Taught Elective: The Journey

As stated elsewhere, I opted for this Unit in order to sharpen up my existing skills and channel them towards what was (for me) a new piece of web authoring software: Dreamweaver.

Before the first session I had already played a little bit - creating a basic set of linked web pages and done all the usual text/image insertion. Being familiar with FrontPage, I found it easy to transfer my knowledge and understanding of web authoring concepts to Dreamweaver - rather like driving a different car (where's reverse?). Of course, this inevitably leads to feeling de-skilled, a common reaction when trying to re-learn anything, but especially when it involves software or operating systems!

In the first few taught sessions I created practice sites which enabled me to become familiar with the apparent vagaries of the software (an inevitable perspective when trying to transfer skills) and learn a few of the Dreamweaver fundamentals.

The session on Flash could only ever scratch the surface, and I left it eager for more but certain that I could progress no further in the timescale allowed. (One for the long-term wish-list, then.) Again, I am familiar with the concepts employed in Flash from knowledge of other software, and indeed I have adapted simple Flash pages for clients' websites, so I felt confident that, in time, I would be able to crack that one too.

Firming up a project.
I decided that it would be an effective use of my time to use this elective unit to kick-start a much delayed and procrastinated-over task: producing a professional website. As a photographer I already have collections of images online in various locations, such as an online gallery and a Photographic Society website, but I have nothing which looks professional enough to present to clients.

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URLs

All sites accessed and working 14/3/07

Helen's ImagePool

Photo Gallery at the Norwich & District Photographic Society

PriorITas Digital Arts