True Life: HTML and Website Design

So Friday has finally arrived, and this week has been a hectic one, with much more work to be done. The focus recently, other than managing our client’s accounts with the highest regard for success in mind, is the construction of our soon to be completed website. Now for anyone who has undertaken the project of creating a website, kudos my friend, we respect you. Most companies will hire web-savvy developers to create a site that fits the needs of a company or even individual, but who has that kind of money in today’s economy? Being in the social media industry, it would be bad for business to not do it ourselves. So what better way to prove our dominance in this industry, then to take a concept and get the job done ourselves?

HTML, CSS, JAVA, XML, FLASH… just to name a few of the ongoing list of coding languages needed to create a sufficient and well-suited website are the equivalent of reading a Chinese newspaper. Now I will not sit here and preach that I am above average on my ability to understand and write coding for a site, but I will say, aside from the stress and thought of smashing laptops on an hourly basis, I am having a ton of fun.

I know, you’re asking yourself, how can it be the least bit fun? Well, remember when you were 13, playing Golden Eye on Nintendo 64? Remember that one level you couldn’t beat for the life of you? Chances are once you figured it out, you asked your parents to throw you a party equivalent to a college graduation celebration. The overwhelming feeling of accomplishment lets you sit back and bask in the glory of conquering what seemed a daunting task.

Same feeling, except it is repeated time and time again as the website begins to look more and more like a website than it does like a 5 year old boy’s scrap book. The feeling of being Alexander the Great after conquering a country outweighs the urge to throw a $2500 laptop onto the highway.

For the record, I am very tech-savvy, but learning new languages is a different story. I have found out that jumping into the realm of website design rather than reading countless books in attempts to learn and understand coding, has proven to be of more success. I have learned what certain codes mean, and how they are applied. Additionally, I have learned when to use a specific code, or a combination of codes to deliver a desired effect or action.

I am what you would call a hands-on learner. Make me read text about coding, and there is a good chance I will only retain 5% of what I read. Put me in the trenches and make me learn what it is I am doing, and how to do it, there is a higher probability that I will retain 75% if not more.

Now I would post the link to the website in which is being constructed, but no. You will have to wait until it is completed to marvel at the masterpiece created by the PMC team. The point of this piece is precisely what you are thinking. It’s Friday, you want to pass time and avoid doing your job as much as possible, so why not fill you in on what PMC has been up to?

For anyone who has pondered taking on the task of creating a website, I say do it. Outsourcing is a great way to get it done effectively and in a timely manner, but that also takes away from the lessons learned by doing it in house. Give it a try. Remember being the 13 year old that never gave up? You probably lost hours of sleep, set on accomplishing something as meaningless as beating a video game. But is it really meaningless once you prove you can accomplish goals?