I am pleased to say that the work towards my GAME plan has been going well. First, I decided to discard the Blue Voda website builder because it turned out to be more difficult to use than I originally intended. It was not as simple as a drop and drag program as I believed, and the website was not exactly as free as it originally advertised. I could barely complete any sort of web building unless I upgraded to a better quality program for a monthly service.
After completing some more searching on the Internet, I found a new web building website entitled Weebly. It was easier to use because of the drop and drag method, and most of the “bells and whistles” I wanted to add onto my site was free. So far the website is going well. I have some items up including pictures, videos, handouts, and links to other sites. However, most of the information will be changed when I have the site up and running. As of now, I am using most of the current information as filler because I need to find and transfer documents from other computers in order to make it fully complete. Once I have most of the site as I want it laid out, I will switch the filler content .
I am mostly teaching myself how to build the site through trial and error. I am clicking on buttons to see what they do and using what background knowledge I have involving computer software to figure out how to set the site the way I want it. I am also using the “help” feature of the website when I do not know information I am seeking, as in how to link videos from You Tube onto my site. Since I am trying to become a self-directed learner and working at my own pace, the help feature has become an invaluable tool for me. I have been sticking to my schedule of working on the website for one to two hours a week, but unfortunately I have been switching my scheduled days around because my personal schedule is constantly changing. This week, I actually worked for about 4 -5 hours on my website because I wanted to catch up from last week’s lack of activity.
I have run into some frustration when it comes to completing a few tasks regarding the website. For example, when I drop and drag certain items down (as in a location for pictures and videos) I am having a hard time making the space for these items larger or smaller. I have figured out how to make the actual picture itself or You Tube “viewing screen” smaller, but the “drag” takes up more space on the site so I cannot place other items, like a text box or more pictures, near it. The help button does not seem to provide assistance for this scenario. The only hypothesis I have regarding this is that I am on the free website builder, and if I pay a small monthly fee I receive more features on building the site, so perhaps the free portion on the program is restricted. This has become frustrating because the website is not aesthetically pleasing because of all the gaps, but my next goal is to have this problem figured out by the middle of this week. If it seems I cannot fill in the spaces of my website, I may have to decide to reconfigure its appearance.
Posted below is a link to my website, so please feel free to see what I have completed so far and make some suggestions. All in all, I am excited about how the website is coming along and hope to have it mostly finished by the end of class. I would like to have it up and running by next semester, so I still have about six weeks until that time.
www.mrlewishopeonline.weebly.com
Until Next Time,
Dustin
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