Website Redesign Reflection

When I first began the website redesign project, I was pretty nervous.  I had some website design experience from a class I took in high school, but that was two years ago, and my experience overall was fairly limited.  So when I read the assignment sheet and found out we were using google sites, I felt a lot better.  I had never used google sites before, but it seemed pretty easy to learn how to use it (and it was).  Overall, I figured google sites would make the whole process of making the website redesigns easier.

While that turned out to be true for the most part, I did encounter some problems and frustrations.  There were times, for example, that google sites did not want to work as I wanted it to.  I would be editing a site and hit the button to take away an indent, and it would instead increase the indent.  Little problems like that were a bit of an annoyance.  

The cause of most of my frustration concerning google sites, however, was its limitations.  There were times when I wished that I could customize the sites further without having to use html code (which I can't quite remember how to do).  This was especially true in regard to the themes of the sites (I kind of wished they had more of a selection or that I could edit them further).  I also wished I could have changed the alignment of the headers.  (If that was something google sites allowed, I did not find it.)

Besides that, though, I found google sites to be pretty easy to learn and use.  So far, I am pleased with how my redesigns are turning out (I only have one more page to work on for each), and I think the changes are beneficial.  I reorganized the entire site, adding pages and making edits to existing pages.  For example, I moved the menu to its own page, and deleted other restaurant listings and listings with links that did not work off the "what's nearby" page.  Speaking of that page, I also added more listings for things to do in the area and a couple more places to stay, as well as a brief description of the area in which the restaurant(s) is/are located.  For the home page, I added a little description of Flo's.  Other pages I added included a directions page, a history page, an awards page, and a contact page.  I also put photos throughout the entire site, and overall it is more welcoming and navigable.

The original site: www.flosclamshack.net
My first redesign: sites.google.com/site/flosclamshackmiddletown/
My second redesign: sites.google.com/site/flosclamshackri/