve customer complaints/inquiries that we field on a daily basis between all of the our departments.

I think that overall anything that could be fielded via the world wide web to benefit a company's overall performance and at the same time create ease of access for those that the company services is the most realistic and most profitable reasons for a website. I know that personally I hate to be on the phone with customer service representatives for any period of time trying to dispute something. Personally, I would rather submit some type of complaint or claim via their website that I know gives me a papertrail of actions that I have taken to correct the issues at hand. This could also benefit the company by saving money paid in salaries for customer service reps that solely answer phones all day. It would be simple enough to create a required number of positions, depending of course on how many inquiries the company receives on average, to field the inquiries that are submitted.

Again, just my personal preference...