https://gabyjuhala.github.io/creative-coding-lab/final/
Name: Gaby Juhala
Title: Paxi….Again!
Subtitle: One more project dedicated to Paxi and all that he is.
Elevator Pitch: A website for all those who know him and all those who would like to know him. Paxi makes his last appearance of the semester.
Abstract: This website is a fun, lighthearted, and quirky project to celebrate my wonderful dog Paxi. I was inspired to create one final project about him, so that those who already know about him, as well as those who don’t, can have the unique experience of getting a little snipet into who Paxi is and why he is so important to me that I would create a whole website in his honor. The first page is a simple bio page to introduce him to the user. The second page consists of a simple game during which the user uses the arrow keys to help paxi cross the screen without being hit by oncoming logs. The final screen is a photo booth, in which the user can take a selfie with Paxi that is automatically downloaded after capture.
Reflection:
Design and Composition:
My design inspiration for this website originated from the game Poptropica, which I mentioned in my project’s proposal. Although I certainly strayed from that I think the framework of my project has a similar concept; users go through different pages and “complete tasks” with a prize at the end, that being the Paxi selfie. I would say the biggest challenge I faced was being too ambitious at the beginning of the coding process. I originally wanted to have more than 3 pages on my site with multiple games and interactive stories, I quickly realized, after much failure, that a lot of the ideas I had were too far out of my range of abilities so I had to scale down my imagination and come up with some more realistic options.
Technical:
The biggest technical challenge I faced was having to incorporate aspects from p5, html, and css all into one cohesive website. The specific part I struggled with the most I would say was adding sound to my website, considering the fact that I was unfortunately absent for the class during which sound was taught I had to teach myself and I faced a lot of error at first before finally downloading the correct library file for p5.js, downloading a sound that would work, linking it in all the right places throughout my code, etc. I did however get it to work in the end and I really enjoy the added level of enhancement it provides. Another thing I struggled with and did not win the fight against was adding borders around the p5.js sketches we brought into atom. I watched many videos and read lots of different articles but was not able to get it to look the way I wanted so I moved on to refine other details and because of it completely forgot that I had wanted to figure out how to do that.
Reflection and Future Development:
Overall this project was definitely the most difficult and time consuming, as expected. As I mentioned in design and composition, it was very inspiring to see how much my project evolved from an idea to a proposal and from a proposal to full blown website. I did have to cut back on how ambitious I was being because of multiple reasons but the main two being, time constraints (being sick and finals week mayhem) and lack of complex coding knowledge needed for a majority of my original plans. If I were to do the project over I think I would definitely give myself more time so that I was able to focus on the nitty gritty details of each individual aspect of the website so that it not only is functional but also aesthetically appealing for the user. I must admit that I am satisfied with my project, the only part I wish I could’ve done better on would be the number of pages. Although I have a three page website, I wish that there could’ve been more because it would have made the website significantly more interactive than what it is now. If I were to continue working on this website in the future I would definitely want to add more pages, more user interaction through games, and more refined details overall. I think a lot of these things weren’t possible because of my skill-level but hopefully in the future this will no longer be an issue and I can refine my Paxi website to its fullest potential.