Kate Bouwens' Final Portfolio

I have attached my final, revised portfolio. This website was a challenge to do, yet a lot of fun. I feel like there are many issues I could still improve upon, but as this was my first website, I am still pretty pleased.

I tried a couple of different programs to make my website. I used Illustrator, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver. I tried making the site in Dreamweaver from the beginning, but that proved to be too great a challenge. What is the most frustrating about Adobe software is that nothing is a) apparent or b) easy. After settling on Fireworks for the first attempt, I found that there were a lot of things that I couldn't do in Fireworks either. For instance, I can't get the site to center. I tried aligning it in Fireworks in the HTML Page Setup menu and then aligning it in Dreamweaver (according to many resources, they are supposed to work seamlessly... which is a lie).

For the second attempt, I tried downloading a OSWD template and designing from that. Well, that only works if you know how to use Dreamweaver and I've yet to find an easy, accessible, or helpful tutorial. I abandoned that pretty early on after getting frustrated and moved back into other Adobe software. I built my site using Illustrator and Fireworks and then finished it in Dreamweaver.

This project was a huge challenge. It has piqued my interest in web design, however, and I am taking the Web Production class next semester from the Comm department. Additionally, I asked for "Dreamweaver Missing Manual" for Christmas.

Enjoy!
http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~kbouwens/Index.htm