I’m currently writing up and creating the web pages for the final project of the Education innovation concentration.
The final project is called “I Built My Own Education” and, as the name suggests, it is about this website ibuiltmyown.education.
It’s also about the philosophy and legacy of this website.
And it’s also about why I added this blog to the site.
The project is split into four components…
- Component 1: Education Philosophy
- Component 2: Education Website
- Component 3: Education Blog
- Component 4: Education Platform
Component 2: Education Website is all about how I designed and created ibuiltmyown.education.
It details the full process of developing this website from its initial conception all the way back in 2013 right up to its presentable form that I put together this very year.
Component 2 covers a ten-year evolutionary process… and, as a result, the web page I created became very long.
Very, VERY long.
So long in fact that the web browser sometimes struggled to load it!
Clearly, I couldn’t use this as the final presentable web page.
It would have been the work of a very inexperienced web designer and not at all practical for a user to peruse the page’s content.
Therefore, I took the decision to split this big page into five smaller pages.
One page to act as an overview page for component 2.
Then a further four pages which contain the four key development periods of ibuiltmyown.education (as outlined on the original long page)…
- 2013 – 2018: Designing a site that is an explorable master’s degree
- 2019: Building the site and finding its form
- 2020 – 2021: Colour coding the site into coherency
- 2023: Progressing the site into a presentable form
The overall final project is a little more intricate now in terms of its web page structure because you have the final project overview web page for the final project’s components and then another overview page for one of the component’s sub-components.
But it was definitely better to break the page down into shorter pages because the whole point of an effective website is to keep the user on your site and engaged with your content.
Creating concise content
I’m reflecting on this now because this issue of having over-long content has been a persistent issue throughout my time as a web developer and content creator.
Even before I became a web developer and content creator, I had a habit of writing large amounts of text.
When I get started, I can write like there is no tomorrow.
Depending on the task to which you are directed, writing a lot is not always a bad thing.
Sometimes you are required to write a lot.
If you’ve been commissioned to write a book, then you need a good 80,000 – 100,000 words for it to qualify as a book.
Having a lot of text written can also mean you can edit it down into multiple, smaller pieces of content, similar to what I have done with the original component 2 web page.
But developing the discipline to create concise pieces of content is essential for effective web design and content creation.
Creating shorter content is something I have been practicing over and over again while I have been building my MTA Portfolio.
Not least with the creation of ibuiltmyown.education, as indeed I discuss in the component 2 web pages.
I haven’t encountered the same problem with components 1, 3 and 4.
They are easily concise one-page affairs.
The development of ibuiltmyown.education has been a highly intricate process, so it’s no surprise that chronicling that evolution would take up a lot of space!
But now that I have broken the original massive component 2 page down into five smaller ones, I feel that it will make for a more accessible and engaging user experience.
I had a similar issue with component 4 of the Leadership and Management final project in which I broke down the creation of my life coaching website, notyouraveragelife.coach.
That was also a very long page which I also may break down into smaller pages at some point.
I don’t know yet, we’ll see.