I have learned many wonderful things about web design and development since the fall of 2008. I was particularly interested in how social networking and web syndication had evolved in the past several years, and I wanted to learn more about it. I realized that by understanding some of the fundamental principles regarding the design and implementation of blogs, I was able to design a basic web site and then customize it with my own themes. Furthermore, after having learned some more advanced coding methods in relation to the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - which I formally utilized in my Google Blogger's blog and also my custom WordPress blog installations - I finally began to understand how to design and implement my own blogs using these methods. Only then was I able to really appreciate what I had just learned, and I eventually discovered that it is not impossible to design my own custom website, or blog, using these programs.
Recently, I have discovered amazing design concepts in the most recent version of WordPress and then applied those new principles to Digital Blogsphere. This project is actually the first social networking blog I've actually had the opportunity to create with the help of Google's Blogger platform and all the awesome tools the Blogger platform offers. I am currently developing another e-commerce enabled website this year utilizing my own domain name and unique style of branding. I will be opening the storefront online later this month for business. I'll be focusing on the consumer electronics niche while developing my online business. Back in 2008, I installed a second blog for one of my Art classes called Digital Animation, which is a chronological list of exercises that we had completed in our class during that semester. This blog was a CSS styled site and included web design methods, techniques, tools and resources associated with the latest web design and development trends which I have used to create my own websites. This summer, I’ll be transferring my web design blog to Blogger servers, where I will continue to post blog entries related to web development technology – including web design, digital illustration, graphics design and other mainstream resources related to website development.
While social networking has revolutionized the way humans communicate and share information with one another, there are many new technological advances being developed by software programmers and web developers, mainly for social networkers. I learned that a Web Content Management System, or a WCMS, is used to publish web content to web sites, allowing web publishers to submit information, or content, without having to learn how to code in some complex programming language, such as HTML. This really simplifies the process for millions of people, and enables them to create there own custom web site, or blog in hours. I also learned that, since web programming has become so complex, I finally realized that it would require at least a year for me to become an efficient web programmer. Therefore, I honestly think that I would benefit more by using a Web CMS platform to design, build and maintain my own web site.
Now that we have the ability to "syndicate" online using RSS Feeds, I will say this, RSS is a surefire way for retrieving information we are interested in, without having to search long and hard to find it, or having to browse to a web site every time it is updated with new content. RSS allows end-users to automatically download information into a single user interface, so that it becomes manageable and organized. RSS 2.0 will prevail in many ways considering the advent of Web 2.0 and the principles of social networking. The web syndication concept was a brilliant invention, and I will always use RSS feeds until software developers or web programmers invent some other technology to replace it. My belief is that the RSS feed will be around for a long time to come, as a tool for software developers and end-users to "syndicate" and share information online while collaborating on the internet.
Eventually, I want to develop my own professional web sites and publish them online using the methods and techniques I have learned and applied this semester. I may start my own web design business next year as a professional. There are many ways to do this, and I have outlined a unique business plan for this online business venture. For example, I could start my own web business locally, and focus on designing and/or updating web web sites for people, and eventually developing a client base. However, my real interest is in designing an interactive business web site which will allow me to promote custom web page layouts, css styles sheets and other interactive or dynamic web sites, while incorporating unique elements and themes for my customers. This new online business web site may include ecommerce and a shopping cart for my visitors to browse and purchase items, such as CSS templates and custom flash templates, or even a custom web page layout they are interested in. Then, having incorporated these elements into my main web site, they can download any style theme, page layout or template they want.
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