30536a – Progress Challenge 02

Build prototype

Now you have experimented with some basic skills in Dreamweaver, put together the home page index.html and the destination page bright.html for TheGourmetCyclist.com.au. Remember, you may use your preferred authoring tool as long as the site meets the requirements of the project (see assessment guide).

TIP: Navigate to the student forum to engage in the discussion with your peers.

After your designs have been approved by the “client” (your trainer), build the site in Dreamweaver or another authoring tool of your own choice.

Define a new site and file structure to hold files and assets. Create the home page (index.html) and destination page (bright.html) as per your designs from Activity 1 - Design. Fill the pages with meaningful content. Link the two pages.

Check that these tasks have been completed –

1.      Interface has been sliced up and exported as images

2.      Pages constructed in authoring tool

3.      CSS styles (preferably as an external file)

4.      Buttons/links work

5.      Alt tags for all images

6.      At least one media asset (video, animation)

7.      Pages have titles

8.      Zip the whole site and submit here for discussion.

Answer

After much fussing about with Dreamweaver, trying to write in code and not getting far with it, I figured I would be better off with Muse, as it was much quicker.

Therefore, here is the plan I made with Muse (I added a few more pages, such as two more destinations, a gallery page and a contact page):

Moreover, here is the work I did so far with the Index/Home page and with Bright:

Figure 1: Please note I have a scroll-down sub-menu for the Destinations tab.

Figure 2: with this page, I was considering adding a composition as the body of information was too large for the page

Originally, I wanted to keep it simple.  However, after receiving feedback on how my banner looked, I decided to create a new one.  Here are two versions – one with plain text and the other with 3D effects added.  I felt it would give the impression of being in front of an old building in an urban area, a corner store in a rural one or a ‘retro’ ad in a magazine.

Due to technical glitches in my previous site, I had to ditch the previous plan and start afresh.  Here is what I have done so far with the new plan: I have added the new banner on the Master page, change the colour scheme and layout, and added a few widgets to the footer (badges for social media).

For the Home page, I have added an introductory text and a slide show.

In the screenshot below, you can see a drop-down submenu in the navigation bar (which features the three destinations).

I have also added a ‘Destinations’ page with a composition slide show.

For the ‘Bright’ page, I added two videos of Bright, as well as an accordion panel (featuring information on Bright).

At this stage, I have yet to add (and change) a few more pictures, and I have already started on the pages for my next two destinations – Clare Valley (South Australia) and Ulladulla (New South Wales).  I will discuss these further in the next Progress Challenge, however.