And So It Begins....

So we're finally here: learning the underbelly of the web design world. I'm excited about this; while I love the artistry of the front-end view, I love the pairing of it with a logical counterpart. Both parts make me feel at home; I get lost when it comes to tweaking graphics and fixing code tags ever so slightly on a good design - it's like my own little world and when it's completed, the satisfaction is unbelievable.

I definitely loved the Grok Web Standards article; I actually bookmarked it on my computer for the future to remind me why I love web design the way I do. The pairing of the writer, artist, and engineer fits so perfectly. A good design takes a special kind of duality; a duality that is best expressed with aspects of those three professions. The article describes the reasons I love web design in an amazingly eloquent way. I will definitely be showing that page to future friends who ask me what it is about web-design and front-end UI that I love so much.

What I'm most looking forward to about this area of the class is a chance to "restart" from a fresh perspective. I was always weeding my way through HTML and programming to gain understanding. I understood how and why the code worked, but I had become stuck in certain methods. Now I can review my basics with the understanding in mind, and work on  maintaining sturdy code that serves as a framework for the design, rather than "bundling sticks together" until it seems to work. From the engineer section of the Grok article: "Know what each part does and how they work together. When your document is properly assembled you can lay a decorative coating of style on top of it without   damaging its inner workings." My summer internship opened my eyes to better ways to utilize my design skills for portability and usability. By reviewing back at the basics with my new mindset and old understandings and skills, I hope I can refine and redefine my abilities in this area of the course.

"To say a grid is limiting is to say that language is limiting, or typography is limiting." - Ellen Lupton