The Digital Portfolio (Lab 1)
For this course, you need to post all of your assignments to your
own digital portfolio. This serves several purposes: to will help
you create or add to your professional work, increase your digital
presence, and provide me with one convenient location to review your
work.
While I encourage you to create completely new works for all of the
other labs, if you already have a website you like, you may use that for
this lab.
Don't neglect your digital presence!
Digital portfolios are rapidly becoming an expected portion of job
applications for many fields. Having work online ready to send with your
application will be a big help to you as you embark on your job search
journey.
This article has some helpful tips for digital
portfolios.
Do you learn better from bad examples? Check out the worst
portfolio
ever for
some tips about what not to do - and read its companion
page to
understand why this portfolio is so bad.
Choose your own adventure
There are three website platforms I recommend for this assignment:
1. Wix: https://www.wix.com/
- I recommend using the free version of Wix. It is user-friendly, and
though no coding is required, it allows you to customize things
using code (and you can find lots of help from others using Google).
- I do not recommend using Wix ADI.
- Only the Wix Editor will allow you to create a site with any
layout, font, etc.
- Templates in Wix are overly constraining.
2. WordPress: https://wordpress.com/
- For whatever reason, WordPress is the most popular website creator
on the Internet today. It is rather likely that your company will be
using it. (UCF even uses it for department websites!)
- However, as it has gained popularity, it has continually stripped
away the available features--to the point that on my
own professional website, I can't customize
very much or modify the CSS--and I pay annually for the "premium"
plan! (I resorted to the HTML-only editor, and I still have spacing
issues.)
3. Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/new
- This platform is not used widely at UCF because we are a "Microsoft
Campus" rather than a "Google Campus," but Google still makes
their websites available for anyone to use.
- If you are familiar with Google docs, slides, etc. and their unique
quirks, the transition to Google Sites should be an easy one for
you. If you are used to a more robust/traditional web hosting
platform, you may find Google to be frustrating.
Tips
- You do not need to purchase a domain name for your site,
regardless of the platform.
- If you already have a portfolio online somewhere and would like to
use it for this class, you may build on it for this course.
- If you know of another free, user-friendly option that I should add
to this list, please let me know!
- Website accessibility is increasingly important- glance through
these guidelines to be
sure your website can be enjoyed by a wide audience!
Explore
Wix: https://www.wix.com/
Overview
Wix is increasing in popularity, and it is user-friendly for a wide
range of abilities. Unlike WordPress, it will allow you to customize a
wide variety of things and even use
CSS.
I recommend using the free version of Wix. It is user-friendly, and
though no coding is required, it allows you to customize things
using code (and you can find lots of help from others using Google). The
main website even walks you through creating your basic site--just
click the link above and click "Get Started"!
Examples
Resources
Notes:
-
I do not recommend using Wix ADI.
-
Only the Wix Editor will allow you to create a site with any
layout, font, etc.
-
Templates in Wix can be overly constraining, but if you really love
a template, you can add blank pages within one.
Overview
- I recommend WordPress for the potential intern who isn't annoyed by
a quirky UI)
- For whatever reason, WordPress is the most popular website creator
on the Internet today. It is rather likely that your company will be
using it. (UCF even uses it for department websites!)
- However, as it has gained popularity, it has continually stripped
away the available features--to the point that on my
own professional website, I can't customize
very much or modify the CSS--and I pay annually for the "premium"
plan! (I resorted to the HTML-only editor, and I still have spacing
issues)
Examples
Resources
Overview
- I recommend Google Sites for all levels of experience. I think it is
probably best for those who like Google Docs and haven't used other
site platforms, because the editing tools are located in a different
place and use different icons than the other two platforms in this
module.
- UCF is a "Microsoft Campus" and not a "Google Campus," so we
don't have any official websites through Sites (we actually use
WordPress). However, like the other two website platforms available
for this lab, Google Sites is a decent website creator with its own
unique quirks.
Examples
Resources
Password Protection
- 1. Click the icon on top right that looks like a plus sign beside a
person's head:
- 2. In the window that appears next, select the drop-down option
beside Published site and select Restricted.
- 3. If you only want me to be able to view your site, type my
email address in the box where it says **Add people and
groups
- For old/classic Google sites:
- Choose who can see your site
- On a computer, open a site in new Google
Sites.
- At the top, click Share.
- Next to "Published," click Change. Then choose the option
"Specific people".
- Add the people or a group.