Tips for writing an essay and giving a quality presentation, in my opinion:

1) Begin and end strong!

Madison’s opening lines in her introduction: Opening up a blank document is a daunting task no matter what the reason behind it is. Whether writing an essay or plotting a short story or coding a website, that bright white screen can seem like a dragon and can make you feel like an ill-equipped knight. This blinding white screen left me with this feeling in my chest, and it refused to leave even after I changed the style settings in Notepad++. But eventually, I gathered my courage and prepared to make a website.

2) Be specific.  Drip with details.  Explain the process. Overdo it.

My font is something that I picked for my website very early; I wanted something very minimalistic that did not take away from the website itself.

Which font?  Name, please.  System versus Google? How does it tie to your site’s theme and overall approach? Sans versus Sans serif.

3) Advanced, you literally want to point out everything!

Layout, headings, favicon, multimedia, fonts, colors, social media…everything on that home page.

4) Don’t say “really cute” or “amazing” without extreme description.

I felt the same about my social media icon, I think that it is really cute and I really enjoy the fact that it went with my theme so well that I could act as if the earth was the bird’s egg.

How did it go so well?  What about the bird’s egg?  Huh?

5) Make decisions.

Going from having a partner last year to now working as an individual is a totally different experience. Doing everything on your own is a lot harder than diving up the work evenly between two people. Being alone you get to choose when and how everything is going to get done, so you have to manage your time wisely. This outcome was a lot more rewarding because of the fact that you go through the tutorials and watch the videos, but do not know how it will actually come out until we do it ourselves. I did enjoy being independent and watching eve thing by myself, but I do like how interactive the intro class is. I think meeting somewhere in the middle will benefit both sides.

Don’t be wishy-washy.  If you liked something, say it.  If you didn’t, explain your rationale and how it could be better.  Which method of creation, partnership or individual, did you enjoy the most?  Explain.

6) Define, define, define.

After I made it I then went to go look at in on my website and saw some spots were not erased thoroughly enough. I then went back on the computer and proceeded to erase them, but instead of re saving my file to the web, I saved it as a Png.

What is a .png?  How is that file type different than other picture types?  In what situation would you use it?  Be nerdy here.

Use Google to your advantage.  If you talk about the importance of uniformity in your essay, Google Why is uniformity important in Web Design?  Use the answer to help you engage your audience.

7) Stay positive.

I love how my website turned out, despite my favicon not working and my image on my first page not showing up, I worked very hard on my website and am very proud of myself and how the finished product looked.

Don’t focus on what didn’t work.  Don’t point out your flaws.  Instead, focus on the positives and only address negatives if they led to learning experiences/growth.

8) Reread your blog entries.  They have such great “stuff” that you are welcomed, and encouraged, to throw into your speech.

9) Don’t make excuses.  I couldn’t get this to work because..  I didn’t have enough time to..  My partner didn’t do this..  I couldn’t understand this code because..

This is the real world.  You chose your partner/or made the decision to work alone. You could ask someone else in the class.  You could have emailed Barb and the web design team.  Heck, you could have contacted a web design company.  Yes, you can do these things.  You are more than capable.  It just takes work and determination.

10) INTRO:  Which tip will you need to remind yourself to focus on so that you have the maximum opportunity for an A?  Why is this tip an important one? ADVANCED:  Come up with your own REQUIREMENT idea.  What is it?  Why do you feel it would be a good paragraph idea?