One of the most challenging aspects of the Advanced Web Design course is how to choose a topic for your website. This will take more than a few minutes, and you may find that you still have not decided on one by the next class. But if you try some of the things below, you may find that, in fact, you have already decided. Here are a few pointers that may help you with it.
- Your topic will require quite a bit of content development. If you have spent time in the past writing or researching a topic, it is a good place to start. We will be spending some time learning how to write content that is appropriate for readers of the web.
What topics do you spend a lot of time talking to your friends about? Are there things that you talk about regularly, that inspire you, make your angry, or things you think about when you have time to yourself?
Is there something personal, that you know through personal experience, that you can talk easily about? Think about your upbringing, your current responsibilities, past relationships, jobs. What gives you enjoyment, what are you willing to spend money on, complain and moan about, wish you had more time for, wish you did not have to do so much. - Every night, write down three possible topics, even if they are lame. And put them aside.
- Spend some time on the internet and search for things that pop into your head. Everything that you could imagine exists on there. Those sites will lead to other sites. Remember to make notes, and bookmark ones that interest you based on their design, or subject matter.
- Take a notepad, and spend some time jotting down all the things that you do in a day, a week, a month, and year. You should be familiar with your topic, so it should be something that you think about often, and that you won’t be required to do very much research on.
- Go out for a walk alone, speak to friends about this challenge, visit a museum, library, bookstore, write a letter to a friend and drop it in the mail.
- Think about the things that define you as a person. Ask your friends and family what they think defines you as a person.
Remember, a good site is something that you have spent some time thinking about, and determining that you can easily write, design, and code. It will be quite a bit of work to get it right, so be sure that you give the topic a worthy amount of contemplation. It will pay off at the end of the course, and you will have something you can be proud of, to show to your friends, family, prospective employers.