Project One: HTML & CSS

January 2022

This project was my first HTML project since high school, and the biggest takeaway I've gotten from it was that HTML is a lot more straightforward than I initially thought. It definitely took a lot of time to organize my code and strip down what was unnecessary to make it more efficient. But, the further I went on, the more I really enjoyed this project. When I took web development classes in high school, the projects we did weren't as advanced or creative enough to really hone our skills. The time I spent with this project helped me master all of the HTML and CSS basics while introducing me to newer concepts I'll learn more about as the class progresses, and I'm really excited about that.

My biggest struggle during this project took place towards the end when I needed to streamline my CSS code. The lists in particular became an issue for me because the lists I made for the drink recipes ended up matching the format of the navigation bar, and it took me about two whole hours plus the help of my roommate (who is a CS major) to help me figure out the proper way to format my code in order to display everything correctly. This part took much longer than any other singular part of the project, but I'm proud of how it turned out. And despite being the thing that through off my entire project, the navigation bar actually became the part of the project I'm most proud of. I had to do some extra research on how to properly code it, but the details like the spacing between the links and the way the buttons change color when you hover over it make it look just like a real website, and I never expected it to come out that well, so I'm very proud of that. And that brings me to what I want to learn next: more CSS. I feel like there's so much potential for changing the way my website looks, and I learned so much from designing the navigation bar that I can't wait to see what else I can make look and feel like a real website.