The concept of my website is to describe sites around the world that had gain citizenship of independence from both the government and people. The website has five pages. The home page, about page and the three sites around the world that are independent (two in New Zealand and one in America).
The reason I used the program Wix to create my website is because it was recommended to me by my sister. She had previously created a website for a debating tournament that she was organising and offered me advice on what to do. Wix is also free to use which was another added bonus. For Wix you start with a huge number of templates to choose from and then work your way up from that while adding in the photos you want to use and adding the information. The template I chose for this website is one that was designed for showcasing a singer or bands profile. This meant that it had lots of room for photos as well as room to write a summary of information. I decided to rely heavily on visuals for the websites pages due to the lack of a lot of information of the sites. A lot of sources for the places such as the tree that owns itself are blog posts by people who have actually been to the place. Since I cannot travel to Georgia or New Zealand I am only able to use information that are facts rather than describing the place fully and blogging about my experience there. There are multiple blogs on the internet that describe the different sites I have mentioned in my website.
My only challenge with WIX was that while I could type directly into the text box it was not very convenient. It was hard to go back on and change mistakes and wasn’t easy to direct. I instead would type the information into Word and then copy and paste it over. I am not sure if this is something that is normal with any website design program but it was the only compromise I had to do outside of the program. Another annoyance was that the program would not save as I went so I had to constantly re save in case something happened to my computer. Once again I am not sure if that is usual with most website design programs.
I had originally intended that I would put a map on the website showing where the sites are all over the world but in the end decided against it. Since there are only three sites in the world that maintain an independence status it would have looked like a pretty pathetic map in my opinion. It is something that could definitely be added on in years when there might be more sites like this found in the world but for now it is not something necessary. It seems likely that the only forthcoming sites that will gain citizenship will be in New Zealand as they are the only country with two sites with citizenship covered under the one Act with the potential to cover more.
I had also originally intended for the website to be a bit more humerous and play more on the idea of the sites being independent sites that need no man. However, the idea to be obnoxiously pink with love hearts everywhere like you might see in an over exaggeration of a dating site gave way to having a nice aesthetic. I think this mainly changed after I read the Te Urewera Act (2014) and it listed all the reasons as to why these lands were important to the Maori people that I felt making too much fun of these sites wasn’t going to work. It would be harder to convey the importance of the sites to the people that had loved them if it seemed like I was making fun of them.
I am not completely happy with the photos that I used as I wished they were a bit higher resolution. I changed a few of the photos via filters but I am only half happy with the results. I have quite a few photos on each of the pages because I thought that good images rather than text might fully be able to portray the beauty of the independent sites.
The home page picture is of ‘The Tree that Owns Itself” It is meant to be a bit abstract and not give a full idea of what the tree looks like. I basically just wanted something that would look pretty and add to the feeling of how these independent sites are of an almost spiritual importance to people. This reasoning is also behind why I chose that particular photo for the about page. It represented to me the connectivity that people have with the Whanganui River even in modern times. Even though the river was mainly granted citizenship because of its relationship with the Maori people it does not mean that people all over New Zealand and people all over the world cannot have a spiritual connection with the river while walking among the trees or floating along the water. To some they might have the same spiritual experience when they walk into a church as they do when they spend time by this river. This same idea also relates to The Tree that Owns Itself after a single man decided that he wanted the tree that he loved to always because be protected because of his connection that he had to it in his life.
This whole assignment right from the beginning was a real challenge for me. From coming up with an idea on what to do the assignment on to being completely taken out of my comfort zone by designing a website. I had no experience at all when it came to this type of as assignment. On reflection, I wish I had chosen a topic that would have used more of the tools that were taught to me in class. I did not use many at all but for me just doing this quite basic website was quite a challenge and need a lot of patience and time from me. I cannot think of how I could have integrated more of the things we learnt in class more into the website. If I had more time I would like to have added more information. However, there are a lot of blogs that talk about the sites and their experiences there but there isn’t one that combines together all the independent sites in the world. Despite all of my criticism I am still happy with the result. I never thought in my life I would have to design a website so it has been nice to learn that I can.
