I’ve owned the domain name krobbins.com for many years. The website using that name has been through many iterations. After not having much on it for several years, I finally resurrected it as a testing ground for my web development projects and as place to write about technology and whatever else I am into at the moment.
During a process of developing a curriculum suitable for high school or adult education, I was working on a semester project that would involve creating a single page website that uses a form of CSS, such as BootStrap to give the appearance of multi-pages. These seem to be pretty popular these days.
A good first year development project might focus on a collection of some type. It could be pictures, music, objects, such as shells, or stamps, or cars, or whatever. The important part would be that it would use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to to give the student a personal interest in their own project while teaching web development skills. I started what was to be a little example project of my own and, well let’s just say I was a little compulsive about it. More about that project in a minute, but first; the art part.
The Art Part: A trip to LACMA
I took my grand daughter, Caitlin to LACMA. If you are taking someone under 17, be sure to go into the Boone Children’s Gallery, just to the right of the ticket booth, inside the Korean and Chinese galleries and get your young one(s) a membership. On the spot, they will give you an orange membership card on a lanyard which entitles your child and one adult to free admission until their 18th birthday. I love free!
On this trip I was kind of focused on the idea of what art is. Like the big rock behind the museum. In spite of its weight of several tons, Caitlin was able to hold it up with no effort. I wondered what it cost but I am not going to bother researching it. It’s big. It’s a rock. But is it art?
At the entrance to the area devoted to minimalism, there was an “installation” on the floor made up of 64, 8″ by 8″ steel squares. Years ago, when I worked as a Millwright, we would use hundreds and even thousands of those squares per job to make gussets and splices in the fabrication of steel structures such as conveyors.
I did that type of welding for an hourly rate that seems somewhat menial by comparison. Had I only known that if I just laid 64 of them on the ground and made a bigger square, I could possibly be a millionaire right now. According to the blurb on the wall, this art has been exhibited nationally.
Sorry, but concerning some forms of art I am just not a fan. I have seen some really good minimalism, but it is usually at the non-minimal end of the minimal spectrum. I guess I am more of a Norman Rockwell kind of guy.
The HTML Part: A web development project
You may be asking, “What does this have to do with HTML?” That brings me to the web development project I was referring to above. I would not require all of this for a first year student and I admit I got a little carried away. It shows some of the basics of HTML, CSS3 and a little JavaScript. Most of my websites are viewed very well on a phone. This one is OK, but it looks and works much better on a computer. Use each menu item to flip through the pages or on a phone just keep scrolling down.
It is a tribute to my mom and a collection she had. Please take a look.
https://www.krobbins.com/mainstreet