This was an interesting and challenging class. Years earlier, I been a front-end developer, but I had left Web development before the adoption of HTML5. In this course, I learned how to develop websites using HTML5 technologies: HTML, CSS3, and both vanilla Javascript and Jquery, along with some AJAX techniques.
My final project includes a CSS-only dropdown menu, a Lightbox photo gallery, and some AJAX and Javascript techniques to toggle image galleries and load media. These techniques were all new to me and quite interesting to learn. In addition to learning new techniques, the course required me to think carefully about several aspects of developing a website: the objective, the target audience, the use cases, the website architecture, the layout design, and the content – including all the media. Overall, I got to learn a lot about how to build a modern website by making various HTML5 technologies work together to produce a satisfying end user experience.
Similarly to Introduction to Web Development (7360), this course stressed design considerations, especially creating mock-ups before building. The course also included some critique of particular techniques and a discussion of preferred hosting solutions. These discussions provided insights I can use for developing websites in the future.
Finally, I conducted a usability observation and two usability surveys for my final project. I compiled and analyzed the data from the tests and verbal statements, and I used the results to make changes that would enhance the end-user experience. Conducting a usability test process was a new experience for me, and I now appreciate how such a process can reveal problems a developer would never see without performing one.