Overview
In this assignment, you will be producing two homepages using online web design and authoring tools and writing a short blog post evaluating the site you prefer.
The objectives for this assignment are that you work with these tools to begin to understand the affordances and constraints of the web in presenting your portfolio. This assignment is really meant for you to try-out different platforms and decide what you are comfortable with.
Select from these sites. Recognize that Squarespace will require that you pay after the 14 day trial, while the others all are free or have free options that do not impact the portfolio.
If you want to insert some content, then use the “lorum ipsum” passage (“Lorum ipsum” is a passage from Cicero that designers have used for decades as a placeholder text. It’s ubiquitous in design, and you will note that Jenkins has it in most of her mock designs). Here’s the passage:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,
If you want to think about your menu structure, here are the required elements of the final portfolio (I have bolded some words if you want to think about one option for one-word-items):
- About/bio page
- 1 piece of writing from an Applied category of the Writing Minor
- 1 piece of writing from a Theory category of the Writing Minor
- 1 piece of writing from a Common Curriculum, Major, or Other course
- 1 Analysis piece from WRIT 3500
- Writing Minor Coursework descriptions
- Revision piece from WRIT 3500
Once you are done trying out the technology, post to the blog the following:
- Links to both mock-up sites. You do NOT have to populate the site. You just need to have a homepage that appears to link to some of the content. This is not even a rough draft–it is just an experiment with technology.
- A short (<200 words) analysis that explains what site/tool you will probably use for your final portfolio, indicating what you liked or didn’t about the two tools you used. You aren’t required to use the choice you settled on—this is just a preliminary decision.