What: The site will be an updated version of my current profile site (which is live at corydawson.net). I plan to make it more streamlined, add more content and particularly try to show off my news photography.

Who: The audience will likely be potential employers and anybody who’s interested in my work. It will include my work experience and ways to get in contact with me.

Why: Having a site like this is very important for anybody working in journalism, media, art, etc. — basically for anybody who creates things for a living. It’s also now a chance to show people what you can do to promote yourself. Being able to say that the website was built by you is also a huge plus.

Update 3/31/2019

Planned modifications:

1. A photo slideshow of some of my favorite news photography I’ve done. Would like to hyperlink each photo to the relevant underlying article.

2. A similar video slideshow of some of my favorite news videography.

3. A contact form on a dedicated page (I’ve already built the skeleton of one on my “hello world” page).

4. A PHP search bar (EDIT 4/2/2019 — Removed the add Twitter feed customization per Greg’s instructions )

5. A child theme so I can style the site with custom colors and typefaces (I don’t like the standard typefaces, I prefer Google’s OpenSans as a body typeface).

6. A dedicated page describing how to securely contacting me with several options, similar to what several news organizations already do. I would like to set up SecureDrop so that sources can send me documents safely. I would also like to set up a PGP fingerprint and public key so that I can securely converse with sources. 

URL: corydawsonmedia.com

Update 4/7/2019

Plan for code customization and timeline for code customization

• Contact Form Plugin:

• • • What: A contact form that enables people to send me an email with their name, a subject line, body, and a checkbox that enables rapid-reply. I found a way to get a text message through PHP so I want to be able to give people the option of basically texting me through this form, as I could see some of these requests possibly being urgent.
    • Why: Need to have a way for people to get in touch with me, from possible sources to employers to collaborators.
    • How: Research past successful contact forms. Build it out in PHP and HTML, style in CSS. Keep to the timeline!
    • Timeline:
      • Research: 4/9
      • Pseudo-code: 4/11
      • Writing code: 4/13
      • Testing locally: 4/15
      • Debugging: 4/17
      • Deploying: 4/18
      • Testing live:4/18

• Published article plugin:

• • • What: A plugin that will be able to create a post within a specific page (pages with the name of an outlet I’ve worked at). The posts are of articles I’ve published. The post provides metaboxes for a headline, first few paragraphs, date, a clickthrough to the full article on the publication website, the page and a photo.
    • Why: I want an easy way to add a new article to the profile site in the correct page with a quick way to get a sense of the article and to click through to the full article on the publication website.
    • How: Research how to create a plugin like this, possibly using the ‘reading list’ plugin we used as an example. The plugin will be created in HTML, CSS and PHP. Keep to the timeline!
    • Timeline:
      • Research: 4/9
      • Pseudo-code: 4/11
      • Writing code: 4/13
      • Testing locally: 4/15
      • Debugging: 4/17
      • Deploying: 4/18
      • Testing live:4/18

• Child Theme:

• • What: Customizing the site to look sleek but easily accessible for my targeted users. Will have a homepage with an introduction, a contact page, and separate pages for each outlet I’ve produced content at.
  • Why: Formatting the site for my targeted users which who are primarily potential employers, sources and readers is important because I want those users to be able to easily use the website as a showcase.
  • How: Research some similar profile sites to get an idea of the design language I’m looking for. Sketch some layout ideas by hand. Take down names of typefaces I like to use in the site. Perhaps use Bootstrap to simplify the CSS. Edit the stylesheet.
  • Timeline:
    • Research: 4/9
    • Pseudo-code: 4/11
    • Writing code: 4/13
    • Testing locally: 4/15
    • Debugging: 4/17
    • Deploying: 4/18
    • Testing live:4/18