So, as I progress through the program and moved onto HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap, I’ve discovered that when a webpage opens, I find myself thinking about are the columns floating, are there any media queries involved, was this website designed to Desktop Down or Mobile Up? In fact, I’m not sure I even pay attention to the content on the page. I find myself right clicking, selecting inspect and reviewing the html code and css style.
Oh, how a few weeks of learning about the inner workings of websites has taken over my mindset. I’ve spent time coloring a rainbow, removing graffitti from walls, putting kittens in a wheelbarrow, and saving animals – and they call this work! I’ve gone from “gee that website looks nice” to – I’d make those columns wider, add more space between rows, float more left, change the font, and make the website responsive. The joys of zooming through websites just for the content are over.
You may think that I’m at the point of seeing the trees, but not the forest. However, as I’ve focused on detail behind websites, I’ve come come to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of a well-designed site – the columns and rows move seamlessly regardless of the size, photographs stretch perfectly across a page, paragraphs migrate to the optimal number of columns depending on screen size, and links actually take you to the correct location. As I continue to dive into elements, containers, rows, columns, headers, media queries, I look forward to the day when I can build a website as elegantly as I’ve witnessed in this educational journey.