I just finished an HTML/CSS class. It was fantastic, and challenging. HTML has come a long way since I was first introduced to it in the late 90s. So has CSS.
I mean, conceptually, a style sheet is a style sheet is a style sheet… if you’ve ever worked with QuarkXpress or InDesign, you know. And markup is markup is markup… again, you used to be able to style your Quark docs using markup of a kind, so …. the point is that these are not new things.
When I first learned about HTML, we were using tables to lay out web pages… which is not how HTML was intended to be used. But it seems to have gone back to its intended roots, in that it is much more semantic than it used to be. HTML describes things (articles! asides! figures!), separate from how they appear on screen. (In other words, a well-executed semantic HTML document gives strong “1996 called, and it wants its website back” vibes.)
But then you can lay out your site with CSS, and it. is. cool. (Flexboxes! Grids!)
I learned a lot in this course, including the beginnings of how to use git and github (also extremely useful). And accessibility, which is something I want to pay much more attention to, going forward.
So after ten lessons, and ~125 hours of work, do I know anything?
No. Not really. But I’ve been exposed to some cool things and have gotten to try things out.
It’s a start.
And it has laid the foundation for me to start what I’ve been wanting to do since early February when I encountered Caspio’s application interface and got so frustrated because…
I do not know Javascript. Nobody in my group knew javascript. We were stuck with a database interface that didn’t work the way we wanted it to… nuts. (The part that required javascript was not the point of the class — it wasn’t a tech class, and we ended up doing well on the assignment anyway — but that was when I decided that it was time to learn some front-end web development.)
I’m doing a 3-class self-paced front-end web development certificate, but they’re re-vamping the program, so it’s unknown if I’ll be able to continue on the track I started, or I’ll have to switch formats. Whatever happens, I can start on my own and see how far I can get. (It turns out that I like self-paced learning when it comes to coding. Coding is not something I have an innate sense for, so it requires a lot of floundering around to figure things out, but it’s kind of an adventure, and I seem to run into similar issues as other folks — there are lots of internet resources devoted to explaining some of the questions I have had…)
So it’s onward and upward to this:
I’m excited… wish me luck.
[In other news, for no particular reason (cough, SCOTUS), I’m thinking of launching a design firm* that caters exclusively to LGBTQIA+, Black, Jewish, Indigenous clients, drag queens (& kings), disabled folks, and others who are disenfranchised by homophobia and/or white supremacy. My life and experience (as a white, cis, heterosexual woman) has been enriched by the experiences, expertise, and knowledge of Queer people, Black and Brown people, Indigenous people and Jewish people, and I have no desire to live in a society where those voices are suppressed because some idiot designer in Colorado is afraid that God will be mad at her(?) for making a gay wedding website. Cheesus crust on a cracker, we live in the stupidest timeline.
* just kidding (sort of). Everyone deserves better design than I can offer at the moment. But it’s in the back of my mind.]
Carmen Yount 