Crying, Dying, but Im TRYING.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!”-somebody who has never coded before, probably
Okay so maybe there isn't actual tear drops rolling down my face, but if my brain had eyes I can guarantee you that they would be pouring. I have recently started a new venture in one of life’s many paths that is showing extreme promise. Taking the leap and deciding to learn code has been pleasant with a side effect of mental pains. In my short time in the course I have come to the realization that the quote “ If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” was hand tailored for all my web developers across the world. I mean my gosh does anything work on the first try when it comes to coding (insert crying emoji here)? However somewhere along the way I have found myself with a feeling of wanderlust, exploring the newfound coding world and getting lost along the way. I have reached a state where I am keen to learn something new every day and incorporate it into my projects that I was previously working on. I am excited to see where this path leads, and I invite all of you guys to follow my journey into the unknown.
- Describe one thing you learned in class today.
The one thing I learned today that stuck out more than anything else was the fact that the computers terminal is actually very useful. Who would have thought right? I mean geez, you can basically do anything you can think of from the terminal. I learned how to create folders and even open applications from inside folders all while never leaving the terminal screen. I hope to one day master the terminal and become the terminator!
2. Describe your workflow when you create a web page.
So something that was brought to my intention recently was how important wire framing was. The first time I tried to create a website from my own wireframe fave me a small glimpse of what it was like to understand everything in the coding world! That was shortly erased when I tried to split a bullet point list into two parts and place them side by side. For my workflow I like to start with what it is that I am going to be styling or creating. I then Like to take a pen and paper and start to draw out a wireframe. Once I have the wireframe drawn out and labeled I like to start coding on the html file in front of me. Once I achieve the satisfaction of the content that I want displayed, I then begin to style it in the corresponding stylesheet. What follows after this is kind of a hectic mess. It’s basically a whole bunch of trial and error until I get somewhere in the ballpark of what I want the page to look like, and what it actually looks like. Oh yeah, go ahead and add the step “lemme Google that” before, in between, and after every step previously mentioned.
3. Explain what ARIA and screen readers are, and how to make a website accessible.
BOY, was my mind blown when I realized that I had never put any thought in how people with certain disabilities accessed the internet. My oblivion was selfish I know, but Im glad to say that there are actually many tools that help websites become accessible. One example would be ARIA or Assistive Rich Internet Applications for short. It was created specifically for the World Wide Web, and its purpose is to send extra information to screen readers using HTML attributes. Screen readers are useful in the fact that they read out all the information that is displayed on the screen out loud. We need to give these guys the most creative name award while we’re in the neighborhood. ARIA alongside screen readers provide adequate information that make browsing the web for somebody with disabilities a lot less stressful.
4. What Excites or interests you about coding?
Have you ever felt like maybe you couldn't really express yourself at a job? If you answered no to that question then I envy you, and I strive to one day work at a company like yours. In my ventures throughout the career world I came to find out that most jobs involve minimal critical thinking and are rather just a very monkey see, monkey do environment. I was doing a job that many before me and I can bet the house, that many after me have been doing the exact same way and will continue to do until the end of times. WHAT A NIGHTMARE! Am I right or am I right? I couldn’t stomach waking up and doing that egregious cycle for the rest of my life. Kudos to everyone that can not only do that, but excel and go above and beyond. When I heard that as a web developer I would be able to use my brain and think of ways to solve problems all on my own; I practically ached for a chance at something remotely close to that. When I think of myself and having a job where I can be as creative as I want I literally explode with passion knowing this is what I have always wanted deep down inside. My interests also include the never ending library of tags and actions that can be used in creating a website, it’s absolutely insane. The fact that I have been excited to learn has me pumped up for the future and see how far I can take this.
5. What does a doctype do?
I would be lying if I told you I could answer this from the top of my head. But as previously stated, I have googled my ass off, and I will continue to do so until I know everything that Google knows. I also hope to one day know this stuff at the top of my head. Any-who, a doctype which is short for document type declaration is crucial in the fact that it informs the browser what type and version of html is being used in the creation of the web page. This is all for the ultimate goal that the browser will load up and open the web page correctly. I am almost certain that this process is a ton more complex than my simple explanation could ever cover. That last sentence is comical because that is how I feel about EVERYTHING that I have learned so far!
6. Explain how a browser determines what elements match a CSS selector.
Man, if you had asked me this a couple weeks ago I would have asked you what language are you speaking. However I am two weeks wiser and I can confidently say that not only do I know the language you’re speaking, but I now speak it as well. So first things first, the browser reads the style sheet from right to left and top to bottom. The browser determines what elements match the css selector, because quite frankly you tell it which ones do. Through selectors no matter how vague like <p> tags, or specific like #ID tags, elements are matched together resulting in a perfectly nice functioning website.
I hope that you all have enjoyed my little piece of struggle and humility and hope that you guys continue to check in with me along the way.
