ENC 4416 Course Reflection

There have been so many new ideas that I've learned throughout my ENC 4416 course. It's amazing how many things you can learn in one semester from just one class. I've learned how to create web audits to doing long term projects with a group, to even understanding basic principles behind digital environments that I never thought of before. But the two most important things, or should I say interesting things I've learned this semester is of course the web audit as well as understanding digital environments, the content it holds and the spreadability of the content I produce.

I look back now at the beginning of the year and I think of all the websites I've ever been on, I never even thought of the principles behind the design or the content that's included on the page. There might have been times where I thought, "wow this page is ugly" or "I wish this page had more of ____ for me to read about or look at." but i never thought of what improvements could be made. Or even better, I didn't know what improvements could be made. I look at web pages now and I can immediately spot areas that need improvement. It could be the design of the web page, such as layouts, color, image placement (or the images themselves), font or even font size. It could also be the content that is actually included in on the page. I know now constitutes as important to have on the page as well as text that may just be unnecessary. Understanding the audience behind the page and knowing what people want and need contributes to how effective a page may be. This class has helped me to understand the factors behind a page that makes a page interesting, easy to understand and even likable.

This leads me to the second idea I've learned in this class and that's web audits. I didn't even know what a web audit was at the beginning of the class. Now that it's over, I know what it is and what's needed in it. My first web audit may not be the best, but if I keep learning and understanding pages, I will be able to create better and better audits. I was actually given an opportunity to do a web audit for my sister's company. It's a fairly small company and I have never seen their page before, but the first time I looked at it, I knew exactly what they needed fixed. I know I have a long way to go before I can do web audits professionally, but after this class audits don't seem as daunting as it first was when I started. It may actually be something I'd like to do in my spare time if I'm given the opportunity to do so.

Source: Think Digital Now