Making Code look Pretty with CSS

Image courtesy of http://wisepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/pencil.jpg

At one point in my college career, I decided to take a Basic Drawing class. When I started the class, I drew pictures with lines and strokes that were very purposeful and practical. A straight line put to paper was final. There was no correcting it. At least, that's how I viewed my effort.

However, I spent the next 16 weeks of that semester learning that making a drawing look pretty is not about the straightest line or the most perfect pencil stroke. No, drawing is about placing many different lines lightly onto a page until you get the right one down. Then, you go back and erase the rest.

I'm finding out that creating a web page with HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) code is just like drawing.

When HTML is first typed into the canvas of a text editor (like notepad), it is not pretty. A browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer will take that code and render it to a simple white background with basic text and images. Much like my first attempts to draw "perfection", HTML is the skeleton of a website that tells the browser what information should be rendered.

Once CSS is introduced, the entire game changes.

CSS stands for "Cascading Style Sheets". This new form of code represents the finesse of the light pencil stroke many professional artists use to craft an image into something beautiful. No longer will your website look like a plain canvas with lines. It is now chock full of color, stylized fonts, and beautifully arranged layouts. Of course, CSS is a bit more complicated than placing a pencil on a piece of paper. But, this new code added to any HTML-based website will completely change the look and feel of a website. If you are learning to code, CSS is a must!

To learn more about CSS and HTML, go to www.w3schools.com.

Creativity in Web Design

Image courtesy of http://www.adventurestateparks.com/

I am truly enjoying my new-found coding knowledge. This experience is fun because it is bringing out two aspects of my personality: creativity and ordered logic. 

Treacherous Travel

We traveled to Colorado one year to experience a "White Christmas". Since my wife and I are from South Texas, we really have never seen the snow falling like friends and family up north. So, we decided we wanted to experience that. I chose to drive from San Antonio to El Paso, through New Mexico, and finally to our destination: Estes Park. Driving was an adventure in itself. As we started reaching the mountainous terrain of northern New Mexico, I realized how treacherous the higher elevation highways had become. At some points in our trip, I found myself next to large trucks on a two-lane highway with a mountain on my left and nothing but a steep drop off to my right! This forced me to be creative and logical.

Logically, I knew that if I stuck to the road, I would be alright. Even though my hands were holding that steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were turning white, I knew that we would be safe if I focused and drove safely. However, at some point, I had to get creative. I asked myself, "How can I avoid this situation if it comes up again?" I decided to allow the larger vehicles to pass me up. This kept me out of perceived danger.

Creative Coding

In coding my next assignment, I was asked to navigate my way through the treacherous roads of adding tables, drop-down menus, and survey-type forms to a web-page. In reality, adding such things to a web page is a simple matter of knowing the right coding elements to type in. Finding the correct HTML element was not a hard task. However, crafting a page and placing these elements in the appropriate spot required logic and creativity. I decided to place the specific elements at the end of the section explaining what the element would do and what it would look like. 

Web design is a great way to put your work on public display. The Internet is accessible my many who browse for work or fun. If this group happens to view your website, you have the potential to make an impression. Coding helps you construct that website that can get you or the business you work for noticed. The benefit for me is the ability to create whatever I want right now. But, for the future, I want to create whatever a company wants and be good at it! Here's to future creativity!

An Ugly Website: The first coding assignment

Learning code is exciting, but complicated. When I learned how to ride a bike, I focused on one thing: balance. There was no need to think about the position of my hands on the handlebars or my feet on the pedals. The main concern was balancing the bike so I wouldn’t fall off. And, believe me, I fell off that bike! Writing code is very different. There is no one thing that can be focused on. I have to be aware of the various aspects of the code to ensure that everything fits together. In addition, I have to be careful to not leave anything out of the code.

This week, I received feedback on my first coding assignment. I created what is called an “ugly website”. This website is supposed to be a no frills website that gives a glimpse at the foundations of creating content on the web. There were several challenges in that I had to incorporate particular coding and file structure. For example, the files created for the website have to be named in such a way that when the webpage is displayed by the browser, it is easy to reference the source file name. This means no spaces or capital letters when naming files and folders.

The challenge to me was remembering how to use specific tags in the code. A tag is a word surrounded by karat brackets such as <br> and <hr>. Knowing what each of these do, is the challenge. All websites have a head and a body indicated by the tags <head> and <body>. It is vital that each tag is closed with the closing tag. The closing tag has a backwards slash before the name of the tag like </body>.

Really, anyone can learn to code. I believe that a person’s disposition and goals will determine if this is something that should be pursued. To some, web code can be scary. I know it was for me. But, once I started to learn it, I began to understand it. As Henry Ford once said:

“There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can.”

(http://www.great-quotes.com/quotes/author/Henry/Ford)

Purpose of Blog: Coding for a career

I have decided to make this blog reflect my journey into learning Web Design. After all, this is what I will be living and breathing for the next 2 years and beyond. The foundation of web design is coding.

Coding is a great skill to learn. When you learn just one aspect of coding, you've know more than you did before. Learning one language code can change your life!

For example, a person who learns HTML can now put that skill on his or her resume. This can lead to a more rewarding career (in more ways than one).

I hope this blog is helpful!