Creating A Portfolio Website

Creating a professional website is a way for people to express themselves and their work in a unique way that can say more about them than a regular resume might. It is one thing to put on a resume that a candidate has skills or experience using certain software or social media platforms, but having a website that is able to put those skills and experience in front of an employer may be more valuable. This website will be used to promote the creator because it will be used to share their portfolio with a potential employer. If the creator is interested in a position or has an upcoming interview, the website would be used to show the abilities of the candidate and to portray a bit of their personality, their work, and their previous accomplishments. 

The social media projects previously worked on in class tie in with the website because they were almost stepping stones to creating this website. Creating the Wiki-how page, for example, allowed us to have some experience with coding and using Photoshop to create “web ready” images. The group video project and the Twitter project tied into the website as well. The video project was something that was able to become a part of the portfolio that showed new skills that other items in the portfolio did not portray. The Twitter project being added to the site allowed for the creator to show off their ability to be able to run a professional Twitter account.

The tie-ins with social media and the website are necessary because social media is such a large part of the current professional world. It is important to be able to show employers that the candidate in question has an ability to navigate their way through social media and has an understanding of different programs used on social media platforms, such as Photoshop, iMovie or Dreamweaver, to create interactive content. Social media is how people connect and communicate with each other around the world, so a website highlighting one’s accomplishments should showcase their use of social media as well. 

Creating the website itself had some ups and downs. If the person making the site has never used the Dreamweaver software previously, it may seem overwhelming at first, and trying to find out where to start may begin to feel stressful. A template was used to create the website as a whole, therefore the actual task of creating a site was not as stressful as initially assumed. Since the site did not have to be coded from the ground up, it was easy to simply change the links and information where needed. The content was organized pretty clearly through the template and the portfolio items and images used were neatly organized in folders beforehand. Developing the website’s look was probably the most fun aspect of the site. Being able to create the header and choose the color scheme was a nice way to allow individual personalities to be shown through the site.

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