Introduction Questions

1. My name is Zeina Daboul. I am a junior pursuing a CS major and Design + Data Analytics in the Humanities (DASH) minors.
2. I am taking this course in order to supplement my current web programming capabilities and learn more about incorporating effective design.
3. I have prior experience with all of HTML/CSS/JS. I took Rapid Prototype Development and Creative Programming (CSE330), which served as my introduction to JS. The class is very fast paced and we learned multiple languages. The emphasis was naturally not on design, so HTML/CSS was cast to the side.
4. I'm hoping that this class, in conjunction with my experience as a programmer, can teach the ways to code a functioning website that also is visually pleasing. As an example, I hope to learn how to effectively use classes to standerdize the appearance of different components.
5. Designing for the screen requires much more attention to be placed on the usability of the website and the way that a user is supposed to interact with it. Designing for paper does also require similar considerations (font, background/foreground color), but I think the expectations for what that looks like is different. If a work of art requires that you look closely and read light text on light paper, it might be considered the choice of the artist. If a website featured that, it would be criticized for its lack of accessibility. So approaching the two mediums will require these different considerations.
6. Flaneur Magazine: This was a magazine that I repeatedly referenced in Typography 1. I think that both the magazine and the website use color in really interesting and unexpected ways. I sometimes shy away from a flamboyant colors in fear that it looks to messy, but I think that Flaneur uses its website's colors in a way which is in line with their branding. I also like the way in which they present their magazine when you're shopping for them. It's a simple grid structure on a black background, which is necessary to offset the chaos of their covers. I think they've found a right balance between the addition and subtraction of color, which makes the design of their website very appealing to me.
7. Fikra Biennial: This is a website which I think employs an interesting strategy to catering to different languages, besides the simple button that changes the website. There are things about the movement of the text and graphic that need to be improved, but the way in which the user can switch between the two languages adds a dynamic element to an otherwise static website. It facilitates communication with different people, like other websites do, but in a much more interactive way.
8. Mango: This is a website that works well and, for me, provides the best shopping experience. Their home page clearly displays their newest collections. Filtering your searches is intuitive. They've figured out how much information is neccessary for the shopper when looking at the search results (I care about the discount, but maybe not the promo code and when the code expires: that's information I'll look for if I'm interested in the piece and click to view the item further). The website is clean and provides for a much more enjoyable experience that isn't overwhelming to me like other online shops