To recap, my practicum
project is building a personal homepage. I am building a website for my solo
musical project, the Virgo Vertigo. I
haven’t begun to actually write code yet. This is because I am in the planning “blueprint”
stages of building this website. Building a modern website (like the old ones
are ancient or something) is a lot like building a house; you have to have a
blueprint otherwise you will waste a lot of time. Furthermore, if you are
giving it a go on your own, it is useful to know whom or where to ask for help
should you hit a road block.
In designing a
custom homepage, it starts with ideas about how you want your website to work.
Then you must be able to visualize it in a way that other people can understand
it. This step involves sketching the website or using a graphing design program
to make a mock-up of the website. I did this in this practicum project and I
actually ended up designing the new album cover as well! Moving on…, this
visualization makes it easier to do the next step which is creating a sitemap.
A sitemap, made
manually before the website is started, is a good idea because it is easier to see how the links will connect. Additionally, it helps to visualize how to
implement SNS links. This is most likely to change during the process, but it
is good to have direction.
So, that is where
I am at in creating www.thevirgovertigo.com. And if I may continue the home building analog
that I began earlier; if building your own website is like being a home owner
then using a ready-made SNS (social networking site) is like being an apartment
owner. Sometimes renting is far easier; but if you want to add new paint, knock
down walls, play loud music and all of that, you better be ready to be evicted
if you should chose to do it in rental property (or jailed). This is true with
an SNS such as MySpace and Facebook. If you break their rules you will be evicted... and it is
constraining. And finally, if you build a grand house…., the people will look.
By the way, the new album, Tabula Rasa, will be released on April 10th..., which means this my website needs to be up by the middle of March at the latest :-\