Reflection
Due to my unit “Business Web and Mobile Technologies,” I had the chance to create a portfolio website
for myself, and it was a memorable experience.
Creating a portfolio website gave me many benefits. For instance, making my portfolio website
highlighted the importance of paying attention to every detail. I realised that an error in coding–no
matter how big or small, affected the functional properties of my website (i.e. my website would not work as I intended it to).
As a result, I had to think critically and cautiously, which were skills that naturally came to me as I progressed through
my portfolio website.
Additionally, this was also a new learning experience for me as I never really took the time to learn how to make a website
let alone make my website. I realise that this assessment will also help me in the future as a professional web developer or
analyst as it showcases my capabilities to future employers and gives them an idea of the contributions that I can make.
Apart from this, I found joy in developing the website as it allowed me to express my creative side and innovativeness, which
I believe are key factors in developing an eye-catching yet professional website.
However, developing a portfolio website was not without its challenges. For instance, it required a lot of time to plan what the
website would look like along with the goal of making my personality stand out. This was a clear change from the typical structure of making a resume.
In addition, I felt that the laboratory work given in classes merely provided the foundational knowledge to construct a website.
There were more intricate details that I had to research independently to come up with the final product of my portfolio website.
I had to consider the accessibility of my portfolio website and part of this required me to make the website responsive across different kinds of screen devices.
However, details surrounding this were not covered extensively in class and as a result, I had to research how to achieve this.
For example, whilst working on the adjustments to make the website responsive on smaller screens, I had to consider alternatives for this by making
the menu list disappear on top of the website on smaller screens and making it simpler and neater by clicking a ‘three dotted line’ button to make the menu list appear.
I also found it time-consuming to perfectly nail the positioning, sizing, and spacing of images on my portfolio website. An image on a website is not solely achieved by
simply attaching it. In fact, I had to perform several ‘trials and errors’ to know exactly where I wanted to put them relative to other images and texts.
This is easier said than done as I had to take into account the number of pixels of the margin and padding. Apart from this, I had to figure out the best platform to use
because we used GitHub most of the time in class, and committing the changes took a long time for me to see the website visually. Thankfully, I found that Visual Studio Code
was more suited for me as it was faster in processing the website given that it processed it locally on my computer. Moreover, it was also challenging to make the portfolio
website user-friendly and simple while having to include so many different components. For instance, the project page looked very simple on the website, but it took a lot of
effort and time to integrate it with descriptions and images of the projects along with its URL links. Furthermore, it took a long time to make sure the website is accessible to users with cognitive disabilities, and non-native speakers by using clear and simple descriptive language.
I made sure there were proper headings, ensuring keyboard accessibility for users with motor impairments and the colour contrast between the text and background is readable for users with visual impairments.
To conclude, creating a portfolio website was both a positive and challenging experience. Although I was able to enhance a lot of professional skills, the process involved was
extensive and demanding, which posed a lot of technical challenges. Despite the challenges I faced along the way, I was content with the way my portfolio website turned out and I look forward to making more high-quality websites in the future like this one.
