Launching my website (again)

Some of you might know that I had an old portfolio website before this one. After a long look at it, I realized that I could do better than copying a template and filling it out as my own. I wanted to start from scratch and implement original styling and character. Thus, Keviin.com was born (again).

Starting from scratch was not as easy as I thought it would be. With little knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, building a decent-looking page was quite frustrating. However, throughout this process, I’ve learned so much about web design. Let me take you through my journey of building the site.

HTML

The HTML portion of the site was fairly easy: add some text here, a few buttons there, and a couple of links. Pretty straightforward. But it’s all fun and games until you have to position everything exactly where you want it (I'll get to that later). The hardest part was linking the HTML files together. Once I figured out how to organize my root directory and navigate it, everything came together quickly.

JavaScript

The best part of any website is how cool it looks when you navigate through it. Have you seen Apple’s website? I knew I wanted some interactivity on my site, but my JavaScript knowledge was at a bare minimum. The majority of my .js file is used to dynamically display the recent notes on the homepage. I also added a few effects and transitions. In the end, I chose to keep things simple and devote most of my time to working on the CSS.

CSS

CSS. A perfectionist's worse nightmare. I’m pretty sure I spent most of my time adjusting margins and padding. It was frustrating to get one button aligned properly, only to find that another one was halfway across the page. Essentially, CSS is in charge of making your site look good. Without CSS, your site would look like this. Halfway through making the site look somewhat-decent, I realized it looked absolutely terrible on a phone. I then had to implement functionality across phones, tablets, laptops, and monitors. After countless “Open with Live Server” and “Inspect Elements” sessions, Keviin.com finally took its shape.

In Conclusion

I’ve learned that building a website from a blank canvas can be very meticulous. Despite the challenge, I am proud of what I’ve learned throughout this project. I’m even prouder of the fact that I now have my own digital corner in this vast world we call the internet. Cheers to a fresh start!