Venting.
by julie on April 7, 2001
Time to vent.
I set my expectations a little too high. Not the first time. And surely not the last. Today was the first day of my Web Design class. The entire text book is a hand-holding FrontPage 2000 tutorial. All fine and good, but I at least hope to teach my students the basics of executing good web design. I mean, any fool can open up FrontPage, slap in a little text, throw in a few clip art images, hit the upload button, and voila — instant cookie-cutter web design.
Pffft.
I spent the first hour talking about the Web Environment (browser compatibility, monitor resolution, color depth, etc.) just to get them somewhat familiar with the environment their final product will live in. I lost at least four of them right there.
So we begin doing the exercises in the book. Pretty smooth going. Take a lunch break. I start thinking maybe some of what I said might be sinking in. Feeling pretty positive. Then, we gather up for the last little lecture on Information Architecture.
Whoa. They were definitely not ready for this. I think I went into too much detail. Okay, there were a few of them nodding their heads, realizing that it’s a very good idea to have a plan before they begin. But there were others, one girl in particular, who looked like I was asking them to perform brain surgery. Lord have mercy.
Why would a person take a “Web Design” class without expecting to learn basic web design principles?
Sigh. Okay, I know. Get over it. I will. I just needed to get it out of my system.
Thank goodness Eric rented Almost Famous. That should help. Then I’m going to run a hot bath, soak until I can’t keep my eyes open, and slide into bed.