I wrote a critique for my own website and the powers of WordPress. It addresses four points:
- Why my final web portfolio design is clear, well-organized, easy to navigate and use
- Why the aesthetic design choices of my final web portfolio are well-suited to the content I am presenting
- How our class readings apply to the website
- How WordPress’s templates and content management system influenced my creative process and design decisions
My final web portfolio has a nice, matching color scheme. The header photo is a simple, abstract design that reflects the creative necessity required to be in a DTC class. The photo has a Creative Commons License. It matches the footer, title, and menu colors. My navigation bar consists of four simple buttons that also match the header photo. They are brief, and the user should be able to easily decipher what kind of content he will look at when he explores the buttons. Since this is an art class, it makes sense for my colors and pictures to match. It is also located at the top of the website, so it is easy to remember where it is and how to find it.
My website draws from our readings in a variety of ways. It is important to match color, which I have done by editing my CSS file directly. Also, I make use of the different headers offered in WordPress. Titles and headers are in a larger font than the body of my website page, creating hierarchy.
WordPress made it simple to get right into editing my website. I have no prior experience with web design, and with a little tinkering and exploring WordPress’ functions, I am quite pleased with how my website turned out. It is easy and intuitive to make new pages, menu buttons, add media, and edit text. However, I did have to learn a little CSS to get the right color scheme and change my font, which I could not find how to do in the visual side of WordPress. I enjoyed the trial and error that came with messing with the CSS file. WordPress makes it easy to see your changes right away and backtrack if necessary, as it keeps track of all saved pushes to the site. Reminded me of GitHub, which I am fluent with.