To continue learning real world computer development skills, Web Design teacher Denise Snow assigned a group project for sophomores to recreate pre-existing company websites to make them more user friendly.

”I chose to assign this because it was a nice group project and the students seem to really like to create from their own mind,” Snow said. “Instead of everyone doing the same project the students get to evolve it themselves with this one.”

Sophomores must take simplicity and visual appeal into consideration when making these websites. Since children will be the target audience for this project, websites must be easy to navigate and have legible fonts.

“One thing we’re trying to fix is the color because children aren’t attracted to a boring website that is just black and white,” sophomore Jocelyn Miller said. “My group judged a website for a community park and picked out the things children wouldn’t like. We knew kids wouldn’t want to see links that don’t work and lead to nowhere or words that are to advanced for them to understand.”

Each group is allowed to create their own fake services to address the concerns raised in the critiques, such as Uber.

“The company that my group is working on is called Loobee, a transportation company that competes with Uber and Lyft,” sophomore Zedekiah Zinneh said. “We have a premium plan that lets you select a driving friend, which allows you to pick the same driver whenever the are nearby. There’s also a Loobee rewards plan, the plan will get you one free ride after 10 rides or less depending on your cost and distance.”

After groups finish their websites, they will present it to the rest of the class. Their peers will critique them on how easy their navigation system is and how pleasing it looks.

”The hardest part of this project, in my opinion is perfecting the website in the time allotted,” Miller said. “Although the project is to make a user friendly website and make an overall simplistic website, it takes a long time to make the website look interesting and creative. Overall, the design aspect of the website is extremely hard and time consuming.”

Have you ever created a website?