Sophomore Charles Chen is the mastermind behind the recent transformation of the Gunn Web site as well as the updated Oracle Web site; in addition, he is the president and founder of the Web Design Club.

Chen first decided to form the Web Design Club after comparing Palo Alto High School’s (Paly) school Web site with Gunn’s. “I didn’t really like the Gunn Web site,” Chen said. “It wasn’t very useful. I looked at the Paly Web site, which has a lot of content in comparison to the Gunn one, which is mostly static pages.” Chen formed his club in hopes of improving the Gunn Web site through redesign.

Web Design Club advisor and video production teacher Edward Corpuz collaborates with Chen. “I think Charles’ main goal is to redesign the site for the school, and to get support from the administration,” he said.

According to both Corpuz and Chen, however, the status of the new Gunn Web site will not become clear until contact with Technology Coordinator Lettie Weinmann, who manages the Web site, is established.

Chen hopes to improve on the current Gunn Web site by first changing the layout. “It should look visually better and more organized than just the drop-down menus and clutter we [had before],” he said. “It needed to be not as ugly as other [school] Web sites. For example the Paly Web site has no polish.”

Freshman club member Alan Hsueh also commented on the changes being implemented to the new Gunn Web site. “We changed the design and the look,” Hsueh said. “We also took off some unimportant links, so that the site looks less crowded. I think it’s improved a lot.”

Chen works behind-the-scenes in the development of the new Gunn Web site. “On the front end, we have the design, which is basically the look and feel of the Web site,” Corpuz said. “But behind site, we have the technology that makes it run, which deals with servers, file formats, which is the back end.”

Chen said that he first discovered web design in the fourth grade. “When we moved to Foster City, my mom had a couple of computer books lying around,” he said. “I was bored, so I started reading one.”

However, according to Chen, he didn’t start to take Web design seriously until the fifth grade. Chen learned Web design basics by himself from books. “He taught himself, which I think says a lot about him as a student,” Corpuz said.

Corpuz also complimented Chen on his work with the Gunn Web site and emphasized the importance of teamwork. “He’s a great student who’s done a lot of work to change the school’s Web site, and understands that redesigning the Web site can’t be done overnight,” he said. “It takes a team of people to be done.”

Recently, Chen also took on the task of bringing The Oracle Web site up-to-date. “I was working on the Gunn Web site, so [The Oracle business manager] Ryan Tan asked me if I would be interested in working on The Oracle Web site,” he said.

Chen started his work on The Oracle Web site by referencing other news sites. “I started looking at other Web sites, like the New York Times and the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation], which was just updated recently,” he said. He has been working on the site since November 2007.

For example, following professional news sites, the Oracle site is interactive for viewers; Chen created a comment function for people to voice their opinions.

The Web Design Club welcomes new members interested in joining the club to help design and set up both Web sites. “I think we should always use more people and advice, because we’ve had no feedback for The Oracle Web site except from [The Oracle adviser Kristy] Garcia and the other staff members,” Chen said.

Feedback for The Oracle Web site can be given through the comment function on articles online, according to Chen.