To achieve maximum benefits regarding redesigning, I followed points from the plan, one aspect of the rebuilding I had to decide was what styles I would choose and whether the case of following the previous design of first promotions would be adequate. Simply from analyzing the first promotions I realized that the styles were reasonably professional and did not need much actual restyling or even changing the content, where as it was more of a case adding features and content to enhance the website.
To get a full idea of the kind of features that I could implement in the website I realized that analyzing other websites would be needed and seeing ideas in which they have used and use some of these ideas that would be effective and enhance usability. One of the main ideas I found and I would use was the use of simple forms such as using a feed back for on the homepage and redoing the contact page and implementing a small section for entering contact details. These forms could be very useful and I was able to redefine how and where I wanted information to be sent.
The original first promotions websites was done in java code formatting and as described in the website plan I will be using the CSS code formatting type. If I was to review the previous coding type for the original website which was java I would describe this as being average and it would do the job but the fact is, CSS is more efficient and better. This is because CSS allowed easy and quick formatting of text as well as the facilities to use style sheets which I will be using. Styles sheets allowed large numbers of webpage�s to be formatted in one go from one style sheet. It also means it will save work and save having to write all the code and this also means there is less chance of errors and if there is an error it means that it was quicker to find, rather than having to look through all the formatting code. When using this code I did find it very easy to use compared to what I think using java code would be like, I realized just how much easier CSS was to work with when it came to having to look through the java code, I found that even to find a simple link addresses it was hard and I found that java formatting had far more code than simple CSS formatting which is a big benefit, it means organization and accuracy was far easier to maintain with less clutter of code with CSS.
After inserting the relevant content which I simply copied from first promotions which I needed I then added the CSS anchors and relevant code. I then created the forms which were slightly more complex than over jobs as in building the website and in fact this did involve me to use java script because this was the best and easiest option for making forms. I also realized the best decision was to research in the best possible designs of forms to use from the internet and this helped greatly rather having to design and create a form entirely from scratch.
There were many minor problems throughout the build of the website such as simple code errors where a letter was missing or put in the wrong order. When looking at the actual bigger problems I came across there were a few. The problems I had were actually problems because the amount of time it took solving them. For instance after formatting and creating tables it was a case of placing each table in the right place and in the right order. What was happening I found was that different boundaries of tables such as margins were interfering with each other and when I tried to put a table for instance at the top I was not able to do this because there was an invisible boundary created by a certain object which was normally caused by some kind of margin. There was no easy way to get around this problem other than trial and error and this took time but eventually I got there and every thing was where I wanted it.
Another problem I came across was finding specific link addresses from the original website which I needed to use. At first I was not at all familiar with the layout of the code and it took a while for me to familiarize my self with it but I came over this by seeing patterns by what code words were next to the links and then this allowed me to find where other links were more quickly.
When it came to making new links there were small problems with certain objects being in different places for instance finding where the logo was located through a number of different files and I had to put every file and sub file that it was contained in and then get every name exactly right along with what format the object was for instance jpg, gif and bmp which was just a few so doing all these different jobs took time and I found even making a little mistake along the line of doing a link would always result in the link not working but eventually I created all the links.
One factor when building the website that I was glad about doing was the planning which I had done in the previous assignment. This allowed me to realize exactly what things I needed to do and I could add to this when building the project if I so wished, but it acted as the building blocks when making my website giving ideas and what order to do things. The file structure plans were also useful and what I found was best was to create a notepad file and then simply save it by the index file to start with and when it was finished I would move it into the folder which contained the rest of the webpage�s, doing it like this way was quick and after putting it in its correct folder I always new where it was and keeping it within the walls of my plan allowed it to be as a map and everything was always organized and I new where everything was.
I also was glad about the way in which I did the plan for instance making it in steps proved to be very useful because I always new where I was in the project and this gave me incentive to work harder because I never felt that the project was getting two much because I could always see exactly where I was to the finishing steps which kept me motivated and organizationally aware.
I think one thing that I would definitely consider doing if I was to repeat the project would be to research more in past designs and other website plans. Learning from other peoples mistakes may have prevented from making the ones in which I came across. I also feel I could have used more code from other examples of forms and websites because these have been designed to a very high standard and perhaps using code that professionals have created may have improved the look of my website.
One thing I may also change is the order in which I created and put on the tables on the web page. I feel it would have improved the build if I did this because this may have avoided the problem of styling and problems I had with moving objects around on the web page. I also think this would have made jobs easier and saved time.