Personal Homepage Design Assignment--Due Oct 15th

Create a Homepage and linking pages

Your mission is to create a Homepage site that will serve as your personal page on the school server. Since it is hosted on the school server ALL CONTENT must be school appropriate. This includes text, images, and links to external sites. If you are in doubt ask me. Everything that appears on this page will be posted on the web for all to see.

Think of this page as a resource that you will use often. Put links to your favorite/most used websites.

1. Create a file in your web design folder and save it as index.
   
2. Create an image folder in your web design folder. You will save the images that appear on this page in this image folder.
3. You should design your page using graphics and rollover buttons created in Photoshop or Fireworks. Do not simply go with text links.

Include the following buttons in your navigation system on your home page:

1. About Me Button
2. Portfolio Button
3. Pixel Gallery Button
4. Favourite Resources Button
   

(Your top 4 favorite fun websites (school appropriate) with links that open in a new window or your top 4 favorite research websites (school appropriate) with links that open in a new window)

• Don't give away any personal information. Represent yourself well.

NB: To be completed for Friday Oct 15th.

For further resources and guide, read the following online resources on how to design a Webpage.

The right design for your site is the one that's right for you. How do you know what's right for you when there are so many different styles of Web design out there? There are so many different ways you can design your site that it's easy for someone to get so lost when designing their site that they may give up all together.

You have to remember that the choices are all yours, because it's your site, and you have to decide what you like. Choices like which colors, styles, fonts, graphics and writing styles to use are all very personal choices and not to be made lightly. What you say and do on your Web site says a lot about who you are. Here are some of the basics you need to consider when designing your site.

Navigation
Easy to use navigation is essential to a good Web site.

Ads
Too many advertisements on your site make for a bad user experience. Try for well placed, highly noticeable ads instead or go without.

Maintenance
After creating a Web site you have to maintain it. If you have links to other Web sites you need to check them periodically to make sure the links still take you somewhere because sometimes Web sites disappear.

Things That Blink
Blinking can be annoying and you don't want to annoy your readers. A lot of people like to add music to their Web sites. That's all well and good, but if it's a loud song and your reader jumps out of their seat when they open your Web page they will leave very quickly and never return.

Pop Ups
Not just pop-up ads but also pop-up boxes. You know the ones when you open a Web site and it asks for your name. Ok, that's kind of cute but if you have 5 in a row asking different questions or you have one on every page on your site, let's face it, that's annoying.

Graphics
Graphics is an important part of a Web site. They add color, attitude, theme. They're necessary, right? Right, as long as you don't over do it. Too many graphics not only make your site upload really slow but it also makes it look like a kid scribbled on your page.

Color
We all know that reading black and white pages is boring. That's why we add color to them. Adding the right colors to your pages makes for great, easy to read pages. You have to make sure that the background colors don't conflict with the text colors. If you use loud colors or colors that conflict, people won't want to read your page and will look elsewhere.

Fonts
You don't have to use the same old boring, standard font for your text if you don't want to. There are many other's that you can use to make your writing look fancier or just better. Use Fonts appropriately. Too many types can be very distracting.

Your Style
Everyone has their own writing style. You can be funny, serious or just yourself. How you write your site is up to you and you need to choose the style that's right for your site.

Layout
How do you want your page to look? Do you want all the text to the right and graphics on the left, or visa versa? Having the layout of all your pages look the same looks better to your readers then if you have the layout for every page different. That doesn't mean that you can't make each page different to go along with what you wrote on that page it just means that the basic layout should be at least similar.

Content
What is your site going to be about? What kinds of things are you going to write about? Of course, this is completely up to you. Whenever you write something make sure you spell check it and, if you have time, re-read it to make sure there are not grammatical errors.

Video tutorials and Resources in how to make a website:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHau3vka0Fs&feature=related
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx4Ar04Dgrw
3. http://www.coolhomepages.com/
4. http://inunu.net/html/services/amx-services/touch-panel-design.html
5. http://www.photoshopbrushes.com/tutorials/using-brushes-basic.htm
6. http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=54164
7. http://www.positivespaceblog.com/archives/15-good-graphic-design-portfolios/
8. How to design a HTML Webpage click here