Diving into the World Wide Web The World Wide Web is a huge realm of information, and my neophyte dive into this seemingly limitless stream is unannounced, undiscovered, and unabashed. I took the Online Journalism course, or Journ117 in UP code, because I thought I had a knack for computer-assisted creative output. I never actually made a real website before, but I thought with the aid of the software and programs available for building websites, this would be fun and easy. Now a semester after Journalism 117 under Prof. Danilo Arao, I cannot exactly say I was wrong to assume such, but I was wrong in the sense that it was not as how I expected it to be. When Sir Arao told us how he expects Journalism students like us in his class ought to do Online Journalism, I thought I was taken back to high school. We are supposed to hand-code our website, using the very classic notepad. I was thinking it was ironic how we aspiring journalists attempt to keep ourselves abreast with the tools made available by technology in doing journalism, and yet we are asked to use the primitive technology of web authoring with a notepad despite having a slew of website creation programs available. I did not enjoy that brief stint of conjuring my own web site back in high school, which I did not have the guts to launch to the internet for I am not really fond of announcing my personal affairs to the world [which is why I don't blog], and it was hard to beat my classmates' penchant for marquees and colors. I thought I was not going to enjoy it again this time in college. But it turns out that is only half-true. Making use of hypertext mark-up language codes made me feel like a computer geek--which I welcome, but it was not that easy even with a Barebones Guide to HTML. At first look, I immediately felt I did not have the patience to digest all those codes. After some time however, owing to repetitive use, the language is gradually becoming a part of my system. Just like any language, it has patterns, and in certain instances, I found myself typing away without looking at our key reference--and this feels good. I had a hard time though in translating what I visualize in my mind into something that can be actually perceived visually through the computer monitor. It involves a great deal of logic and resourcefulness, not only creativity. One has to devise clever ways of making use of the available codes towards the visual output one wants--and this can take a lot of time figuring out. In a sense, handcoding for web authoring teaches the value of discipline and patience. It took me hours to complete the base design for my website, and that was a very, very frustrating episode. As one may understand, it was not so fun and easy as WYSIWYG, but WYSIWYG is not as challenging as handcoding--so it all depends on one's idea of fun and fulfillment. In certain respects, handcoding in building websites is like writing an article. One makes use of those language tools to translate the images in the writer's mind, crafting them in a fashion as if one is weaving a story. Control is in the hands of the writer--from the text, to the images, to the presentation of the story itself. Referencing is easier [or can be overwhelming], for one has the entire internet as library. It also involves a little hint of meticulousness, for one tiny error in "punctuation", the website will not look right, just like one's sentences in an article. It is debatable however whether having limited source codes also limits one's output--but I say it is all a matter of imagination, just like writing. To an extent, I feel pride for the website design I came up with, for to the maximized potential, it was "written" by me as it was handcoded. I only regret not being able to put up much content because of time constraints, but I intend to keep up the website and add more journalistic and personalized content in the future, and maybe promote it. Somehow I can claim I acquired bragging rights in web authoring through this course. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, one that has opened up a new interest, and I am grateful I learned what I did in this course--and in such a way like I did. After the dive, and the handcode-strokes for a swim, the extra challenge now is to keep my website afloat in this boundless pool of manifold information. TOP OF PAGE