Implementing feedback
Hello again and welcome to the eighth issue of Building The Aerial Arts Hub — Journal of a Newbie Developer! I’m Yaiza and here’s what’s been happening over the past two weeks.
What I’ve done
I finally got around to implementing the feedback I received from people who tried the prototype! If you're curious to read more about it, I talked about the kind of feedback I got more in-depth two issues back.
The three key changes I made: adjusting the shade of blue in the header (it was too light before), moving the “what’s on” section to the top of the home page, and adding another section towards the bottom with all of the resources so people can scroll through without needing to open the menu. Yay!
Something exciting happened last week as well—I shared the global studio map on the aerial and pole subreddits as I thought people would find it useful, and I got lots of comments and DMs with missing studios to add! People seem to find the map helpful and it generally received a very positive response on Reddit, which is super exciting. 🤩
I spent quite a bit of time going through the suggestions and adding all of the missing studios. When I first shared the map on Reddit, it had close to 1,500 studios—now it has over 1,800!
What I’m working on
I have started working on the design for the desktop version of The Aerial Arts Hub in Figma, the same software I used to create the mobile prototype. Figuring out how to shift the different elements around (particularly the navigation bar) has been quite tricky, but I think it’s going well.
The only desktop view I’ve finished so far is the home page, but since I’ve figured out the layout, I think the other pages should be easier. 🤞
What I’m learning
I mentioned in the last issue that I’d started working through The Odin Project’s full-stack JavaScript path. I’m currently learning about form validation and am a little closer to finishing up Intermediate HTML and CSS.
Once I get through this rather dry portion, I’ll have the CSS Grid section left (quite looking forward to this) before diving into JavaScript again.
Aerial things
I managed to do a ballerina spin on the pole the other day and it didn’t look half bad, which was very encouraging! Picking up beginner pole moves has been fun after feeling stuck with more advanced hoop moves for some time.
I’m travelling back home to Lanzarote at the end of the month, where I’m getting married in December! This means getting to spend lots of quality time with my family and friends, and also having the opportunity to take aerial lessons at Guanire Circo again. I didn’t know what to expect when I first signed up for classes there last year as Lanzarote is such a tiny island, but it ended up being my favourite studio I’ve ever been to. I’m looking forward to going back… and hopefully unlocking some hoop moves along with my newlywed status.😅
In the meantime, I’ve booked practice slots in two spaces in Singapore that I’ve never been to before: a relatively new aerial space called Into the Clouds and a pole practice studio called The Muse Haven. I’m curious to see how they compare to The Aerialground, my usual studio that I love very much, and will report back in the next issue.
See you in two weeks!