My portfolio

My Portfolio

The first thing I did when creating this site was to decide on a layout for the home page. I decided to use navigation at the top of the page as opposed to the left side, simply because I liked it better at the top. I believe it would have worked as well on the side, but I also like the contrast of the blue between the two more neutral colors.

The colors were the second thing I picked when designing my site. I normally prefer brighter colors, but because of the professional nature of this web site, I thought darker colors would be more appropriate. I used a khaki color for the background of the main part of the page so the black text would have enough contrast to be easily readable. I used the blue to add a little bit of interest and to draw users' attention to the navigation bar. I used the color picker to make the title of the web site the same color as the background of the main section because I though the repetition of the color made the web page look more professional.

Once I decided on the basic layout and colors of the page and before I put any information in the main section of the page, I saved what I had as a template. Instead of starting from scratch on each new page, I was able to use this template. That way, I was guaranteed that the layout of each page was identical, ensuring that the user would know that they were still viewing my web site.

I used left alignment for the title of the site and the text in the main body. I think that alignment made the most sense and looked the most professional. I might have centered the body text on some pages with lists, but for the sake of repetition and a professional appearance, I stuck with the left alignment. I did indent the text to make sure it was not bumping up against the left edge of the page because I did not want it to be hard to read. I did, however, use a right alignment for the navigation to draw the user's eye to it.