A Perfect Balance

Hi there all art 201 Tues/Thurs class... seeing as many of you have already posted, I guess it is time I share as well.
Similar to the many of you whom have expressed knowledge of various WYSIWYG platforms, I too, have been submerged into the realm of "point and push" web design. Though my use of Dreamweaver is fairly limited, I have tremendous experience using Microsoft's [rapidly evolving] SharePoint Services (better known as: MOSS/WSS). I like to believe that I am proficient amongst the current 2007 platform while tirelessly ramping up for the soon to be released 2010 updated version. For those of you wondering why I use SharePoint? I currently work for an occupational medical provider which maintains clinics nationwide, with their primary headquarters in Valencia, Ca. Hired as an intern for intranet based web design / IT administrator, I spend the majority of my working hours communicating with endusers to further site development.
Thus, the day to day exploration of this "design" tool in addition to the research of third party applications, advanced capabilities, and the ever increasing need for improved efficiency, customized scripts and Visual Studio created workflows for our many users utilizing this tool.
So even though SharePoint is a visual "drag and drop" web design tool, like Dreamweaver, the need to know programming and code is crucial to the needs of the company; especially for purely customized reporting/tracking/etc. of stats and data.

After that far longer than intended introduction, in regards to this class and on learning HTML coding for our first project - I need to admit, albeit tedious and sometimes grueling, the knowledge we are obtaining from understanding such basic design concepts is such a solid foundation for future opportunities. And from a totally personal perspective, the ability to explore my own creative intents and desires while being one hundred percent in control is the perfect balance for my creative hunger.

- Katie Grayot