Project Update

As I continue to progress towards the final project, I cannot help but to focus on the negative. It is not a lack of optimism on my part. Rather, I seem quick to fixate on trees in the forest that then halt me on the trail. Therefore I must beg your patience, dear reader, as I begin by discussing recent errors in my process before moving into my plan-of-action.

Starting three weeks ago, I changed my strategy. I developed a needs assessment (step one), and then planed to focus on aesthetic/functionality (step two) before migrating content (step 3). Or, so was my plan. I'd say I'm still in the nebulous step 2/3 zone...and, drafting my presentation for next week.

The challenge happened in step two. I got really bogged down in working with modules, the look/"feel" of the site, and so-on. I bounced from theme to theme (Zen, Zen sub-theme, Danlog, back to Zen, Bartik, Fusion, and finally locked in on Danlog). There seems to be a number of trade-offs present to each theme. Some, like Zen, allow a lot of stylization through CSS. But, that can become buggy along the way. My Zen sub theme, entitled "BouchoBookLab" (part in reference to the avatar name I use in gaming, and part in reference to the product itself) never really worked in a way in which I was satisfied. And the most "functional" module out-of-the box (Danland) offers very little in the way of customization. It is death by the color blue. And the CSS files don't control all of the aesthetic! Then there were the modules that seemed to do cool things on paper, but resulted in two fatal errors in a week (and by fatal, I mean it...the site crashed with a thud).

(I know, I know...grouse grouse grouse, grumble grumble grumble :).

So...having wrestled a bit with customization and functionality (and, ultimately reverting to a very barren site along the way), I'm now moving forward with step 3. Simply put, the burdens of the deadline require me to stop spinning my wheels in the aesthetic/functionality mud and get my content posted! And that, in addition to developing my "Book Lab Experience" Showcase, is my current objective.

Onwards and upwards...